Lammo.net: Affiliate Marketing Blog

Next: Adding to the pollution - More, More, More More and More - At last, a merchant that lives up to their name - Every time I see “Next” in the product feeds or merchant listings, I automatically skip to the next merchant in the list! The rate they’re going, they’re going to be my resident Muppets of the week for all the weeks that I can’t think of any other muppets to nominate!However, this weeks Muppet of the Week award doesn’t go to Next themselves - I’m awarding it to the agency taking their slice managing the Next program - i-level, who went on the affiliates4u forum today and took a leaf out of the Nick Robertson/Gerald Ratner school of public relations and stated that:

It is Next’s wish not to partner affiliates who pollute natural search space with negative comments about the brand (Guess I’m not welcome anymore then!)

Next does undertake competitor brand bidding practices (nice… I’m sure they won’t mind when loads of clothing merchants and affiliates start doing the same to them)

It is also unfortunate that, although Next submitted a response to a particular blog, it was not approved by the blog author. (Later proven to be inaccurate)

So there you go - I have said something negative about the Next Affiliate Program, and therefore am “polluting the natural search space” - Last year I was called “Grubby”, and now I’m a “Polluter” It seems you need a gas mask to be an affiliate these days…

V Festival Lineup announced More - I’m so excited, I just know it’s going to be another fantastic festival. As I did last year, I’m not roughing it, and am booked into a nice warm hotel with running water, and a nice big bed. This year however, I’m also hoping to blag some VIP tickets into the hospitality area, so if you can sort me out with some, please let me know! The main bands I’m looking forward to are Maximo Park, Pigeon Detectives, Stereophonics, Kooks (Third time), Prodigy (Third time), the Zutons, Travis, The Verve and Shed Seven. Roll on August!

New AF Interface More - It’s long overdue, particularly having caught a glimpse of the new Affiliate Future interface at a4uexpo last year, and on first impressions, it’s a nice fresh look, and much more in keeping with a network of their stature. It’ll take a while to get used to (particularly on the merchant side, where some things seem a little more awkward), but it’s a vast improvement on the old interface that we knew and hated.

Sharp Shooting with buy.at - Buy.at became only the third network to find their way to Plymouth (answers on a postcard who the first two were) last week as part of their nationwide “roadshows”, and it was great to spend some time with them over a good mix of Affiliate Marketing chat, general banter and of course great food and drink.

We also went Clay Pigeon Shooting, which was the first time I had ever shot a gun. It was a fantastic experience, and a great time was had by all, including Laura Przybek (who finished next to last, using a “ladies gun”), and Chris Mockford (who finished last, and perhaps should have used a “ladies gun”) from buy.at. I managed to finish second, behind Tom, an affiliate from Cornwall who grew up shooting on his family’s farm…. Not that I’m competitive you know…

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