Google AdWords and Affiliates

In the past, Google did not limit the number of ads posted for a given URL. Any number of affiliates and companies could post promoting their URL and it was not a problem. Affiliates had to label their ads from coming from an affiliate.

All that has changed now. Now Google will only accept one ad per unique URL, so the ad with the highest Ad Rank will be shown. On the plus side, you no longer need to identify yourself as an affiliate in your ad text.

For users, this is a wonderful innovation, as it means there will be a greater variety of products offered for their searches. For affiliates, this means more work, but done right should also mean a chance at better sales.

How can this be so? First of all, this discourages simply linking to the home page with ads. Affiliates need to be more aware of the page they are linking to, so that they improve their chances of being the ad shown.

Alternatively, affiliates now have more motivation to develop their own websites and create more value for their visitors. This means an opportunity to build customer loyalty, repeat sales, mailing lists... affiliates are limited only by their own creativity. Try Rosalind Gardner's The Super Affiliate Handbook to see how she works with her affiliate programs.

Many affiliates who have previously not wanted to create their own websites now have to think a little harder about what they are doing. Simply advertising on AdWords just became a lot more difficult. They can refocus their efforts on other search engines that allow affiliates to market the pages of other companies, or they can work on new skills.

A basic website may not be as difficult as many would think. A basic website is not difficult to design, but learning copywriting, getting visitors to the website, converting them into customers... that's a lot more work.

So what do you do if you do not want to create your own website. Although this rule has changed things tremendously for affiliates, ebooks such as The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords may still have value in identifying those keyphrases where you can be the top ad in AdWords for a reasonable amount of money, and since it's introductory course is free, you have nothing to lose in trying it out. There are a lot of little tricks to using AdWords that will still work with this rule in place, and if you want to be successful you need to learn them.

I fully expect to see a new crop of reports and ebooks on working within this framework shortly. This change has impacted a tremendous number of affiliates, and many who learn how to do well with it will want to share their knowledge.

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