Affiliate marketing 276
Trademark bidding
Affiliates were among the earliest adopters of pay per click advertising when the first pay-per-click search engines
emerged during the end of the 1990s. Later in 2000 Google launched its pay per click service, Google AdWords,
which is responsible for the widespread use and acceptance of pay per click as an advertising channel. An increasing
number of merchants engaged in pay per click advertising, either directly or via a search marketing agency, and
realized that this space was already well-occupied by their affiliates. Although this situation alone created
advertising channel conflicts and debates between advertisers and affiliates, the largest issue concerned affiliates
bidding on advertisers names, brands, and trademarks.[29] Several advertisers began to adjust their affiliate program
terms to prohibit their affiliates from bidding on those type of keywords. Some advertisers, however, did and still do
embrace this behavior, going so far as to allow, or even encourage, affiliates to bid on any term, including the
advertiser's trademarks. And some affiliates abuse it by bidding on those terms by excluding the location of the
advertiser alone in many Search engines.Lack of self-regulation and collaboration
Affiliate marketing is driven by entrepreneurs who are working at the edge of Internet marketing. Affiliates are often
the first to take advantage of emerging trends and technologies. The "trial and error" approach is probably the best
way to describe the operation methods for affiliate marketers. This risky approach is one of the reasons why most
affiliates fail or give up before they become successful "super affiliates", capable of generating US$10,000 or more
per month in commission. This "frontier" life combined with the attitude found in such communities is likely the
main reason why the affiliate marketing industry is unable to self-regulate beyond individual contracts between
advertisers and affiliates. Affiliate marketing has experienced numerous failed attempts to create an industry
organization or association of some kind that could be the initiator of regulations, standards, and guidelines for the
industry.[30] Some examples of failed regulation efforts are the Affiliate Union and iAfma.
Online forums and industry trade shows are the only means for the different members from the
industry—affiliates/publishers, merchants/advertisers, affiliate networks, third-party vendors, and service providers
such as outsourced program managers—to congregate at one location. Online forums are free, enable small affiliates
to have a larger say, and provide anonymity. Trade shows are cost-prohibitive to small affiliates because of the high
price for event passes. Larger affiliates may even be sponsored by an advertiser they promote.
Because of the anonymity of online forums, the quantitative majority of industry members are unable to create any
form of legally binding rule or regulation that must be followed throughout the industry. Online forums have had
very few successes as representing the majority of the affiliate marketing industry. The most recent example of such
a success was the halt of the "Commission Junction Link Management Initiative" (CJ LMI) in June/July 2006, when
a single network tried to impose the use of a Javascript tracking code as a replacement for common HTML links on
its affiliates.[31]Compensation Disclosure
Bloggers and other publishers may not be aware of disclosure guidelines set forth by the FTC. Guidelines affect
celebrity endorsements, advertising language, and blogger compensation.[32]Lack of industry standards
Certification and training
Affiliate marketing currently lacks industry standards for training and certification. There are some training courses
and seminars that result in certifications; however, the acceptance of such certifications is mostly due to the
reputation of the individual or company issuing the certification. Affiliate marketing is not commonly taught in
universities, and only a few college instructors work with Internet marketers to introduce the subject to students