Back in May of 2013, we got pretty nostalgic after hitting our first 1 billion clicks and took a look back at how GeoRiot had made it that far. It was a pretty monumental feat for a 3-person team, but we did it by being Hell-bent on ridding the world of broken user experiences and fragmented affiliate programs once and for all. Let’s see how the ‘riot started.
How we got here.
When our three fearless founders started GeoRiot, they brainstormed on a name that would reflect their goal of leading a fundamental shift in how affiliate marketing was tackled on a global level. They wanted a name that meant “No longer are we going to be oppressed by country borders, fragmented stores and affiliate programs. We are going to stand up and fight back for users around the world and take the affiliate earnings that are rightfully ours!” And so the name GeoRiot was born.
Some say the first time the name GeoRiot was uttered, the streets trembled with excited energy, knowing great things were destined to descend upon them shortly. Others say that was just a semi on the freeway.
Where we are.
Fast forward more than two years and billions of clicks later, we continue to fight the good fight with a larger team, substantially more features, a much better logo (thank goodness) and a much more diverse user base.
We are happy to report that the iTunes Affiliate Program, and affiliate marketing landscape in general, has changed considerably – as has GeoRiot. No longer are we focused solely on fragmentation by country and affiliate network for a single program, but now support users who use a plethora of different devices, operating systems, browsers, and destinations to consume digital and physical products across multiple online stores. No longer do our clients rely on a single affiliate program or ecosystem, but have the ability to promote items across multiple ecosystems at the same time. The age of truly intelligent links is here and we’re proud that we’ve been able to play a big part in that.
This new landscape led us to have several (hundred) deep discussions about the best way to continue supporting our ever-growing user base of authors, app developers, musicians, mom and pop shops, global brands, affiliate marketers, and everyone else in between. We realized that although we are deeply fond of the company’s name, GeoRiot, it no longer reflects what our core service is about and shouldn’t be the focus for our users going forward.
Where we’re going.
This led to another few (hundred) discussions about how to better help our new users understand what it is we do for them and come up with a succinct, and informative name for what it is we do. Turns out “AdvancedTargetingBasedOffDeviceCountryOperatingSystemDateAndMore…Riot” just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. We decided the best course of action was to take the focus off of the company name, and instead put it on our flagship product – the Geniuslink service.
The Geniuslink is our vision for the online marketer’s complete link management platform to create seamless purchasing experiences, and the name embodies not just a short link, not just a geo-targeted link, but a link that intelligently routes all of your traffic to the best possible purchase destination and provides the deep insights to help you sell more in the future.
Over the next several months, you’ll see our website, dashboard, support documentation, and blog get a makeover as we shift the spotlight away from GeoRiot the company, and onto Geniuslink the service, including the main website’s default URL changing to geniuslink.com (instead of www.georiot.com). The shift will help tell a better story of what you get when you use our service, because it’s not just a link – it’s Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye the Science guy wrapped into a technology focused on online commerce.
Don’t worry – we’re still the same team that has always had a passion for making your life easier, and this doesn’t mean we’re going to be changing how we operate (we already did that). Like aging celebrities, we just felt it was time for a little bit of a facelift.
As always, we wouldn’t be where we are without the support and feedback from you, our clients. We have an open door policy (well… open email anyway) so reach out at any time if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the shift. Even if it’s just to tell us you love the new logo, we’re happy to fanboy over it with you.
Cheers to you for being a part of our (r)evolution.
-Team Geniuslink