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In an effort to get rid of gator ads and similair stuff, Norton has introduced adblocker and people are using it in increasing numbers. Many are not aware that they are using it.
The following is a post about Commission Junction I copied with Linda’s permission.
Comission Junction carries Omni Casino and probably some others.
At this time it is not known which other casino/sportsbook affiliate programs may be affected by this. Norton is apparently conextual and responds to words like “ad” or “click” in links.
IMPORTANT – READ
This is a HUGE problem that is affecting revenue for affiliates, merchants and CJ too.I truly believe that all the Ad blocking & pop-up blocking programs, firewalls, anti-spyware and adware programs are costing affiliates and merchants more in lost sales than the parasites are. A ton of these programs block ANY links that OPEN in A NEW WINDOW and a ton of them block CJ and other affiliate networks host files!
I have been talking about this and posting links on various forums about this problem for months.
Why isn’t CJ doing something about this??? Where is the random sub domain that was promised back in July?
For those of you that believe in conspiracy theories – let’s do a reality check. Not defending CJ, just trying to take the emotion out and deal with the FACTS so we can stop accusing and start finding solutions!!!
Why are CJ and other affiliate networks links being blocked?
Forget about parasites and dupers for a minute. (Not that they aren’t important, but let’s just look at the other issues.)
THIS IS ONLINE REALITY!!!
1) Ad blocking programs, firewalls, anti-spyware and adware programs are blocking ADS and anything considered SPYWARE!
2) CJ is one of the biggest AD NETWORKS there is! CJ AKA qksrv.net serves MILLIONS of ads a month! You consider yourselves affiliates, but in reality you are ALL serving ads – really… isn’t that the bottom line? Whether you serve banners or text links or send emails, or use still use pop-ups – all affiliates are serving ads — CJ affiliates are serving MILLIONS of them!
3) CJ is the biggest, most well known and easiest to join network. So who joins CJ and what do they all have in common? They are PEOPLE and they all want to make money! Take thousand of people who want to make money online in a largely unregulated industry and what to you get? So what types of people want to make money? There is a HUGE variety – like in any business. There are Newbies, want to be’s, scammers, spammers, thiefs, pros and super affiliates. So ignore ABW pros (which IMHO are the small minority) and parasites for a minute. I get 10 apps a day from NEW CJ publishers. How many of them know how to play the game? I get emails and calls from affs that don’t even know what HTML is. How many of these people are buying CD’s with 10 million emails and spamming? How many of them are using pop-ups, without knowing how it affects the rest of us? How many of them are reading the merchants agreements and playing by the rules? How many of them are clueless? They may be honest, but just don’t know any better! There are thousand of people that don’t know what they are doing trying to make money with CJ, in addition to all the BHo’s dupers and parasites.
4) Many anti-spyware, adware, and firewall programs are trying to protect privacy. Privacy is determined by many of these as info that is passed to a 3rd party. CJ and other affiliate networks DO THIS! They pass click, impression and sales info to both affiliate and to merchants. They HAVE TO for you to earn commish and merchants to track sales. This is NOT spyware but considered by many programs that are trying to make a buck as spyware. It is their definition in order to create more sales!
5) SOLUTIONS??? I think the random subdomain feature Todd promised back in July could help with a lot of the software that is blocking at the hostfiles level. I also think we need to stop opening links in a new window. Don’t believe me? Read some of the articles below.
What Software is Removing entire CJ text Links from affiliate sites? HEATED current thread
http://abw.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?q=Y&a=tpc&s=548608979&f=106607689&m=6456051024&p=1Firewall blocks CJ links??? My thread awhile back
http://abw.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=548608979&f=106607689&m=9566066504norton personal firewall hides CJ links – Reported back in JANUARY!!!
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum20/1027.htmSymantec Firewall blocks affiiliate links Reported back in APRIL!
http://abw.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=548608979&f=106607689&m=7406063682Mall warns customers about Norton blocking their site ads
http://www.outerworlds.com/mall/html/norton_firewalls.htmlProtect your commissions – my thread
http://abw.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?q=Y&a=tpc&s=548608979&f=179600589&m=3066066504&p=1Washington Post FAQ says:
Q: Some articles on washingtonpost.com appear in the wrong location on the page or are obscured by a dark blue background. What causes this and how can it be corrected?
A: In most cases this problem is caused by an incompatibility between Internet filtering utilities such as the Ad Blocking feature on Norton Internet Security and certain parts of washingtonpost.com. If ad blocking is enabled washingtonpost.com pages may not render correctly. Disabling Ad Blocking usually corrects the problem.Norton Internet Security and AdSubtract removing affiliate links
http://www.techdeals.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1182READ review of all the pop up killers that KILL ALL LINKS that OPEN IN NEW WINDOW
http://www.popup-killer-review.com/intelligent-popup-stop.htmAffiliate Links that open in NEW window won’t display
[url]http://***************.com/messageboard/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=1136&[/url] Haiko won’t let this domain show up but it’s an important thread over at the aff boards forum.Will Pop-Up Blockers Stop All New Windows?
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/4355.htmKazaa Lite ‘Supertrick’ program blocks clicks on affiliate links!
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum20/1371.htmAd blocking software a problem
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=105262Getting around popup blockers
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=117760Kazaa Lite ‘Supertrick’ program blocks clicks on affiliate links!
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum20/1371.htm[Blocking our Pops] Let’s fight back [Solution]
http://www.geekvillage.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11744
The firewalls and ad blockers are costing EVERYONE, including CJ alot of money. Average Joe surfer is trying to block nasty spys and those awful pop-ups. “Joe” is a BUYER but has no idea that links don’t work or parts of your site are missing because of software he has installed. Joe thinks something is wrong with YOUR site and surfs away!CJ is the biggest network with the most merchants, the most affiliates, the most to LOSE and the MOST TO GAIN – by taking action and finding a solution.
What I suggest is instead of everyone complaining and speculating and worrying about this VERY REAL and VERY HUGE threat to affiliate commissions we take action!
This is not the official CJ message board, although I know they read it. Send PROFESSIONAL questions to CJ support alerting them to this thread and asking them to work on solutions. Call CJ and alert them to this thread and ASK them what they are doing about solutions. Tell your merchants to read this thread and then ask THEM to call and email CJ. There is power in numbers and this has been going on for far too long.
Then again, if Todd will come here and tell us what they are working on and give us some solid answers and timeframes, we won’t have to jam up the phone lines and cripple the support staff with tons of calls and emails.
I will call CJ in an hour and alert them to this thread if Todd does not show up and give us an answer in the meantime.
Linda Buquet :: Affiliate Management Consultant :: Catalyst eMarketing.com
5 Star Affiliate Programs :: Top Paying/High-Integrity Merchants :: Visit ABW Forum
EveryTicket Sports/Concert Tickets :: Irv’s Luggage Warehouse :: Executive Essentials Office & Gifts:
DentalPlans :: HealthPlans :: Avid Hosting :: IntelliContactPro :: zZounds Music :: Roadloans :: MORE!This seems like a real can of worms to deal with.
On one hand we as affiliates go out of our way to educate end users about the evils of scumware and encourage them to take steps to combat the pop ups and theft. Then when they follow our advice and install readily available software from respected sources like Norton we scream that OUR ads are now blocked too.
It is a problem, but I dont see an easy solution at this point. If you use an application that attempts to block pop ups and filter link IDs its going to take out the good ads with the bad.
Running adaware type programs daily to clean out unwanted parasites is really too cumbersome and 99% of the average public won’t want to bother.
I thinks this issue has quite a few dimensions to it and no easy fix is available at the moment.
