Affiliate Marketing Bizarro World

by Scott Jangro on 04 August 2006

White is Black. Up is Down. CJ is dissing HTML links. Performics is embracing affiliate marketing…

There’s some good stuff coming out of Performics recently.

Their product manager, Larry Adams, has been getting involved in the community, being very active at ABestWeb. I hear that Performics also made a good showing at Affiliate Summit in Orlando. (sporting “I heart affiliate marketing” t-shirts no less?)

They’ve also been working on some useful new functionality for affiliates. Key word useful.

The first, OrangeLinks, was released a few months ago. It’s a way for affiliates to subscribe to email or FTP delivery of updated links from your choice of merchants and based on some selection criteria (like promotions.)

By the way, Larry, I’m truly sorry for the part I played in so many asking you why your links are orange. That’s what you get for trying to be hip.

More recently, Performics has announced a planned infrastructure change that will make newly generated affiliate links available for use immediately. Previously, you had to wait a while (an hour or two?) for the links to become active as they propogate to the servers. No more of that. Good move. Now that’s a Link Management Initiative I can understand.

So what’s in store for the “Wendy’s” of affiliate marketing? I believe very strongly that affiliates have a favorite network or two and spend most, if not all, of their time there. I’m pretty sure Performics isn’t near the top of the list for most.

But CJ and Linkshare have left the door open of late. Step on through guys.

  • cal
    I was just saying the other day that Performics has been putting out some good stuff. The orange links are really helpful.

    A number of their merchants use the Product Showcase Creator, and the links are nothing more than URL product id, which makes them easy to generate automatically.

    I should say that I rarely notice payment procedures, so long as I get a reasonable predictable deposit each month.

    I can't figure the ShareaSale love, but maybe it's because none of the merchants have any relevance for me.
  • Scott
    Thanks for the comments guys.

    I agree Jeremy, Performics has some work to do. But for me, I just can't get it into my routine. I make money with some merchants there, the money lands in my bank account each month, but I never log in. Why is that? I can't quite put a finger on it.

    Similar thing with Shareasale. They are very, very good at what they do, and couldn't be run by better people. I consider Brian a good friend. But I just can't seem to get over the hump and work SaS into the routine. As Michael points out, the merchants do have something to do with it, but they do have some good ones.

    OK, here's my pledge. Before August is out, I'm going to make a strong effort to do something new in each network. They both deserve some attention, and I keep giving it to the usual suspects.
  • Performics is certainly moving in the right direction, and I've been incredibly impressed with everything I've seen from them over the past few months.

    ShareASale.com is an incredible network. They've very affiliate-focused. I would be even more excited if they would land some larger merchants. Their only real disadvantage to me is that they mainly have small merchants. Nothing wrong with small merchants, but I tend to do better with the larger, well-recognized ones.

    I thought CJ had a better handle on things, but with their introduction and continuing support of LMI, I don't think they're headed in the same direction that most affiliates are.

    LinkShare has made some missteps in the past, but has been improving. Their new reporting is still a thorn in the side, and they're very slow to execute on anything.
  • Good observations as usual about the industry.

    I think Performics needs to improve their payments process before they can be considered a major contender. I'm still getting checks from Q1.
  • Beth Kirsch
    We need more competition in the space, and it's interesting to see Performics stepping up to the plate and Larry very engaged in getting their platform up to speed.

    People should give Larry feedback on a wish list for Peformics, I bet he is open.
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