Changes with Adwords

Google is rolling out changes to AdWords by week’s end. There will now be a column that will rank each keyword/ad and how it is performing on a three part scale, “Poor”, “OK”, and “Great”. This will help clarify why some ads have astronomical bids and some are just normal. In the coming weeks there will also be an algorithm change that will give advertisers the benefit of the doubt where little keyword data is available. Rather than jacking the bids through the roof, Google will allow a lower bid price until more data and performance is established.

Check out more coverage at Search Engine Land, and the official post from Google.

Affiliate Merchant Relationships

There is an interesting discussion going on over at ABestWeb on the Oreck forum. Paul Schroader, a founding member here at Super Affiliate Marketing is getting raked over the coals for requesting contact information from affiliates. The question boils down to this: do you let affiliates into a program after just reviewing their sites? Or should you do as Paul does and require updated contact information before allowing a publisher into your program? Paul asked me for my opinion on the issue and I chimed in:

…This is an interesting discussion and will be more and more relevant as this industry matures. This really is a double edged sword. Do you approve affiliates even despite not having current (or verified) contact information? (I know that some of us have it listed on the websites in our profiles, but there are many that don’t update that contact info or don’t have contact info listed at all). If you don’t approve these affiliates, how many super affiliates will you miss out on?

When I got into the business six years ago, I took the approach to stay anonymous. No contact info on my websites, register for all forums under a nickname rather than my own name etc., I found myself making a decent full-time living doing a cross between affiliate marketing and search marketing (both SEO/SEM). The turning point for me personally was reaching out to programs and affiliate managers to understand their program, their goals and putting my name out there.

So what you didn’t get approved. I’m a 5 bar-earner in CJ a CJ Performer etc, etc, and I get rejected on programs all the time or have applications stuck in pending status. Be proactive, e-mail the program. If there is no contact info listed for them in CJ send them an e-mail through the CJ interface. Find out why you haven’t been approved. Offer to call them to find out more about their program. Although counter intuitive to some, there are affiliate managers who are weeding out affiliates by seeing who will put forth the extra effort.

There really is a paradigm shift toward less affiliates and higher performers–especially for major brands. I know that almost all of you can come up with a couple (several) examples where that isn’t the case, but as you rub shoulders with affiliate managers at Affiliate Summit, CJU, etc you’ll find many are starting to take this approach. So for those of you who are content to make affiliate managers “jump through hoops” for you, beware, your days of dominance may be numbered.

As the industry matures we will see more and more requirements from programs so that this will be seen as a more legitimate business. I have one program in my portfolio that I would never have landed if I wasn’t willing to jump a flight and meet the affiliate manager in person. Now this program is one of my top 3 programs that I promote…

I really believe that this discussion will continue to be relevant for a long time.  Merchants are finding out that their are a lot of affiliates that seem innocent enough on the surface only to find out that they are doing very sneaky things behind a merchant’s back.  You know what I’m talking about, geo-targeting ads in locations where the affiliate manager won’t notice, day-parting ads so they show during hours the affiliate manager won’t notice.  Just to name a few.  So rather than sacrifice your brand, have to worry about a extra policing of the program, why not only accept affiliates that are willing to provide this information?

What say you?

Congratulations to incuBeta

Congrats to Vinny Lingham and crew at incuBeta for securing $3.4 million in venture capital from Mark Shuttleworth’s HBD. The press release states that the investment will help the company expand its presence in the U.S. and U.K. and fund the opening of offices in Silicon Valley. It is great to see investment of this scale in the industry. Money has been flowing into the affiliate networks for a while, but its nice to see the recognition of an affiliate in terms of investment dollars. Good luck to all involved.