CJ - Only Javascript Links For New Merchants After June 23

[TrustNo1]

"Any publisher-advertiser relationships formed after this date (June 23)will only provide JavaScript links"

You can read about it after you login. Dumb.

[Art]

Odd, this'll make them vulnerable to adblockers.

Edit:

If you are doing search marketing, you will now only be able to get links for use in search marketing from the Keyword Link area in the CJ Account Manager™ (Get Links >> View Links >> Keyword Link), and only if you have designated search engine marketing as your promotional method.
If you have been creating your own keyword links from other links, you will no longer be able to.
If you are joined to an advertiser who has not provided a Keyword link, you will not be able to do search marketing for them.

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but does this mean search marketers ONLY get search marketing links?

[TheHoff]

Other way around... you ONLY get keyword links if you are listed as a SEM in your account. Anyone can add that to their account profile. They are saying you can't use any other link except for the one specifically set aside for PPC bidding. I assume this is so merchants can tell what traffic and sales come from which channel; natural or PPC.

[alph]

I would think a javascript link would give them more flexibility for changing/removing links. If an advertiser drops you, CJ can disable your link automatically.

[5starAffiliates]

I just did a big long blog about all the changes at CJ - why affiliates are upset and what some of the pros - including DP's own "the Hoff" have to day about it.
Sorry but too much html links and quotes to deal with changing to bbcode, for my carpal to deal with today.

Affiliates Up in Arms About MAJOR Link Changes at CJ
http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliat...-link-changes/

What do you guys think about all this???

[GeorgeB.]

Now you post this after I sent over 200k impressions to CJ on a napster affilliate banner with plenty clicks and not a single commmish!

[websiteideas]

cj has never done well for me. YPN and Adsense are by far much more worthwhile.

[5starAffiliates]

oops missed this thread. Started a new one here:

Affiliates Up in Arms About MAJOR Link Changes at CJ
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=88369

[ColinR]

Cj is stagnant for me..I read a few make some serious cash but not here. It be interesting to know what % are lost to phone sales.

[TheHoff]

You have to pick and choose; I don't promote anyone who pushes the 1-800 or live chat ordering on the cart pages.

[legal-nurse-consultant]

if you were advertising your product, did the ads count as backlinks? now they won't?

[digitalpoint]

Originally Posted by 5starAffiliates

What do you guys think about all this???

I warned them that affiliates weren't going to like it... oh well...

[vic_msn]

so we cannot use them with CPC engines and dedicate a website

[Lisper]

I hope they will reverse the decision to go with javascript links, I don't like it at all. It will mean lower conversion because:

• The links won't show up for people browsing without javascript.
• The javascript will probably be loaded from some overloaded server, increasing load time for pages with affiliate links.

This also sucks because:

• It will be easier for search engines to see if a page has many affiliate links.
• We will loose the freedom to redirect an affiliate link through a (counter) script.
• I don't like CJ knowing everything about all page views with affiliate links.

[wkw]

If they force affiliates to use JS ad code, it's highly unlikely you can blend the links into surrounding content in a natural way. I'm presuming it will be more like Adsense in that you shove the ad block into some portion of your page and have little control over how it looks, etc. The days when I could blog about the joys of farm animal sex and sneak a link into the paragraph for an online bovine dating service are over. (New Zealanders reading this can swap "bovine" for sheep"...)

I can guess at some of the more obvious motivations they must see (particularly the advertisers) for this change, not the least of which being to try and reduce fraud. But if we're left with having to put their ads into discrete areas of our web pages instead of melding them into content, it's very much like the difference between brand placement in movies vs cutting to a commercial break when that movie is aired on TV. We all tune out the commercials in the break. We can't just tune out the fact that James Bond is wearing some particular brand of watch or driving a BMW. I do hope they've been testing this with some select publishers before now to have considered those downsides.

As for designating yourself as a SEM affiliate and getting more flexibility, somehow I suspect the commissions for those links will be lower.

I don't know how they'll end up implementing this based on the message they posted, but I don't think I'll like this change. And CJ has some very important advertisers which makes it that much worse.

[mad4]

As I see it the links will be similar to the smartzones javascript that you can generate to rotate through a few different banners. Is this correct?

Not sure how it will work for text links though, if you try put a word in a paragraph with a js link the search engines won't like it. Also what about if you use CSS on the links?

[nutkeis]

So do existing links have to be swapped out for the JS links?

What happens if you just use the CPC text links?

...Yet another reason why CJ needs to see a real competitor arise.

[atonca]

Originally Posted by digitalpoint

I warned them that affiliates weren't going to like it... oh well...

I've read that so many publishers opposed to these changes. I myself don't like it too. Did CJ do a survey among publishers before they decided to make the changes? Afterall, it is the publishers who are "working " for them and making them millions of millions of dollors. Think about it, if there is no publishers applying advertisers affiliate programs, which advertiser will join CJ and pay them?

Shall we take a vote in this forum and let CJ hear our voices?

[mad4]

How do JavaScript links work with search engine optimization?
Recently released search engine ranking rules indicate publishers’ rankings can be negatively impacted if traditional affiliate links are present. Due to the unique structure of Commission Junction’s JavaScript links, search engines will see these links in a similar way as they see forms. Therefore our JavaScript links will not be identified as traditional affiliate links and ranking degradation should not result.

I think google will figure it out.

[nutkeis]

I like how they say "Recently released search engine ranking rules" as if it was from an official Google memo.