Way back in January 2008 when it was fashionable for me to win affiliate prizes, Jo from Stream:20 sent me an email saying I’d won a 2 night stay in any 4 star Jurys Doyle hotel in the UK and Ireland.

Well with no beau to wine and dine in a UK or Irish city, it took me until the last week of January 2009 to actually get to use the prize as I went to attend one day of the the CAP Euro London event.

Although I was travelling on my own I knew I wouldn’t be alone. Regular a4uforum posters such as Purple and Swifty were there and planned to catch up in or around the event.

By logging onto Twitter on the outdoor tube ride to the Novotel I could see that Matthew Wood and a few of the Existem crowd were present and I knew exactly where they’d be on the numerous floors. Very handy when I’d made the conscious decision to not to make any new business but just see recognisable friendly faces.

During the 5 hours that I was at CAP I met up with people I’ve met at previous networking and affiliate events and others who I thought I was talking to for the first time but it transpires I’ve had drunken conversations with at previous networking and affiliate events.

When CAP finished there was a few hours to spare before the evening party at Leicester Square. Fortunately pretty and funny girls Jo and Teresa were up for a night out, whilst most others got trains home.

After an entertaining meal in China Town we head to Leicester Square and took advantage of the free Jack Daniels at the bar.

I then caught up with some old friends from London before navigating my way back to my hotel at 5am via the casino. I only went in to spend a penny (as I was busting) but it cost me £120.

Despite falling asleep at 5:30 I did manage to wake up, shower and get to Kings Cross on time for 7:45.

I didn’t however jump on the correct train as it set off up North.

Befuddled indeed.

Now, here’s the same story again. Only backwards. As recorded live @Befuddle in Twitter.

# is a shell of who I was last night. Exhausted and now home to sleep. 8:03 PM Jan 31st from mobile web

# has made it to Boro before noon! Now quick change then catch up with the lads for all dayer! 11:54 AM Jan 31st from mobile web

# thanks train guard #1 for not charging me £60 for being stupid. Now ready to haggle again at Donnie 9:41 AM Jan 31st from mobile web

# is a proper twit. Got the train to Leeds and I’m not even going to Leeds! 8:15 AM Jan 31st from mobile web

# is at Kings Cross to start the next leg of the weekend albeit in the same jumper as last night 7:42 AM Jan 31st from mobile web

# is in no mans land. If I fall asleep between 515am and 7am I miss my train, match and weekend 5:13 AM Jan 31st from mobile web

# is in China Town having a meal with and courtesy of Sky. Thanks Stream20. 9:05 PM Jan 30th from mobile web

# forgives the blonde masseuse for messing my hair up. It was quite arousing for 3pm in a packed conference hall 3:11 PM Jan 30th from web

# @matthewwood en route for the first freebie of the day 1:05 PM Jan 30th from mobile web

# heading to the hotel gym. Too early in the day to make eye contact and discuss Rev Share and CPA 10:31 AM Jan 30th from mobile web

# made the £18 courtesy cooked breakfast by 5 mins. Get in 9:58 AM Jan 30th from mobile web

# just leaving China Town. Hot stuff 1:26 AM Jan 30th from mobile web

# is ha ha in a very busy Brixton to see The Streets and there’s been a powercut so it’s off 8:39 PM Jan 29th from mobile web

# is on the Guinness as the lager is like shandy 7:05 PM Jan 29th from mobile web

# easily found the Webgains pub using the GPS on my phone and Orange Maps 6:31 PM Jan 29th from mobile web

# requests Hannah Swift’s mobile please. Meeting her for drink by Webgains 5:15 PM Jan 29th from mobile web

# is ready to rock and roll in London for the next 42 hours 2:15 PM Jan 29th from web

# missed a trick? Stars say ‘New love first says hello in a coffee bar’. While in Starbucks the server told me she loves lots of cream! 12:34 PM Jan 29th from web

# is having a bad day at the office and I’m not even in the office. I’m on the train. 12:10 PM Jan 29th from mobile web

One Publisher Manager appears to have threatened to kick me off a program for using a network creative to link direct to a merchants site.

When you login to a network site and list your programs, there’s generally a link called “Creatives”. This is full of wonderful imagery in a range of sizes. I particularly use 468×60; 120×600 and 88×31.

From the network page you are able to select the design and size you want and they kindly provide some HTML code to emded into your own site.

When the creative is on your site, users can then click the images and go to the intended site as advertised on the creative.

Simple isn’t it?

Well not quite. Said PB says to ‘secure my place on the program’, which is definitely a threat that I have in writing, that I need to remove the link to the merchant from the creative.

Instead PB wants the 88×31 creative to link to a page on my site. So why should I treat this merchant any differently to the 900 on my site? Why haven’t other networks pulled all their creative code and removed all links direct to merchants?

Did I do as PB threatened, I mean requested. No, I removed the creative completely.

Cost to me annually for taking this stand – and being removed from the program – £185.

If you’re as Befuddled as me by this, then feel free to comment.

If you’ve got me on Facebook and you’re intrigued by my one line updates on what I had for lunch, gruelling spinning sessions, casino wins and Friday night frolics, there’s another way for you to keep up-to-date.

My Twitter feed is set up to update my Facebook status so I use that instead, whilst I’m on the move.

Catch me on Twitter

@befuddle

Follow you soon.

ShopCodes has been hit hard in the busiest shopping month of the year with some merchants not happy that I’ve actually been delivering strong sales for them.

Feel Unique, my 3rd most popular merchant on the Webgains network, are the latest merchant to pull a popular 5% Exclusive code.

This follows Flowers Direct, my 3rd most popular merchant on Affiliate Window, pulling the 10% Exclusive code that was so popular people actively searched for the code word.

If merchants can’t afford to offer codes and pay an affiliate commission then don’t offer codes. If paying out 12.5% per sale, 5% code and 7.5% commission is untenable then make it tenable from the start. Change the code to ‘£5 Off £30′ spend and offer 5% commission.

The Feel Unique case though is in itself unique as not all affiliates are having Exclusive codes removed.

It appears that because ShopCodes ranks highly in the Google organic search engines, I have to go as it is “their own customers” and brand-aware customers that are utilising the code.

That is true (see below) – but that is exactly what I optimise the pages for.

ShopCodes traffic is on the up and sales for the above merchants and more is on the up. This is the first signs that if you rank well in Google then merchants are going to get shifty and start to think about why they are paying out to you.

For me, it is a simple fact. If I don’t rank well in Google then I don’t generate enough sales to make decent commission. If all merchants were to go down the above route though then I’d have to un-optimise my pages and make them spammy in Google. My pages are the way they are to improve visitor numbers and improve click-through-rates. This is obviously too much for some.

With merchants making it even harder to make commissions (ala Figleaves) no wonder affiliates have to think outside of the box and utilise methods such as ‘click-to-reveal’ to at least have the potential to earn something. A practice I don’t do, so even though people have landed on my pages, it is of their own hands that they’ve clicked through to the merchant for the reward of a 5% discount.

Feel Unique bluntly said ‘this is not negotiable’. I’m not negotiating with anybody. You’re removed from ShopCodes and the simple fact is another merchant will become my 3rd top merchant.

Keyword searches that included ‘unique’:

• feel unique discount code
• feel unique voucher
• feel unique voucher code
• feel unique code
• feelunique voucher
• feelunique voucher code
• feel unique voucher codes
• feel unique codes
• feelunique discount code
• feel unique discount voucher

Feel Unique potential customers wanted voucher codes and they found them on a site that plays within the rules. How much would the merchant have paid out if another site was in my place with ‘click-to-reveal’ functionality. If anything I’ve probably saved them money.