Disqus - Latest Comments for Stephen Robinson

Re: Damn Marketers. Affiliate Links in Twitter

Stephen Robinson — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:43:28 -0000

Hi Scott, you bring up an interesting point regarding posting affiliate links in tweets from a non deal-specific Twitter account. I would be curious to know if you lose any followers as a result of including one affiliate link in your tweet. Although I agree with Lisa, since you are a known as a coffee lover, I don't see anything wrong with you suggesting a product you believe in on Twitter and receiving some commission in the process.

Do you think being transparent would have led to a different response from your followers? I am curious to see what role Twitter plays in this space, non deal-specific Twitter accounts, going forward.

Thanks for sharing this experience.

Re: My Cousin’s Death in Afghanistan

Stephen Robinson — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:58:41 -0000

I am sorry for your loss Sam. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

Re: Clean Data - Why it’s important to honor coupon policies.

Stephen Robinson — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:59:58 -0000

Jamie, great article here. As an affiliate manager for nearly 4 years, I understand the value of affiliate partners that add value when they promote authorized coupons. This gives further credibility to your statement, "Programs are becoming more restrictive in who the let in as they are looking for more “partners” and less opportunists. Often times merchants are willing to provide exclusive offers to trusted partners.

I know that in the 20+ programs I've managed, merchants get very frustrated when they've taken the time to create exclusive coupons, only to have them "scraped" and re-posted by another affiliate. This is very discouraging to merchants and AM's alike as it reduces their overall willingness to create these codes in the future.

The best way around this scenario is to offer exclusive offers to trusted partners that have been around for awhile and understand how to do things the right way. This also allows merchants the opportunity to test offers through the affiliate channel and they are able to rely on clean data.

A big issue I've seen are sites that allow users to post offers, without providing any moderation. An example of this would be www.retailmenot.com, I don't know how many times merchants have been frustrated by their lack of willingness to moderate their site to be sure that unauthorized or occasionally, fake coupons are posted. Some sites such as www.dealtaker.com allow users to post offers in their forums, while moderating the coupons posted by their users.

Thanks for shedding light on this issue.