Adwords Is Truly Hammering CPA Affiliates & Companies Bad.

81 replies
Loads of adword accounts using CPA'S have been banned recently- My Google Adwords Account Was Banned! | Inside the Secret Life of a Super Affiliate - Zac Johnson dot Com .

And from personal experience...Google stopped all my campaigns promoting biz offers and ringtone offers even on the content network. Without any reason...All of a sudden no impressions when the offers were running well for months.

I went through adwords policies recently- AdWords Help
------------------------------

Data Entry Affiliates


Don't advertise for data entry affiliate programs.

Advertising is not permitted for the promotion of data entry affiliate programs. This includes ads directing users to sites that promote the creation/data entry of more ads that direct users to the same site.
There are no exceptions to this policy, which is intended to protect both advertisers and AdWords users.



Mobile Content Services
Mobile content services ads are restricted.
We allow ads for mobile content services only upon the conditions noted here. Mobile content services include, but are not limited to, sites that promote downloading ringtones, wallpaper, or text messages for predictions, love life advice, news, personality quizzes, or other entertainment services.
For all types of mobile content services, the promoted website must clearly and accurately display the pricing of the mobile content service. In addition, all the relevant site requirements below should be located in a prominent place on your webpage and should be easy to find, read, and understand.

So promoting ringtone offers is messing with delicate grounds.

And from a recent conversion with an adword rep I have also realized they hate any offers which tell people how to make money online. So sooner or later they are going to hammer a lot of affiliates. And also **** berry and a lot of trial offers.


It's basically because most trial offers have lead to massive media complaints across the board...Because a lot of these companies keep on rebilling the customer and make it ultra hard for the end user to unsubscribe from the monthly payment plan.
#adwords #affiliates #bad #companies #cpa #hammering #rebills #scams
  • Profile picture of the author Saj Gupta
    Thanks for sharing. Most likely it also applies to email/zip submit offers. Once someone provides their email to these type of freebie offers, its a road to hell for that email addresss.
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by sranju72 View Post

      Thanks for sharing. Most likely it also applies to email/zip submit offers. Once someone provides their email to these type of freebie offers, its a road to hell for that email addresss.
      Yes this is true...The issue here is that when you are on the content network a google adword rep goes through your landing page manually and checks the offer. When he sees you have to keep on signing up for offer after offer...He is obviously going to disapprove your ad.
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      • Profile picture of the author Soflyy
        Google is concerned about quality. In the long run people will learn to not click their ads when the sites they lead to are useless.

        Don't advertise phony products and you have nothing to worry about.
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  • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
    Goes to show that those types of companies that keep charging your card really don't pay off in the end. Is that extra $39 a month worth it?
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  • Profile picture of the author BrightLife
    Google wants to make money too, but they can only do it with lucky customers. If their customers get fooled this is not good for Google too. Completely understandable.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Rule #1 - Don't reach Zac Johnson

    But yeah - Google is setting up there anti-affiliate game
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanman
    Here is another interesting post I came across on this topic- “Big Brother” Google…. Are we Back in the USSR??
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  • Profile picture of the author deu12000
    Google has been very rough lately, I'm not one of the big boys that spends thousands a day, but I do spend a few hundred per day with them and they have banned some of my best converting campaigns due to their TOS. The products I mainly advertise are physical products though.
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by deu12000 View Post

      Google has been very rough lately, I'm not one of the big boys that spends thousands a day, but I do spend a few hundred per day with them and they have banned some of my best converting campaigns due to their TOS. The products I mainly advertise are physical products though.
      Did it involve health supplements?
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    • Profile picture of the author Vawriters
      Originally Posted by deu12000 View Post

      Google has been very rough lately, I'm not one of the big boys that spends thousands a day, but I do spend a few hundred per day with them and they have banned some of my best converting campaigns due to their TOS. The products I mainly advertise are physical products though.
      Google has banned some of your CAMPAIGNS Or Your Account? Were you promoting CPA "Free trial offers"..Please let us know..
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  • Profile picture of the author dropship
    Pretty soon, there won't be any Adwords advertisers because people that get their accounts banned have no way of getting it reinstated.

    Those that are playing by the rules will have a huge competitive advantage in some highly competitive niches.
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by dropship View Post

      Pretty soon, there won't be any Adwords advertisers because people that get their accounts banned have no way of getting it reinstated.

      Those that are playing by the rules will have a huge competitive advantage in some highly competitive niches.
      Google made approx $12-20 Billion in Just Dec last year. They have a huge database of buyers from all over the planet. Even if they were to ban all small players they would still have giant corps funding their pockets. And this is the main reason why google doesn't really care.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Google doesn't care about affiliates - IMO move on to another way of advertising that doesn't screw you
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    • Profile picture of the author naonline
      They have actually added affiliate guidelines to their TOS (I think this is new). I maintain that if you build real sites that add value you want have a problem.

      It is true that they don't like affilaites and only want to deal with 'real' companies but because so many large companies rely on affiliates to generate their leads, Google can't just wipe us off the map.

      Nick
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      • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
        Originally Posted by naonline View Post

        They have actually added affiliate guidelines to their TOS (I think this is new). I maintain that if you build real sites that add value you want have a problem.

        It is true that they don't like affilaites and only want to deal with 'real' companies but because so many large companies rely on affiliates to generate their leads, Google can't just wipe us off the map.

        Nick
        Very true..

        Until they decide to take it to the next level
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  • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
    You'd be surprised how much 'super affiliates' use Adwords.

    Of course most of them do, but usually it is only 10-20% of their actual business.

    On a side note I made sure the biz op I was promoting, although a CPA offer, was good. And not a 'scam'.

    It was one of my best campaigns by far, was spending upwards to 250 a day on it.

    Than I see my CPC went to 10 dollars, than a few hours later the campaigns were cancelled.

    Honestly Google is doing the right thing, even if it's costing me a boatload. They are generalizing a lot and due to that it wouldn't surprise me if **** free trials and all the others are soon going to be taken out within the next year. Yes, i'm serious.

    Zach
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by Zach Booker View Post

      On a side note I made sure the biz op I was promoting, although a CPA offer, was good. And not a 'scam'.

      It was one of my best campaigns by far, was spending upwards to 250 a day on it.

      Than I see my CPC went to 10 dollars, than a few hours later the campaigns were cancelled.



      Zach
      I had the same issue...I was promoting a biz opp too but after a couple of days no impressions and all the ads were stopped without no reason. They are strongly cutting down on anything which deals with how to make money online.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
    Yup...

    I have a feeling the FTC and them probably are working out an 'action plan' for taking out some of the "scams".
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    • Profile picture of the author Saj Gupta
      Originally Posted by Zach Booker View Post

      Yup...

      I have a feeling the FTC and them probably are working out an 'action plan' for taking out some of the "scams".
      Yup they are. They only issue is that FTC is slow in getting to all these complaints from consumers and advertisers find loopholes in coming up with these new offers everyday that are borderline banned. Affs are stuck in the middle and need to decide if they should make money by promoting it or refrain and some just do not know what happens behind the scene after a sale is made.
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      • Profile picture of the author ryanman
        Even my affiliate manager confirmed today that a lot of these companies offering trial offers have almost non-existent customer support which makes it almost impossible for the customer to cancel after subscribing.

        No wonder it has lead to complaints on a massive scale.
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        • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
          The key is that only some do this.

          I hate when people group these all together: One **** product doesn't have support so that means none of them must have support.

          A lot of fulfillment houses have call centers built in to handle customer support. They even are Americans!

          That's the difference between a real business and a 'fly by night' operation.

          There's no excuse for not having any customer support though, those that don't should be shut down.

          Zach

          Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

          Even my affiliate manager confirmed today that a lot of these companies offering trial offers have almost non-existent customer support which makes it almost impossible for the customer to cancel after subscribing.

          No wonder it's lead to mass scale complaints.
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          • Profile picture of the author ryanman
            Originally Posted by Zach Booker View Post

            The key is that only some do this.

            I hate when people group these all together: One **** product doesn't have support so that means none of them must have support.

            A lot of fulfillment houses have call centers built in to handle customer support. They even are Americans!

            That's the difference between a real business and a 'fly by night' operation.

            There's no excuse for not having any customer support though, those that don't should be shut down.

            Zach

            I agree with you on this one...But it seems like they are not blaming a couple of apples but rather the whole bunch. If one apple is rotten...They are going to take the whole cart out.
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            • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
              Yeah man.

              It sucks but whenever bad stuff like this happens it makes you branch out more and go into different areas, which in the long run might be better.

              Zach

              Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

              I agree with you on this one...But it seems like they are not blaming a couple of apples but rather the whole bunch. If one apple is rotten...They are going to take the whole cart out.
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  • Profile picture of the author dropship
    That just makes you want to spend your time working on SEO instead of spending money with Adwords.
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    • Profile picture of the author jcaviani
      I can talk about promoting bullshit offers and engaging in fraud until I'm blue in the face (as I have before), but nothing works for people quite like getting banned.

      If you promote real value you will NEVER be banned. If you persist in promoting to the desperation markets by any means possible including fraud, you'll get what you deserve.

      Seeking shortcuts will only cost you in one way or another. The real opportunity on the internet is not seeking shortcuts or moving from one fad to another, but providing value - clarity, focus and execution. So many people are trying to game the system that anything REAL has virtually no competition.

      Guys/Gals there are no shortcuts to making real money. It takes a lot of a four letter word many people in the IM realm seem allergic to - work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jay Rhome
      Originally Posted by dropship View Post

      That just makes you want to spend your time working on SEO instead of spending money with Adwords.
      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.
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  • Profile picture of the author Greg Jacobs
    I am not sure when it was added to their TOS or if it was always there. But Adwords does in fact state that "Bridge" pages are not allowed

    A Bridge Page being defined as something that is designed to drive the user to another site.

    Now if this is properly enforced, they just wiped clean a good portion of the entire affiliate marketing industry.

    Makes me chuckle because they also own Google Affiliate Network which depends on "Bridge Pages" to bring it profit.

    lulz...
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    • Profile picture of the author Adbeat
      Originally Posted by Greg Jacobs View Post

      I am not sure when it was added to their TOS or if it was always there. But Adwords does in fact state that "Bridge" pages are not allowed

      A Bridge Page being defined as something that is designed to drive the user to another site.

      Now if this is properly enforced, they just wiped clean a good portion of the entire affiliate marketing industry.

      Makes me chuckle because they also own Google Affiliate Network which depends on "Bridge Pages" to bring it profit.

      lulz...
      This has been in the TOS for years, they are enforcing it much more recently.
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    • Profile picture of the author routonc38
      Isn't a "bridge page" a landing page? So you can't direct link because of the rule about the same domain name being used and you can't use a landing page to get to the order page? So what can we do?
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      • Profile picture of the author routonc38
        Originally Posted by routonc38 View Post

        Isn't a "bridge page" a landing page? So you can't direct link because of the rule about the same domain name being used and you can't use a landing page to get to the order page? So what can we do?
        (quote)So in a nutshell...Don't promote- Ringtone offers, **** or other similar offers, Make money online offers, zip or email submits. (/quote)

        So what's left? Personally, I have only been promoting zip and email submits and and something like car insurance. I've stayed away from the flog type. I did try to promote a weight loss product with a poll about the UFC, but the ads were never approved. Probably because of the product it linked to and I wasn't aware of the weight loss thing.

        So if you can't promote weight loss or muscle building, how are all those ads being listed?
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        • Profile picture of the author ryanman
          Originally Posted by routonc38 View Post

          (quote)So in a nutshell...Don't promote- Ringtone offers, **** or other similar offers, Make money online offers, zip or email submits. (/quote)

          So what's left? Personally, I have only been promoting zip and email submits and and something like car insurance. I've stayed away from the flog type. I did try to promote a weight loss product with a poll about the UFC, but the ads were never approved. Probably because of the product it linked to and I wasn't aware of the weight loss thing.

          So if you can't promote weight loss or muscle building, how are all those ads being listed?
          You will discover that most of those ads are by merchants themselves and not the affiliates or the sites which those ads lead to aren't landing pages but proper sites with pages after pages of content.
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          • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
            Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

            You will discover that most of those ads are by merchants themselves and not the affiliates or the sites which those ads lead to aren't landing pages but proper sites with pages after pages of content.
            Exactly and if these ****, colon cleanse, etc, companies can afford to pay you 30-40 bucks when the consumer is only paying $4.95 than imagine how much money they're making per customer.

            Why pay you when they can make it all just as easily.

            Zach

            P.S- Of course they can't build 1000 blogs targeting keywords or do any big social media stuff. So it's not like affiliates are screwed or anything, millions and millions still out there to be made.
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  • Profile picture of the author dropship
    They don't just ban you for promoting "bad" offers. There are actual affiliates promoting good offers, however because of other things like getting quality score penalties and constant slaps will also ban you.

    Those affiliates that are just learning how to build a good landing page and promoting real value offers suffer from this and its a shame because they'll never learn how powerful adwords is.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
      Originally Posted by dropship View Post

      They don't just ban you for promoting "bad" offers. There are actual affiliates promoting good offers, however because of other things like getting quality score penalties and constant slaps will also ban you.

      Those affiliates that are just learning how to build a good landing page and promoting real value offers suffer from this and its a shame because they'll never learn how powerful adwords is.
      Exactly! Over the next year many small to medium affiliates will simply move on.

      With PPV and Facebook getting more developed etc Google is no longer the place where "all the traffic is" you can easily go and get the same converting traffic for half the price. It just isn't as convenient as going to Google and signing up.

      Zach
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by dropship View Post

      They don't just ban you for promoting "bad" offers. There are actual affiliates promoting good offers, however because of other things like getting quality score penalties and constant slaps will also ban you.
      Yes this is absolutely true so basically here is what google needs-

      1- Do not just have one landing page which directs users to the merchants page. Have multiple pages full of extra content...And yes this means high quality content.

      2- Your ad text must clearly state what you want the user to do on the page. If you want them to enter their email then you must mention something like "Sign up Now" right in the ad.

      -------------------------
      Here is what google says-


      Accurately represent your product or service.
      Your ads and keywords must directly relate to the content on the landing page for your ad. When users see your ad, they should be able to understand what kind of product, service, or other content they will find on your site. Products or services promoted in your ad must be reflected on your landing page; ads can be disapproved if a promoted product is not offered or available for sale as promised.



      Support advertised prices, discounts, and free offers.
      If your ad includes a price, special discount, or 'free' offer, it must be clearly and accurately displayed on your website within 1-2 clicks of your ad's landing page.


      -----------------------------------




      3- Google checks what you are selling and what sort of experience it gives to the end user. So there is nothing to be surprised if google shut down traffic because you were promoting zip submits, biz ops because after entering the zip or email the user is forced to join offer after offer till he gives up and leaves angry.

      4- Don't use testimonials on your landing page or else you will be in an even bigger trouble. Now google will ask you to produce proof to back up those testimonials.

      5- Don't use the terms..."Best" in your ad. I was using it in one of my ad and I was asked whether I can prove that I am offering the best offer out there. If not...You will be either slapped or emailed to make changes.

      --------------------
      Here is what google says-

      Support competitive claims.
      Competitive claims are statements implying that your product/service is better than a competitor's. If your ad text contains competitive language regarding other companies, specific support for this claim must be displayed on the landing page for your AdWords ad.
      ----------------------

      6- All those affiliates promoting google kits were obviously banned because.

      Don't imply inaccurate affiliation or partnership.
      • Your ads may not imply an affiliation, partnership, or any special relationship with Google. Ads and sites cannot contain language that is likely to cause confusion as to the association between Google's services and your services.
      7- They are very very careful with anything which revolves around muscle building, weight loss etc. So there is no big surprise that so many people were taken down with those **** and other health supplement offers.

      Don't promote anabolic steroids.
      Advertising is not permitted for anabolic steroids, muscle-enhancing stacks and cycles, bodybuilding steroid supplements, and related content, irrespective of an advertiser's claims of legality.

      8- Here is a policy for all those weight loss & miracle cure ebooks-

      Don't promote miracle cures.

      Advertising is not permitted for the promotion of health claims or miracle cures, such as "Cure cancer overnight!"
      In addition, the advertisement of weight-loss related products is not permitted for ads targeting Spain.

      9- Don't promote ringtones...They allow it with restrictions but doing it would be playing with dangerous grounds.

      Mobile content services ads are restricted.
      We allow ads for mobile content services only upon the conditions noted here. Mobile content services include, but are not limited to, sites that promote downloading ringtones, wallpaper, or text messages for predictions, love life advice, news, personality quizzes, or other entertainment services.


      For all types of mobile content services, the promoted website must clearly and accurately display the pricing of the mobile content service. In addition, all the relevant site requirements below should be located in a prominent place on your webpage and should be easy to find, read, and understand.

      10- Here is the big one for quality score-

      Affiliate Policy

      We do not allow data entry affiliates to use AdWords advertising, but all other affiliates may participate in the AdWords program. However, we monitor and don't allow the following:

      • Redirect URLs: Ads that contain URLs that automatically redirect to the parent company.
      • Bridge Pages: Ads for web pages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company.
      • Framing: Ads for web pages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site. Your site should not mirror (be similar or nearly identical in appearance to) your parent company's or any other advertiser's site.
      So now...You can't have the same template as the merchant page as then it will seem like a frame page.

      So in a nutshell...Don't promote- Ringtone offers, **** or other similar offers, Make money online offers, zip or email submits.
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  • Yes just happened to me. I was doing cpa for months on google content and doing well. Poof, all of a sudden no impressions for ten campaigns. I called them and they emailed me saying the landing pages were low quality, with a link to an article which says basically that arbitrage pages, sites built to show ads, will always have a low score, blah blah blah. So big g has ended my nice little business. Plan B where are u?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Noel
    Maybe with all of the CPA and PPC courses coming out over the last year there are so many newbie's that Google is just being bombarded with complaints.
    This is their way of filtering out the hobbyists from the serious marketer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
    But serious marketers are getting harmed more, Jeff.

    Hobbyists simply move on to the "next great thing." Serious marketers have to adapt and change and in the process lose thousands of dollars due to Google slapping them.

    Not saying that serious marketers will quit, but they will lose a big portion of money that will take them some time to re-gain.

    And once they have re-gained it more people will release products and the cycle will most likely start again!
    Zach
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Noel
    Ya I hear you Zach loud and clear. I have currently stopped using PPC until the dust settles and Google figures out exactly what they want. I focus more on Yahoo and MSN to refine my skills and become a better PPC marketer. I am fairly new and still learning but the one thing that I have come to understand about Google is they really don't give a rats ass about the small guy.
    The one thing that I think is bound to happen is that smart marketers will create better systems to deal with to deal with Google ever change rule over the internet.
    Just like recessions some see them as the downfall of business while others see them as an opportunity to grow and become better.
    I think the saying "Only the strong shall survive" applies in both cases.
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  • Profile picture of the author dropship
    I wonder how many people that got their account banned will try and just sign up with another account? It's obviously not going to be easy as you can't use the same name, email, address, CC info, IP, domains, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author dropship
    You have to provide a good quality content site for those types of ads to be approved. The one page landing review sites will be gone by the waste side soon...

    It's going to be about building high quality mini sites at least 5-10 pages of good content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zach Booker
    Or, for those less tech-savvy, WP blogs with a dedicated LP but with a separated blog for SEO/QS purpose.



    Zach
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  • Profile picture of the author gabibeowulf
    Well .. just don't use CPA with google .. I find YSM is much more friendly .. although their interface is much more ugly and heavy to use. They like taking your money unlike google.

    And there's also media buys, banner advertising in different networks and so on. Google may be the biggest but it's not worth the headache.
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    • Profile picture of the author dkblair
      Hey
      Its not only Google, its the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) who is really cracking down on affiliate continuity offers. eg ****, Google Money Tree and Government grants. etc etc.
      Go to the FTC website and look at all the CPA offers that companies were promoting.
      These are going to court.
      It even affected me on a foreclosure product I was promoting, when myself and every affiliate promoting the offer had there accounts frozen with one of the biggest CPA networks in the USA, pending a court order from the FTC.
      And this really hurt me as I was cleaning up on this offer.
      I did not do anything wrong myself.
      So whatever you do, do not even think about doing a website with a fake testomonial or a blog with a ficticious character.
      The FTC will come after you.
      The moral of this story, don't dupe and think global.
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      • Profile picture of the author dblgdee
        Originally Posted by dkblair View Post

        Hey
        Its not only Google, its the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) who is really cracking down on affiliate continuity offers. eg ****, Google Money Tree and Government grants. etc etc.
        Go to the FTC website and look at all the CPA offers that companies were promoting.
        These are going to court.
        Do you have a link?

        I have aslo noticed that a well known network has cut the number of offers by 50%.
        So something is happening...
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  • Profile picture of the author Bob007
    Basically Google reacts after they get enough complaints from customers and adsense websites. Best rule of thumb is promote offers that you, yourself would be happy to sign up for.
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    • Profile picture of the author AffiliateMax
      Originally Posted by Bob007 View Post

      Best rule of thumb is promote offers that you, yourself would be happy to sign up for.
      I agree. But that rules out 90% of cpa offers then.
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      • Profile picture of the author ryanman
        Originally Posted by AffiliateMax View Post

        I agree. But that rules out 90% of cpa offers then.
        I would say 95%...The only one I can think of is dating at the moment.
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        • Profile picture of the author abo28
          Question... Could Yahoo! Search Marketing or MSN be a (partial) solution for this problem? Or other PPC advertising networks?...
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          • Profile picture of the author dropship
            Originally Posted by abo28 View Post

            Question... Could Yahoo! Search Marketing or MSN be a (partial) solution for this problem? Or other PPC advertising networks?...
            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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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    the days of 1 page wonder landing pages as well over.. its time to start building high quality high content websites with the focus on user experience and build the ads in the back of them.. imo that's going to be the new way of affiliate marketing
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    • Profile picture of the author ClearWater404
      Originally Posted by ChrisBa View Post

      the days of 1 page wonder landing pages as well over.. its time to start building high quality high content websites with the focus on user experience and build the ads in the back of them.. imo that's going to be the new way of affiliate marketing
      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 ...
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      • Profile picture of the author ryanman
        Well if this is the case...Then why use adwords...Just let it gain rankings on the search engines.


        Originally Posted by ClearWater404 View Post

        absolutely...


        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.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark McClure
        Originally Posted by ClearWater404 View Post

        absolutely...

        ... 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.
        Well, stone the crows - some good news for autoresponder copywriters who can deliver.
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  • Profile picture of the author imburne
    Theres plenty of blackhatting going on.. they are just slowly catching up to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    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.
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    • Profile picture of the author AffiliateMax
      Originally Posted by redicelander View Post

      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.
      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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  • Profile picture of the author 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/
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  • Profile picture of the author 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
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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
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  • Profile picture of the author 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author IMBT
    Quality content sites with affiliate offers will continue to grow and do fine......me thinks!
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by IMBT View Post

      Quality content sites with affiliate offers will continue to grow and do fine......me thinks!
      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.
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  • Profile picture of the author googmagic
    YEAH..
    so iv'e heard.
    screw google - we're making ppv now !
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by googmagic View Post

      YEAH..
      so iv'e heard.
      screw google - we're making ppv now !
      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.
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      • Profile picture of the author Saj Gupta
        Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

        The only way out of this is to promote products which are 100% ethical and have no complaints.
        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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        • Profile picture of the author ryanman
          Originally Posted by sranju72 View Post

          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.
          Complaints against **** 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.
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  • Profile picture of the author 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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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    i heard rebills still work on smaller ppc engines *hint hint*
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  • Profile picture of the author chini
    70% of CPA offers are unethical and simply scams. People who promote this crap should be ashamed of themselves.
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    • Profile picture of the author ryanman
      Originally Posted by chini View Post

      70% of CPA offers are unethical and simply scams. People who promote this crap should be ashamed of themselves.
      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.
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      • Profile picture of the author dropship
        Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

        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.
        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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        • Profile picture of the author ryanman
          Originally Posted by dropship View Post

          In the end any consumer should ALWAYS read any fine print and all terms they accept so they know what they are getting into.
          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.
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          • Profile picture of the author Adbeat
            Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

            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.
            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.
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        • Profile picture of the author AffiliateMax
          Originally Posted by dropship View Post

          In the end any consumer should ALWAYS read any fine print and all terms they accept so they know what they are getting into.
          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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          • Profile picture of the author ryanman
            Originally Posted by AffiliateMax View Post



            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!
            Couldn't have been said better.
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            • Profile picture of the author 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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          • Profile picture of the author chini
            Originally Posted by AffiliateMax View Post

            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!

            Exactly, very fine point.
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