Commission Junction Announced this morning that they’re fundamentally changing their linking technology from static HTML links to JavaScript links.
Phase I of the Link Management Initiative involves a cutover to the default link type being this new JavaScript link. What’s a JavaScript link?
Some other providers use JavaScript links. The most popular is Google AdSense which uses JavaScript links exclusively for their standard publishers. TradeDoubler, an affiliate network in Europe uses JavaScript links by default. A JavaScript link may look as simple as this:
<script language="JavaScript" src="http://affiliate-provider.com/script?a=xxxxxx&Id=73A467F892B689C></script>
Or it could be a good deal more complex, like an AdSense link.
You’ll notice that there is no longer an anchor tag or an img tag for banner links that are pasted on a publisher site. These still exist, but get served at impression time. Is that a text link? A banner link? A big block of 4 products and a search box? Yes, yes, and yes. It’s whatever the service provider serves in response to the request. Of course it had better be what the publisher expects, but this opens up a new world of opportunities.
The number one thing about this sort of link is that it offers 100% control to the provider, in this case, Commission Junction, over the code that gets placed on a publisher site. That has benefits in that if CJ or an advertiser needs make a change to a link, they can do that automatically without requiring every publisher to manually edit sites.
It also allows CJ to offer up advanced link types. They cite automatic link rotation and other “future dynamic capabilities” such as multimedia and video links. (Note, Google just launched a video link for Adwords.)
This additional control for Commission Junction may mean less control for publishers. Changing link text, for example, will no longer be as simple as changing a little text in HTML. While CJ says that you will be able to continue to modify links by adding an SID, modifying the destination URL, and controlling the appearance of a text link, how this will be accomplished remains to be seen. It may require pre-setting the link in the CJ interface as you get the link code. This means more interaction with the link-generation tools in the CJ account manager.
But not all publishers cut-n-paste links onto their websites. Some integrate links into their websites deeply, by using only the click-URL and incorporating that in website links as needed. And not all delivery mechanisms used by affiliates (search marketing and email) support anything but a simple URL.
For this, CJ says they will have Keyword and Email links. They also say that product catalogs will eventually move to this new javascript link-type as well.
How the more advanced publishers like a price comparison website or a coupon site will manage their enormous databases of content that gets automatically married with a simple affiliate link prior to presentation on a page with what amounts to a dozen or more affiliate links on a single page, that one’s going to be a challenge to convert to JavaScript.
This all goes into effect on June 23, 2006. Commission Junction makes no mention of a deadline for cutting old links over. They must have one in mind, though with their stated reasoning for pushing Phase I out now being that it is well before the holiday season, that final phase must be 2007 the earliest.
Read more about CJ’s Link Management Initative on their website. Login is required, but we’ve all got at least one of those.
This will undoubtedly, also be discussed thoroughly on affiliate forums. A Best Web has one going now.
Update: Read more on this… Commission Junction’s JavaScript Link Follow-Up
