August 04, 2005
YPN (Yahoo! Publisher Network) Beta Launches: Myopic Webmasters Don't Get It.
Forums across the Internet are filled with Webmaster/Publisher complaints and large doses of dribble and noise about the YPN. Way to many posts about their dissatisfaction in not being able to join, useless micro management posts and a feeble attempts to compare a Beta product with Googles AdSence. For the most part, these Webmasters/Publishers don't have the slightest clue nor a desire to even learn about the proper way to enter the PPC (Paid Per Click) space and the most important issue and benefit that a tightly controlled and restricted Beta provides.
Yahoo! Gets It.
The YPN Beta is currently available as a human reviewed invitation-only beta with a link on this page to apply for consideration. This Beta will be limited to approximately 2000 Publishers. This is an outstanding way to enter the fraud filled PPC space and tells me that Yahoo! clearly understands the challenges they face. When viewed from a long term perspective it also assures Webmasters that cheaters won't dilute the revenue stream, enhances the stability of the program, provides Advertisers with an additional measure of confidence, and may in fact provide Publishers with greater earnings. I don't care if it takes 6 months or 6 years to iron out the bugs and tighten anti-fraud procedures in the YPN. The long term benefits override any short term considerations.
Site Fraud and Beta Tweaks to catch it.
All PPC Networks are targets for cheaters. Yes, I understand that Overture is a Yahoo property but that doesn't mitigate the requirement to deal with site fraud in a proactive and robust fashion. Typically, the early sign ups for any new PPC Network contain a huge percentage of cheaters, gamers, and non compliant sites. These folks have already been terminated by the other major PPC Networks like AdSence and can't wait to test the waters and steal money.
I've seen new PPC Networks, who prematurely launched, closed down within hours of the launch because of cheating. Smart Advertisers demand an industrial strength and proactive anti-fraud procedure and timely "make good" refunds for fraudulent clicks. Although I don't have any confidential information about the YPN, the fact that they are choosing to closely monitor the Beta sites and tightly control the program before a public launch leads me to conclude that they not only understand the serious implications of fraud but intend to continue to tweak their technology and procedures in an effort to improve fraud detection. This "slow down" is outstanding.
Anti-fraud Wish List for YPN
The media and Forums are full of great articles about the Webmaster centric features of the YPN and the competitive nature of the continued enhancements to the AdSence program. I won't repeat this stuff, but I will focus on numerous anti-fraud procedures which I not only hope YPN implements but no one else is talking about. Fasten your hard disk:
Each Affiliate site must be manually reviewed for approval.
The YPN code breaks if used on a site which is not approved.
Use the Whois data to communicate with prospective affiliates. Reject all affiliates that don't use their Whois email address.
Reject all perspective affiliates who have a confidential/proxy Whois profile
Use technology which prevents the same affiliate application to join after they have been rejected. Lock them out for 6 months and tell them this.
Use an "https" application page to join and require a phone number and social security number/tax ID on this page.
Display your TOS at the top of your application page and require a check box agree selection to submit the Form.
Sites which display your YPN Advert and any other Networks contextual Advertisement like AdSence on a given page should be warned once. If it happens again, ban them for life.
Set up a dedicated email address and Forms page to report non compliant sites. Investigate these complaints in a timely manner and take immediate action when warranted.
Your "Compliance Team" should not report to marketing.
Carefully select a team of very experienced employees who understand the "culture" and operation of Forums which focus on Affiliate Programs and Advertisers. This team should join and participate in these influential Forums which number around 6. Use this opportunity to educate and help. Don't restrict yourselves to the "Google Guy" persona which is myopic and contains a lot of noise/dribble.
Deploy an aggressive legal team who's primary goal is to sue Affiliates who's sites generate fraudulent clicks and have been paid. Sue not only the big dollar cheaters but a few of the little guys. Leak the news to the Media. Sue often and don't hide this fact.
Manage your support resources carefully. Don't waste your time with a continued dialog with terminated or rejected Publishers. Cheaters love to waste your time. Bring the case to a timely conclusion and don't respond after this. Spend your valuable support resources enhancing your relationships with the most important asset you have: Advertisers! Provide Advertisers with phone support, tips and tools to monitor the ROI of their Campaign and most importantly, provide them with guidance/tips and encouragement to identify sites which are delivering fraudulent clicks.
Respond to Advertisers "make good" requests in a timely and fair manner. Don't play the stall game. Immediately credit/refund money spent for fraudulent clicks and encourage your Advertisers to help you control cheating.
Sites which display or sell "keyword lists and bids" should be immediately terminated from YPN. Insure that your TOS clearly state this and don't mince words.
Spend the necessary time to thoroughly investigate your syndication partners. You will be judged by the actions of your partners. More specifically, Elliot Spitzer is just around the corner so permanently reject any direct and or indirect relationship with the Spyware/Adware slime bag Networks.
The Last Click!
Am I dreaming? Wishful thinking? One things for sure, I feel great about my Anti-fraud Wish List for YPN and only time will tell. I also hope that other Networks will take note of my thoughts and do something!
Posted by Steve_S
February 17, 2005
Gator, Claria, Vista Marketing Services, and BehaviorLink.com: Some new names but the same old Spyware Parent
One of the primary strategies that some Company's use to rehabilitate their tarnished image is to change their name and form new divisions which are still owned and controlled by the same old Spyware parent company. This strategy sometimes works, so I think it's important to document exactly who a Publisher/Webmaster, Network or Advertiser may decide to do business with.
The name game history
Gator is a privately held firm which was formed about six years ago. They distribute Spyware. Many folks first heard about Gator in 2002 when they were sued in federal court by a gaggle of irate publishers which included The Washington Post Co., the New York Times Co., Dow Jones & Co., Tribune Interactive, Gannett Co., Knight Ridder Digital, Condenet and American City Business Journals Inc. The essence of this suit was the assertion that Gator sells ads on their Web sites without authorization and pockets the proceeds. Gator does not share any revenue with the damaged sites. This legal procedure describes Gator this way: "Gator Corp. is essentially a parasite that free rides on the hard work and investment' of the publishers"
This case was settled privately and as part of the settlement, Gator stopped their morally and ethically reprehensible behavior against the plaintiffs. Having said this, they continue to do this same procedure and or related tricks today under a new Corporate name.
About one year ago Gator changed their name but not their procedures to "Claria Corporation" They are still involved with the following products using the very same Spyware and theft like procedures:
GAIN Publishing®
Kazaa
ScreenScenesTM
WebSecureAlertSM
DashBarSM
Weatherscope®
Gator® eWallet
Date Manager
Precision TimeSM
SearchScout
The Claria Corporation recently saw fit to revise their EULA for Kazaa: "At 5,936 words, the license stretches to 63 on-screen pages as presented by the current Kazaa installer (bundling with Gator). (See screen-shots of the Gator license as presented in June 2004, then requiring 56 on-screen pages.)"
"Here are some notable sections of the license: "You agree that you will not use, or encourage others to use, any unauthorized means for the removal of the GAIN AdServer, or any GAIN-Supported Software from a computer."
"Gator proceeds to list the "authorized means" for removing Gator -- prominently failing to authorize use of popular tools, such as Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Web Sweeper, which millions of users count on to remove unwanted software from their PCs."
"About four thousand words through its license, Gator demands: "Any use of a packet sniffer or other device to intercept or access communications between GP and the GAIN AdServer is strictly prohibited." Source
Talk about CYA! While Gator/Claria appears to have the authority to create an EULA any way they wish, it's apparent to me that the primary goal of this new EULA is not to properly inform a potential user with clear and easy to read terms but rather to confuse them and attempt to limit a consumers rights to install other properly licensed software on their Windows machine. In my 20 or more years of working with software, I have never seen such a long and confusing EULA and I have never seen another company attempt to limit my rights to purchase/license other software.
Finally, if we are to believe the PR spin of Gator/Claria that they are so squeaky clean and embrace the world with their moral high ground and legal compliance, why are they so paranoid about others folks using a sniffer to see exactly what they are doing. What are they hiding? What tricks do they plan to perform which they don't want others discovering?
About a week ago Gator/Claria announced the formation of a new affiliate network called BehaviorLink.com and a marketing division named Vista Marketing Services. The PR releases indicate that Gator/Claria intends to spend over 100 Million dollars to purchase ROS inventory from Webmasters/Publishers and other networks. That's a ton of money to spend and certainly believable since Gator/Gain is a darling of the VC crowd and has already received over 58 million in VC funding according to this article. Additionally, Gator/Claria continues to generate buckets of cash profits as in millions of dollars from their operations and has a huge amount of data on it's 40 million plus users. Finally, their planed IPO and it's infusion of cash also supports this business plan.
Please join the BehaviorLink.com Affiliate Program
NOT! You can expect to see lot's of these pitches in the not to distant future. Networks and or Advertisers can expect a solicitation form Vista Marketing Services. A significant number of these folks won't have a clue of exactly who they are dealing with. Trust me, I've observed this fact for over 6 years.
My suggestion for a response:
BehaviorLink.com (or Vista Marketing Services) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Gator Corporation. Remember Gator? In a 2002 legal case they were described as: "Gator Corp. is essentially a parasite that free rides on the hard work and investment' of the publishers"
They install Spyware and changed their name to Claria Corporation. Perhaps some of these products which are still distributed by Gator will jog your memory:
GAIN Publishing®
Kazaa
ScreenScenesTM
WebSecureAlertSM
DashBarSM
Weatherscope®
Gator® eWallet
Date Manager
Precision TimeSM
SearchScout
BehaviorLink.com (or Vista Marketing Services) uses a cookie to deliver what they describe as behavioral targeting across multiple member sites. They share this revenue with the members of their network. While I can certainly respect your right to do business with anyone you wish, my own view is rather easy to understand:
Regardless of the monetary reward, I don't do business with any firm who is currently actively involved and or associated with the distribution of Spyware and or stealing revenue from other sites via pops and overlays which users of many of their products see. I consider all these actions, the Company, related parties, and all their divisions morally and ethically reprehensible.
Final thoughts
Yes I'm twisting my words a little in my suggested response. I always prefer to call them Gator since more folks remember that name and it's distribution of Spyware and theft. I also don't get involved in the legality of the issue since I'm not an attorney and many of the pending Spyware laws leave huge holes in them for Gator and it's ilk to exploit. I am also very polite and civil when I engage folks in a discussion. Never resort to attacks, trolling, insults, baiting, hacking, or any other related techniques in an effort to win the argument and convince folks not to do business with Gator, Claria, Vista Marketing Services, and BehaviorLink.com.
Posted by Steve_S
November 29, 2004
Your New Affiliate Program SUCKS!
For over 6 years I've watched new affiliate programs launch and then fail. I've talked to dozens of Affiliate Program Managers and Professional Webmasters about this issue. I've read thousand of posts on Affiliate programs and my advice is generally treated as on target and truthful. It's time to clear the slate and talk about the realities of a new Affiliate Program. Since this site does not run advertising and I'm no longer engaged in the sale of Advertising to affiliate networks, I suggest you fasten your hard disk before your read the rest of this article.
Do you have a real business plan and a long term goal!
Most of you don't so forget the launch. You aren't going to attract real producers without the necessary capital to pay your affiliates, an advertising budget, a real office, a business phone and FAX number, and a written plan. You will attract cheaters and sub standard sites in large numbers. Within hours of your launch, most of your new sign ups will be cheaters looking for a new target and or undesirable sites. Although this may seem strange to some of you, a real business should plan on operating at a loss for at least 6 months to one year.
Does your site work?
Spend the money to have it professionally designed and then recruit some knowledgeable Webmasters to test it before you launch. Your Contact Us page must include your street address, your phone numbers, and email addresses. If it doesn't have all of this data your painting yourself as a short term "fraudster" and you will fail. Your whois data must be accurate and complete. You can count on someone like me calling the phone number. Don't use a "proxy" whois. Everyone who does is a criminal and belongs in jail. Use a real domain name for your email address in whois and not a free email provider like Yahoo or Gmail. Your About Us page should be truthful and direct. Use complete real names. Many aren't and it's a trivial task to determine who is lying and who is not.
You must force your affiliates to read and approve your TOS as a condition of the sign up procedure. These TOS must be prepared by your attorney and then reviewed to insure they are effective. If you don't, all you will attract is cheaters and low quality sites. Ask for the Affiliates Social Security number or EIN number in your sign up form. Make it very difficult to change this payee data and address. Does your Admin log IPs and perform a trace to see exactly where the prospective affiliate is located and how this data compares with the Whois data for the site. Reject all affiliates who use a "Proxy" whois since you have lost your ability to audit their actions.
Each Affiliate application to join your network must be manually reviewed by a human. Your acceptance is on a site by site basis. If you don't do this then here is what will happen: Fraudster Webmaster signs up with a quality and compliant mainstream site. As soon as he gets the code, he inserts same on other sites which you would never approve. Have you anticipated your procedures for the sale of a Website. FastClick does a great job on this issue and requires the new owner to submit the site for approval. If you don't do this you will be abused. If your Affiliate can't produce sales in 6 months, then terminate the relationship and require a manual review procedure if they ever wish to join again.
Tell your prospective Affiliates the kinds of sites you may accept and the kinds of sites you won't accept. Don't mince words and be very detailed in your descriptions. Tell them this data in the sign up page and force them to read it as a condition of the Form submission. If they still try and submit their site which you clearly state your aren't interested in, ban the domain and affiliate for 6 months. If you don't do this, you will spin your weal's.
None of your shortcuts to riches will work
Inflated Alexa rankings are easy to catch. Spam in Forums or using "shills" and or associates to drum up the buzz are easy for a Forum Admin to catch. You aren't going to trick the real producers. Maybe you have a skeleton in your desk. Better plan on exactly how you will answer the question about this. Conduct yourself in a civil and respectful manner in Forums. Don't curse, don't attack your Competition, don't use street slang, always use language which is appropriate for a quality business relationship, and don't tell bold face lies and or half truths. Those of you who choose to not head this advice have and will always fail.
Additional reading
I rarely point to other sources on this issue, since so much of what has been written is utter dribble, self serving, full of lies, and not worth your time. An exception to this rule is a great article titled "Do You Cater to Flunkies?" which I strongly suggest you read.
Posted by Steve_S