imburne

Theres plenty of blackhatting going on.. they are just slowly catching up to it.

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redicelander

To say only promote what you would sign up for is nonsense. Make it more general to say that you should only promote something you feel "comfortable" promoting and that makes more sense. This is business, not personal likes and dislikes.

AffiliateMax

They said something you would be "happy to sign up for" - which I took to mean something you would not only feel comfortable promoting but would sign up for if it were of interest - so it's not about personal likes and dislikes of the product or service. There are many products I have no interest in (because they are not relevant to me - cosmetics etc) but would not base a decision to promote them on that basis but rather on how happy I would be to sign up for the offer if I were interested in that product. ie: does it represent a good deal for the consumer and is it a decent product from a reasonable company. Yes, it's a business but I am going to picky about the offers/products I promote because I don't want to be associated with anything which is scammy or deceptive or a lousy deal.

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ryanman

Yahoo and msn are planning a similar policy as well. I won't be too surprised if facebook and other social media companies follow along.

Here is an update...Now they're cracking down on review sites too- http://www.perrymarshall.com/product...w-google-slap/

ClearWater404

absolutely...

Google wants you to build a site with original regularly updated content, the more the better, if you use original videos, the better, easy navigation and all standard pages (disclaimer, privacy...).

one way to play by Google rules is to build a niche site with a free blogging software, create original content for your 5-10 best kw phrases, reference the site with all SE, create backlinks on relevant authority sites, then create some review pages with original content on the product(s) you want to promote.

But most of all, find a way to get people to opt-in to a mailing list for that niche and then feed them relevant content mixed with targeted aff. offers. Don't overdo the "selling side", you have to give them added value information mostly to build trust. This list is going to be your biggest asset, because Google can decide to ban your site, you will still be able to communicate with your list of targeted clients/prospects through your autoresponder.

Yes, in the end, much more work, but maybe also a better user experience and a better foundation for your online business.

That's the good side of it

and if you're lazy, do it like me, outsource work to the Philippines ...

lebstyle

Guys,

There are tonnes of sites out there that use google's name to trick customer's into biting only to be scammed hard with no service and monthly charges. These guys ruined it for everyone, there are thousands of complaints comming through thus causing google to take a definitive stand. Any website with "free trial offers" or shady looking design gets the boot.

I was a victim of those "make money off google" schemes, so I know how it feels to be scammed and understand why google is doing this. At the same time, they shouldn't be carte blanching the whole thing and removing good sites selling legitimate products/services.

Cheers,
Ali

ryanman

Well if this is the case...Then why use adwords...Just let it gain rankings on the search engines.

chini

This is hilarious, because there are soo many products $1000+ which business model is based on the CPA market. I can hear the refunds coming in.

Sonam22

It’s unfortunate there’s not much resolution for this problem. I think the measures Google took were fair, but a bit drastic. Quite a few affiliates will have to start fresh- hopefully they weren’t putting all their eggs in one basket and have some other offers or MMO methods to work with.

affil158

Google is currently banning across-the-board a lot of fake blogs, fake review sites, and pretty much anyone that doesn't add VALUE with their affiliate landing page, and links directly to CPA networks.
I have to agree with CrisBa, although i think we should have seen it coming.if you have little or no content that is beneficial to the prospective customer, or not relevant to your add you are going to get your Q/S clobbered.maybe it will see the return of proper websites although i have no doubt someone will find a way around it

cdtboxhdr

"Updated regularly" is a stupid parameter. What if you have a page in your site that describes a historic event or discusses a medical procedure that hasn't changed in 25 years?

Google needs to get off of their high horse. "Do No Harm" indeed.

Mark McClure

Well, stone the crows - some good news for autoresponder copywriters who can deliver.

Jay Rhome

Well, if they can lower the QS like that, they sure can deindex sites in the search results as well.

SO MANY of these offers were total scams, and I hate all the review sites for products the "reviewers" have not even tried.

BUT, banning all CPA and affiliate offers is going too far IMO. If Google hate those biz that much, SEO nightmare will follow as well.

I'm sure we'll all figure a way to continue with new models, but legit affiliate sites shouldn't be put in the same bag IMO.

IMBT

Quality content sites with affiliate offers will continue to grow and do fine......me thinks!

ryanman

Someone pointed out that adwords has a problem with affiliate links. Some sites even with pages over pages with extra free content got slapped just because they had affiliate links.

googmagic

YEAH..
so iv'e heard.
screw google - we're making ppv now !

ryanman

Even with many sites offering ppv...You will see a sharp cut down as well. The only way out of this is to promote products which are 100% ethical and have no complaints.

Saj Gupta

As aff's most of the time you just don't know what products do have complaints and which don't. Yeah if you go and hunt for complaints for any product in existence, you'll find some folks raising alarm bells, but what does that mean?
So I don't think affs can ascertain in most cases if its fits ethical criteria or not.

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dropship

I think that with any rebill product out there regardless of the niche you are going to find complaints because there are many people who get sucked into the free trial and have no idea about the rebills.

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abo28

Question... Could Yahoo! Search Marketing or MSN be a (partial) solution for this problem? Or other PPC advertising networks?...

dropship

Word has it that Yahoo is also eliminating all rebills. I'm sure Bing will soon to follow thereafter.

It might be time to choose other avenues outside PPC if you're looking to promote rebills.

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ChrisBa

i heard rebills still work on smaller ppc engines *hint hint*

ryanman

Complaints against acai rebills were actually aired on several news channels where they had a sting operation. So that was pretty obvious...But other then that I would say...You will have to buy the product once yourself and see what it's all about.

chini

70% of CPA offers are unethical and simply scams. People who promote this crap should be ashamed of themselves.

ryanman

This is true...But I disagree with the affiliates part. Companies mislead the affiliates too therefore you can't say its completely their fault either.

dropship

In the end any consumer should ALWAYS read any fine print and all terms they accept so they know what they are getting into.

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ryanman

It's is just not possible for a customer to go through 5000+ word paras all full of legal words and complex terms. That's the reason why I like clickbank so much. They have a straight forward clear cut 60 day money back policy...And they ask you to put it on your site where it's easily readable.

I guess that's the main reason why they have grown so much in the last few years in comparison to other CPA networks.

Adbeat

I agree with this. Clickbank definitely has offers of questionable quality, but at least you know that people can and do get refunds if they want to. There is quite a bit of money that can be made with clickbank as well.

AffiliateMax

In an ideal world, yes - but something as important as ongoing charges (rebills) or forced sign-ups to other services should not be hidden away in the 'fine print' - not only is that deceptive and misleading to the customer but it is also in breach of FTC regulations.

Section 5 of the Federal Trade commission Act:
(1)Prohibits Unfair and Deceptive Acts or Practices
(2) Requires Clear and Conspicuous Disclosure of
Material Terms and Conditions

Reading large amounts of text online is hard on the eyes and people should not have to wade through thousands of words of 'legal jargon' text in the terms just to discover that the free trial offer they are signing up to involves forced recurring billing! Even if people do skim the terms the advertisers often write out monthly charges in words (seventy two dollars and twenty one cents) to make them harder to spot.

Saying "people should always read the terms and conditions" can often just be a very poor attempt to try and justify deceiving them - in reality who reads the terms and conditions for all minor purchases?

I wonder how many people buying a book or dvd at amazon read the amazon.com terms and conditions page!?
Say amazon decided to put a line in their terms and conditions page saying that "by buying any dvd from us you are automatically enrolled in our dvds of the month club where we send you 4 dvds of our choice every month for only eighty nine dollars and twenty cents + shipping and handling, plus you are also enrolled in our paperback book of the month club just nine dollar ninety five cents per month, every month unless you cancel..." - do you think that would be okay? Of course not - and it would not be legal either!

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ryanman

Couldn't have been said better.

chini

Exactly, very fine point.

dblgdee

The CPA industry may become under scrutiny.
There is talk that the FTC is involved.
I have seen one network drop 50 % of their offers
The responsibility should be both with the advertisers and the publishers.

Is there anything wrong with promoting an offer you know nothing about?
Who can verify that your content is legit?
I have seen some complaints of scam from people who signed -up for free offers not realizing that it was forced continuity and are complaining that charges are appearing on their credit cards.

Apparently this appears to be the nexus of the Slap
What becomes of the free offers that require you to" participate"?

We may expect a shake-up in the way things are done, but everyone must be realizing how the CPA market is becoming vital.

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