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Commission Junction has backed off its mandatory shift to Javascript from HTML after an affiliate uproar.
When Commission Junction announced its Link Management Initiative (LMI) on May 23, the reaction from the affiliate community was swift and decisive. It was interpreted as a mandatory change for affiliates from HTML to JavaScript links and it was not embraced. In fact, it sparked petitions, anti- LMI buttons, forums and message boards decrying LMI and hundreds of blog entries questioning Commission Junction's, actions and motives.
Every online marketing constituency – affiliates, affiliate managers, merchants, other rival networks, agencies and industry watchers – weighed in on LMI. Observers and insiders speculated the change was motivated by CJ's parent company ValueClick's desire to use affiliates to gather traffic information on customers as well as perform some behavioral targeting.
Following the community outcry, Commission Junction has backed off its position that LMI will be mandatory. The company sent this update to publishers in mid-August.
"On August 30, 2006, publishers will notice changes in getting links in the CJ Account Manager. This change will make it easier for publishers to choose either HTML or JavaScript links. To reiterate, there are no plans to remove support for HTML links.
However, advertisers will have the option to designate a link as JavaScriptonly (with the exception of keyword links), if they deem it necessary. Commission Junction encourages its advertisers to support both HTML and JavaScript link formats, to meet the varied needs of publishers."
CJ executives were unavailable at press time to comment.
The change of positioning was hinted at on the most recent ValueClick earnings call on August 6, 2006. CEO Jim Zarley said, "We are not mandating it [LMI] however, and it could take a considerable amount of time to do such a migration [from HTML links]. …We got a response loud and clear from our publishers that they are not willing to do this on a wholesale basis, but we believe that over time, maybe it takes a year or two, that this will be the way that the market will go. So we are going to be patient with it. Right now, we are just working with our publisher on a one-to-one basis, and eventually I would anticipate that we will get there over time."
One source close to CJ says that the overall Link Management Initiative encompasses more than just JavaScript versus legacy links and that LMI is intended to provide additional options related to links. Several sources, who asked not to be named, say, "There is more than meets to the eye to LMI," but no one offered any specific details. However, all hinted that the scope of the overall initiative had not been completely revealed.
"Long term, whatever is driving this hasn't gone away, but CJ has realized that they cannot do it quickly or force it on affiliates, so they have at least slowed down," says Scott Jangro, owner of affiliate MechMedia, who is also a former BeFree and CJ executive. "JavaScript might be the way to go someday in the future, but certainly not in the current technological climate."
Jangro, a very vocal opponent of LMI (see sidebar on page 101) says, "As long as you're defining LMI as the mandatory elimination of plain HTML links in favor of JavaScript, I don't see any upside for affiliates. Affiliate marketing is so much more than renting out space on a website in which a third party can serve ads."
He offers an example: A website includes a blog entry how-to on repairing your projection television set. There are text affiliate links in the content pointing to a merchant that sells the parts required. He says it would make "no sense to serve some of the text in my page as JavaScript. To someone who doesn't have JavaScript enabled (as well as search engine spiders), the text would be invisible."
The bottom line, according to Jangro, is that JavaScript can only make a page less reliable, perform more slowly and be more difficult to maintain.
Jeremy Palmer, a super-affiliate who runs QuitYourDayJob.com, explains that most of the benefits of LMI are to merchants that get more control over the "who, what and when." He also says that, "LMI also benefits CJ's Network Quality team because they have more insight into the traffic sources and behaviors of their affiliates. Right now, they rely on an image pixel to gather this information, but if an affiliate omits the pixel, they are unable to get this data."
On the flip side, Palmer has many concerns including creative control. "I seldom use the creative offered by merchants in the CJ account manager," Palmer says. "Being able to customize images and ad copy is what helps separate me from the competition."
Anne Fognano of CleverMoms.com agrees. "The links are cookie cutter with designated creative that may or may not present the message affiliates want to get out to their customers. Affiliates who run Java creative will have links that are too similar, and the unique site feel that many affiliates work to employ for these merchants will be very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain," she says.
"There is no upside," says Scott Hazard, president of Brightside Media and a superaffiliate. "The downside ranges from inability to use databases, to the fact that JavaScript takes away basic design elements. Limiting an affiliate with JavaScript links is keeping that affiliate from using their creativity in presenting the merchant or the merchant's product to the customer."
"I am not sure of the upside of LMI, but a downside that I see is that some affiliates can't use the codes in their article management systems and possibly other systems. Personally, my article system strips the code out," Wendy Shepherd, a super-affiliate who runs TipzTime.com, says. "In this case, I have to use the old CJ links for as long as they are available. When those links are phased out, I won't be able to use the links within articles or reviews in the article system anymore."
For many, the problem is that in order to use JavaScript they will have to change nearly 90 percent of their links, which can be a laborious process. That effort is likely to take a vast amount of time, resources and money if they need to hire someone to handle the process. All that can translate into decreased revenue.
"I think LMI will be a hindrance. Some of the bigger affiliates have created internal systems that rely on using their own redirect to an affiliate link, and I am not sure how they can adapt when LMI becomes compulsory, unless they rebuild their infrastructure," says Shawn Collins, president of Shawn Collins Consulting. "Also, I am among a great many affiliates that redirect affiliate links through META redirects, .htaccess files, etc. This makes things more efficient in the event that a merchant changes networks or closes their affiliate program. Continued on Page 2...
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"Long term, whatever is driving this hasn't gone away, but CJ has realized that they cannot do it quickly or force it on affiliates, so they have at least slowed down," says Scott Jangro, owner of affiliate MechMedia, who is also a former BeFree and CJ executive. "JavaScript might be the way to go someday in the future, but certainly not in the current technological climate."
