AirMiles Toolbar – Free Airmiles!
AirMiles released a new Yahoo toolbar recently to collect 5 AirMiles per every 50 searches through Yahoo search engine (up to a maximum 30 AirMiles per month or 300 searches/month). The concept is simple: collect AirMiles on your everday searches, with a couple of conditions:
- Must install the AirMiles Toolbar
- Must use Yahoo search as your search medium
For full details on how to use the toolbar, please visit: https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/ToolbarInstall
Pay particular attention to the FAQ on the above link. Namely the following:
Q. Who is FreeCause?
A. FreeCause is a private company we have partnered with to bring you the AIR MILES® Toolbar.Q. Why am I accepting a FreeCause End User License Agreement (EULA) when downloading the AIR MILES® Toolbar?
A. Because AIR MILES® has partnered with a FreeCause, a private company, to bring you the Toolbar, it’s necessary that you accept their End User License Agreement.
This should be an indicator that AirMiles has partnered with a 3rd party company to collect data and send/receive potentially secured information involving everyday searches and/or purchases made online. The toolbar itself works in an interesting factor:
- Tracking the number of unique searches made within the cycle (1 month).
- Alert messages when accessing sites that do not earn AirMiles and suggesting alternatives (partnered companies).
- Listing your previous month’s AirMiles balance.
This all sounds like a great idea, but what’s the catch? There has to be a catch, right?
The simple answer is No. However, more realistically there is a catch. As I noted earlier, the 3rd party EULA (end-user license agreement) allows FreeCause to collect data which the toolbar is in use. What this translates to is that your search criteria and habits are all being tracked by the toolbar software.
Other Concerns? (For webmasters)
The AirMiles toolbar is a nightmare for affiliate marketing. The problem with the toolbar is that it hijacks all purchases made through various links and/or websites and treats them as their own. In simpler terms, referral links and affiliate companies will not given credit for links that were used on a pariticular website. That is, if you have your own website with your own affiliate links, you are not being credited for links that are being clicked on — EVEN on your own site!
In summary, the AirMiles Toolbar is a great tool for everyday consumers that use the Yahoo search engine on a regular basis. For others that prefer using the Google search engine, the Yahoo search is a bit hard to get used to. Personally, I found it frustrating to ’switch over’ to the Yahoo search because it does not match my searching needs as much as Google. However, for earning up to 30 AirMiles per month, this is a small sacrifice to pay.
The disadvantages of the toolbar that I could find are:
- Hijacking of affiliate links/referrals
- Alert messages can get irritating after a while
- Seems to slow down “the interet experience”
Overall, I think it’s a great way to earn AirMiles. If you maximize your searches each month, you could potentially earn up to 360 AirMiles per calendar year!
Tags: Affiliate Marketing, Airmiles Hijacks referrals, AirMiles toolbar, AirMiles Toolbar hacking, Free AirMiles, Free AirMiles Toolbar, Hijack marketing, iMacro