For the second time I use webmaster@mydomain.com as my email to applied, and I was accepted to be Shopzilla publisher.

Before applying to Shopzilla please read requirements below :

Based on experience, to make the most of our relationship, acceptable website requirements include:

-Sites targeting US visitors (Shopzilla.com exclusively serves US merchants & offers)
-Sites with high Google page rank or Alexa trend/rank
-Registrations with an email address corresponding with the domain name in order to verify site ownership

We typically do not accept websites that represent:

Ad Networks
Adult Content
Automotive Sales
Healthcare
Insurance or Credit
Travel Services

I think going directly to shopzilla should be better.

> We are currently only accepting shopping websites with a qualified and
> pre-existing North American user base,

i asked her what “shopping websites” means and this is what i got:

By shopping websites, I mean sites that have to do with shopping.
Product review sites, fashion blogs, etc. For example:

and then she goes on to list a few examples.

Darren, if this information has been available i never would have gone though the sign-up process and wasted my time and theirs. i suggested to Talia that they add this information to the sign-up page. i also said that i would inform you.

thanks.

Thank you for applying to the Shopzilla Publisher Program. Unfortunately, your application can not be approved at this time.

The site you submitted with your application does not meet the profile of sites we are currently accepting for our program.

if their site profile requirements were on their website, i wouldn’t have wasted my time or theirs. so, just what are they looking for, anyway?

:)

1. In response to BW’s comment about iframes, the answer is: Yes. We currently use iframes to deliver our ad units.

2. In response to some of the comments about a “two click” program, in many cases we let publishers build ads that feature direct links to the product featured in the ad. For example, if you login to your publisher program account and build an ad based on the Keyword “Levis Jeans”, you will get a number ad unit options that feature direct product links. However, for product is one where Shopzilla can offer a “Compare Stores” experience, we provide the option for publishers to create ads that link to the list of stores that sell that product. Though, in addition to that, we also support ad units that feature direct product links to the top three (or more) merchant selling a particular product. Really, the best way to “grok” this is get log-in to your account and play around with different ads. (From the main account page, go to: Get Content > Top Search Results)

3. In response to tutorials on the API, we’re attempting to address this in two ways. (a) We’ve created an ad unit option that allows you to specify a particular product and direct links to the top 5 stores that sell that product (From the main account page, go to: Get Content > Product Pods) .(b) We intend to provide some additional instructional tips on how to parse and serve the XML results from our API (but managing results from our API does require technical expertise).

Shopzilla will continue to monitor the comments and respond appropriately. We look forward to you giving our program a try!

Like you say, first time visitors may not be fully aware of this, but I’m not sure its that big an issue to do anything about.

I’m not suggesting your actions are wrong, just wondering if its a concious decision to no longer declare outright that a links is part of an affiliate program. The fact that you’ve managed to squeeze in 3 affiliate links and two live adverts from shopzilla made me ponder this issue.

Cheers
Dave

I think Hyder makes one of the most important comments here regarding 2 clicks. If this is true then it dumps a bucket of cold water on it for me.