Sep 01

Netiquette for webmasters and affiliates

Cardinal Sin, Doodling, Internet Marketing, Mind over Pixels 3 Comments »

Yesterday I spent half an hour on messenger, solving a problem this guy had. The solution was a paid service, which I had already tried before, and I personally recommended.

So, after going through the details and highlighting the pros of the service, I threw up my affiliate link to him, and said,”sign up there, this is my aff link”.

The response was “Hehe, yeah I saw it. I deleted the numbers at the end”.

WTF?

Then why oh-my-dear-asshole did you ask for my advice, had me running through your problem for half an hour, doing Google searches for you and giving you a solution-in-a-box?

For some reason, some people who know what affiliate links are always bypass the affiliate’s link, searching for the product directly or simply pasting and deleting the id.

It’s wrong, and it’s even worse when it comes from people in the industry.

Non affiliates think that you are a reseller, like the brick and mortar businesses, that you increase the price to make a profit. They do not understand that for them, affiliate link or not they will still pay the same. Ok, fine, ignorance is tolerated.

But not from people in the biz. If someone gives me some great advice, why not sign up under his referral link? If he shows me the perfect product for my job, saving me time and money, why shouldn’t I give him at least the tiny commission?

I like it when people I’ve helped ask me for my referral link, and sometimes I refuse to give it out of pride.

Proper netiquette is murky, at best, and I get it why people are not familiar with the Internet.

But if we, the webmasters and affiliates don’t try to be polite online, then noone will.

Some people brag saying “I don’t click on ads”. Well, neither do I, honestly. But I am happy to sign up as a referral from some guy with great advice from wickedfire, or leave a link injection inside my sites giving links to Eli for an amazing plugin. I believe I make up for it that way.

Ads are the base of the internet economy. Internet marketers know that, because they are stuck in the middle.

If you read a blog you like, and the post really makes you a tiny bit wiser, click on an ad. It’s like a small tip, and it’s the polite thing to do. I am not asking for people to click on my ads, I am just saying to webmasters, if you don’t, who will?

Some idiot commented on my suggested affiliate programs page. I left the comment up there on purpose. No you rude man, I don’t want to make a buck from them. These are the ones I actually use, and they really are my suggested programs. I really have spend money and time using them, and they work for me. No one shoved that page in your face.

Sure, people will try to “sell” you a service lying that they suggest it. But if someone earns your respect, by giving real tips, show your gratitude. For example, I don’t do CPA networks, but if I ever want to sign up at Ads4dough, on the back of my mind I will surf to shadySEO and I will signup under Xmcp. (Yes, that is an actual referral link from one affiliate on another guy’s internet marketing blog. )

Why? Because I respect him. I see that he knows this stuff, and shares as much as he can.

Recently I wrote a list of the books I like on this post (termite snacks). I don’t really care if people buy them through me or not. I really love these books, would honestly suggest them to anyone, and I really am doing what they say. Take them or leave them, its your choice.

On the flip side, I too made an error. On my idea of replacing ppc keywords with domains, Bob commented that an ad flashed in his face. Yes, I am sorry, Adbrite ads can sometimes get annoying. I took the banner down. Thanks for shaking my chair. I also had no idea I had a “great piece of work” :)

EDIT: I found out what annoyed Bob, its Adbrite’s page “Full page Ads”, which I agree, are very annoying. The checkbox is on by default, and I forgot to remove it. So, here is another affiliate tip for the day: Full page Adbrite Ads piss off people! :)

Just be polite, and reward people who are worth it. But if some guy is an asshole, kick him hard.

Even if you consider seo as a business opportunity, you need to pay attention to web design elements as well as the web hosting. There is more to marketing than dedicated servers.

Related Blogs

Popularity: 10% [?]

written by Glowleaf \\ tags: , ,