Matt Bailey’s affiliate blog

Previously on this blog I’ve bemoaned the lack of new affiliates. A few potential reasons for this: barriers to entry are higher than they used to be; more merchants so affiliates are spread more thinly; it’s harder to make money than it used to be.
However, something else to consider. 5 years ago, tech savvy entrepreneurs [...]

At the recent IAB Affiliate Council meeting we debated how merchants can gain increased transparency over what affiliates are doing, and at the same time sell themselves to merchants/agencies/networks to reduce the chance of being rejected from their campaign.
Therefore I thought it would be useful to write a quick post on what we look for [...]

There seems to be a common assumption in the affiliate world that the cookie period should be 30 days. I am concerned that not enough thought goes into determining this. What rationale is used by merchants/networks when setting cookie periods?
Sector differences
Different vertical sectors have different buying cycles and so this should influence the length of [...]

The issue of PI tracking through the affiliate channel has died down recently, having been a big issue 3-4 years ago. However is it now time to revisit this?
Because of the last click wins model, many affiliates contribute to sales that they do not get rewarded for, and content affiliates are generally considered to be [...]