What is the DAZ Affiliate program?
Kevin Rye
Posts: 392
in The Commons
I saw the banner add that reads "Make money with your hobby". It leads here: http://www.daz3d.com/community/community-affiliate-program
What exactly is this? Is it getting DAZ 3D banner ads on your site? Or is there more to it?
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It's that page that the software would take me to every other time it logged me out, up until at least a month ago... I secretly believe it's some sort of covert black ops assassin organization that DAZ occasionally tries to recruit people to... Or something about putting DAZ banners on your site... One of those... Probably the assassin one. Probably ninjas too.
Basically if traffic is driven from your site and directs them to Daz and they make a purchase after coming from your site or wherever, you get a percentage.
I'm still on the fence about joining mainly because everyone uses Ad-Block nowadays. I have no problem at all recommending DAZ products or having the banner ads, but I'm a bit more hesitant after reading the lengthy (and multiple) contracts.
I'm going with the assassins and ninjas myself...
Greetings,
While (as²)²ins and ninjas are trés cool, the DAZ affiliate program is also pretty sweet.
Essentially if you have an audience (people who are interested in 3D) who are likely to buy stuff or can be encouraged to buy stuff, then if they click on your banners or links to DAZ content, it routes through Commission Junction and drops a cookie on their browser. If they buy something in the next 20 days, ~45 days later, you get a 10% commission. For new users making a purchase, you get 30%. The idea is that you should be helping increase volume to DAZ's store, and that it's especially helpful to bring in new (buying) users.
For a while, a long time ago, I made a bit of money via the DAZ affiliate program by providing tools to folks. (That is to say: it paid for my habit, mostly.) These days I mostly almost make my hosting costs back, but the hosting also pays for a half-dozen other (mostly lower traffic) sites I run, so it's all good. :)
Unless you have a pretty big megaphone (a related-but-not-competing forum or store, a popular blog, a set of tools, or something like that) it's not going to make a huge amount of money, but affiliate programs always like to tout their highest income folks. More interesting would be the median of active affiliate accounts (e.g. of everybody who actually received any money, what's the median amount they received), but it's likely not as PR-friendly a number. :)
Still, it's absolutely a great way to make a few extra bucks every few months, even if you have a relatively low-traffic site. Keep in mind that you can't post affiliate links to the forums, deviantArt, or any other public forums (that you don't own, presumably), and there's some restrictions on what you can do. (Intended to keep people from doing annoying things like spamming forums, email, or writing AdWare, but that also mean there's other 'nicer' things that you still can't do.) You also don't get affiliate revenue for your own transactions or PC items, which makes sense. :)
The contracts are mostly butt-covering, IMO, but you should read through them as best you can anyway. It's 75% boilerplate, anyway.
-- Morgan
Edit: I found a link that suggests that my ranking on Commission Junction (3 blocks out of 5) suggests I'm in the 60-79th percentile of affiliates, which actually pretty much gives a good idea of how that plays out; I'm slightly above average in earnings, and I basically make my (moderately high) costs back. DAZ, as an advertiser, is in the 80-94% of payouts, which is solid.
Could you answer one more question (sorry to keep asking you stuff)? ;) You say you can't post affiliate links (which I also read in the contract), does that mean direct links like what the banner ad links to, or that I cannot link to DAZ or my own site in any forum? I also worry about the little clause that says you can't have anything "violent" or questionable, does that mean we can't have artistic nudity or mild violence in images either?
Thanks. :)
I have gotten so many spams over the years bearing the words "Make money with your hobby" or similar. Seeing those words is an instant hit on one's credibility.
I asked about the artistic nudity and I was told "no."
As far as violence, I belive they mean stuff like depicting abuse, such as rape, I don't think they mean a battle scene. I could be wrong on that assumption, so best to ask them.
Greetings,
It's okay to link to your own site (it'd be somewhat silly otherwise), but (section 1di.) you couldn't post a link to a product in the description on a deviantArt post which went directly through an affiliate link to get to DAZ. (That's also against dA's policies, fwiw.) You could probably post a link like, 'See more of my work here...' and a link to your own site, where you provide a list next to your own images that shows the products used, and those links would be affiliate links. That said, in the case of dA for instance, double-check their policies as well. (I follow some artists who have a stock 'store link' on their own pages, so it should be doable.) Just act with integrity, and follow the principle of least surprise.
As for violence/objectionable, do you mean the stuff on this page specifically 2b? Yeah, obscenity is the tough one there. That's CJ's own issues, not DAZ, so it's up to CJ's network quality group to determine. I don't believe artistic nudity on your own site would be an issue, or at least you could make a good argument. While you never want it to happen, the heaviest outcome is termination of your commission junction account, which puts you back at where you are now...without one. :) If you're concerned, don't add affiliate links to the pages that have stuff you feel someone would have a problem with.
One of the PITA's is the privacy policy requirement, fwiw. Since you're going to be adding a cookie, you'll pretty much need to provide a privacy policy if you don't already have one. There are a few free ones out there, I believe, that can be customized.
I'm fairly certain you can put a link to your own site in your signature, for instance, as long as that link doesn't force the user to go through an affiliate link to DAZ. The prohibition in 2/d/i is on 'links to an advertiser's web site or web site content', not to your own. The presumption is that your site is more than just a link farm, that it provides value to the visitor, e.g. by providing them with more art to flip through, and information on how it was created. Also expect that it will get viewed and reviewed by CJ's staff at some point, and act appropriately, and don't cut corners to get more folks clicking through.
-- Morgan
Too bad I don't have a website anymore... I'm also kinda disappointed that DAZ doesn't really need me as a Ninja... Though if they didn't want other people to know about their secret assassin program, I suspect that this is exactly the way they would deny it... Well, probably with some weird distracting sale too...
Thanks for clearing this up. I have my own hobby blog where I post a walkthrough of how each of my pieces was created. However, I do from time to time have nudity in my art. It's nothing too over-the-top. Maybe to play it safe, I could only put links/adds on the safe-for-work pages. When they review your site for compliance, do they look at the site as a whole, or just the pages that have the affiliate links? I'l have to look at the contracts and think about it. I looked at the document linked above and that is a lot of legal mumbo jumbo!
Just ask them. I did. I am sure you will get a quick reply, they seem to be working on attracting more affiliates.
I tried the Affiliate program a few years ago. I had a web site at the time, and promoted DAZ a lot. One time I looked, and was pleased to discover I'd earned a huge commission. I don't remember the exact amount, but my jaw dropped. I don't know who spent all that money, but I had fun buying lots of DAZ goodies.
Over the years, I've gone through some personal changes, dropped my web site and the Affiliate program. Maybe I should start another web site and try again?!
Greetings,
So, in the past, DAZ's affiliate program would give you a commission on any purchase of DAZ Gift Cards, which was sometimes a LOT of money at once, but you wouldn't get a payout for the individual purchases made by that money (it would be double-dipping, so it makes sense). It looks like their more recent version gives you a payout when that person buys items with them, which I think is a little more honest, and is the right choice.
But that's one way you could have gotten really big one-time commissions. Also they pay a little higher percentages for purchases of things like Carrara, that are wholly owned DAZ software titles.
-- Morgan
Frankly, I don't remember the terms that existed when I got the money/credit. I was just pleasantly shocked, and spent the earnings at DAZ3D!
I have questions about nudity too. I have artistic nudity on my site but have pages without it. Can I post affiliate ads on non-nudity pages? I'm thinking of starting a separate website just for children's art, so I suppose I could always post it on that site. But then I'm afraid people will start to create their own art and not hire me LOL!
I guess one's YouTube channel would fall into the catagory of a site not owned by you, I was curious however about the paid version of Vimeo, I just have the free one.
I used Vimeo for awhile. I might even had the paid version for awhile. I just didn't find Vimeo fulfilling. They had a forum, but no one seemed willing to communicate. It's much easier at YouTube. People get interested in your videos and comment. No one commented on my Vimeo videos.
Black ops and assassins...seriously, cuz?
What's next?
I applied for a Daz affiliate account, but it's been pending for a few days. How long does it normally take for them to give an answer as to whether I'm approved or not? And if I am approved, can I put links in my YouTube description of items I talk about in my video?
Is there a more recent thread on the affiliate program? I'm trying to find out how long it takes, on average, for Daz to respond to an application.
I recall someone said in a recent thread (don't recall which one) that the program wasn't what it used to be since DAZ shifted to another affiliator company, and that you earned very little now. Maybe you can find the thread on google.
A google search is how I found this thread ... Commission Junction is the one listed on the Daz website ... but it's been several days of me waiting to start my promotions because I don't know if I've been approved by Daz or not. I guess I could put in a support ticket, but I'm not even sure if that's appropriate.
Can y'all think of any reason why Daz wouldn't want affiliates? Why wouldn't they WANT people promoting their vendors and products?
If they don't I don't think they would have the option for signing up, on their site. I'd assume they're just busy, sales support seems to be the only department that responds quickly at the moment.
I'm just sorta stunned because I was turned down. I mean, I know I'm not famous or anything, but I have a bit of an online presence and following. I was really looking forward to affiliating with them, but it's not going to stop me from promoting the vendors that are so helpful to me in the forums. They make me look good, lol. I couldn't make a living at this if they didn't do what they do. I am just shocked Daz wouldn't want to take advantage of my little following, is all.
This is an old thread. Daz may no longer be spending money on that form of advertising. It could be expensive to pay commission.
That's not it, either, because they keep promoting the affiliate program on the website with every new website change. Plus, I wrote a support ticket a few days back just asking how long it takes to get a response on the application and received a response yesterday that it can normally take 2-3 weeks, then today I get a notice that I was rejected. It's just weird. But, as I said ... I will promote the vendors on my channel regardless.
Deleted (didn't see your last post before now)
Unless I'm reading it wrong, lol ...
"Sorry, your application was not approved ... We regret to inform you ... yada-yada-yada"