Hidden marketing in WordPress plugins – WordPress should clean up their act

December 30, 2009 · Filed Under Blogging software, WordPress, advertising, affiliate, scam · Comment 

I am getting increasingly annoyed by WordPress plugins that pretend to be free, but that in reality are commercial. Is WordPress really going to permit that kind of hidden marketing on their sites and via their blogs? Do they get paid for it? Are they unable to distinguish between free plugins and commercial products?

In many countries around the world, for instance in the Scandinavian countries, one of which I come from, some of the types of marketing used here are actually illegal. Does WordPress want to permit marketing that is illegal in some of the markets they apply to, and which are very borderline even in the US and the UK?

Look for instance at “All in one SEO” and “WP Ajax Edit Comments” plugins. One pushes you to look at their offerings every time you upgrade, the other one forces you to register on their site and promotes a “professional version” there.

In my opinion these and similar plugins should be banned from marketing via the WordPress channels, or at the very least be marked clearly as “for pay” or “commercial products” or something of this kind. I am strongly against marketing where things are presented as free which when they are not!

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Affiliates scammed at Commission Junction?

August 7, 2008 · Filed Under Adobe Inc, Blogging, Commission Junction, ad network, advertising, affiliate, eBay, monetize, scam · Comment 

For me the whole story with Commission Juction started a long time ago. I have written about it in this blog previously, without mentioning the name of Commission Junction, is a post entitled Monetizing your blog – make the smart choices.

One of the ad agencies I had an affiliate deal with, I can reveal now, was Commission Junction. It, in turn was (is?) affiliated with eBay, and gave me ads from a number of great companies that I was happy to promote, like for instance eBay and Adobe.

And I spent a large number of hours finding the right ads, placing them on my pages, monitoring progress, and so on. And, according to the stats, a lot of people clicked the ads.

But guess what? I made no money at all! According to the same stats, not one of the people clicking the ads became leads for the advertisers. Nor did any of them buy anything. Not one single soul!

So in the blog post I cited above, I wrote:

So far, I haven’t made a nickel on those affiliate deals. Many of them, I think, are scams. At least a large number of them are structured in ways that favor the advertiser and possibly the agency, but definitely not me. So somebody else is getting the value I create.

It now turns out that mostly likely I was scammed! There is now a class action suit against Commission Junction pending, and a proposed settlement:

The proposed settlement will resolve claims that Defendants failed to adequately monitor Commission Junction’s Network for the use by third parties of software that does not
comply with Commission Junction’s (“CJ”) Publisher Code of Conduct and that is intended to steal or divert commissions from publishers on CJ’s network (“Non-compliant Software”), failed to adequately monitor or prevent third parties from engaging in the theft or “hijacking” of commissions from Advertisers and Publishers on CJ’s Network, and failed to make sufficient disclosures regarding the existence of Non-compliant Software and commission theft, resulting in losses to both advertisers and publishers on the CJ Network.

The suit, and proposed settlement includes ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction, Inc. and Be Free. Neither of these parties, of course, admit any guilt or wrong doing. But they have agreed to pay publishers and advertisers even so!?!

So yeah, monetizing blogs and websites IS difficult, and there are scams! So look out friends, be careful, watch your stats and trust your instincts!

PS: Link to info about the settlement

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Monetizing your blog – make the smart choices

December 20, 2007 · Filed Under Blogging, ad network, advertising, affiliate, monetize · Comment 

Advertising is generally the most important source of income on blogs (and web sites). However, monetizing your blog is not quite as easy as many may think. There are a number of pitfalls, and a large number of companies and agencies out there that want to serve you deals that look promising, but in reality will make you very little money.

I have learned some lessons about this. I have made some costly mistakes that I am willing to share so that others can avoid repeating them. There are a bunch of people out there writing blogs about how much money they make, how fast they’re making money, and how easy it is to make money. A number of them make big money on that. Some of the advice is good, some is not. Very few of them say very little about the mistakes they have made. Neither do they say muc about the posible pitfalls you may encounter when you seek to monetize your blog. And, for sure, it’s not nearly as easy as most of those people say.

Making money by blogging really is not only about getting visitors and driving traffic; it’s also about avoiding pitfalls and making money for yourself instead of for others. Your blog may well create a lot of value, without you getting anything near a fair share of it.

So here are some stories about pitfalls. This is straight talk, and valuable and expensive lessons. Some of my readers, I am sure, have similar or other stories. Sharing them will, I am sure, be to our joint benefit.

I have associate deals with several companies. The ones I am very pleased with, are Google and Amazon. However, being eager to make bucks, I also entered into deals with some online advertising agencies (I will not, for now, name them). They offered deals of a different nature than Google and even Amazon – all sorts of so called “incentive-based” payment structures, often with extremely high pay-offs if my visitors did A, B or C, but nothing if they didn’t do just that.

So far, I haven’t made a nickel on those affiliate deals. Many of them, I think, are scams. At least a large number of them are structured in ways that favor the advertiser and possibly the agency, but definitely not me. So somebody else is getting the value I create. Let me explain in more detail by giving an example.

One deal I have is with a credit card company. I show their ads, banners, and the like. Now, since I run a book site, I figured at least some of my visitors would be interested in an extra credit card. And the deal looked very sweet – I would receive about USD 100 if a visitor filled out an application for a credit card. So far, I have showed the ad about 30,000 times. Not one visitor – according to the agency – have applied for the card. OK, so maybe my visitors aren’t interested in credit cards, you say? Well, I’ve tried a number of other products as well. Same story. So what is happening? Now, it could be that the cookie they use to identify applicants as coming from my site isn’t working. But there is more to it than that.

One thing I notice is that the advertiser(s) I get from one of my online advertising agencies don’t run any campaigns (like “Free of charge first 2 years” or “0 percent APR for one year” or the like). And the ads aren’t extremely attractive. Some of the other companies also advertise offers that really are not very competitive.

So, as a result, I show the ads, but my visitors don’t respond to the ads by performing the actions that would give me my rewards based on performance incentives.

However, ads have three (main) functions – make people visit stores or web sites, sell goods, and build brands. So my advertisers get a lot a brand building, as well as a few visits, but pay nothing because they don’t sell goods at the same time. My feeling, increasingly, is that many of the deals I have made have been created (set up) this way intentionally. And, what is possibly worse, is that the agencies I am using may well be making a certain amount per ad shown or per click through – without me getting any share of it. Or, they may be owned by companies that have a joint interest in cheap online ads. I don’t know much about this, but I speculate that this may be how it sometimes works out.

Now, you also have to remember that in addition to the three main functions of ads, they have a fourth function: Advertisements affect the attractiveness of your site, positively or negatively. Google’s work with improving the relevance of their ads, will also help you make your site more attractive. Unattractive and/or irrelevant ads, on the other hand, may well reduce your blog or site’s attractiveness.

My sense of what is right as far as payment structures for online advertising is concerned, is that any deal with an advertiser should involve a per view payment – that’s really a payment for branding of the company and/or its product. There exist lots of evidence that Internet ads have strong branding effects, and branding is certainly paid for in other media like TV, newspapers, and radio. It should not be any different on the Internet. Such deals are hard to get, especially for sites with few visitors, but bigger sites and blogs have them.

In addition, there should be a click through as well as a purchase based incentive.

Deals that don’t have all these components are basically biased in favor of the advertiser or the agency, and should in principle be avoided. But, in reality, deals that are “fair” in this, very strict sense, and have all three payment components are hard to get, and only the biggest and most visited sites usually get them. So, in the real world both you and I will have to compromise a bit.

So, what would my advise be, based on this? First, of course – start with content that gives value to your readers. Assuming that is true for your blog, here are some rules about making more money for yourself and less for others on ads on your blog or site:

Maximizing income on your blog – rules about ads:

1. Look for deals where the incentives for you are transparent.

2. If possible, try to get paid per view.

3. If you can’t get per view ads, get ads that pay per click (a la Google).

4. Only run ads that are highly relevant for you site – ads that by themselves add to the attraction of your site for your visitors.

5. Remove ads that don’t make you money quickly (show the ad x thousand times, if nothing happens, then out they go).

6. Don’t run ads that you wouldn’t respond to yourself – e.g. without bargains, special offers, campaigns, and the like that give extra value.

7. Never, never enter into deals with agencies offering very complicated reward structures.

8. Look at what other bloggers say about the various agencies – only go with those that come highly recommended and that other bloggers actually make money on.

9. Report scams – agencies that don’t pay as they should, cookies that aren’t working properly, and the like – online ASAP so that others can avoid them.

So for me at, learning to monetize smartly has taken some time as well as lost me some money!

Some questions to my visitors: Have you experienced similar things? Do you have similar or other stories to report? Was this useful advice? Let’s share experiences – blogging is not a zero-sum game, we can all benefit from doing it smarter!

– Peter –

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