Mike, since I don't use PPC and don't rely on Clickbank for much, I have
been fortunate enough to not only not notice anything, but I'm also having
my third best month of this year...in the summer no less.

This is why I don't like relying on third parties for my business, which is why
I have finally started to submit articles to my own blog as well as EZA and
now, a few other directories. I am more diversified now than ever before.

Recent events, not just this last slap, but many others, have quite honestly
scared the crap out of me. I looked at my business model and realized
that I had way too much content on way too few sites. Sure, it's highly
unlikely that EZA will close up shop or ban me, but I've seen that anything
is possible.

This should be a wakeup call to everybody to diversify as much as you
can.

To begin with, don't just sell Clickbank products. There are so many other
affiliate marketplaces, and good ones too.

If you are a product creator, no reason you can't have multiple affiliate
programs for each product. Just make a different sales page for each
one.

If you put content up on the Internet, naturally get your own domains.
But if you're going to use third party sites, don't just submit everything
to one or two. There are plenty of sites out there that can bring you
decent results.

Sure, it's going to take a little more time out of your day, but the
alternative is waking up one day and suddenly finding out that all your
hard work just went down the drain.

Your own VRE is the best course of action, but if you rely on others,
rely on many others, not just one or two. One member today reported
how is one Squidoo lens was locked and all his income killed...in one
shot.

As for advertising resources, I know so many people tout PPC, but I still
think it's suicide to put all your eggs in Google's basket. I have seen no
less than 4 Google slaps in my 6 years of marketing online. This one isn't
even the worst believe it or not. The worst was when you could no longer
send somebody to a merchant's sales page as an affiliate. Suddenly,
PPC users had to create their own landing pages with decent content.
That was real culture shock to many, including myself who had had quite
a bit of success with one alternative health product just redirecting to
a sales page. Those days are gone.

So think about other ways to promote besides PPC, even if you think that
PPC is the "best" way. Many who thought that are now scrambling for a
way to get their income back.

Naturally, all the above are just suggestions based on what I have seen
over the course of 6 plus years. Each marketer has to do what they
feel is best.

I know what I'm doing starting tomorrow.

Actually ironically enough - apparently Yahoo is starting a major crackdown tomorrow.

The time and energy involved with PPC (I think) can be better spent on simple and effective SEO strategies. Then again, I probably dont know enough about PPC.

It just seems like what worked back in 2004, is done with today. Every man and his dog is fighting over the same marketplaces and keywords.

Im with you Stevie - Article Marketing all the way!

On that note, Steven do you think you could share some other good affiliate marketplaces besides CB that you mentioned. Thanks!

Is it only me or do you think Google is actually dropping the hammer on to themselves? I mean there's probably a significant number of affiliates that's bringing them a fat income and they're killing it.

I really don't sell or promote anything on CB, and I also didn't experience any Google hammer effects on any of my PPC campaigns, except that some of my quality scores went UP.

I find it really strange that people are willing to jump through all these hoops and over fiery obstacles for google... Now for organic listings I might understand but...

HEY DAMMIT!

You're paying google -- . Tell them to take a hike!

It's *always* risky to have all your eggs in one basket. While I personally recommend focusing on a single business model, even that should be diversified. Multiple hosts, multiple sites, etc. And at the very least, if you're focused on a single narrow revenue stream, bank some savings and give some thought to a 'plan B' in the event that your business experiences a seismic shift.

Mark

The post about the FTC crackdown hit the nail on the head. Google wants to stay ahead of the FTC so it is much more interested in protecting itself than losing some PPC revenue.

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Did bidvertiser too do the same crackdown? I wonder. But their ctr is not so good as Google's.