Hi there, Wondering if anyone can help me out regarding linking to offers. Just got into CJ and am noticing the same thing that I did at MaxBounty. Why is there no 'offer affiliate link' that you can use on your site to link to them and get the commission. Any affiliate out there (and Azoogle) gives you a link to use (like 'www.adsite.com/?aff=2939203'). CJ has banners and text links but no link for the ad that I can use in my code (I know how to code and never use the pre-made stuff). Anyways, I emailed CJ and they told me that I must use the links that are provided exactly like they are. They told me this: ----------------------------------- We do not allow our publishers to place the Advertisers links for third-party usage. Please read the excerpt from the Publisher Service Agreement below: (d) Prohibited Uses of Links. (i) Locations. You may not place Links to an Advertiser's Web site or Web site content in third party newsgroups, message boards, blogs, unsolicited email and other types of spam, link farms, counters, chatrooms, or guestbooks. Publishers using IRC channels, instant messages or similar Internet resources must designate their program as special requiring manual review and acceptance by the Advertiser. ------------------------------- I just want to recommend their product or service on my site and send them traffic! The problem is that the text links provided don't gel with our site. I want an image button or whatever to link to the offer not a banner and not some text link without any keywords to catch the eye of my customers. So does this mean that all CJ publishers HAVE to use the links exactly as is? Are you not allowed to recommend the product in your own way? Can you not use a clickable image that leads to the advertiser's site? What do other CJ publishers do? Am I missing something? I can understand worrying about people who violate and misrepresent the advertiser but c'mon! Thanks!
You can promote offers using your own promotional text. Most advertisers have no problem with that. However, it should not be misleading - For example you should not use the word "free" for the ringtone offers. But for image ads, it is better to stick to the provided formats. If you want a particular size, you can request the advertiser for one.
Thanks for your response! I in no way want to be misleading. In fact, I'm usually too honest. The way I see it is that misleading customers means they get pissed off and know they're being tricked. I see so many sites that say 'absolutely free' and then you scroll down and it says 'only $29.95!' So yeah, you get the clicks but not the sales in my opinion. Honesty wins out if you ask me. Anyways, all of the image stuff are banners. What can I do if I want a nice graphical button on my site that says something like 'Click here to get a free Auto Insurance Quote' (and that's what the offer is) with a happy person in a car. I don't want just text, and I don't want a banner everybody totally ignores, I want it to stand out and fit with my page. Another example are ringtones as you mentioned. If you want a button with the Sprint logo going to one specific offer, what should be done there? I wouldn't be misleading anyone, I just want Sprint customers to click their Sprint logo to go to the advertiser who sells Sprint ringtones! A text link or a banner isn't appropriate in this case. What link could I use? Any ideas there? Should I steer clear of things like that and go with banners or text links only? Lots of people do ringtones with a separation of the offers using logos.
Or what about a button that says 'click here to sign up now!'? Can you not do that either? Text links and banners seem pretty limiting.
As meditang said, you usually won't have problems with inline anchor links, straight links or other text links as long as you dont promise anything on behalf of advertiser. Images are more tricky though, serious advertisers have their respectable brand, logo, colours, they require the image banner to look professional and to comply with the overal image of the company etc.. Thats why most of advertisers apriori do not allow publishers to make custom linkable banners and I can understand that, a hundreds of badly designed graphics with made up slogans is no good for established brands.. having said that you should just prepare your samples and ask affiliate manager if that would be ok.
Thanks! We're going to contact the advertiser directly since CJ doesn't seem to have a person that's a direct manager. We in no means want to mislead or harm the advertisers' brand. We want to drive as much traffic their way so that they're happy, the customer is happy, and so we're happy - $$$ . Thanks again.
I have pictures of products set up, and those pics have links that go to that product on the advertisers's site (using my affiliate link of course)... is this not allowed?