I've got to take issue with an article RevNews posted on June 13th about An Outstanding Feed-Generated Affiliate Website that according to the author, Sydney Johnston, an ebay veteran who believes an end user of her datafeed software has created something worth writing about.

Who are we kidding?? First, this "article" is simply a soft sell piece for Sydney Johnston's Affiliate software. In fact, it's a nice tactical example of article marketing. That's not what bothered me.

What upset me was the mediocre, pre-millennium site design that is nothing more than a cheap template masquerading as a web presence. The site is embarrassing. This is exactly the type of site affiliates need to avoid as we mature as an industry. I believe this site type is more likely to raises suspicions of site visitors than sales and, is highly unlikely to be profiled by an affiliate manager who doesn’t want the CEO to see the poor brand association they’ve gained as a result of this “special” affiliate relationship.

It’s time to evolve. While I love James Martell’s affiliate story of riches as much as the next person his sites aren’t the most graphically appealing sites you’ll ever see online.

I'm not inspired to publish my Top Ten List of Critical Site Design Tips.