Archive for April, 2009
More On Amazon and No More Direct Linking…
Posted by: | CommentsI just got an email about this post, it explains why Amazon says no more direct linking and what we can do about it. Not sure how many readers I have but I figured this could be helpful because it is helpful to one of the people I am working with.
http://adwords-blog.com/19/why-amazon-says-no-more-direct-linking-from-pay-per-click/
No More Direct Linking to Amazon
Posted by: | CommentsSeveral Amazon associates got this email this morning! It seems as off May 1st there is to be no more direct linking through ppc.
Dear Amazon Associate:
We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.
As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.
This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.
We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.
Sincerely,
The Amazon Associates Program
On a brighter note, I put up a landing page for an eBay campaign I was working on and it doubled my revenue for the day. That was pretty great, now I just have to monitor it to see if I can make a profit.
Choosing Niches to Promote
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I made a post about some campaign trouble I was having. Most of my friends (and now anyone who has read this) know that I recently had a campaign that I lost a good chunk of money on because I was too attached. What can I say? Everyone makes mistakes…
My excuse was I knew a lot about the niche, I had put up 2 sites (tons of work) and really tried. When I started it, it was horribly losing me money, and in the end I got it to break even, but even at that point it was going nowhere.
There were a lot of strange things about this campaign. The keyword was the most profitable for me and it even showed that way through keywordspy. I could bid under the page 1 estimate and showed on search partners just fine. But I broke even when I was only showing on the search partners, my CTR was horrible because I had impressions on Google and no clicks (I was in the 11th or so spot) and… even then with the search partners I was in the 6-8th position.
At that point I made $3 a day, but I knew it wouldnt last long because of the CTR and how they could bump up my CPC, right? I’m asking because this is what I thought..
Anyway, that brings me to the comment I got. Telling me to try different things, different niches… I just can’t decide what to shot for? I know there are a million niches out, a million products to sell and tons of in house programs I could go with to make money, but how do I choose a niche?
Leave me some comments, let me know what you do, or… if you would rather not, I can take some hints!
My Next PPC Move
Posted by: | CommentsLately my posts have been talking about using Commission Blueprint to make money online. I did 4 of these campaigns and although I did get one campaign that I was very attached to, to break even. I lost most of the money I invested. But I have stopped using this method.
Last week you would have seen a ton of blogs post about the FTC and how they are going after that one blog about weight loss because the companies scammed people out of a lot of money.
I don’t agree at all with what the FTC is doing. They shouldn’t be going after the advertiser but the actual company that people got scammed by. The advertiser did make a lot of money I’m sure, but it should be the company instead that pays these people back, it was their product.
On the other hand, at some point I’m sure the advertiser had some kind of idea that people were being scammed, and they just continued to roll in the dough, but by this point something should have already been done to stop the companies doing this.
Either way, a big part of Commission Blueprint is social proof sites. They do teach other stuff and I still love the formula, but because they teach mostly using a social proof site I am going to avoid doing these kinds of sites until I have some kind of idea what the FTC is doing to that affiliate. I don’t want to get into the same mess.
That being said I am working on PPC Coach and PPC Classroom methods again. I have one on one help from the Coach himself on PPC Coach and I use the forum on PPC Classroom as well.
