Merriam-Webster jumps into the affiliate marketing game

[The Buzz]

Merriam-Webster, long known for defining words and selling dictionaries, has started writing product reviews in hopes of earning an affiliate commission from Amazon. According to Archive.org, Merriam-Webster launched the Reviews section of their website just over two months ago.

From Niche Pursuits:

They have clearly joined the affiliate marketing business in a big way.

With over 26 contributors and hundreds of review articles, they have already invested heavily into staff and content to amplify this pivot in their business to affiliate marketing.

As you can see from this example article of Instant Pots, Merriam-Webster has affiliate buttons and links all over the review article. When a reader clicks those links, they make a commission from Amazon, Wal-mart, Home Depot, or other vendors when a customer buys those products.

The reality is that over the past few years, many other large publications that were historically information or news-only websites, have started to shift to affiliate marketing as an additional revenue model.

The New York Times, CNN, CNET, and many others have all entered the world of product reviews and affiliate marketing.
Is it a case of jumping on the bandwagon? Probably.

Most affiliate marketers are either individuals or have very small teams. They are not a large corporation. Generally, they own “niche websites” that focus on one particular area, such are hiking, cooking, or horses for example.

As a result, they are generally more expert in the area than a business full of journalists.

However, these small affiliate marketers are obviously upset that larger players are essentially gaming their authority in order to outrank these smaller competitors in Google and snag those sweet commissions.

Read more here: https://www.nichepursuits.com/merria...ate-marketing/

[Pokerface]

Very interesting and quite a development and change for them. Will be interesting to watch what happens with them.

[MMM]

Well, interesting is not the word i would use.

You can see in NJ results the news sites outranking many aff sites.

In terms of authority, they by far beat every affiliate site. not necessarily in the field but the overall balance is clear.

Eventually affiliate marketing will save the press

[edgarf76]

Good for them. The Miami Herald looks like they are doing some affiliate marketing as well as some other big publications.