The TopRanked.io Weekly Digest: What’s Hot in Affiliate Marketing [Discover Cars]

Quick Disclosure: We’re about to tell you how the Discover Cars affiliate program is pretty great. And we really mean it. Just know that if you click on a Discover Cars link, we may earn a small commission. Your choice.

There’s one thing that’s been a constant throughout the history of man.

From fire and the wheel to Judge Jude and AI, we all love to discover stuff.

So let me introduce you to what we discovered this week.

TopRanked.io Affiliate Partner Program of the Week — Discover Cars

Without the discovery of the wheel, we would never have discovered cars. And if we hadn’t discovered cars, then this week, I would not have found Discover Cars — our top affiliate program of the week.

Here’s everything you need to know about Discover Cars.

Discover Cars — It’s About Car Rental

Discover Cars is all about car rentals. Basically, it searches among 500+ suppliers in 10000+ locations worldwide. Then it saves its customers up to 70% off regular car rental prices.

Basically, Discover Cars is kinda like Google Flights, but for rental cars.

Really, there’s not much more that needs to be said about Discover Cars.

But maybe showing off a few of its awards might help.

And while we’re at it, how about it’s Trustpilot score?

Yep, it seems that everyone from its clients to industry experts love Discover Cars.

Now let me show you why you will, too.

Discover Cars Affiliate Program — It’s About Making Money

Now for the bit we all want to know about — what’s it like earning money as a Discover Cars affiliate.

The answer is, pretty good.

Let’s start with commissions.

On average, affiliates earn about $20 per booking. But, this isn’t set in stone. The exact commission structure gives you 70% of the car rental profit and 30% of any “Full Coverage” (insurance) revenue.

And as for the other conditions, Discover Cars treats its affiliates well. For example, it’s one of the rare programs that offers 365-day tracking cookies.

Yeah, I know. That’s absolutely insane.

They also pay promptly via PayPal or bank transfer. But, just be aware — prompt payment is only for “completed bookings”.

That means, if someone books a car 6 months from now, you won’t see that commission for 6 months. But that’s only because Discover Cars can’t guarantee that the booking won’t be cancelled, so I guess this is totally fair.

Discover More About Discover Cars Here

That should do it for now. As usual, if you want more info, then head over to TopRanked.io for our in-depth Discover Cars Affiliate Program review.

Or, if you want get straight down to business, signup up for Discover Cars Affiliates here.

News Takeaways — And the Future of Search Is…

It seems barely a week goes by where we don’t get another rumor about what Altman & Co. are getting up to.

Last week, it was rumors about Altman’s $7 trillion raise. That turned out to be some quote that got misconstrued.

And now this week, there are new rumors that OpenAI is about to take on Google.

Or, to be more specific, OpenAI is building a search product (if the rumors are to be believed).

Now, I don’t know about you, but when it comes to rating things on a sliding scale of ‘snowball-in-hell → absolutely-could-happen’, I’m rating this latest rumor a little more to the right-hand side.

And, if it does come true, I’m also rating it as having a pretty good chance of getting a bit more traction than Bing got with Sydney/Copilot/whatever the latest “chat mode” is calling itself.

Bold claim right?

But hear me out.

Doesn’t ChatGPT Already Have Search? Well, Yes, But it Could (and Should) Be Radically Different

First, this might seem like a slightly weird rumor. After all, ChatGPT already has search built right in. It’s basically just New Bing.

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s what happens if you ask it to tell you about the latest news in affiliate marketing.

Then it spits out a nice bullet-pointed summary with the usual talking points (AI, influencers, affiliate platform tech, etc.).

All good stuff that looks a lot like what Sydney’s been doing since this time last year.

So what’s with the rumors about OpenAI taking on Google?

Honestly, no one really knows. For all the reporting so far, all I could find was some classic non-committal language where stuff’s prefaced with words like “may be” and “unclear”.

What’s worse is that this non-commital language is usually prefacing things OpenAI already does. For example, Business Insider wrote, “The new product may be partly powered by Microsoft’s search engine Bing.”

So basically, we know nothing aside from the fact that an anonymous “someone with knowledge of OpenAI’s plans” has said OpenAI is building a web search to rival Google.

So let’s piece together a few more elements that we do actually know.

• New Bing launched precisely 1 year ago.
• New Bing got a quick 100 million users.
• Then Microsoft went quiet. Presumably, it failed to kill Google.
• The next time we heard from Microsoft, it announced New Bing was now in ChatGPT.
• One year after the whole AI search thing started, Google’s market share has hardly changed.

Long story short, New Bing has failed to shake Google’s dominance, despite the fact it’s also been shoehorned into both regular Bing and then ChatGPT.

And that means, there’s probably one thing we can be pretty sure about right now.

That is, OpenAI’s search will be radically different from how we currently imagine AI search.

OpenAI’s Search Will Probably Be Way Faster Than New Bing

To get some idea of what OpenAI Search could look like, a good place to start is by figuring out what’s wrong with New Bing (and its ChatGPT incarnation).

So let’s start with the most obvious thing — for regular searches, New Bing is a horribly slow experience. Waiting around for a GPT to type out its response is just painful for a lot of stuff.

This is the same basic problem we outlined when the GPT Store launched (see our Inbox Ally affiliate program edition).

That week, the “curated top picks” featured a bunch of GPTs showing “new” use cases for ChatGPT.

We took a closer look at #1 on the OpenAI curation list, AllTrails GPT (again, see our Inbox Ally affiliate program edition). And the verdict at the time was that it was both faster and easier to just use Google + a website.

Fast forward to today, and surprise surprise, the things that are actually trending on the GPT store tend to be little more than rehashes of the same old AI use cases. That is, it’s 100% dominated by content creation GPTs — text generation, image generation, and cheating research assistants for lazy motivated school kids with essays to write.

Even the “curated top picks” have veered this way, with the only exception this week being GolfGPT. 

Basically, there aren’t many people using the dozens of travel planning assistants/recipe creators/etc.

And that’s despite the fact that far more people booking hotels/flights every day than there are people doing logo designs. But somehow, “Logo Creator” is trending #2, and not one travel assistant has broken into the trending list.

Maybe OpenAI Will Just Copy Regular Search?

Now, maybe I’m wrong about the whole UX/speed thing being the reason AI has failed to have its “genuine rival to Google” moment.

After all, if New Bing was unable to make any real dent in Google’s dominance, then what else could be the problem?

Sure, there’s the old “Google is a habit” thing that gets thrown around.

But, at the same time, there were literally millions of people who flocked to Bing to give it a go. Presumably, a pretty good chunk of them were at least willing to change their habits if the experience was better.

But, alas, Google remained king, and Bing went back to being… well, Bing.

So that makes me think — maybe OpenAI’s plan is nothing more spectacular than a simple replication of regular Bing/Google. The only real twist might be a tight integration into ChatGPT.

It could just work.

I mean, look at this — does it seem that ridiculous?

All that is needed are a few pre-generated texts that can be spat out in an instant.

Stick one at the top that says something like “Here are some resources that might help.”

Then stick one at the bottom that invites the user to ask any questions.

Bingo — you just gave ChatGPT users one less reason to go to Google.

And given that ChatGPT is already a daily habit for so many people, that might be all it takes to give Google a run for its money.

Takeaway

Okay, so this whole thing is still very hypothetical. As a reminder, everything above is nothing more than a theory based on some rumors — rumors that were spread by an anonymous individual.

But, at the same time, there are two things that are almost definitely happening.

1. OpenAI is making a play for the search market.
2. OpenAI will use Bing in some way in this offering.

The reason I say these two things are “almost definitely happening” is that these were both first reported by The Information. You can almost guarantee that they vetted the “anonymous individual” pretty thoroughly.

So, in terms of “what does this mean”, it means that there’s a good chance that Bing is about to get a lot more important.

• ChatGPT already has a solid user base.
• You can bet Altman and Co. have some pretty good ideas about how to convert those users over to a new search product.
• That search product is going to use Bing in the back end.

Now, let’s say you want to act on this and get ahead of the curve. What to do?

Well, here’s one thing I’d be willing to be on — start thinking about SEO for Bing.

Yeah, I know. Crazy right? Who bothers with Bing?

But that might just be the point — if you can get ahead of everyone else and give Bing just a little attention, the payoff could be big.

There are clear differences between Bing and Google. And one of those differences just so happens to be that “less authoritative” websites seem to have a better chance on Bing. For example:

So why not take a punt on some Bing optimization? After all, if TESBROS BLOG can outrank Tesla, then maybe you could, too.

But, if you do outrank Tesla, just make sure you monetize with Discover Cars.

Closing Thought

Most weeks, we like to give you something a little more concrete to act on in the news takeaways.

But this week, the best we could offer was a bet on a theory about a rumor that was spread by an anonymous individual.

That sounds like a lot of uncertainty.

But so what?

The future is uncertain. I mean, if you remember back a little over a year ago, ChatGPT was a “Code Red” for Google, and everyone was thinking it was death of of SEO.

But now, OpenAI is expanding into search. The only problem is, we have no idea when or exactly how.

So how do we react?

Well, I asked the same question. Then I stumbled on this: Placing Strategic Bets in the Face of Uncertainty.

It’s from Harvard Business Review. The only problem is, it’s paywalled.

But then I tried a neat hack — I asked ChatGPT if it knew about the paper. And sure enough, it did.

Here’s what it had to say.

The paper “Placing Strategic Bets in the Face of Uncertainty” by Roger L. Martin, published on January 22, 2013, offers valuable insights into strategic thinking under uncertainty. Martin emphasizes that strategy is not about eliminating uncertainty but making informed choices today and adapting as outcomes unfold. He suggests that strategy should be flexible, allowing for adjustments in response to unforeseen changes, and highlights the importance of understanding the inherent uncertainties in decision-making processes. This approach helps in navigating the unpredictable nature of business and life, ensuring that strategies remain relevant and effective over time. — ChatGPT

Now, that’s a chunky paragraph with a lot of words to say not a lot.

So let me break it down.

• Don’t bother trying to eliminate uncertainty.
• Instead, make “informed choices”.
• Adapt your choices as needed.

So there you have it.

You have some information. You have the power to make a choice.

The only thing you don’t have is certainty.

And that’s alright — Discover Cars is a highly flexible affiliate program that can adapt travel wherever your evolving strategy may go. 😉

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(Featured image by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS via Pexels)

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