Bob’s Weekly Reading Picks
2019.10.27 volume 42
Content
1.An In-Depth Look at Attribution Modeling in Digital Marketing
2.7 Aspects to Consider While Formulating Affiliate Paid Search Policy
3.Best affiliate marketing programs of 2019: opportunities to make money online
4.IAB Internet Ad Revenue Report 2019 Half Year Results
5.Best Global Brands 2019 Rankings
6.Online Influencers Tell You What to Buy, Advertisers Wonder Who’s Listening
7.Dismembering Big Tech by The Ecomonist
1.An In-Depth Look at Attribution Modeling in Digital Marketing
What is an attribution model?
Attribution modeling describes various methods marketers use to properly break up and assign conversion credits to various different channels in case users take multiple website visits, via multiple channels, to arrive at the ultimate conversion behavior.
Attribution Model Examples
- Last Interaction Attribution
The last interaction attribution model is the default conversion model of Google Analytics.It gives credit ONLY to the very last traffic source that resulted in the conversion of a user.
- Variations of Last Interaction Attribution
A derivative of the “Last Interaction Attribution” model is the “Last Non-Direct Click” attribution and “Last Google Ads Click” attribution model.
The “Last Non-Direct Click” model assigns all credit to the last visit of the users that is not from the “direct” channel, as it is very hard to measure user intention from that specific channel.
The “Last Google Ads Click” attribution model assigns all credit to the last visit of the users that is a result of Google Ads.
- First Click Attribution
The first click attribution model gives all credits to the first channel.
- Linear Attribution
What Linear attribution model does is that it attributes credit to all traffic sources that are involved in the conversion process evenly.
For example, if there are 10 traffic sources involved in the ultimate conversion of a user of $100, then each of the traffic sources will get a $10 credit.
- Time Decay Attribution
Time decay attribution is a more advanced variation of linear attribution. It gives more credit to the traffic sources that are closer (in time) to the ultimate conversion.
Google Analytics most likely is using some sort of time decay function to gradually reduce the weight they place on visits further away from the point of conversion.
- Position Based Attribution
The position based attribution model gives 40% credit to the first and last interaction of the entire conversion journey, while linearly distribute the remaining 20% to rest of the visits.
2.7 Aspects to Consider While Formulating Affiliate Paid Search Policy
Affiliates do use paid search, together with other online marketing channels, as they promote the businesses they work with and the products they sell. It is, therefore, important to set clear rules on what’s okay and what’s not okay for affiliates to do as far as paid search marketing goes.
Permissibility
The very first question to ask yourself is:
Do I want to maintain an “open” or a “closed” paid search policy in my affiliate program?
HP Exmaple
Trademark-focused Paid Search
You’ll hear it being called “TM bidding” and other similar terms.
Walmart example
“Trademark +” Bidding
The classic examples are: TM + coupon(s), TM + promo code(s) or other similar discount-oriented phrases.
Sears example
“TM vs Competition” Bidding
Having passed the Awareness phase, at the Consideration stage people do to shop around. They compare brands and products, study rankings, and dive into reviews… At this stage, they search for “TM vs Competition” type of key phrases.
example
Direct-to-Merchant (DTM) Linking
In affiliate lingo, “DTM Linking” stands for linking an affiliate paid search ad directly to the merchant’s website (routing it through an affiliate link — to get the commission, should the user convert into a customer).
It’s a common practice to prohibit DTM linking (as well as using the brand’s URL in the display URL.
Lacoste example
Negative Keywords
If you’re keeping an open PPC policy, prohibiting certain things. (trademark-related bidding or direct linking, branded terms, their misspellings, domain names, and so on.)
Boscovs example
Do not be too restrictive here. After all, you want affiliates to be on your side in the battle (with competitors) for the generic keywords.
Landing Page Guidelines
Finally, let’s talk about the content(s) of the web pages which your affiliates may use as the landing pages for their paid search ads. Make sure they feature it in a way that doesn’t break anything for you.
Instead of conclusion, it is worth emphasizing that putting together an affiliate program agreement with solid paid search rules.
3.Best affiliate marketing programs of 2019: opportunities to make money online
Awin
The world’s biggest affiliate network
- Huge choice
- Easy to use
- Picky brands
Awin is a huge affiliate marketing platform that boasts of over 15,000 advertisers, 200,000 active publishers, and generated 139 million sales in 2018.
CJ Affiliate
It’s hard to argue with two decades of experience
- Automation of deep links
- Real time transaction monitoring
- Arduous two stage application process
CJ Affiliate is a popular affiliate marketing program with global reach, formerly known as Commission Junction which goes back to 1998.
Amazon Associates
Partner with the online giant that everyone shops with
- Easy application and acceptance
- Large product catalog
- Low commissions on most categories
Just about everyone already has an Amazon account and buys stuff from them, so it certainly makes a ton of sense to partner with them as an affiliate marketer in their Amazon Associates program.
ShareASale
The partner with literally thousands of vendors’ products to sell
- Wide variety of products
- Free signup
- High payout threshold
ShareASale is another affiliate marketer, with a longstanding reputation across eighteen years, and were acquired last year by Awin, an international affiliate marketer. They feature a large catalog of products to partner with from beauty supplies, to branded sports gear, luxury goods, and eyewear- almost 5,000 vendors in total, making it easy to find products that tie into your site.
JVZoo
The SaaS approach to affiliate marketing
- Additional revenue from recruited affiliates
- Lower quality products
- PayPal is only payout option
JVZoo is relative newcomer with six years of experience, and takes a SaaS approach to affiliate marketing; they must be doing something right as they were named by Inc among the ‘5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America’ for 2016 and 2017.
Clickbank
Higher commissions lead the way to popularity
- Free registration
- High commission rate
- Lower quality eBooks
- Only digital products
Clickbank is a major affiliate marketer which has been around for years, with 200 million customers. They feature a variety of products to partner with, across many categories, particularly eBooks. They run a Clickbank University to teach the ins and outs of affiliate marketing to those new to the field.
Learn more about affiliate marketing
4.IAB Internet Ad Revenue Report 2019 Half Year Results (US)
Internet ad revenues in the United States totaled $57.9 billion for the half year (“HY”) of 2019
Q2 2019 approximately $29.9 billion,
Q1 2019 approximately $28.0 billion.
Mobile (makes up 69.0% of total internet ad revenues)
Advertising revenues delivered on mobile devices totaled $39.9 billion in HY 2019, a 29.1% increase from the prior HY 2018 revenues of $30.9 billion. 
5.Best Global Brands 2019 Rankings
6. Online Influencers Tell You What to Buy, Advertisers Wonder Who’s Listening
Influecner price for Instagram posts
Estimate of global brand speding on influencers
Influecner engagement rate
7.Dismembering Big Tech by The Ecomonist
