Chasing the dream… and finding out exactly what that means
Archive for November, 2005
AdWords Dominator Set to be Legal?
Nov 29th
Chances are that the issue that affected AdWords Dominator and other third-party Google AdWords API tools will be put to rest shortly. Patrick Chanezon of Google has posted in the thread that Goran Nagy started that he is aware of the issues caused by the new terms and conditions.
This official statement, from the AdWords API Blog, shows Chanezon stating: “The new terms and conditions seem to cause some concern for developers of open source and commercial third party tools, and we want to address these concerns.”
Given the statement issued, it seems likely that a way will be found to allow third-party utilities to be used with the AdWords API.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Google AdSense or Yahoo! Publisher Network?
Nov 25th
AdSense have a competitor in the shape of Yahoo! Publisher Network, currently in beta.
Have a browse around the net, and you’ll soon come across Yahoo’s ads. The received wisdom is that Yahoo pays more per click than AdSense does, but with Yahoo the click-through rate is lower, and you more or less break even. (Of course, this is just one parameter that will vary between different sites. If you already have AdSense, it may be worth trying Yahoo and doing some A-B testing to determine which gives you the most money.)
Have you seen the Yahoo ads, though? Quite often the description is truncated, followed by three dots; sometimes the heading is truncated, and even the display URL is sometimes truncated. I’ve seen ads where all three parameters have been truncated. It’s no wonder that Yahoo are getting a lower click-through rate if their ads look like this!
I hope they can sort out that issue, because there certainly appears to be space in their ads for them to do so! It is good that AdSense is seeing some competition, as this means that revenue should go up.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Is it Legal to use AdWords Dominator?
Nov 24th
AdWords Dominator was released on 21st November, 2005. It’s a program that provides an alternate interface to Google’s AdWords. It’s sorely needed, as it enables you to do everything that you do now, but without the delay that occurs each time you click on a link on the web site.
It may be against the AdWords API Terms and Conditions to run it.
The controversy is sparked by the following extract from the AdWords API terms and conditions:
II. AdWords API Use
2) Non-Compliant AdWords API Clients. You shall not use an AdWords API Client that violates this AdWords API Agreement. For example, you may not use your Developer Token with an AdWords API Client developed or hosted by a Third Party (excluding an Internal-Use Only AdWords API Client developed for you).
You can get the full text of the agreement here.
Goran Nagy, one of the authors of the program, is seen here asking whether he is allowed to sell his program:
“Does Google Allow Development” thread on Google Groups: AdWords API Forum
I asked Chris Lee about this in an email. He has yet to reply. I asked for Google’s official statement on the matter. I was told the following:
“Because the AdWords API is a beta programme, our resources are limited and we cannot offer advertiser support at this time. However, for questions about the AdWords API, we suggest that you join our Developer’s Forum at http://groups-beta.google.co.uk/group/adwords-api. There, you can discuss any issues concerning the AdWords API with other members of the AdWords API community, read past postings and gain insight about the product. You will also be able to get in contact with experts who can assist you with your question regarding terms and conditions and the software in question via this forum.”
A commercial version of the API is planned and will be released on 1st January 2006, under the heading “What is the AdWords Commercial Developer Program?”. Click here for more details.
However, there is no mention of how the terms and conditions will be affected.
Is Google mad? What is the purpose of providing an API as a whole, if people are not allowed to use commercial off-the-shelf products with it? I suggest that it is probably safe to carry on using the program if you have obtained it, as if Google don’t like it, they are sure to email you first before they stop taking your money! After all, the product will help Google to earn money. If Google do email you and ask you to stop using the program, my recommendation is to comply with their wishes. Certain people have been removed from AdWords for repeatedly breaking terms and conditions.
Let’s hope this can all be sorted out, and that it’s all a storm in a teacup. I certainly hope Goran Nagy and Chris Lee will not be out of pocket for seven month’s worth of development effort.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Note: Since this article was written, Chris Lee has managed to get in touch with me. He is awaiting the official message from Google, who have been strangely silent regarding this issue.
Urgent! AdWords Dominator!
Nov 21st
Just a quick heads up!
I am informed that you have just TWO DAYS from today to get the new product AdWords Dominator at the knock-down price of US$97, before it will go up to US$124! AdWords Dominator enables you to manage your AdWords campaigns offline, so you don’t have to wait for a response from the web site every time you click. I haven’t had time to get it yet, but I will be getting my copy very soon indeed; I seriously suggest that you take a look at his web site now! You can always wait, and buy it at a higher price … but why? Right now, if you don’t like it within 30 days, you will be given your money back. The product is by Chris Lee and Goran Nagy who are also behind Keywords Analyser, one of the most highly respected keyword analysis tools available, and the one that I use extensively.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
How to get accepted by Google AdSense
Nov 21st
I can only relate my own experience, of course, but I found it quite straightforward to get accepted by AdSense. I simply put together a site with my own doman name. I constructed about 25 web pages on it, most of them variations of the same web page, and I made sure that an index file was in place, and a privacy policy. I was buying traffic for the site from AdWords, the intention being partly to make money, but also to inform people about their possible choices for what they could buy to solve their problems. The site was fairly content-rich. I applied to AdSense using the URL of this site, and was accepted into the programme. From there, I have been able to add AdSense to this site without any further investigation.
I have read on the net that if you have any pages under construction on your web site, you won’t get accepted into the programme, and it may be several months before any future application will be considered, so it’s worth making sure that the site is live, operational, and all links work!
Good luck with getting considered for AdSense. I hope you make it!
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
How to market products already being advertised
Nov 18th
Somebody’s advertising the product you want to market. If you use the same display URL, you must bid high enough to oust the other product to get your ad listed.
If somebody is already advertising your product, it is a good sign. It means that it’s likely that people using that keyword have found that advertising for it pays off. Try to be clear that it is another affiliate that is marketing, as opposed to the supplier itself – the supplier is able to afford more than the commission they give marketers.
There is a way you can get a piece of the pie! What you have to do is to create your own web page, called a landing page, to market the product. This gets around the display URL matching problem because the display URL will not match the web site. The web page should come across as a testimonial, or product review—anything that would pre-sell. You’re not the salesman, you are somebody who somehow stumble on the product, and “just happened” to write a web site about it. Yes, the more savvy people will realise what’s going on, but I don’t think that matters; if the product is strong enough to sell, it will sell. There are lots of people that do not realise that you are paying for traffic, because although they clicked on a “sponsored link,” it doesn’t connect with them that you are the person that sponsored the link.
You can even market a few products in the same field, in the shape of a review. You may find this approach works better.
You will normally have to pay for web hosting and a domain name, although you can get started with any ISP’s standard web hosting service. Typically, domain name costs run to about US$10 per year; web hosting costs about US$3 per month. If you were marketing computers, for example, a domain name like computer-review.com would inspire so much more confidence than something like homepage.ntlworld.com! A lot of people use namecheap.com or godaddy.com as their hosting and domain name service.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Getting AdSense traffic with Google AdWords
Nov 17th
One way of getting some traffic for your AdSense ads is to use Google AdWords itself. If you can find some “peripheral” keywords for a subject to get people to come to your site, they may then click on one of your ads. This way, the traffic you generate is already searching for what you provide.
Of course, there has to be something in it for the user to click through to your site. This could be a product review, or tips and tricks for people looking to buy the product. It doesn’t even have to be about a product that you can buy! In this case, you are hoping that the user will click on one of your ads. If they don’t, well, that’s the name of the game. Try to optimise your site so that people will click on your ads.
Let’s say you had a conventional web site that reviewed a group of products with the intention of marketing them with affiliate links, and they didn’t convert well, or not well enough. What about trying AdSense on the site instead? Maybe keep the affiliate links in place too? It’s definitely worth a try! Perhaps try to buy some sponsored links from other search engines? Yahoo! Search and Miva are the other two big search engine syndication programmes.
You could always try putting a search box on your site if you have been accepted for AdSense Search.
I hope this has given you some more ideas on how to make money with your web site!
By the way, do feel free to comment on any articles you find on this site.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Google Analytics
Nov 16th
Google have just rolled out a new technology designed to track the actions of users through your web site. You can find out about it here:
Because I like to play with such things (you can get ideas from playing with new technologies, so it’s a worthwhile task in all actuality), I’m running it here. It involves adding a small piece of code into the header of your pages. You can see the snippet of code if you look at the page source. It’s just before the </head> closing tag. However, Google is telling me that it can’t see the code!
I’ll report further on this when I’ve found out what’s going on.
Note: Google Analytics has now picked up the site; see comments for further details.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Using AdSense to earn money from your web pages
Nov 16th
Google AdSense is a means of easily generating revenue from your web pages. What happens is that Google serves advertisements to your site, to anywhere you choose on the site – you can see some ads here, at the end of each post. People pay Google for those ads to be placed, and you get a percentage of the payment!
Why would users want to click on ads on your site? Google analyses your web page to see what sort of ads would be contextually appropriate. For example, if the page contains information on skipping rope, then any ads that anybody has written to sell skipping rope would be a potential candidate for inclusion. On many of the pages here, you will see ads about AdWords and products to help you with AdWords, because that’s the topic of many of the pages.
You get to place the ads wherever you like! You’re the publisher. There are various guidelines regarding the content of the page that you place the ads on that you must adhere to, or you risk getting dropped from the AdSense programme.
As regards payment, you will either be sent a cheque, or you may have the opportunity to get an electronic funds transfer. If you are outside the US, this is definitely the best approach, as the revenue is given in US dollars.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer
Tracking keywords and ads
Nov 11th
OK, so you have a campaign that’s making money, but you wish you could find out how much money you are throwing down the drain on non-converting keywords!
You need to know which keywords produce conversions. With Commission Junction, there is a field known as a SID, which stands for Shopper ID, that is available on your affiliate links. It allows you to tag each keyword with any arbitrary string of up to 64 characters in length. Let’s look at a typical affiliate link:
http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-1234567-12345678 (not a real link)
There is a “Show Advanced Options” link available in the Get HTML window that allows you to get links. If you drop that down, you can elect to specify a SID. Enter KeyWord into this field and click Update HTML. The link becomes something like this:
http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-1793052-10368053?sid=KeyWord
Now, if you wrap KeyWord in curly brackets, you get this:
http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-1793052-10368053?sid={KeyWord}
If you use this URL in place of the original in Google AdWords, the keyword will be listed in the SID for any sales that you have made!
You can also track the performance of your ads, by inserting something just before or after {KeyWord}. Say for example you have three ads working in rotation, and you want to find out if there is a specific ad that converts better than the others. Simple! Just change {KeyWords} into Ad1+{KeyWords}, Ad2+{KeyWords} and Ad3+{KeyWords} in the listed URL for each ad respectively. You just need to keep a record of which ad is Ad1, which is Ad2 and which is Ad3.
As time goes on, you can optimise your campaign by throwing out or reducing the price of keywords that don’t convert; keeping the keywords that do work; throwing out ads that don’t work and keeping ads that do work.
Watch this space for a new tool that will allow you to track ClickBank campaigns more effectively. ClickBank do not have a tracking system like that of Commission Junction, but a product will soon come onto the market that will help you to track ClickBank sales.
David Thomas, The Affiliate Marketer