To Skim or Not to Skim

[gonzo]

Heres an interesting biz question.

Say your a program owner and you have an affilaite thats using your galleries,text ads etc as part of a outbound skim to build up traffic to your site.

Do you continue to take the traffic and sales or tell the affiliate that you dont want your program promoted like that?

Pros? Cons? Thoughts?

[griffin8r]

Depends on how much it's contributing to site overhead, both directions.

If they're making you money, and your site isn't slowing down over the extra "hits", then why kill a good thing.

OTOH, if the bandwidth used isn't worth the money generated from their referrals, it's time to pull the plug.

[nation-x]

Originally Posted by gonzo

Heres an interesting biz question.

Say your a program owner and you have an affilaite thats using your galleries,text ads etc as part of a outbound skim to build up traffic to your site.

Do you continue to take the traffic and sales or tell the affiliate that you dont want your program promoted like that?

Pros? Cons? Thoughts?

I think that it's none of their business how a webmaster generates traffic as long as it's legal. Any program that doesn't want an affiliate to skim traffic on their content shouldn't have an affiliate program, period... just my 2 cents.

That said... I don't think programs should accept any affiliates from countries where their processor can't accept payments.

[Toby]

A complete ban on skim is a bit over the top, but I don't think a sponsor would be out of line requiring that a minimum percentage of clicks actually get sent to content. I have such a requirement for my trade partners (60%).

As for using sponsors bandwidth, that's not really an issue in regards to skim. The only way that a skim site would use sponsor bandwidth is if the sponsor allows hotlinking of images or vid clips and that's completely within the control of the sponsor via their server config.

[nation-x]

Originally Posted by Toby

A complete ban on skim is a bit over the top, but I don't think a sponsor would be out of line requiring that a minimum percentage of clicks actually get sent to content. I have such a requirement for my trade partners (60%).

As for using sponsors bandwidth, that's not really an issue in regards to skim. The only way that a skim site would use sponsor bandwidth is if the sponsor allows hotlinking of images or vid clips and that's completely within the control of the sponsor via their server config.

That is a valid point... I DO feel like 0% to content CJs are stealing content.

[Hell Puppy]

bottom line, is everyone making money? if so, it's a fair deal.

if not, i'm a believer in working with anyone i consider a "partner" whether it be a traffic partner or affiliate. if i'm not making money because i'm serving up content for you and paying you, but you're sucking more pipe than i make, then we may need to talk about the percentage of the skim or the amount of your pay.

creativity is ok, dont pigeon hole people. just make sure it makes sense for all involved....that should also include your customers.

[gonzo]

It was a question someone asked me so I figured I would throw it out there to see what everyone thought.

My response was if it was making me money I wouldnt care but if you dont want you stuff promoted that way.
Yank em.

[JuicyJay]

Originally Posted by nation-x

That is a valid point... I DO feel like 0% to content CJs are stealing content.

Yes, but only if the site is not promoted elsewhere on the site.
If they promote it heavily elsewhere and have trade thumbs (0% to gallery) most program owners are okay with it.

Its when they don't promote you at all, and just use the images anyway that people get upset.

[bluemoney]

Good thread.

[nation-x]

Originally Posted by JuicyJay

Yes, but only if the site is not promoted elsewhere on the site.
If they promote it heavily elsewhere and have trade thumbs (0% to gallery) most program owners are okay with it.

Its when they don't promote you at all, and just use the images anyway that people get upset.

Most of the CJs I have seen don't promote all of the programs that are represented by the content on their sites. Here are 2 examples of CJs run by BestInBC (not sure if you know who that is).

pornoxxxclips dot com<-- warning... popups
pornfueled dot com

There is alot of content on those sites from programs that he doesn't promote.