Every so often even I have to admit to the genius, and down right evilness, of some affiliate marketing technniques. And this one has really got me in awe of the guys who do it – they should get a gold medal for the concept and a smack in the head for implementing it. Using some Yahoo! technology you too can hijack the brand listings of a merchant and make sure that every time someone searches for their brand and clicks the natural result it counts as an affiliate click and as a result an affiliate sale.

I was reading through the terms and conditions of some affiliate programs the other night. During this I noticed that if you’re an affiliate on the H Samuel or Ernest Jones programs you’re not supposed to be targeting misspellings of the brands . Why strong highstreet brands such as H Samuel and Ernest Jones should really have to worry about aspect of their brand online is beyond me. If you’re an affiliate you shouldn’t be attempting to rank for phrases such as:

• H Smauel
• H Samuels
• H Samul
• H Samel
• Ernst Jones
• Ernet Jonew
• Enrest Jonew