I just want to warn other affiliates promoting InTheCrack of a situation that happened to me this week regarding promotion of their site.
I had a 3-4 month old blog pussy-n-crack.com that was originally 100% dedicated to the promotion of InTheCrack. I had around 50 posts containing 200-300 words of hand written text each along with 2 500x700 pixel cropped photos from their FHGs in each post. Each photo was linked directly to the corresponding FHG and each post also contained a call to action text in H3 text linking to their main tour. I was adding 2-3 new posts per week. In the last week or two I had added 3-4 post using another sponsor. I had not received any sales from that blog for InTheCrack, so I figured I would try adding other sponsors to the mix to see if I could generate some income from the blog. Shouldn't be a problem since I am not using their TM name in the domain name or anything. Just another promotional blog with still over 90% of posts promoting InTheCrack.
This week I received an email notice from CrackAssets saying that I was in violation of their TOS. Because I had cropped the photos in my posts to the 500x700 dimension to capture the best of each photo and fit the format of the blog. In cropping the photos the original watermark was not on the cropped version. They gave me 24 hours to remove the photos or redo them with the watermarks left intact. According to the TOS, affiliates are not allowed to alter in any way the promotional photos or videos provided in their promo area.
After responding to the original e-mail the responses were pretty vague and delayed. I never could get clear answers regarding thumbnails on my TGPs, etc. Uncomfortable with the situation I went ahead and removed all posts for InTheCrack and altered all text and meta details geared towards InTheCrack. I replaced them with posts for other sponsors as you can see.
Just be careful not to put too much time and effort into making promos for InTheCrack that violate their TOS. I put allot of time into creating that blog, hand writing those posts, cropping the photos, and SEO the blog for InTheCrack. Seems that they don't really care whether they loose a big dedicated ad. They want those watermarks on there whether you can read them or not.
The following is the e-mail correspondence between CrackAssets affiliate program and myself:
These are in reverse order of received and sent. The times seem to be out of order as I think they were sending from two different computers or something.
Quote:
At 08:26 AM 8/26/2011, you wrote:
Thanks for removing the material. The missing Watermarks and copyright information were the issue.
Angie
[email protected]
On 11-08-25 2:54 PM, "Lou" [email protected] wrote:
Still awaiting your reply.
Matt
On 11-08-24 4:55 PM, "Lou" [email protected] wrote:
Angie,
All photos and posts for InTheCrack have been removed from www.pussyncrack.com
Please take a look and check it out.
Also, would you like me to remove all of your galleries from my TGPs with cropped thumbnails. If so I will get them deleted tomorrow night.
Thanks,
Matt
On 11-08-24 4:55 PM, "Lou" [email protected] wrote:
Angie,
After spending the last hour or so looking at the other top sites for the search term In The Crack, it looks to me that 99% of affiliates are in violation of this rule.
I could understand that if my cropped photos were advertising sites other than In The Crack, but every photo with the exception of the header on my blog links directly to the corresponding ITC FHG or to the tour of ITC. All photos must be resized and further compressed to fit the blog platform. I spend a lot of time cropping those photos to highlight the best of the shot in the smaller format, trying to get the most interest and clicks. Not specifically to remove the watermark.
Also, every TGP and gallery site promoting ITC has resized and usually cropped thumbs of the original full sized file. Is this acceptable? I also viewed several other Blogs that are doing the same thing I am doing.
I have many TGPs and Blogs and have been running them since 2003. This is the first time I have run into this type of request from a sponsor. Most sponsors give me access to the members area to pull my own promotional pics for making my own galleries and also Blog posts which are linked to their FHG or the galleries I make.
Anyway, please give me your final request and decision on this. I am inclined to just pull ITC from the blog and be done with it. I was hoping for better results with this one, but I don't think it has pulled a single sale.
Thanks,
Matt
At 02:01 PM 8/24/2011, you wrote:
Hi Matt,
We would just like you to put our Watermark back on the photos you have on the site. Our watermark has been cropped from all of the photos that you have posted.
The top banner of http://www.pussyncrack.com of Georgia Jones has been cropped and our Watermark removed. Along with all of the other photos in each of our sets eg. Your latest posting of Jinx Maze in the photos you have posted should include our watermark which is on the top left hand corner of these particular photos.
We would appreciate you complying to our Affiliate Program guidelines, and we look forward to working with you.
If you need further clarification please let me know.
Thanks!
Angie
[email protected]
On 11-08-24 2:55 PM, "Lou" [email protected] wrote:
Angie,
Please respond to my response ASAP. I have time today to get this stuff removed if needed.
Thannks,
Matt
On 11-08-24 2:03 PM, "Lou" [email protected] wrote:
Angie,
This doesn't make much sense. That blog is over 90% promo just for InTheCrack. Was 100% until a few weeks ago.
I am perfectly willing to remove all InTheCrack posts and links if this is truly your position and shift the focus to other sponsors such as ALSscan, Wet & Puffy, and FTV Girls.
What about thumbnails on my TGPs? Should I remove those too?
Please let me know what you want and I will gladly comply.
Thanks,
Matt
At 09:54 AM 8/24/2011 you wrote:
Hi Lou,
Violation of Crack-Assets Affiliate Program
This email is being sent to you as it has come to our attention that you have violated a rule of our Crack-Assets Affiliate program on your site http://www.pussyncrack.com.
http://crack-assets.com/signup.php
Bullet # 2
Any content taken from our affiliate content page for promotional use may NOT be altered in any way. You may NOT remove or alter the copyright information. You may NOT crop or further compress the sample video or pictures.
This shall serve as a 24 hour notification that you must replace your current photos with the original watermarked photos. If these are not updated your affiliate program account will be suspended.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with you.
Angie
[email protected]
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