Loading ...A couple of discussions this week and last with discount dode site owners, so I thought I’d air my opinions on the matter and see what everyone else thinks. As an agency and a former merchant managing both lead and % of sale programmes I like to think I have a reasonably balanced view of what’s right for both sides, but let’s see what you think.
Firstly I had a conversation with Chris Frost about some of the successes of his discount codes site. I had a careful poke round the site and I think this is one of the best examples of treading the right side of good practice in this area.
Take this page as an example, Chris diplays the offer, but not the code itself.
Revealing the offer and revealing the code are two different things. Discountcodes.co.uk method is OK in my eyes as the user has seen the 10% offer, and made a decision to visit that site.
Not revealing the actual code just gets the user to use the affiliate link rather than typing in the merchant domain name - fair play as that affiliate brought the offer to the shopper’s attention in the first place. If there was a way of tracking what goes through the shopper’s brain at that point the affiliate would get commission for it. Until that day you have to be a bit more creative!
Not displaying the offer is a method I take exception to. Getting a click and dropping a cookie for a non-existent offer. I’m not the only one that thinks so either…
Kieron then brings up the question of expiry dates. It’s not difficult to implement expired posts as I’ve posted about here However I appreciate you’re losing SEO value doing this so as long as the expiry date is prominent I wouldn’t take issue with it.
Merchant’s don’t want to waste expensive customer services time on complaints about codes that ‘don’t work’. The downside if you’re considering this is that visitors may not think your site is so well maintained if they have to dig through a lot of dated content. Something to consider.
Discount codes have moved faster than than most can keep up this year and I doubt that any merchant or network wants to set rules in stone for fear of what might be the next big thing round the corner, but merchants will apply their own common sense (I hope) and will always be happy to discuss the finer points with ethical affiliates.
I'm Stephen Pratley, a marketing consultant, agency owner and part-time affiliate marketer.This blog is about my activities and opinions in the online marketing world
me ole mucker Frostie has gone slightly down the spammy route with all those links that page:
Glasses Direct Discount Codes and Glasses Direct Voucher Codes are available here. Free Glasses Direct Promotional Codes used to get discount Glasses Direct free delivery code vouchers. Enter the Glasses Direct Promo Codes to get money off and use Glasses Direct e-voucher codes for special offers and Glasses Direct voucher codes. All the latest codes for Glasses Direct can be …
and then on the page that’s linked too:
Glasses Direct Voucher Codes and Glasses Direct Discounts are used freely by many. Get instant Glasses Direct discounts when shopping online. Your Glasses Direct discount code can be used to save money when shopping with Glasses Direct or the Glasses Direct code could give you free delivery codes. Next time you shoud with Glasses Direct, just enter the Glasses Direct Discount Codes to get money off Glasses Direct and use Glasses Direct e-voucher codes for special offers and Glasses Direct promos. All the latest codes for Glasses Direct can be found …
not sure how long that’ll be a productive tactic.
my view about showing the code on the page is this:
it’s not good for conversions, but good for SEO. Surely there’s a way to resolve both needs
Which would also counter Keiron’s argument.