Disqus - Latest Comments for Pat Grady

Re: Link Cloaking, What is it?

Pat Grady — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:42:21 -0000

We completely agree on your paragraphs 2 & 3. On paragraph 1, yes, robots stops the (well behaved) crawlers from following the links, as I said before. No compelling need to argue the finer points of crawl blocking versus algorithmic link destination detection with you, the other paragraohs make it moot for a discussion between us. But by leaving it looking like it's an effective hiding technique (it isn't!), I think your readers are done a disservice, although a microscopic one.

Re: Link Cloaking, What is it?

Pat Grady — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:51:12 -0000

"Most of our links are run through our own custom redirector for the purpose of tracking clicks."

custom here too, for tracking and for ease of programming (ie deep linking).

i do think today's first tier search engines can sniff right past cloaking when determining if a site is an affiliate site, so i'd add bunk to that category of yours as well. robots may stop crawling your domain's specific redirectors / links, but it doesn't always stop detecting and understanding them.

in addition, some unethical affiliates have other reasons for cloaking links, almost always obfuscation being practiced to more easily avoid detection of practices like dtm ppc poaching or cookie stuffing.

thanks for saying what you did about software, i completely agree!

Re: Amazon Kills Associate Direct Paid Search

Pat Grady — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:48:30 -0000

From the consulting I've done for merchants, I conclude that most would be well served to follow Amazon's lead here. But I do defintely agree with Scott that finding trusted partners is a step above killing it off - lots of communication, relationship building, common goals, respect for each other's contributions - there's some really powerful synergies and opportunities in there, especially for small and medium sized merchants. Finding performance-paid search partners can be very rewarding for the merchant. Consultants who can produce real incremental results also find performance pay is the most rewarding path as well. Admittedly, merchants and consultants who can sustain these types of relationships are in somewhat short supply.

And Scott, I think you mean... this Amazon decision is "partly" for a different reason... the impetus for other changes isn't completely devoid of the schtuff I mentioned.

Re: Amazon Kills Associate Direct Paid Search

Pat Grady — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:27:38 -0000

As a consultant to merchants, I have seen that the majority of DTM PPC is either fraudulent, rule breaking or of very low value. The policing efforts required to squeeze any good value from it are rarely worth it. As merchants decide to kill this activity off in their programs, I hope my peer affiliates see that tolerating scum in our sector is the root cause of many of these decisions.

Chat with the Amazon folks and you'll see they had no shortage of poachers bidding on their name (which was already against their rules) and tons of affiliates just grabbing their feed and doing mechanical algorithmic ppc bidding that did little of value and served to further drive up the bids / cost of Amazon's own internal search efforts.

Re: Take Twitter Back

Pat Grady — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:46:05 -0000

you should see how clean my twitter account is...

Re: Kindle on the iPhone The Real Game Changer?

Pat Grady — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:15:10 -0000

yepper, we are just about there! cool!

and the geeks shall inherit the earth.

Re: Kindle on the iPhone The Real Game Changer?

Pat Grady — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:01:59 -0000

Or skip the glasses and go towards digital eye implants...

Re: Kindle on the iPhone The Real Game Changer?

Pat Grady — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:01:12 -0000

Great move on Amazon's part, book sales will pay off big time. Of course, it also makes the iPhone more attractive too. Consumer seems well served as well. Nice synergies.

I do hope to see something done next to make the apparent size issue disappear, like some VR glasses you can hook to your iPhone or whatever. Bringing brain food right up to your face is being conquered. And I think that progress will subsequently incent and focus people to work on that last mile... errr.... last few inches. That'll be fun to see unfolding!

Re: Parental Judo, Life on Greenwich Mean Time

Pat Grady — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:11:08 -0000

weird timing things going on today... your time shifting story above... plus it's Friday the 13th... plus it's also, at 6:31:30pm eastern, Epoch time of 1234567890.... and it's valentine's day eve... plus it's beers with the band night, but that only applies to me... and the band.

Re: Fresh Air

Pat Grady — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:25:36 -0000

working today, but going fishing for most of the rest of this week. ahhh, fresh air, here i come. :-)

Re: Fresh Air

Pat Grady — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:54:48 -0000

Lil more constructive this time...

Fresh Air exercise #1: At your desk, while working, I bet most of us listen to iTunes. Type the title (not the band's name) of one of your fav songs into the iTunes store, and snag some variations of tunes that your heart and ears already love, ones from other performers. I did this recently with the Jimi Hendrix tune "All Along The Watchtower" and unleashed some Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls, Neil Young, Roger "Hurricane" Wilson, P.O.S., Willie J Laws, Kim MacKenzie and even U2. The Bob Dylan performance of Watchtower smacks fresh air into it's own inadequate shame.

You wouldn't believe how many versions of "Unchained Melody" I have. Il Divo, a multi-national operatic vocal quartet does this version in Italian called Senza Catene (translated, without bonds) that will blow torrid fresh air right up your skirt.

Re: Fresh Air

Pat Grady — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:40:07 -0000

I fish (3-day out of town trip planned next week), read a lot of books about things VERY unrelated to my work, have scheduled trips to work out with my personal trainer (today in fact), ride my recumbent bike all over the place (28 miles last Sunday), am studying an astronomy / interstellar bodies related science area, took my kids out to breakfast this morning to a place they'd never been, am taking a long (possibly forever) break from a forum i've visited daily for the last few years, and am exploring completely new areas in my work as well... fresh air bloat going on over here. got a zephyr in my shorts. :-)

Re: Affiliate Marketing, Get Paid for Nothing

Pat Grady — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:54:13 -0000

"I think the main problem for the affiliate community is that this is about a piece of software."

Not for me, though I'm sure you've seen me makes posts similar to Scott's (and more vociferous) about software. For me, the issue is this... if I owned a small business (and I do) selling stiff on the Internet (again, I do), would I want this type of thing causing me to pay commissions? And that answer is a very stern NO.

The argument that it's a small effect isn't compelling at all for me Sam. Because I know that ignoring small does impact my profits as a merchant, but more importantly, ignoring it allows small to grow big. And indeed, toolbars are proliferating.

Re: Affiliate Marketing, Get Paid for Nothing

Pat Grady — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:48:03 -0000

To argue "since we don't make distinctions" it won't matter, is circular, and leads nowhere conclusive or productive.

Spreadsheets list numbers, not value. The question isn't the nature of the people who buy through those links, it is rather the nature of what those links contributed to the merchant. Just because Tiger Woods drives on I-4 in Orlando, we can't conclude it's a highway that attracts excellent golfers. Why and How are very different questions.

And the difference between extension versus toolbar is completely irrelevant here. Whether Tiger used his physical keys to start his Buick, or his remote key fob, has nothing significant to do with why he chose to be on that highway. Focus on what he was thinking right before he left the house more, versus what tool booth he last passed through en route.

Re: Affiliate Marketing, Get Paid for Nothing

Pat Grady — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:54:41 -0000

Further, if anything of low value is legitimized, it undermines the higher value items - in fact, in this case, Amazon likely pays the same rates to both Miro and other affiliates who are doing higher value work. And before you ask, yes, the toolbar has some value, and it is difficult to quantify it absolutely, but that doesn't mean it can't be done (as is true with many business decisions, or decisions of any type).

In our area of business, the lack of ability to discern value is quite alarming for me. I also find it to be a rather special case in our business, which I generally attribute to both our sector's youth and diversity.

So Sam, if you were a merchant selling widgets, would you treat this affiliate with the same regard as all of your other affiliates?

Re: Affiliate Marketing, Get Paid for Nothing

Pat Grady — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:13:06 -0000

Proliferation portends pragmatic provisioners properly protecting profits... provoking provider's programs prune partner's profits, proceeds. Producers put prodigiously profligate... precarious position. Pity.

Re: Do Something That Makes You Uncomfortable

Pat Grady — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:37:39 -0000

Dude, hair thing is fun, but I gotta say I am noticing your video editing skills have improved a ton, the captions content and timing and other details are right on. I wasn't just informed, I was entertained. Glad that you're not resting on your best blogger award laurels.

rock on with your bad swirly-proof self.

ps - now that rubbing your head feels tingle-y... some fuzzy head tricks will come along natrually... soon. video some of those for us bud.

Re: Hockey is the Official Game of Affiliate Marketing, What Superbowl?

Pat Grady — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:52:26 -0000

are you related to the Louisiana Jangreaux's? :-)

Re: Hockey is the Official Game of Affiliate Marketing, What Superbowl?

Pat Grady — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:41:30 -0000

They should change Chara's jersey number to 105.4

Re: Hockey is the Official Game of Affiliate Marketing, What Superbowl?

Pat Grady — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:00:44 -0000

now i've got hives brewing on my neck and some carbuncles rising on my hairy back. thanks Jangro.

Re: Hockey is the Official Game of Affiliate Marketing, What Superbowl?

Pat Grady — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:26:24 -0000

Since I got my big ass HDTV a few years back, hockey's value has gone way up in my house, the dimensions and clarity (I can see the puck! that's what she said.) mean that I'm predicting it's the sport that will benefit the most from our transition to HD. Hockey is utterly terrific on my 57" 1080 DLP monster!

And yep, Tampa's got ice! Few years back, I took my son to the Stanley Cup Finals over there, making memories and winning all-time greatest Dad mileage points.

And... did you see Malkin's between-the-legs goal in the All Star game? It was sooo sick that I barfed in my beer can and then ran a serious fever for a few hours afterwards.

Jason, on the plane, I let you regift my Fanatics cash card for those hotties sitting by you, I coughed that sucker up babe, just for you... pick me for the $100 post and we'll call it even. :-)

Re: The RSS Workout, Burning Feeds and Fat

Pat Grady — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:04:45 -0000

curing treadmill boredom... a problem i'm working on as a new business. one i didn't happen to discuss with you in Vegas. if i get it launched (unlikely, it's a very busy year!), i'll chat it up with you. it's in its infancy, for now, and florida doesn't help me... too easy to go outside and enjoy. :-) my solution may not please your inner geek though, rss feed, it ain't... people that gectored out (including us both), are too small a market for this venture. and hey, stop reading my thoughts (a byproduct of your new machine, no doubt, 'rss reading' my foot, linking machine and body and mind... yep, i can guess what you're really up to Scott).

Re: Won Best Blogger Award, Now I Guess I Have to Keep Blogging

Pat Grady — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:49:13 -0000

Joe's "Who wouldn't want to be interviewed by the blogger of the year?" is an outstanding point.

Start with other award winning bloggers.

Re: Won Best Blogger Award, Now I Guess I Have to Keep Blogging

Pat Grady — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:09:29 -0000

Congratulations!!!

I'm not sure where you should go next. But I do know that wherever it is, I'll be there reading and enjoying it.

Re: 2008 Review Continued, Personal Stuff

Pat Grady — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:26:31 -0000

I've got a shoe site / project idea for you... in Vegas, ask me about it... it combines concierge / social web, bounce.cc and shoe selling... ask me about it after we've had a drink or two... fun conversation!

Re: 2008 Affiliate Marketing Review, the Bad and the Good

Pat Grady — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:19:59 -0000

Second Missy's thought on your good list, thanks!

And thanks for the callout for me to blog, greatly appreciate the thought behind that.

See you very soon in Vegas!

Re: Help Me Name My Blog

Pat Grady — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 04:14:39 -0000

iamjangro.com
(tibute to i am legend movie. conveys the personal-ness too)

jangrola.com
or jangrila.com
(sure, looks like gorilla somehow, but it's a spin off of Shangri-La. see wiki entry here to see if it fits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La
i think it does)

jangorilla.com (jangro goes bananas)

jancsgrotto.com (grotto = your own personal cave, "janc's grotto" is an anagram of scott jangro)

jangrolicious.com (get the juicy inside jangro stuff)

jangrito.com (like a burrito, but spicier)

Re: Comment Systems Review Redux

Pat Grady — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:43:45 -0000

"Disqus and ID should allow the blogger to configure who gets follow links (registered users) and who doesn’t (drive-bys)."

Fo shizzle! And pay you $500 for telling them to do so!

So easy for them to make this a configurable rich feature as well. Let the blogger pick... members by NAME... X number of posts before nofollow is removed... Y number of days since first post before nofollow is removed... Z number of replies to their posts before nofollow is removed... Allow the blogger to choose NAME, X, Y or Z... or multiples of them... in either an AND or OR fashion.

So the blogger can configure settings to make sure that anyone getting juice is active, sticks around, and actually contributes to the discussions.

Re: The Year Affiliates Saved Christmas, Really?

Pat Grady — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:22:00 -0000

When the ability to discern is assumed to be false or inaccurate, no reasonable decisions regarding differentiation or optimization can be made. And that is the primary mode today for the vast majority of thinkers and nonthinkers about this issue... it's can't be optimized, so leave it as it is.

Intellectually, that's lazy. From a business perspective, it's inefficient. Either of those conditions leads to things... and Scott, I think you know where that is. I'll see you there. :-)

Re: The Year Affiliates Saved Christmas, Really?

Pat Grady — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:21:35 -0000

That said, like you Scott, I see this primarily from a merchant's standpoint. The merchant MUST be delivered value, or long term, things unwind. And I find it unfathomable that a merchant considering these issues would call this a philosophical discussion. This is an ROI discussion to any merchant and there's nothing esoteric about it. I'm not claiming it's simple or that Brook is wrong (his opinion that others touches can make a difference in results is absolutely correct and well proven), all I'm saying is that the effects can be measured and there are many ways to do so, but every conversation seems to be clouded with questions with obvious answers and a refusal to ever label some types of activities as being of lesser value (again, to the merchant).

Re: The Year Affiliates Saved Christmas, Really?

Pat Grady — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:20:40 -0000

"I'd rather see merchants be given the tools and information they need to make informed decisions."

I told you... if you're good at this, and possess ethics, you'll reach the same conclusions I have. And I was right.

I've also come to see others arguments as tainted by their roles in the industry. Myself, I play many different roles - product ppc affiliate, domain name bidder as a ppc consultant, coupon affiliate, direct to merchant theme ppc, site bound non-coupon affiliate using seo, or ppc, or both, or more, merchant, merchant consultant, seo consultant, conversion and analytcs consultant, OPM, AM rescue, poaching police, BHO and adware cop and on and on - that I can easily see this from everyone's viewpoint. I haven't worked directly for a network, but I have done plenty of network and inhouse tracking consulting also... so I do understand these other perspectives very well.

Re: Affiliate Summit West 2009 Party-a-Day Calendar

Pat Grady — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:52:21 -0000

gawd, that soundtrack is perfect for Sam and this video! bahahahaa!

Re: Silicon Valley Charm School, Attendance Zero

Pat Grady — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:40:39 -0000

My 2 favorite quotes from Sun Tsu are...

"We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors."

Entering partnerships in business, requires an unrushed courting period, where you get your last chance to learn if she's a good match, with good intentions, before any damage can be done.

~~~~~~~~~~

"The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain."

Optimists is business, see opportunities where many see as obstacles, making this not only a Sun Tsu classic, be a real life Yin-Yang truth. Conquering obstacles (aka achievement) first requires you to recognize them, them to have the will to try to vanquish them, then the savvy and patience and intellect to devise and implement tactics to that end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These antagonists, Calcanis and Arrington, to me, are just the road noises we hear along the way on our ride. Beep, beep.

Re: Twitter Become Facebook?

Pat Grady — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:08:08 -0000

"but donâ€™t all relationships start that way?"

Well, many do, but not all. But I seem to recall you started your relationship with Twitter more with disdain or at least with disregard or disinterest... there she was, in all her beauty, right in front of you, and you were nearly disgusted... at first... then you fell for her... hard. Classic story, love it.

Who knows, maybe your affection for her will make me take a second look at her, in a new way... Spring is in the air after all.

:-)

Re: Twitter Become Facebook?

Pat Grady — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:01:49 -0000

from UrbanDictionary.com:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twitterpated

1)to be completely enamored with someone/something.

2) the flighty exciting feeling you get when you think about/see the object of your affection.

3) romantically excited (i.e.: aroused)

4) the ever increasing acceleration of heartbeat and body temperature as a result of being engulfed amidst the exhilaration and joy of being/having a romantic entity in someone's life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think you've got a bad case of it brother.

Re: Talk about Misleading Users

Pat Grady — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:17:55 -0000

scott, i have the flu, so am a lil slow on the uptake today. second screenshot about time and whenu is from your archives of yesteryear's deceptive shitake. And today's highlighted spam scam slam is that little line that says "Unread Message (1)" stuff... is that a google adwords ad built to look like it's something other than an ad? If I'm getting it right (sorry, don't use gmail yet), shame on reunion.com, but serious shame on G themselves.

Since when does "Unread Message (1)" qualify as a good ad title?

Hideously good find.

Re: Zappos Affiliates: Look out Below!

Pat Grady — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:52:01 -0000

Several months ago, Zappos also started allowing BHO affiliates in (like eBates, iGive and UPromise). These "partners" drain the returns Zappos seeks in their affiliate channel, hurting the channel overall. In addition, individual affiliates are affected by a leak / loss to these automated cookie machines taking credit for their referred visitor's return day sales.

What a mess, from darling to loser in very short order.

By the way, eBates has a 12% Zappos rebate posted on their site... so it's clear what affiliates need to do to deserve top commission rates from Zappos...

At least CJ's happy... [/sarcasm].

Re: The Real Spock Would Surely Disapprove

Pat Grady — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:58:26 -0000

I like to think he'd fire a photon torpedo at them specially equiiped to erase their stolen data, chap their butts and disable their keywboards.

Thanks for exposing these punks.

Re: Coupon Affiliates Under Scrutiny

Pat Grady — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:32:24 -0000

"Iâ€™d bet my house that a big empty coupon code field in a checkout process is a bigger leak than any 800 number and cross-promotional links to other merchant properties combined."

Excellent point and I completely agree. I only became a couponer after getting tired of sending truckloads of completely incremental traffic to merchants and seeing couponers win most every contest for "sales". So now that I'm an affiliate benefitting from the "leak", you'd think I'd feel differently about it, but I don't. As merchants become more adept at discerning value, couponing affiliates will suffer through channel separation, lower payout rates and ever rising competition. Since I'm a incremental guy who added couponing to my quiver, I'm chilling. If you're just a couponer, I'd say now is the time to diversify. Incremental selling is so much more rewarding and stable, as a long term business plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"is a bigger leak than any 800 number"

hey, maybe you're on to something here... is there a way we affiliates can monetize phone traffic... "800" could be the new "coupon"... and we "800" affiliates can claim the prizes for all the phone calls we're sending to our merchants...

Re: So You Think You Have Kick-Ass Program Terms

Pat Grady — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:07:33 -0000

Good article, and I concur exactly. When I see poorly constructed tiers, with too many inflection points, I'm demotivated to some extent. Seems weird that someone who wants volume would construct things this way.

Additionally, when I consider what their profit curve looks like, knowing that my marginal sales increases cost them no new fixed costs, marketing or management or otherwise, I'm equally baffled. To set goals for people that sell for you, make them consistent with your own goals - that will generally motivate your affs well because it'll reward what both partners want.

I'm also left wondering when I see structures like these, if the merchant understands that when I push harder, my margins generally decrease - if you want astounding volume, just talk to me about what it takes to push more volume. And that's always a margin discussion, not a bonus spike.

Graph was genius Scott, thanks.

Re: How to Kill Sales During the Top Week of the Season

Pat Grady — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:46:07 -0000

Well, maybe they're so ingrained with the theme of being "scary" that they just could not help themselves. :-)

Re: CashAddOn – What’s Wrong with Incentive Publisher Browser Plugins

Pat Grady — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:07:14 -0000

Dan, other than afsrc=1, could you clarify for me how cashaddon's behavior is different than the behavior of UPromise or eBates or ShopAtHome/SAHS?

Re: What are Affiliate Network Responsibilities as a “Trusted Third Party”?

Pat Grady — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:25:43 -0000

"I donâ€™t see why they wouldnâ€™t also show this once they realized the impact it could have."

I share your hope! Reducing affiliate's risks by providing information is a sure fire way to get them to push harder to make more sales.

Every marketer makes choices every day about where to allocate their next slice of money and time - the more I know about each choice I have, the less risk I have in it and the more inclined I am to pursue that as a "channel" of mine, to then focus on growing and fattening it.

As far as giving affiliates things to help them, information is likely the easiest and cheapest thing for them to provide... networks would be wise to consider the "ROI" of providing more information!

Re: What are Affiliate Network Responsibilities as a “Trusted Third Party”?

Pat Grady — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:24:03 -0000

Who said it's hopeless? I said it's naive to expect folks like CJ and LS to provide transparency in how and when their merchants deposit funds... do you expect them to do that soon?

Re: What are Affiliate Network Responsibilities as a “Trusted Third Party”?

Pat Grady — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:23:44 -0000

While I do like your idea of picking one role, or the other, there's a third working solution that one of the smaller affiliate networks, ShareASale, uses.

They transparently show which merchants are essentially escrowing (they call it auto-deposit) and let the affiliates make their own decisions regarding what value this extra information has in choosing their partner merchants.

Since it is true that expecting all merchants to conform with a network-wide pay-up-front method likely isn't palatable in recruiting all merchants, I think the "display the role we play" works better than expecting the network to choose one method, or the other, as their sole choice.

Then again, expecting transparency from some of the bigger networks is fairly naive, given their history in so many other areas.

Re: SEO Lessons from Zappos.com

Pat Grady — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:11:28 -0000

I see the potato shoved into Z's exhaust pipe...

Covering my ears, waiting, for a very loud backfire sound...

Re: Can parasite affiliates massively affect other affiliates?

Pat Grady — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:55:54 -0000

If the "effective loss of revenue is negligible at worst", why did you suggest a "shorter persistent cookies for Toolbar distribution companies like Upromise"? How short would you suggest would be fair to all parties and, most importantly, why?

Re: Yahoo! announces Affiliate Advisory Board

Pat Grady — Tue, 01 May 2007 11:03:59 -0000

Vinny, OUTSTANDING! They really need input from ppc affiliates that know what they're doing. This is really good news!