When Google launched their referral buttons, Darren over at Problogger.net raised a pretty interesting point. He speculated on whether Google’s link-up with Firefox marked the start of a range of affiliate products for publishers that Google were planning to roll out.
Now that the buttons have been around for a while, I have to say that I’d be pretty surprised if Google decided to try out any more.
I’m not aware of anyone making any serious money out of them. The ad units are great. The link units can do pretty well. The image ads not so much. And the referral buttons might buy someone a small coffee once a month... provided they have an audience which has never heard of Firefox.
The real problem with the referral buttons we were offered was that they just weren’t very competitive. There’s a whole range of different affiliate programs that we can sign up to online and the payment terms that Google was offering just didn’t beat what was out there -- a dollar for a download? One hundred dollars when someone you’ve signed up for AdSense breaks a century? You’ll probably do better sending people to some dating site or pushing books at Amazon.
The buttons don’t do any harm. But I don’t think anyone really expects them to do a great deal of good either.
The fact that we haven’t seen any additions to these programs suggests that Google has picked up the message that affiliate programs just aren’t their strong points. In fact, I don’t think AdSense has produced anything yet that beats the basic ad unit. That was a killer idea... and no one’s beaten it yet. We’ve had a few false starts when companies have brought out some attractive new products but the bottom line is that it’s still the good old AdSense ad unit that’s keeping those fat checks coming in.
That doesn’t mean that Google shouldn’t be looking for new ways to make us all a little richer. But they need to be original if they’re going to make it work, and do something that no one else has done.
Or they can just focus on rolling out new formats and adjusting the Smart Pricing so that my prices go up. I’d be happier if they just did that than offer more affiliate buttons.
Joel Comm is The Internet Revenue Expert. Online for over 20 years, Joel teaches people how to make money in the digital age. The recognized authority on Google AdSense, Joel teaches how to multiply your AdSense income at The AdSense Code. To ask Joel Comm a question about making money online, visit http://www.AskJoelComm.com Joel invites you to download a free copy of The Internet Money Tree at http://www.internetmoneytree.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Comm
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Affiliate Alternative; Google Adsense
The Rise and Fall of Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs were once a great source of online revenue, a savvy webmaster with an eye for marketing could easily parley a site into a money making machine with a little luck and effort. However, the evolution and growth of the Internet has hampered the growth of fortune making affiliate programs. Constant search engine algorithm changes, along with the search engine's clear distaste for sites participating in affiliate programs; have made it a little more difficult to earn a healthy affiliate revenue. An influx in the use of software programs that terminate cookie tracking and privacy programs that prevent webmasters from tracking referrers, have also hindered the affiliate sales channel. While it is still possible to make money through affiliate marketing, other alternatives ought to be considered.
A Healthy Alternative or Supplement
Google's Adsense program allows approved websites to dynamically serve Google's pay-per-click Adword results. This has become a popular alternative and an effective revenue sharing program for webmasters. Google's spider parses the adserving website and serves ads that relate to the website's content. While the Google's Adsense program still has some issues, they are making efforts to improve it.
The website maintenance related to Adsense is very easy and requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert javascript into the webpage or website template. The javascript calls the ad from Google and will ensure that ads are served each time a visitor goes to the webpage. If the visitor clicks one of the Adsense ads served to the website, the website owner is credited for the referral.
The implementation, while simple, has its drawbacks. Google dictates the format of the ads. Webmasters can select from a handful of preformatted text boxes that lack creativity. A recent improvement allows webmasters to modify the ad boxes to resemble the website's color scheme. Still, a far cry from some of the creative ads webmasters are accustom to.
The example below reflects how the color scheme can be modified to match the look of the website, but the ads physically don't fit well into the overall website design.
sample modified to match sites color scheme: http://www.hospital-software.com (scroll to the bottom)
Google determines the content of the ads that are shown/ Sometimes the ads are poorly targeted, and of no interest to the website visitors.
sample of poorly targeted ads: http://www.real-estate-supply.com
Adwords can be a great addition to a website, and when well matched to the content the revenue stream from Google is consistent and effortless.
sample of effective Adsense program: http://www.police-supplies.com (scroll to the bottom) http://www.small-business-software.net (scroll to the bottom)
Not that the Google Adsense program is not without its problems.as the reporting provided by Google is lacking. Google has not implemented any way to track multiple sites that serve ads; they simply show the number of ads served, the percentage of clicks received, and the revenue earned each day. Google does not disclose the amount of the revenue they share, what percentage of the revenue they earn and what someone can expect to receive for each click. Webmasters with multiple sites will have difficulty determining which websites are producing the money in the Adsense program.
With affiliate programs many webmasters implement a new browser launch with each click off the site, Adsense removes the visitor from the website and there is not currently an option to launch the visitor into another browser.
Early on Google implemented a filtering system that allowed webmasters to prevent a specific domain's ads from being served on the website. Ad blocking meant that webmasters could prevent their competitors ads from being dynamically served on their website.
Overall, adwords are great supplements to websites where affiliate programs are either not performing or when affiliate programs don't exist that target the sites content.
Give it a Try
Implementing and maintaing Google Adsense program on a content site requires very little effort and can often bring a steady stream of additional revenue for webmasters. Consider supplementing content and see what happens.
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/web_design_and_development/article_109.shtml
Affiliate programs were once a great source of online revenue, a savvy webmaster with an eye for marketing could easily parley a site into a money making machine with a little luck and effort. However, the evolution and growth of the Internet has hampered the growth of fortune making affiliate programs. Constant search engine algorithm changes, along with the search engine's clear distaste for sites participating in affiliate programs; have made it a little more difficult to earn a healthy affiliate revenue. An influx in the use of software programs that terminate cookie tracking and privacy programs that prevent webmasters from tracking referrers, have also hindered the affiliate sales channel. While it is still possible to make money through affiliate marketing, other alternatives ought to be considered.
A Healthy Alternative or Supplement
Google's Adsense program allows approved websites to dynamically serve Google's pay-per-click Adword results. This has become a popular alternative and an effective revenue sharing program for webmasters. Google's spider parses the adserving website and serves ads that relate to the website's content. While the Google's Adsense program still has some issues, they are making efforts to improve it.
The website maintenance related to Adsense is very easy and requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert javascript into the webpage or website template. The javascript calls the ad from Google and will ensure that ads are served each time a visitor goes to the webpage. If the visitor clicks one of the Adsense ads served to the website, the website owner is credited for the referral.
The implementation, while simple, has its drawbacks. Google dictates the format of the ads. Webmasters can select from a handful of preformatted text boxes that lack creativity. A recent improvement allows webmasters to modify the ad boxes to resemble the website's color scheme. Still, a far cry from some of the creative ads webmasters are accustom to.
The example below reflects how the color scheme can be modified to match the look of the website, but the ads physically don't fit well into the overall website design.
sample modified to match sites color scheme: http://www.hospital-software.com (scroll to the bottom)
Google determines the content of the ads that are shown/ Sometimes the ads are poorly targeted, and of no interest to the website visitors.
sample of poorly targeted ads: http://www.real-estate-supply.com
Adwords can be a great addition to a website, and when well matched to the content the revenue stream from Google is consistent and effortless.
sample of effective Adsense program: http://www.police-supplies.com (scroll to the bottom) http://www.small-business-software.net (scroll to the bottom)
Not that the Google Adsense program is not without its problems.as the reporting provided by Google is lacking. Google has not implemented any way to track multiple sites that serve ads; they simply show the number of ads served, the percentage of clicks received, and the revenue earned each day. Google does not disclose the amount of the revenue they share, what percentage of the revenue they earn and what someone can expect to receive for each click. Webmasters with multiple sites will have difficulty determining which websites are producing the money in the Adsense program.
With affiliate programs many webmasters implement a new browser launch with each click off the site, Adsense removes the visitor from the website and there is not currently an option to launch the visitor into another browser.
Early on Google implemented a filtering system that allowed webmasters to prevent a specific domain's ads from being served on the website. Ad blocking meant that webmasters could prevent their competitors ads from being dynamically served on their website.
Overall, adwords are great supplements to websites where affiliate programs are either not performing or when affiliate programs don't exist that target the sites content.
Give it a Try
Implementing and maintaing Google Adsense program on a content site requires very little effort and can often bring a steady stream of additional revenue for webmasters. Consider supplementing content and see what happens.
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/web_design_and_development/article_109.shtml
Google Finally Dropped The Bombshell On Affiliate Marketers
Google finally dropped the bombshell on affiliate marketers. Their was a lot of speculation in the affiliate marketing community if they would actually go through with it. Well, they finally did.
In case some of you reading this don’t know what I’m talking about; Google no longer allows affiliates using adwords to send traffic directly to the merchants website. Affiliates will now have to send traffic to their own sites first. This is going to make a lot of affiliates angry because now they have to go through the extra work of creating web pages.
Personally, I welcome the change. Affiliates who don’t want to take the time to set up their own web pages will stop using adwords. This in turn will make keyword cost cheaper and get your google ads a higher position.
Some people thought that Google would be losing money as a result of the new rule. I don’t think so. The number of Google ads will decrease as some affiliate marketers leave, but the ads that remain will probably get clicked on more often than they did in the past. Which means more traffic for those webmasters..
One of the main reasons Google implemented the changes is so their adword results were more relevant. It doesn’t make much sense for each ad to point to the same website from a searchers perspective. But, this could backfire on Google. Affiliates could simply create their own web pages and send visitors to the same site anyways.
I’ve been using adwords for about two years now and its interesting to see how things change as time rolls on.
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/site_promotion/article_385.shtml
In case some of you reading this don’t know what I’m talking about; Google no longer allows affiliates using adwords to send traffic directly to the merchants website. Affiliates will now have to send traffic to their own sites first. This is going to make a lot of affiliates angry because now they have to go through the extra work of creating web pages.
Personally, I welcome the change. Affiliates who don’t want to take the time to set up their own web pages will stop using adwords. This in turn will make keyword cost cheaper and get your google ads a higher position.
Some people thought that Google would be losing money as a result of the new rule. I don’t think so. The number of Google ads will decrease as some affiliate marketers leave, but the ads that remain will probably get clicked on more often than they did in the past. Which means more traffic for those webmasters..
One of the main reasons Google implemented the changes is so their adword results were more relevant. It doesn’t make much sense for each ad to point to the same website from a searchers perspective. But, this could backfire on Google. Affiliates could simply create their own web pages and send visitors to the same site anyways.
I’ve been using adwords for about two years now and its interesting to see how things change as time rolls on.
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/site_promotion/article_385.shtml
Earning Money With Affiliate Programs and Google Explained
Starting a business has never been cheaper, quicker, or easier… you don’t even need your own product…
…Because with the search engine Google and a commission for every sale of somebody else’s product you generate, you can get your first sale for under $30 in mere hours worth of work.
Compare this to other businesses that take months of intense work to start-up and thousands of dollars in investment.
Let me explain how it works:
The search engine Google has millions of searches taking place at every moment. Each one is by a searcher looking for information or a solution to a problem that is troubling him or her.
For example, thousands upon thousands of people search on Google each day for a way to train their dogs, typing in terms such as, “How to train dog” or “Dog training tips.”
With Google Adwords advertising program, you can make your ad show-up when somebody types in these terms… and you don’t even need your own product. There are thousands of retailers that offer you up to 70% commission for every product you sell.
Most notably, http://www.ClickBank.com has thousands of hot products you can sell for 40-70% commissions.
All you have to do to make a quick commission is pick a product from the Clickbank database, set-up a Google Adwords’ campaign and watch the sales flow-in!
Of course, to get the most out of it, it is best to set-up your own website and pre-sell the customer as to why they need a product, but is not required to start earning sales.
So, in as little as 1 hour from now and as little as a $28 start-up budget you can gain your first sale! Then, as the money starts rolling in you can expand to start generating thousands of dollars of income a month…
…For probably the world’s quickest, easiest, and cheapest business to start!
By Rod Beckwith and Jeff Alderson
© All Rights Reserved
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_2047.shtml
…Because with the search engine Google and a commission for every sale of somebody else’s product you generate, you can get your first sale for under $30 in mere hours worth of work.
Compare this to other businesses that take months of intense work to start-up and thousands of dollars in investment.
Let me explain how it works:
The search engine Google has millions of searches taking place at every moment. Each one is by a searcher looking for information or a solution to a problem that is troubling him or her.
For example, thousands upon thousands of people search on Google each day for a way to train their dogs, typing in terms such as, “How to train dog” or “Dog training tips.”
With Google Adwords advertising program, you can make your ad show-up when somebody types in these terms… and you don’t even need your own product. There are thousands of retailers that offer you up to 70% commission for every product you sell.
Most notably, http://www.ClickBank.com has thousands of hot products you can sell for 40-70% commissions.
All you have to do to make a quick commission is pick a product from the Clickbank database, set-up a Google Adwords’ campaign and watch the sales flow-in!
Of course, to get the most out of it, it is best to set-up your own website and pre-sell the customer as to why they need a product, but is not required to start earning sales.
So, in as little as 1 hour from now and as little as a $28 start-up budget you can gain your first sale! Then, as the money starts rolling in you can expand to start generating thousands of dollars of income a month…
…For probably the world’s quickest, easiest, and cheapest business to start!
By Rod Beckwith and Jeff Alderson
© All Rights Reserved
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/online_business/article_2047.shtml
Ten Tips for Affiliate Marketers Using Google AdWords
One of the hottest ways to sell affiliate products is using Google AdWords. Follow these tips and strategies to maximize your earning potential.
1. Seek out affiliate products that generate fifteen dollars or more in commission. Anything in the twenty-dollar range works well. Paying for clicks can add up quickly and when you do make a sell, it should be profitable.
2. The vendor must present a high quality website with first-rate graphics. If the site appears to be unprofessional, any potential buyer will loose confidence and leave before the sell is made.
3. Make it a requirement that the vendor website only displays one product or service on the referral page. Nothing kills a sell faster than having to many sells messages.
4. The vendor needs to include outstanding sales copy. It's easy to realize the importance of this principle; words are what turn shoppers into buyers on the Internet.
5. When evaluating a potential affiliate program ask yourself if this product or service is something you would feel comfortable buying. Put yourself in the place of the buyer. If you wouldn't buy it, why would they?
6. It's preferable if the vendor site does not obviously advertise for the recruitment of more affiliates. An affiliate link is fine as long as it is low key.
7. The best affiliate programs will attempt to secure the email address of your referrals. Some prospects need to see a sales message at least seven times before they will buy. Make sure you still get credit for sales made during the follow up.
8. The vendor should provide testimonials. Testimonials create confidence and trust leading your prospects to make a purchase.
9. You will recognize a profitable affiliate program because at least one in fifty clicks creates a sell. Constantly monitor your expense versus profit for each set of keywords.
10. Track your keywords and delete any that do not get clicked on after two hundred impressions. The higher your click through rate, the higher position you receive in relation to your competitors.
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_438.shtml
1. Seek out affiliate products that generate fifteen dollars or more in commission. Anything in the twenty-dollar range works well. Paying for clicks can add up quickly and when you do make a sell, it should be profitable.
2. The vendor must present a high quality website with first-rate graphics. If the site appears to be unprofessional, any potential buyer will loose confidence and leave before the sell is made.
3. Make it a requirement that the vendor website only displays one product or service on the referral page. Nothing kills a sell faster than having to many sells messages.
4. The vendor needs to include outstanding sales copy. It's easy to realize the importance of this principle; words are what turn shoppers into buyers on the Internet.
5. When evaluating a potential affiliate program ask yourself if this product or service is something you would feel comfortable buying. Put yourself in the place of the buyer. If you wouldn't buy it, why would they?
6. It's preferable if the vendor site does not obviously advertise for the recruitment of more affiliates. An affiliate link is fine as long as it is low key.
7. The best affiliate programs will attempt to secure the email address of your referrals. Some prospects need to see a sales message at least seven times before they will buy. Make sure you still get credit for sales made during the follow up.
8. The vendor should provide testimonials. Testimonials create confidence and trust leading your prospects to make a purchase.
9. You will recognize a profitable affiliate program because at least one in fifty clicks creates a sell. Constantly monitor your expense versus profit for each set of keywords.
10. Track your keywords and delete any that do not get clicked on after two hundred impressions. The higher your click through rate, the higher position you receive in relation to your competitors.
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_438.shtml
New Google Adwords Policy Benefits Affiliates
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What You Need To Know About Google's new AdWords Affiliate Policy
A lot of affiliates are selling other people's products with AdWords. This has been known as easy money, since no website is required. All you need is a ClickBank ID and you have over 10.000 products to offer your visitors.
When Google changed the affiliate policy in January, many affiliates saw their future AdWords income vanish up in smoke. Simply because they didn't know how to build a web page, or a Landing page.
Webmasters and others with HTML skills said this was a great thing, because now they "got rid of" a lot of competition.
And this is correct.
Since Google now accept only one ad from a top domain, you really have only 2 options:
Start creating your own landing pages
Hope your ads have the best CTR, so Google choose your ad instead of all the others selling the same product.
What about those landing pages?
Tests I have been doing shows that in some cases only 50% of the visitors click on to the sales page. This actually means that you have to send twice as much visitors as before to make the same amount of sales!
What should a good landing page look like?
At least it has to list all the benefits for the product you are promoting. You should consider collecting the email-address from the visitor before he or she moves on. In that case you can send them follow-up emails.
But, the most effective technique I have found is to offer your visitors a bonus if they buy the product through your link. Simply tell them to send you an email after they have made the purchase and that you will send them the download-link as soon as you have confirmed the purchase.
For best results, your bonus should be something related to your product.
Since you probably are not able to have a 100% CTR from your Landing page to your sales page, here are a couple of things you should consider:
Don't sell products that pay less than $20 commission.
Turn off "Content Network" in your campaign settings.
When you have to send more visitors to your landing page, you cannot afford to buy low-targeted traffic.
Happy AdWording!
Rolf Arne Trondhjem "The AdWords Junkie"
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_1216.shtml
When Google changed the affiliate policy in January, many affiliates saw their future AdWords income vanish up in smoke. Simply because they didn't know how to build a web page, or a Landing page.
Webmasters and others with HTML skills said this was a great thing, because now they "got rid of" a lot of competition.
And this is correct.
Since Google now accept only one ad from a top domain, you really have only 2 options:
Start creating your own landing pages
Hope your ads have the best CTR, so Google choose your ad instead of all the others selling the same product.
What about those landing pages?
Tests I have been doing shows that in some cases only 50% of the visitors click on to the sales page. This actually means that you have to send twice as much visitors as before to make the same amount of sales!
What should a good landing page look like?
At least it has to list all the benefits for the product you are promoting. You should consider collecting the email-address from the visitor before he or she moves on. In that case you can send them follow-up emails.
But, the most effective technique I have found is to offer your visitors a bonus if they buy the product through your link. Simply tell them to send you an email after they have made the purchase and that you will send them the download-link as soon as you have confirmed the purchase.
For best results, your bonus should be something related to your product.
Since you probably are not able to have a 100% CTR from your Landing page to your sales page, here are a couple of things you should consider:
Don't sell products that pay less than $20 commission.
Turn off "Content Network" in your campaign settings.
When you have to send more visitors to your landing page, you cannot afford to buy low-targeted traffic.
Happy AdWording!
Rolf Arne Trondhjem "The AdWords Junkie"
article sourse:http://www.articlecity.com/articles/marketing/article_1216.shtml
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