Affiliate Links on a content site

In one of the forums I visit, there was a small discussion about DMOZ and affiliate programs. Though the original post was about getting an affiliate site listed in DMOZ, lots of other interesting comments came up regarding submission of a CONTENT site with lots of affiliate links. A sample -

"there are quite a lot of DMOZ editors who frown upon webmasters who try to make money from their websites".

"only after DMOZ listed the site that I added affiliate links to my content site".

Is that true? Do you fellows reject a site if a content site has lots of affiliate links?

Ashwin
 

totalxsive

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We reject sites where affiliate links account for the majority of the content. Having one or two is fine, but if all you are doing is providing endless affiliate links to Amazon, then you are not offering the user anything useful so we wouldn't list it.

However, if, for example, you offer a site offering independent reviews of books, with detailed author biographies and other unique content, but just happened to provide affiliate links to Amazon so that the user can purchase the book, then that's fine, we'd list it.

More about this is in the Guidelines, located at http://dmoz.org/guidelines/ - the documents are viewable for the public.
 

Quote "We reject sites where affiliate links account for the majority of the content"

What if I want to start a site which actually reviews various affiliate programs (and links to them)? Somewhat like an affiliate directory?

Another scenario -
Lots of REAL content + Lots of affiliate links (say 3 or 4 affiliate links - banner ads, text links etc).
Will it be accepted? Or does it depend on the editor reviewing the listing?

Is there any "acceptable" number of affiliate links per page?

Thanks Neil - I didn't know that everybody can access the editorial guidelines. I have some serious reading to do <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />
 

A webmaster has to provide useful _content_ if they want to make money off of an ODP listing. ODP isn't about webmaster success, it's about the end user -- the surfer -- finding the information he or she wants. Do you provide mostly information or not? Is the information unique or is it found on other listed sites (especially in the same category)? Is the unique information hard to find? All of this comes into play.

There are ways to make money without ODP, keep that in mind. There are PFI and PPC directories which may be better suited for some (or is that many?) URLs.
 

&gt;&gt; What if I want to start a site which actually reviews various affiliate programs (and links to them)? Somewhat like an affiliate directory?

Though issue here <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" /> As many other fellow editors said, we do look to unique content and the surfer's experience. It can be argued that a comprehensive directory of affiliate programs might be a usefoul resource for surfers looking for... affiliate programs (not that users aren't already hit with endless spam by the oh-so-innovative affiliate marketers, but this is another issue), but here too if the content is merely a list of (affiliate) links to affiliate programs, such a site won't be considered for inclusion.

A somewhat good test could be the following:
a) take site foo.com
b) strip out all affiliate content (links containing affiliate tags) and call it X
c) strip out all duplicated content (content already found in other sites, either copied/grabbed, syndicated, etc.) and call it Y
d) take what you have left and call it Z

Now look at Z and consider looking both at whether this could be of some value for the surfer and weighting Z against (X + Y)

If Z could still be considered an useful resource for the surfer and still weights more than (X + Y) the site sure could be eligible for a listing.
If Z could still be considered an useful resource for the surfer but its weight is less than (X + Y) the site may or may not be eligible for a listing, depending on the uniqueness and value of Z (and here editorial judgement comes into play).
If Z couldn't still be considered an useful resource for the surfer and its weight is less than (X + Y) the site sure couldn't be eligible for a listing (standard characteristic of the hundreds of affiliate linkfarms, bannerfarms, content-reproducing, claiming-to-be-a-directory, spamcrap we see every day).

Thake all this as a very general rule, since as you can understand any more exact formula will just make no sense. Editorial good judgement (after all, it's what we are here for, reviewing sites) coupled with an understanding and application of the Guidelines, is what makes a human edited directory different, after all.

Also, consider that talking about affiliate content vs useful content, we often see sites submitted which are acceptable, and then add loads of affiliate links (or affiliate tags to the existing, previously non-affiliate links) after inclusion. In one of the forums you visit, someone made a very goot point: "The problem is once you publish a specific policy, someone will find a way around it by the time they finish reading it" <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />
 

Now I clearly understand what the ODP manual says about affiliate links - Thanks ettore! <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" alt="" />

Look at the content on the site, mentally blocking out all affiliate links. If the remaining information is original and valuable informational content that contributes something unique to the category's subject, the site may be a good candidate for the ODP. If the remaining content is poor, minimal, or copied from some other site, then the site is not a good candidate for the ODP.
 
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