Consumers really are a fickle bunch. Just when you think youve got them figured out, you find out you were wrong—and now you have to start testing the waters all over again to find a way to reach them. (Uh-hum…pardon me while I step up onto my soap box.)
What am I ranting about this time? Well, remember my post back in February about the importance of A/B testing as far as the success of particular ad campaigns is concerned? Well, I was pondering that issue further last Friday as coworker Cassie and I were examining recent A/B test results. Here at InsureMe, our PPC team often finds itself frustrated when something we tried last year—or even just a few months ago—worked well then but suddenly isnt working well now. This led me to do some research on what might cause previous test results to become invalid, so I thought Id share. (Maybe this will help you avoid some frustration, too!)
Alright, so I didn’t get canned…but I’m off on vacation to Italy for a couple of weeks (do you get it? The boot. Italy…..yeah), so from this coming Monday until the 16th of May we’re going to have a line up of guest bloggers from the InsureMe affiliate team. These lovely and talented bloggers are:
April Hartmeister - The InsureMe affiliate manger you all know and love. April will be popping in with some of her thoughts and insights on the affiliate world.
Brittany Heidtke - One of our esteemed paid search marketing coordinators…also, one half of the dynamic duo I refer to as the “Wonder Twins.” Brittany’s got a passion for paid search and a three-legged dog…what could be better than that?
Cassie Carson - The other half of the “Wonder Twins” and another passionate paid search marketing coordinator. When Cassie isn’t ruling Google and Yahoo! she’s busy lip synching to old Milli Vanilli tracks.
Penny Hagerman - As many of our long time readers know, Penny is a copywriter by trade but has become a paid search powerhouse over the last couple of years. Penny’s got the skillz when it comes to writing and testing to see what’s working in your PPC accounts.
So make sure you stop in often and leave some comment love…us bloggers love that type of thing.
Can you offer any advice on someone who can already build sites, including custom CMS etc…
But is finding it hard making the jump from normal site and link building to affiliate site / link building?
As I said I am a proficient web designer etc but for some reason feel completely unable to venture into affiliate marketing.
I think it is just a very daunting task, choosing a niche, finding and choosing an affiliate corp and deal that suits the site, then deciding on how to promote it, CPC vs Organic etc.
Sorry about the rant, any advice you can give would be amazing, cheers
One of the big differences I’ve noticed between the most successful affiliates and the least successful ones is the ability to take the plunge and get working on a project. There are people in this world (myself included) who tend to over think a project to the point of paralysis…or worse…there are people who dream big but procrastinate until a prime opportunity has passed. The most successful affiliates, on the other hand, are never afraid to take the steps needed to get that next project up and running. I’m not saying that every project is successful, but at least they actually do what they are dreaming up - and if it fails, whatever, they learn a lesson and move on to the next project.
For a person thinking of getting into the affiliate business, I think one of the biggest first steps (and point of procrastination) is getting a web site up and running. I know that this can be a daunting task for most…what should the domain be? What will the site cost? How can I design a site when I’m not a designer?
In the spirit of helping affiliates answer these questions and get on track for success, I offer you these links to help you get started on your next (or first) affiliate project:
Yeah, I know the blog has been a little heavy on the link related posts as of late, but I think we’re currently at a crossroads when it comes to linking. It seems that the Googlers realized that they’ve created a monster when it comes to the link industry, and the recent paid link controversy is a good indication that Google is getting a little frustrated with the linking practices of search marketers.
I’m not sure how many of our regular readers also read the SEOmoz blog, but I’m always impressed with the posts that Rand and his team produce. In a video post from last Thursday, Rand took the time to explain the difference between completely natural links, paid links, and baited links. If you’re getting a little lost on this whole linking thing, the video might be a good starting point for getting up to speed. So check out Everybody Wants to Rule the SERPs.
[Good News: If you're getting sick and tired of the link thing, my apologies. On the bright side, after Friday I'll be on vacation for a couple weeks and you'll get a whole lot less linking posts - but you will get to hear from our fabulous guest bloggers!]
I think it is becoming pretty evident that if Google is allowed to purchase DoubleClick, Google will officially be #1 on online advertising for the foreseeable future.
This brings us to the interesting questions - who will be #2? More importantly, if you can’t beat Google, is it better to be #2 in search and have little else going for your, or is it better to be #3 in search and have a whole other business model to rely on. These questions lead me to the 37signals post “Id rather be Microsoft than Yahoo.” If you are looking for some interesting perspective, check out the post and comments.
Interesting…seems like this whole paid link debacle may be the straw that broke the camel’s back for many search marketers. I listened to the Strike Point podcast on the way into work this morning and it sounds like Dave Naylor, a well known and well funded SEO, is completely fed up with Google’s increasingly arrogant behavior. Also, on this week’s Daily Searchcast it sounded like Danny Sullivan wasn’t too big of a Google lover at this point either.
Thankfully, Danny took the time to write an explanation of why he thinks Google is overstepping their bounds with their new posture on paid links. Since Danny serves as a semi-independent and impartial voice for the search engines and search marketers, my hope is that his pleas for an end to the paid link witch hunt will be heard by the big G (fingers crossed).
Time will tell, but Danny’s full post is worth a read and certainly a step in the right direction.
[Note: I'm not a big fan of writing about the spam techniques that work on the search engines (search karma and all), but I'm going to bring this one up because a) I've heard Danny Sullivan mention this twice on the Daily Searchcast and b) because this type of spam is surprisingly blatant.]
This week’s hubbub about paid links reminded me about one of the most glaring examples of paid spam on the web. It isn’t text link advertisements or blog spam, it’s something even more obvious and controllable than that. I’m thinking about the Forbes.com web site, and the hundreds of spam web pages that are hosted on their domain. (Want an example? Here you go.)
Well, it was a fun week with Ask pay-per-click, but all ridiculously bad things must come to an end. That’s right, after only one week with Ask’s PPC program, I have requested that my account be shut down and that what is left of my deposit be refunded.
Why?
Because after seven days of bidding on ask, we received 1,642 clicks and 6, yes S-I-X, conversions. For those of you who can’t do the math in your head (like me), that’s a whopping 0.365% conversion rate. And to put this in perspective, we expect at least a 20% - 30% conversion rate from our Google or Yahoo PPC accounts.
All I can say is I’m glad I wasn’t bidding the suggested $89 a click for my keywords.
Based on this experience, I’d say that if you are an affiliate in the insurance vertical, and you don’t like throwing money away, you might want to avoid Ask’s PPC program for the time being. I’m not sure where their traffic is coming from, but I don’t think it’s from Ask.com’s search engine.
With Google buying DoubleClick, and DoubleClick owning Performics, I’m wondering what the future will be for Performics…and more importantly, if companies like ours should be opening a Performics account in anticipation of growth in the Performics affiliate base.
So my question to you, fair affiliates, do you have a Performics account? Do you enjoy working with Performics? Where does it rank as compared to other networks? Do you think a company like InsureMe is stupid not to open a Performics account?
All always, your input is appreciated…either here or in the comments section of BUMPzee.
Happy Monday everyone…hope you all enjoyed the weekend. And what a weekend it has been in the world of SEO! I came in this morning and started seeing blog post after blog post talking about Matt Cutts’ announcement that Google’s spam team will be trying out some new tactics to fight against paid links, including allowing people to manually submit paid link sites and paid link buyers to Google’s spam squad.
Based on the blog posts I’ve seen on the topic, it looks like Matt’s comments have managed to tick off every single SEO on the planet. An unprecedented occurrence, since most SEOs treat Matt with a certain level of deference and respect (and maybe even a little fear?)
Since I’m coming in a little late on this story, I figured I’d point you to some of my favorite posts on this topic so you can enjoy the outrage as well. Here’s the list:
Ladies and gents, it’s time to be honest with ourselves. For too long we’ve been fooling ourselves, thinking we are doing the best we can with the resources we have. But it’s time to shake ourselves out of our delusional bubble and face the facts:
We are using terrible, cheap, pixilated, trashy images on our web sites - and it’s killing our conversions.
Now of course I’m generalizing here. I see many affiliate web sites that have very professional images on them - and for those of you who are, feel free to skip the rest of this post. But for those of you who are guilty of visual crimes against site uses, please read on…
By working with affiliates for almost the last four years I have seen many, many affiliate web sites that cheat themselves out of any chance for conversions by using bizarre, unprofessional, distorted images on their sites. Using poor quality images looks bad on any web site - but in the insurance space, where building trust is key, using poor images can be fatal to an affiliate site.
So what are affiliates doing with their images that is hurting them? Let’s look at some examples:
Ok, so we didn’t spend a million bucks yesterday…but we very well could have. At least that’s what Ask is telling us. Let me explain…
In my continuous hunt to find a single second-tier search engine that can provide both quality traffic and conversions, I decided to open an Ask.com Sponsored Listings account yesterday. I must admit, every time I open one of these second-tier accounts, I’m discouraged by the knowledge that most likely the search engine will not have enough volume to make the account worthwhile.
So it came as a surprise that Ask not only has a lot of traffic, but has more traffic than both Google and Yahoo. Not only that, but the click cost on some of the insurance terms we’re using here at InsureMe are 8 to 10x that of those in Google and Yahoo. Based on Ask’s cost estimation tool, it looks like a person bidding in the #1 position for the term “car insurance” on Ask could expect to spend $1,061,800 per DAY. That’s 11,930 clicks at about $89.02 PER CLICK.
What? Don’t believe me? Well, here’s a screen shot straight from Ask’s cost estimation tool:
For better or for worse, Google has gotten more and more aggressive with deactivating keywords in affiliate marketers’ AdWords accounts. By doing so, they have caused a lot of headaches for affiliates and have managed to generate a lot more work for every AdWords advertiser. As I pointed out in the past, keeping up with Google’s quality score guidelines requires a good deal of work when it comes to the creation of focused landing pages. If you build an AdWords account around a web site with a lot of keyword focused, relevant landing pages, you should be able to avoid a good amount of quality score pain down the line.
But what if you’re one of the many affiliates who have already been slapped by big G and you have an AdWords account filled with inactive keywords with high minimum bids? How can you get your keywords back online and working?
As we reported a little while back, our CFO Mike was seeing Google AdWords ads using the background color yellow, and not the usual blue. It turns out Mike is a trend setter (and Google usability tester). On the 5th, Google announced it is letting everyone into Mike’s yellow world by officially changing the background color of AdWords ads from blue to yellow. I would assume that the yellow increased the number of clicks to the sponsored listing…but Google hasn’t mentioned if that is the case or not.
Along with going yellow, Google also announced a change to how it registers top-of-page clicks on sponsored listing. In the past, a click was registered when someone clicked anywhere on your sponsored advertisement if it was listed at the top of the page. Now, clicks will only occur when someone clicks on the link on the top line of the ad.
I’m pretty happy to hear that Google has made this change, since it should reduce the number of accidental clicks on our ads. It also shows that Google is making an attempt to increase click quality for advertisers, which is never a bad thing.
Wow…quite a busy week for this blog. Thanks to everyone who joined in on the Commission Junction conversation here and on BUMPzee. I really learned a lot and I am looking at our CJ account in a much different way. Also, I did want to mention that I had a conference call with our CJ rep and her director this week, and they were both great. Big ups to Anna and Ann.
I’ve gotta admit, I have a case of the Fridays. And since I am having such a hard time finding something that is awesome to link to, I’ll instead give you an awesome video to watch. I found out about it through the SuperAff blog, and my world hasn’t been the same since…
Get rich quick sites. There are thousands of them out there. Thousands. And unfortunately, many new affiliates make the mistake of believing the hype and buying the latest and greatest CD, DVD, piece of software, or magic voodoo stick that will help them get rich in days with little to no effort. The problem is, get rich quick schemes usually only benefit the scammer hawking the goods, not the buyer.
So how can you avoid the scams? How do you know if what someone is selling is just a bunch of fluff or really is a valuable resource?
Aaron Wall of SEO Book decided to shares some of the questions you should be asking before you make a purchase of any online money-making product. If you are new to online marketing, I beg you to check out his post, Questioning the Legitimacy and Authenticity of Internet Marketing Advice and Sources. Take a minute to learn from Aaron’s years of industry experience. It could help you avoid being scammed by a scammy scammer.
[Bonus tip: This was brought up by Danny Sullivan on the Daily Searchcast - if you are on a web site that forces you to scroll forever to get to the bottom of the page, the odds are good that you are looking at a get rich quick scam site.]
It looks like there is a new round of blog tag going around and I have been tagged by Leonard Chen (Sweet! I’ve never been tagged before - thanks Leonard!). When you get tagged you’re supposed to post five reasons why you blog, so that’s what I’m going to do - except since I got tagged for my work on the InsureMe Affiliate blog, I feel compelled to list the five reasons why InsureMe had decided to take the time (and incur the cost) of blogging for affiliates. Here we go:
To help affiliates succeed - You don’t have to operate an affiliate program for very long before you realize that there are a lot of people out there who want to be affiliates, but have no idea how succeed as affiliates. Since InsureMe does our own SEO and PPC work in-house, we feel that we have some expertise that, if shared, can help affiliates succeed. And more successful affiliates means more traffic for InsureMe…it’s the circle of life, etc.
Today I started working with InsureMe’s Commission Junction (CJ) advertiser account for pretty much the first time. Over my few years here at InsureMe I have been able to somehow avoid working on our CJ account, but the time has come for me to learn how to navigate the site and start handling our publisher relationships.
So far I have found the CJ process to be interesting, and once I got over being annoyed by the slowness of the CJ site, the process was pretty slick.
But with that said, Commission Junction has managed to build its business on a fundamental metric, which from both an advertiser and merchant point of view, is flawed. That metric is EPC, or earnings-per-click.
Alright, so I didn’t get canned…but I’m off on vacation to Italy for a couple of weeks (do you get it? The boot. Italy…..yeah), so from this coming Monday until the 16th of May we’re going to have a line up of guest bloggers from the InsureMe affiliate team. These lovely and talented bloggers are:
As a follow-up to 
One of the big differences I’ve noticed between the most successful affiliates and the least successful ones is the ability to take the plunge and get working on a project. There are people in this world (myself included) who tend to over think a project to the point of paralysis…or worse…there are people who dream big but procrastinate until a prime opportunity has passed. The most successful affiliates, on the other hand, are never afraid to take the steps needed to get that next project up and running. I’m not saying that every project is successful, but at least they actually do what they are dreaming up - and if it fails, whatever, they learn a lesson and move on to the next project.
[Note: I'm not a big fan of writing about the spam techniques that work on the search engines (search karma and all), but I'm going to bring this one up because a) I've heard 
With Google buying DoubleClick, and DoubleClick owning Performics, I’m wondering what the future will be for Performics…and more importantly, if companies like ours should be opening a Performics account in anticipation of growth in the Performics affiliate base.
Happy Monday everyone…hope you all enjoyed the weekend. And what a weekend it has been in the world of SEO! I came in this morning and started seeing blog post after blog post talking about Matt Cutts’ announcement that Google’s spam team will be trying out some new tactics to fight against paid links, including allowing people to manually submit paid link sites and paid link buyers to Google’s spam squad.
[This was inspired by an awesome post by our own Jeb Foster on the InsureMe Agent Blog. Make sure you read 
For better or for worse, Google has gotten more and more aggressive with deactivating keywords in affiliate marketers’ AdWords accounts. By doing so, they have caused a lot of headaches for affiliates and have managed to generate a lot more work for every AdWords advertiser. As I 
Get rich quick sites. There are thousands of them out there. Thousands. And unfortunately, many new affiliates make the mistake of believing the hype and buying the latest and greatest CD, DVD, piece of software, or magic voodoo stick that will help them get rich in days with little to no effort. The problem is, get rich quick schemes usually only benefit the scammer hawking the goods, not the buyer.
Today I started working with InsureMe’s Commission Junction (CJ) advertiser account for pretty much the first time. Over my few years here at InsureMe I have been able to somehow avoid working on our CJ account, but the time has come for me to learn how to navigate the site and start handling our publisher relationships.