Is California Killing Affiliate Marketing?

[Linda Buquet]

October 17, 2003
Is California Killing Affiliate Marketing?
By Zachary Rodgers

"As e-mail marketers scramble to understand California's new spam law and prepare for its taking effect on January 1, affiliate marketers are bracing themselves for what could be a profound change to their businesses."

Read this extensive, well-written article - then come back to discuss your thoughts and views.
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/3093731

[Brittany]

LOL Linda, I just sent you a Private Message with a link to that article, but I see you've already read it ;-)

[Linda Buquet]

Oooopppps. Thanks Brittany. I wish the PM button would Flash when there is a new message, so I would remember to check it more often.

[Brittany]

I wish the PM button would Flash when there is a new message, so I would remember to check it more often.

You should get a popup every time there's a new PM.. although I check back regularly, just in case I accidentally close the popup ;)

[Linda Buquet]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I have the Google Pop-up blocker so didn't even realize there was notification.

[TranscendMedia]

Although the California Anti-Spam law is getting a lot of attention. It just doesn't make sense, mailing because it will be impossible to enforce for a number of reasons.

1)According to the bill you can not send email to a California Resident. But how can you tell if a resident is of California, especially for your AOL, MSN, & Yahoo domains?

2)What happens when someone who resides in CA moves to another state, can you market to them then?

3)Not to mention when an affiliate markets via email who get's fined, the merchant or the affiliate?

This anti-spam law is just hurting the many legitmate online marekting companies that abide by proper regulations and policies.

Just some food for thought,
Gregory Van Horn
President & Senior Developer
Transcend Media Interactive Marketing & Development Group
eCommerce Development : Affiliate Marketing : ROI Tracking : Search Engine Optimization

[Linda Buquet]

I have been reading the discussions and concerns from affiiate managers about this on other public and private forums. Some ideas and comments I have read include:

1) All affiate managers should review their current agreements to ensure you have strong anti-spam rules and should probably state - anyone caught spamming will be removed with commissions forfeited.

2) This may not help you avoid frivolous lawsuits but if you end up in court, could work in your favor.

3) More and more AMs lately have been discussing cutting down on the # of affiliates in their program,
being more selective and only working with top, ethical perfomers. This movement was under way before the Spam laws, but some are saying now that it's even more important to work lean and mean with 1,000 partners as opposed to trying to managed 3-4,000 partners that you can't possibly get to know or personally mentor and monitor.

NOTE: These are just ideas and they aren't all mine. This is not intended as any kind of legal advice and I am not saying to implement any of these changes. Just sharing info and ideas.

What do you think???