Shawn Collins writes:
As we bid farewell to this year’s model of affiliate marketing and embark upon 2005, I’ve got to wonder what sorts of changes we are in for next year…
New Year’s Affiliate Resolutions
In this article, Shawn draws together input from a number of industry experts.
There are several top issues that face the industry in 2005.
Front and center is the impending governing of the click arbitrage affiliate activity in Google. Overture has been preventing affiliates from linking directly to merchants for a long time. Word on the street is that Google will be doing the same. Keep an eye out for this in mid-January.
I wrote about this earlier. And Wayne Porter at Revenews has been reporting on this issue for several weeks now.
Is this the tip of the iceberg when it comes to search engines taking action on affiliate activity? Affiliate marketing sure has made it’s mark on the Internet in both good and bad ways. We’ve seen many innovative business models come from publishers whose revenue model is based on earning affiliate commissions. We’ve also seen aggressive methods such as automatic content generation via datafeeds, blog comment spamming, etc., reach heights where strong tactics will likely be implemented to keep search results in the control of the search engines.
My prediction: In 2005, brute force webmaster techniques will become as ineffective in search engines as ever. New ideas, innovation, and websites that provide inherent value will win out. Along the way, many sites that fit that criteria will suffer collateral damage and be thrown out in the crackdown. There will be a shift in webmaster focus from ranking in Google to ranking well in Yahoo and MSN’s new search engine.
Here’s to a prosperous 2005!
