Affiliate Marketing on BCO
I just tried to submit my reply to another thread and for some reason the entire thread disappeared. I'm relieved to see that I'm not the only one who thinks affiliate marketing and other types of marketing activities (pay-per-click, cloaked affiliate links, unsolicited PMs, etc) are inappropriate and unethical here on BCO (not to mention against BCO rules). I think it's a great topic and really needs to be discussed, so hopefully it won't be removed. There were a lot of really well-thought out posts in the thread I was looking at, and I think it's a real shame that it's all lost.
Anyway, here's my two cents:
These affiliate links and "stealth marketing" posts have been a huge bur in my side since I joined BCO several years ago. The most recent ones I've been noticing have been the ones for a marketing link-fest called "World Cancer Healing Summit" or something, where shills are paid commissions to spam their cloaked affiliate links all over the internet. Affiliates even earn a bonus commission if they convince someone to "upgrade" to buying copies of their "cheap CDs."
Don't believe me? Read this, directly from their affiliate promotion site:
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"Become an Affiliate and Get Paid up to 50% to Promote Our Online Health Events and Products"
We put on up to 8 events over the course of the year on Alternative Health, Nutrition and Fitness. Each event gives you the unique opportunity to make commission while passing along great health information.
We also have products and services that you can promote as well and are always creating more opportunities for you.
*********************************************************************************************************************
I'm not accusing any specific poster here on BCO of doing this intentionally, but IMHO, it's even worse if legitimate BCO people are unwittingly and/or unknowingly contributing to these sorts of scammy activities by pasting links to them and being used as shills for scammers. Paid-per-click marketers earn money every time someone clicks on one of their links, even if it's just to listen to free lectures, and even if they don't BUY anything. In this case and specifically with regard to the Kevin Gianni summit thing, it's clear to me that the whole intent of his "summit" is increasing his financial gains and earning income for himself and his affiliates. It's not about health and it's not about cancer. It's about greed and selfishness and an utter lack of integrity and morals.
Of course that's my opinion and I realize some will disagree. I hope that in speaking out against this type of thing, more people will be aware of what's going on and help to prevent this kind of misuse of BCO.
Comments
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From Wikipedia re: undercover marketing:
"Undercover marketing (also known as buzz marketing, stealth marketing, or by its detractors roach baiting) is a subset of guerrilla marketing where consumers do not realize they are being marketed to. For example, a marketing company might pay an actor or socially adept person to use a certain product visibly and convincingly in locations where target consumers congregate. While there, the actor will also talk up their product to people they befriend in that location, even handing out samples if it is economically feasible. The actor will often be able to sell consumers on their product without those consumers even realizing that they are being marketed to."
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Natural News, aka Mike Adams, "The Health Ranger," "WebSeed," etc. is another big affiliate marketing network that is frequently linked to here on BCO. They have a ton of different names, sites, and programs, but here's their affiliate information from just one of their many scams:
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"9. Commission Process
Once you have an affiliate account, you have access to a back administration area specifically for your account. The marketing tools in the back admin area teach you how to create a link on YOUR website/blog/email to connect a customer to OUR website. Any customer who enters OUR store from YOUR link is automatically registered as your customer through the "cookie" system on their computer. This means that even if they leave our website and return in a few days, they are still registered as your customer and you will receive commission for their purchase. This cookie system lasts 7 days...after that, they would have to once again enter from YOUR link to OUR website for you to earn commission on their purchase. " -
Dr. Joseph Mercola Affiliate Program:
" Be a Clickbank Affiliate Today! Earn money while you share my vision of providing people with high-quality natural health solutions."
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AlignLife - just saw this one mentioned today. Affiliate site.
"After registering, you'll get exclusive access to our members area. In here, you'll get your very own unique affiliate link, that you can use to promote our site. What this affiliate link does is track every single referral that you make to our site, so when someone that you referred buys from us, you'll automatically get credited with the commission. You will also have access to our affiliate tools including banner ads, promotional emails, promotional articles, etc.
For example, you tell your sister about our site and they click on your unique affiliate link. When she buys from us, our affiliate program tracks this and knows that you referred her to us. You'll then get paid a commission.
Your unique affiliate link can be used anywhere you want, so you can put it up on your website, set it as your email signature, or just tell your friends about it."
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Here's some information for spammers on how to successfully infiltrate a "target-rich" environment:
"Start your own chat or join an existing chat related to your product. When you first join a chat room, don't immediately start promoting your affiliate product, you'll be labeled a spammer and ignored. Instead start off by contributing something useful to the discussion without promoting any particular product. Then find the chance to advertise and promote your affiliate product as you go along. The hold's true for message boards, discussion boards and forums. The important thing here is to establish a rapport with your potential customers first, then sell to them when you have that rapport. People naturally prefer buying from someone they have a relationship with, rather than from a stranger."
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hey thenewme..so bare with me..what is a shill? and could someone here unknowingly be adding a link that was recommended to them by the person who is making money per click?..and not benefit themselves? I read the link BD added..it was not just health and alt products...there were pharmacy products, beauty products, drugs..how would you determine if someone at bco for example, was affiliated with a company, and not just recommending something that was recommended by someone with an affiliation? I find the whole thing disturbing. I think back on the number of times a product was recommended on all the forums i frequent, and now wonder if they were paid for saying that?. How does one determine what is a legitimate opinion, and not a marketing ploy?
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Hi Thats-life. I completely agree - it's very disturbing.
Shill (From Wikipedia): "In online discussion media, satisfied consumers or "innocent" parties may express specific opinions in order to further the interests of an organization in which they have an interest, such as a commercial vendor or special interest group. Websites may also be set up for the same purpose. For example, an employee of a company that produces a specific product may praise the product anonymously in a discussion forum or group in order to generate interest in that product, service or group. In addition, some shills use sock puppetry where they sign on as one user soliciting recommendations for a specific product or service. They then sign on as a different user pretending to be a satisfied customer of a specific company. "
I'm by no means an expert on network marketing, but in my opinion, affiliate marketing is a HUGE RED FLAG on a health/nutrition/medical website. There are lots and lots of respectable, credible, and legitimate sources of *real* information online. I'm not sure, but if someone posts a link that was given to them secondhand and happens to be an affiliate link, I think it could still earn commissions for the affiliate. I think it's sneaky and underhanded and I'd never knowingly click on an affiliate link, especially for medical information/service/products.
To avoid the issue, I rely on resources that I consider to be credible and reliable. Of course it can be a subjective thing, but I can't abide affiliate marketing for anything to do with my health.
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I don't mind people making money off of my cancer. Many people do. What I object to is people becoming part of the community, making some posts so that they are one of the gang with the sole purpose of afiliate marketing. It was easy to find the info on how to be an affiliate on that conference site. I wasn't looking for it and it was right there
Even long time members could do this I suppode, but they could at least be honest and say "Every time you click I get money."
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This marketing technique is used all over the internet. We need to be cautious and this OP is a good reminder and a lesson in how these things work. Not only are some of them very exploitive but these links put tracking cookies on your computer ... and I have read that they themselves are often targets for virus and trojan attacks.
A board like BCO will show up on search engines and unfortunately we should expect to be targeted on a regular basis. I do think that the Holistic and Alternative Medicine forums are going to be hit more often than most of our topics ... just because there are so many of those types of products that use this internet marketing tool and those words are going to get Google hits.
Some are very easy to spot. We've all seen the nonsense posts full of nothing but highlighted links to websites. They get reported and removed quickly because they are obvious spam. The more subtle ones are harder to deal with IMO.
We can unwittingly spread these links having no idea of what is going on behind the scenes. Personally, when I see a new poster hit the board and immediately go into a link posting or product recommending frenzy I will not click on any of it ... better safe than sorry.
thats-life asked ... "How does one determine what is a legitimate opinion, and not a marketing ploy?" That is the million dollar question. It's a shame that those out there who prey on what they see as a vulnerable group (us with cancer) makes us have to ask it.
I would hope that the moderators are watching out for this on a regular basis. None of us want any part of this board taken over by salespeople.
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I have decided that from now on if there is a link to a site I am interested in I will Goggle the site and not use the link. It is more time consuming that way but I will know that the money will not go to someone who, in my opinion, is a devious snake of an affiliate.
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rosemary-b that is a great idea. Just to add the marketing people have been very active here today.
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Thanks, thenewme, I was wondering what happened to the other thread - did the moderators make it 'disappear'? HHHHmmmnnn...maybe it came too close to the idea of asking people to "click" to drive traffic to a certain dairy website?
Have I told everyone how much better I feel not eating any dairy products? No more sinus infections. Lost weight. I can get pure acidolpholis from the heath food store - so glad I make this choice.
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I am a bit surprised that this type of marketing is coming as a surprise to so many.........
It has been around pretty much as far as the Internet is concern since the conception of bar-codes.........
you ladies need to understand that every time you log onto the Internet that your information is being tracked........every time you "google" or do any kind of search engine your "cookies": are being gathered and you are put into classifications on what "interest" you.......
long before the Internet when snail mail was used even the very states you live in (or Country) sells your information to "list companies" for profit.........
being in the insurance business we would buy lists from our state on homeowners, automobile owners, motorcycle, boat,.......every product we would sell which you include your expiration dates to try and solicit your insurance needs........
How does AARP know you are turning 50?......they buy birthday information from your states....
any time you "link" to anywhere on the Internet your information is being tracked and sold to someone ..........
I don't know about you ladies but when I was first dx with cancer I started getting mail from "Funeral Homes"..........
it is the business of marketing........
every time you go to your beloved Trader Joes they will sell your information to a marketing company and they have internal marketers as well to figure out what is selling and what is not....
it is just business ladies........
now what you ladies are talking about with the "affiliations" is not really new either.......it is somewhat a multi-`level operation except no one really has to buy anything.....they just want your information because they will resell it.........so if you go to alt. medicine websites you will notice (depending on your security) that on the right of your page you will start receiving alternative products, information, etc.........
the only way to stop this is to pull a Unibomber type of lifestyle and get completely off the "grid"...
sell your home.......stop using the internet........no address........no job.........cash only.....no banks.......no utilities (they sell your info as well)...........squat on a piece of land in the woods in Montana.........
shokk
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Or use firefox with no script. The junk sites can't get your info because no-script won't allow any of their programming on your computer.
Every time I turn off my computer I use ccleaner to clean all my cache as well.
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Avg is also good. It will actually show you which sites are safe.
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Oh, don't get me wrong. I realize marketing is everywhere. I realize there was advertising, even undercover advertising, long before the internets.
I don't even necessarily begrudge marketing/advertising and people making a profit. Like someone said above, I fully realize and accept that there are people who make money from my illness. The key for me is those who *LEGITIMATELY* and OPENLY do it, and those who EARN the money from it. I resent any and all efforts to trick people into clicking on marketing links, which in turn adds to some greedy and unethical scammer's site traffic and pay-per-click income.
My issue is when liars, cheats, scammers, and frauds hide their intentions under the guise of "just innocently sharing information with others," when linking to monetized affiliate marketing sites and hawking their multi-level-marketing scams here on BCO. To me, it's a clear violation of BCO's no-advertising policy, and why the mods are leaving the links up is a mystery to me.
Sure, I believe that some of the scammy links are posted without understanding or bad intent. Doesn't matter - they still violate the no-advertising rules, IMHO. Ignorance is no excuse, and they should be removed. Just because scams exist elsewhere doesn't justify using BCO as a target-rich advertising medium. They're scum-sucking predators. Nothing more.
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It is the stategy of becoming part of the community so that we won't know they are spammers that gets to me. In my opinion that is worse than spam because it is dishonest.
People seem to think that this type of thing is okay because it is free to the person who clicks on the link. But it is preying on women who are confused and vulnerable. When someone says something is great I want to know that they believe that, not that they are paid to say that. On tv they will tell you when someone is a compensated spokesperson. But online it is consumer beware.
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Longevity Warehouse / LongevityNow / David Wolfe / sunfood, etc. - AFFILIATE MARKETERS.
"This is an incredible opportunity for you to:
* Get a 50% commission ($248.50 per sale!!!)
* Receive ongoing commission checks every month on membership subscriptions David's acclaimed health site TheBestDayEver.com
* Participate in our Affiliate Contest to receive incredible prizes.
* Share amazing free give aways full of never before revealed health secrets that your list will thank you for.
* Join a massive 7-figure launch! Our goal is send affiliates over $1 million in commissions. Be sure to grab your share.
* Earn an extra 10% second-tier commission on BOTH front-end sales and monthly continuity generated by any affiliates YOU refer to us!"
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Like I said thenewme. Pyramid schemes. Some of them have more than 2 tiers.
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Robert O. Young / Ph Miracle Diet / pH Miracle Living / etc: AFFILIATE MARKETERS
"...the pH Miracle Center will provide a link for you to place on your website which links to the products and services of Dr. Robert O. Young and Shelley Redford Young.
... a Professional Affiliate will earn an Affiliate Program fee of 10% for product sales generated from these links and 5% for training and other programs. Fees are provided quarterly. "
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It is truly my hope that nobody on these boards is an affiliate marketer and that the people that provide links to affliate marketing sites are doing it innocently.
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What rosemary said ...
Or that all the affiliate marketers end up wasting their time unknowingly just talking to each other instead of to real potential buyers of their stuff.
That's what it will probably come to some day if BCO gets the reputation of being an easy target. We will be swamped with them.One thing is for sure ... if they are really paying all those commissions to several tiers of people we are talking seriously overpriced products to pay for it all.
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shokk: i really like that lifestyle idea, it is what i dream of...
to all: Has this thread disappeared from active topics or did i just miss it twice scrolling? i looked up thenewme to find it.
to all: Can you answer this for me?...and sorry if it sounds simplisitc, but i really am new to this info, and want to understand it. I have started a blog. I added to 'blogs i follow' , a blog by the man who wrote the book i love (on diet/meditation etc) . How can i check if he is 'affiliated' with anyone/ company, and whether he is profiting from my clicks, or if anyone clicks his blog, through my blog.....rosemary, i think, like me, there may be others who, ashamedly, didnt know about this type of marketing. I have seen that i can add a 'gadget' to my blog, to allow google advertising, and they said they direct appropriate advertisers to the little space if i enable it. I would make $, somehow, that they would send via an account....Is this the same thing you are discussing?, or is it legitimate open advertising. Obviously they search the words of a blog to decide what is 'appropriate' for you!....i havent added the 'adsense' gadget yet...because although i would like to make a little money!, im not sure i want to be seen as someone who is writing my story for money, if you get what i mean. anyway, as you people seem to take this kind of thing very seriously, i thought i would ask your opinion.
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thats-life, I really don't know much about this. I just suggest you do your research and do what your heart tells you is right.
I think it was removed from active topics to defuse things a little. People really seem passionate about this.
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That's-Life. Nothing wrong with what you are doing. It is your blog and everyone knows that adsense is involved in any of these blogs. Traffic though must come legitimately, otherwise adsense will terminate your account. Some people will direct traffic from paid to click sites or Traffic surfing sites or spam. BIG NO-NO.
The ads are usually contextual and one can make a fair amount of money.
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thats-life ... if you recommend a book or blog that you really have found helpful that is sincere and is not at all the same as these marketing scams IMO.
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BD: you have to enable adsense for it to start, its not automatic, ive worked that bit out....the rest of what you said...gobbbldygook to me ...lol..some people will direct traffic from surfing, travel what???!...
WR:: yes, im sure its ok to recommend a book, or maybe his blog, but i was just thinking maybe he is affiliated with alt products, and then if im indirectly promoting his blog, and he makes money from people clicking through mine, then i may look like im affiliated...etc...and wondering where i could find that info on his .
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To check if one is an affiliate of a website, look at the url. It will usually have a referrer on the end.
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oh, i just realised this was in the comp and holistic forum..i think the type of scams you are talking about are not only in this area of interest. Though its an interesting topic to me, wouldnt it be better in the comments and suggestions forum? as a gesture of non bias?
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