First off, Pinterest’s use of Skimlinks technology is nothing new, nor is it secretive. Skimlinks has been around for almost 4 years now, we are established and relatively well-known, and a large proportion of our customers are blogs, forums and social discovery sites. Pinterest and many other social discovery sites have been working with us for a long time, and although they are fabulously popular now, we like to think we helped them get the revenues and insights that helped them grow.

Online communities need ways to generate revenue to support their operations, and the preference is always to earn this revenue without disrupting their users or detracting from their UI with flashy advertisements. Creating a beautiful, user-friendly site, as Pinterest has done, mandates a non-intrusive way to make money.

In-content monetization can play a role in supporting the development of a community, and we hope that we helped get things off the ground, especially in the early days. Our goal as innovators is to create technologies that can help support similar businesses without impacting on the cutting edge user experiences these beautifully designed sites offer.

Secondly, some of these articles raise the point that Pinterest has not been vocal to their community in disclosing that they work with Skimlinks. While we fully encourage transparency and disclosure, at the very least because it is a nice thing to do, many sites choose not to be blatant about their monetization techniques straight away. We can encourage and give best practises, and we do, but it is up to a publisher the extent to which they make public their inner workings. From a legal perspective, for what it is worth, disclosure is required only where the content creator is making endorsements that they financially profit from, like when a blogger is paid to encourage their readers to buy something, or a price comparison site encourages the purchase of a particular insurance product where they get paid for that referral. By providing a platform where people can post things they like, Pinterest isn’t endorsing particular products for the sake of financial gain, just providing a valuable forum for products to be browsed by their community. So it is understandable that they didn’t want to make a big deal of this, especially as so many other content sites also use Skimlinks and affiliate marketing technology to help fund their operations.

A quick read of some of the comments on these articles shows that the majority of people don’t see this as an issue. Comments such as;  “I think this is genius and other companies should be doing the same.”, “I personally would prefer this model to one whereby I am bombarded with ads.”, and “Pinterest users should be happy that the site can support itself without showing ads. Stores have gained an effective discovery platform. This is not duplicitous, and it hurts no one. So who cares if they disclose or not?”, show that end users welcome this form of monetization.

Thirdly, the value of our service goes beyond just its direct monetization potential. The data and analytics that we can provide about how community members are interacting with merchant and product information can be invaluable to publishers. The insights that can be gleaned by running Skimlinks have helped thousands of our publishers understand their customer base more, understand their shopping preferences, purchase behaviours, all without infringing on their privacy or interrupting their browsing experience.

Publishers can then make decisions to focus more on certain users or products or merchants, with knowledge that their community respond well to these people and products. This is how merchants benefit, aside from the fact that by helping these sites fund themselves, they are creating future sources of new customers.

It is often this early revenue from our SkimLinks and SkimWords products that can play a role in keeping publishers afloat in the early days, and this data that can help take these publishers to another level of growth and success.

Bottom line: We are thrilled by the (well earned, not overnight!) success of Pinterest, which is a phenomenal example of how social discovery and other sites can monetize without intruding on their user experience.

As a company, we’re constantly delighted to see how publishers use our technologies in new and innovative ways. The most exciting part of building our platform is seeing what other people can build on top of it – and Pinterest has taken it to a whole ‘nother level. Well done, lads.

Alicia is Skimlinks’ CEO and Co-Founder and you can find her on Twitter: @alicianavarro

So… you are thinking about using SkimLinks & SkimWords on your forum, great! We know that forums are tight knit communities that are built on trust, and that readers are understandably sensitive to advertising. We’ve put together a presentation on the ‘Best Practices for Monetizing Forums Using Skimlinks’ that provides a step by step guide on how you can customize SkimLinks (automatic link affiliation) and SkimWords (link insertion based on relevant products) to provide the best user experience possible.

We suggest a gradual roll-out, where you select the right features for your community. We highly recommend disclosing your use of Skimlinks products to your readers – we actually financially encourage you to – because honesty and transparency is key, and the feedback we get is that our service adds value to the reading experience.

Our four step staggered roll out plan is:

1. (1) Install & configure
2. (2) Inform your team, test & review
3. (3) Disclose Skimlinks
4. (4) Roll out & monitor reaction.

Check out the presentation above for all the details.

Have any other tips for monetizing forums? Share them with us!

Looking to get started with SkimLinks and SkimWords? Sign up or reach out to one of our brilliant account managers!

Jo Harris, Product Manager

]]> http://blog.skimlinks.com/2012/01/25/best-practices-for-monetizing-forums/feed/ 2 http://blog.skimlinks.com/2011/12/01/more-merchants-better-commissions-take-advantage-of-the-skimlinks-merchant-program/ http://blog.skimlinks.com/2011/12/01/more-merchants-better-commissions-take-advantage-of-the-skimlinks-merchant-program/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:13:39 +0000 Jenny http://blog.skimlinks.com/?p=2372 When you sign up with Skimlinks you’re automatically registered as an affiliate marketer for 17,500+ Merchant Programs. Just like that! No separate networks, no multiple logins, just one account and tens of thousands of Merchants to choose from. We love our publishers and are dedicated to bringing on new Merchants to inspire your posts, working with our Merchants to get the best rewards for you, and providing you with the latest offers and deals from our Merchants in The Scoop.

17,500+ Merchants Worldwide (and growing!)
Skimlinks belongs to over 17,500 Merchant programs around the world, and we join more every day. That’s a lot of online stores and services for you to pick from! From the big names like Amazon and eBay to the niche stores with unique products you can’t find anywhere else (like Invitation in a Bottle or The Popes Cologne), we make it easy to get rewarded for the variety of product sales you drive. Check out all of our merchants in the Merchant Look-up in your Skimlinks Publisher interface.

Better Commissions
Skimlinks receives top tier commission rates from our Merchants, which we pass on to our publishers, so that you earn more.

Preferred Partners Reward You Even More
We work closely with select Merchants to get even higher commission rates for you! These Preferred Partners want to reward Skimlinks Publishers because of the great traffic you send them. We have over 100 Preferred Partners and continue to bring more on board. You’ll see them in your Merchant Look-up and can find them at the top of your category searches as well.

Sign up for ‘The Scoop!’
Have you seen our new Merchant blog/newsletter, The Scoop? We update it regularly with offers from our Skimlinks Merchants, highlights of our Preferred Partners, and announcements of new Skimlinks Merchants we’ve brought on board. Stay a step ahead of the game and get a weekly digest of The Scoop delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing on the The Scoop homepage! You can also get the freshest info on Twitter by following @SkimlinksScoop.

We’re always happy to hear your feedback about Skimlinks Merchants, and if there are any Merchants you’d like to see with Skimlinks, just let us know at merchants@skimlinks.com.

Jenny,

Skimlinks Merchant Manager

That’s a ton of money. As online publishers, forum owners, writers and advertisers, we’d all love to earn our slice of the pie for the role we play in generating purchase intent. So to drive home just how crazy the holiday spending spree is, and to help you in the quest to capitalize, we’ve put together a beautiful wintery infographic with our top five suggestions on how to monetize your content.

Please share with your friends and co-workers on all of your favorite social media channels; or if your old school, tell them about it in person. As incentive, we are going to give out a $200 Nordstrom (or John Lewis) Giftcard to one lucky person who links to skimlinks.com/blackfriday in a tweet. Do it.

Happy Holidays from your friends at Skimlinks!

Every update, big or small, can affect countless websites (and the businesses behind them) that, in many cases, are relying on that search traffic.

Of course, every tweak has a purpose; Google is continuously trying to make their search as good as it can get – to satisfy the millions of users that survive on their service every day for all their how-what-why-where needs.

And as they go about their work, billions of websites are jostling for attention in the SERPs, trying to win at a game that just keeps on changing.

Some of the biggest websites in the world have long been forced to re-jig and re-think what they fill their sites with (most recently, in the wake of the ‘Panda’ update), but Google’s content quality standards are completely open to interpretation and speculation – as they very rarely give us a proper peek behind the scenes.

In recent weeks, this speculation has produced a new slew of recommendations from search experts for online publishers with concerns for their content, including:

• Keep content relevant to the site to maintain its overall theme
• If you have user-generated content in the form of articles, look to have an editorial input in the content to ensure its quality
• Put the focus back on longer, more in-depth feature articles
• Regularly update content in all parts of your site to ensure it doesn’t become stale or irrelevant
• Unique content is key – so cut down on aggregate content

And while those still all may be good points to consider, last Friday, things got a whole lot more concrete.

Google released one of their most comprehensive insights into what they consider ‘high quality content’ through Google Fellow Amit Singhal on the official Google Webmaster Central blog.

This is kinda a big deal for publishers who place any kind of importance on their search traffic.

Take a moment to ‘step inside Google’s mindset’, and ask yourself these questions to see if your content’s up to scratch, straight from the horse’s mouth:

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• How much quality control is done on content?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
• Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?

Mr Singhal went on to offer a little extra advice for publishers:

“One other specific piece of guidance we’ve offered is that low-quality content on some parts of a website can impact the whole site’s rankings, and thus removing low quality pages, merging or improving the content of individual shallow pages into more useful pages, or moving low quality pages to a different domain could eventually help the rankings of your higher-quality content.”

Ok; so, more time, more effort, more attention to detail, more unique, and more in-depth, credible and information-rich content. Simple!

Will you make any changes to your site’s content following the release of these new guidelines?

How does it work?

Skimlinks shortened URL’s earn commissions from online retailers and service providers if people buy products and services through Buyth.at, Tryth.at, Getth.at or Useth.at links.
Because there is a monetary commission involved, there is a degree of responsibility with using these links.

What is disclosure?

It means telling your audience that you are potentially receiving some sort of benefit from the content or links you are writing about.

Why would users disclose?

From a moral standpoint, it’s right to disclose when you are marketing online or through word of mouth if you stand to benefit from an opinion, comment or recommendation.

How should users disclose?

If you are using Twitter, you don’t have much room in 140 characters – one suggestion is to use a hashtag e.g. #$ or #aff. It has also been suggested that you make a disclosure note in your Twitter profile.

Are there laws about this?

There aren’t any clear set rules or regulations on Twitter and other social media about the use of affiliate links at this point, however, by encouraging disclosure, we comply with FTC regulations that state; ‘When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, such connection must be fully disclosed.’

How do I use Skimlinks on my site?

* Install the code on your site as instructed on your interface.  I was able to do it at 4am in an airport with no sleep.  It’s that easy!
* Include links to the products and websites you’re talking about.  If the link belongs to one of their 8500+ merchants, and a user clicks on it, Skimlinks will automatically turn it into an affiliate link on the fly and you will get a commission if the user makes a purchase
* Throw in a widget featuring a link to a great deal or something you really love to increase your conversion opportunities

How does Skimlinks work with Twitter?

* Create a Twitter account if you don’t have one already
* Tweet out links to your blog so your audience will come to your blog and click on your links
* Use the URL shortener (within SkimKit) for product links and tweet those out with a brief description of what you’re promoting (see what I do with @SlutteryPicks)
* Check out more Twitter tips on the Skimlinks blog

Why should I use SkimKit?

* SkimKit will make your like easier, providing you with a searchable database of products that are guaranteed to have affiliate links

What secret tips about Skimlinks do you have?

* The best thing to do with Skimlinks is ignore it!  Just let it do its thing with the content you’re doing. You’ll get more of an insight a month in, when you can look at everything, rather than being sad that only five people clicked on your Amazon link!
* You only get a commission when someone makes a purchase after clicking on your affiliate links.  Just a click won’t get you paid, but by being under this model, you have a higher selection of merchants and will get a higher commission rate.

What do I do if I have a problem with Skimlinks?

* If you are having trouble with Skimlinks, the support is there for you.  You can email support@skimlinks.com or give them a call and someone will help you happily and quickly.

I’m a complete HTML idiot and must admit that Skimlinks is the least complicated part of our website and revenue.  To have something that’s earning me money while I just ignore is a delight and knowing that the support is there should I need it is even more reassuring.

Sian Meades is the founder and editor of the popular blog Domestic Sluttery and you can follow their tweets here: @DomesticSluts

Online journalism has become a vast grey area created by the blend of black and white extremes of objective content and commercially-driven content.  We all want to be confident that what we read online is in fact as authentic and objective as possible, but we also know that everyone needs to pay the bills, which means that online content is likely to somehow have a degree of commercial influence.  While users may at first be sceptical that monetised content can be trusted, it is in fact possible to be ethical in this grey area.  Monetised content can be authentic, and with honesty and disclosure, publishers can retain the trust of their users and still make money.

Online journalists are increasingly pressured to bend to commercial pressures as it’s these advertisers that pay their salaries. The newspaper business has been in sharp decline both in print and online, and with ad revenues severely down all-around, newspapers and editorial web sites need a new way to make money.  As a result, online journalists are increasingly encouraged to write sensational content that drives page impressions to their banner and text ads, or commercial content that encourages readers to purchase from advertisers’ sites.

The nature of editorial content has also evolved over the past few years, with professional journalism suffering in the face of citizen journalism and blogging, as well as a seismic shift towards social media and crowd-sourcing for obtaining news and information. In the United States, Facebook has become more popular than Google.  Additionally, a recent study by PRWeek/PR Newswire revealed that 52% of bloggers consider themselves journalists, but only 20% of them receive the majority of their income from it.

With decreased readerships, lowered perceived value of professional journalism, and a plethora of competing options, the ability to rely on just banner advertising is nearly impossible for most editorial sites. This leads to temptations to accept pay-per-post and other paid sponsorship deals, and putting pressure on them to find ways to monetise their content ethically.

Can these competing demands be balanced? Some would say no; that the second you are paid by someone you can no longer be objective about what you write about them. However, most journalists and editors I have met care deeply about their content, and how it is perceived by their readers. They work hard to write content that is true to their audience, but where appropriate, focus on retailers and advertisers that they do objectively like and with whom they have commercial relationships.

Affiliate marketing is a particularly effective way to approach this balance. Editors write about products and retailers they like, and as most prominent retailers have affiliate programs, sites can earn affiliate commissions without having to approach the process in the same explicit commercial way as pay-per-post can be. Also, affiliate marketing is publisher-led, rather than advertiser-led in the way that pay-per-post can be, so editors are still in complete control of whom they write about and what they write about them, making it significantly more possible that they can write objectively on the subject.

If editors ever do get too tempted to wax lyrical about an advertiser who is paying them, the most powerful policing technique will be applied to them: reader loyalty. Readers are the best judge of the authenticity of an editor’s voice and won’t return to a site if they feel the content is overly commercial in its nature. It’s better to be honest about a product and not earn an affiliate commission but keep the loyalty of the reader, than get a sale but never get the reader back again; and editors can take one more step to take to ensure complete transparency with readers, and this is to disclose how they monetize their site.

Disclosure is key to building a loyal readership. Besides being part of the FTC guidelines for blogs and editorial content, it is also good practise to be honest to your readers about where your income comes from and how this might influence your objectivity. There are some great examples of how disclosure can be done in a way that is honest but won’t scare your reader base– check out Scott Jangro’s disclosure statement and Shawn Collins’ on his affiliate marketing blog AffiliateTip.

What this boils down to is that editors and bloggers have to take responsibility for the integrity of their content and for finding a balance between writing objectively and writing commercially. It is possible to navigate this grey area between objectivity and subjectivity; and moreover, it is necessary if we want quality content written by professional journalists or talented bloggers, and we don’t want to pay cash to read it.

Alicia is Skimlinks’ CEO and Co-Founder and you can find her on Twitter: @alicianavarro

This is a win-win-win marketplace, with publishers making money from content, merchants making more sales, and consumers getting honest recommendations and finding new products; but it’s important to be transparent as to how you make your daily bread.

As a leading player in the affiliate marketing space, we encourage all our publishers to comply with the FTC guidelines that state “the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

We recommend that you read through the FTC guidelines yourself to see how they apply to your site; however, to help you on the way, we’ve created some handy tools and tips to make disclosure easy for you.

Disclosure can be performed in a number of ways:

• Minimum: Disclosure text included in the ‘About us’ or ‘Privacy’ section of your site
• Recommended: A link in the footer or navigation bar to a dedicated disclosure page or acknowledgment of monetisation of links in each article

Skimlinks Disclosure Badges

Available to all Skimlinks publishers, to help you maintain an honest relationship with your users, we’ve created some smart Skimlinks badges that can be placed on your site and will disclose your use of Skimlinks technology in a small info pop-up.

These badges are also part of our new Referral Program helping Skimlinks publishers to comply with FTC guidelines while simultaneously rewarding you for referring other high quality content sites to Skimlinks.  We’ll have more on the Referral Program soon so keep your eyes on our blog, or register now and we’ll contact you when it is live.

Keen to get started?  Here are some websites using affiliate marketing with good examples of disclosure statements:

NPR.org explains their merchant relationships and that the links on their shopping site are affiliate links with the money they make helping to fund their service.  They also make contact information readily available to users.  On Jangro.com, Scott Jangro tells his users that his site uses advertising and some links within content that may earn him a commission, but that his content is not influenced by the advertisers or affiliate relationships.

What great disclosure examples have you seen?  We love seeing how publishers retain transparency with their users.  And if you have any questions about our Disclosure Badges or new Referral Program feel free to contact support@skimlinks.com.

Mark Macdonald is the Account Director at Skimlinks. You can follow him on Twitter here: @markofmac