Lycos Inc has launched its first network affiliate program in an attempt to boost traffic to its network of sites. It initially involves third parties adding elements of Lycos content to their sites and driving users back to Lycos, for which they will be financially compensated. For example, for each referral a site sends to the HotBot search engine, the referring site will get two cents, and for other referrals including MyLycos, MailCity, sports scores and television listings they will get three cents for each referral.
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Lycos says that additional phases of the referral scheme are in development and these will include other sites in the network and may offer other compensations packages than cash, though the company would not divulge any details, other than to say they will be announced over the next three months. Lycos sites that are not included this time round and will be later include Tripod, AngelFire, WhoWhere, Wired News and Suck.com, among others.
