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Google Adwords "Free Gift Dilemma" - How Do You Deal With it?

by EndGame
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi Guys,

I come here to ask a couple of questions about Google adwords.

2 Sentence Background Information:
I have built a website that complies with Google's terms and conditions/guidelines, and I have made sure there is content you can navigate to from my landing page. My site is not a "thin site" but the goal of my landing page/site is to get some one to opt-in to my email list.

My Problem:

Check out this page here:
Information harvesting - AdWords Help

Google seems to be saying (this is my understanding of it) that if you ask for some one's email address in return for a free gift (like a free report, video or audio) then you are breaching this guideline, and you can lose your campaign and Google adwords account.

My question then is has anyone ever had a run-in with Google over this policy?

And how do you get people to sign up to your list if you cannot entice them with a free "something" etc?

Is it back to the drawing board for me, or is still possible to build an email list with Google adwords (lots of people on other forums and on this forum seem to think it is still possible, but never tackle these issues in their posts)?

Finally, I will add for clarity, I will be advertising on the Display (content) network, and NOT via the search network.

Any help, anyone could offer, would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks for reading guys.
#adwords #deal #free gift dilemma #google
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    List building is a different animal. I'm not sure anyone can really build
    a huge list for email marketing using adwords. That's really against
    adwords anyway, although some may disagree. In other words, what
    are you harvesting the email for, other than building a list to, well,
    email them with offers?

    Your landing page IS the offer. The visitors ARE your leads. Your landing
    page sells them something.

    If you have a painting business, you would harvest info for an estimate.
    That's different than building a list. The painter is generating
    business leads. You are not generating business leads, but people to
    stuff your email list with.

    A dentistry business would be setting up appointments, and so on.

    However, I do believe it is okay to offer a newsletter. That is, you
    offer a free newletter on your your landing page for your niche. But
    the niche would have to be something unrelated to IM or affiliate
    marketing. Let's say cooking. Sign up for a free newsletter on
    Italian Cooking Secrets, "Learn the fine art of Italian Cooking with
    our free Italian Cooking Secrets newsletter" with details of how often,
    etc.

    I "think" that can get around the free gift. You are not offering a free gift.

    Paul
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    • Profile picture of the author Lucid
      Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

      Your landing page IS the offer. The visitors ARE your leads. Your landing page sells them something.
      I think this is worth repeating and something that advertisers must understand. In fact Paul, I'm going to steal this line from you and use it.

      Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

      However, I do believe it is okay to offer a newsletter.
      Correct.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    And how do you get people to sign up to your list if you cannot entice them with a free "something" etc?
    Why not target niche forum advertising instead of Adwords.

    The traffic is already waiting at any niche forum.

    Most forums sell advertising, without very many rules (compared to Google).
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  • Profile picture of the author EndGame
    Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate the input and insights.

    In response to the point about forum advertising, that is an excellent idea, and one I will explore, but I want to test with Adwords at first, and I love using their interface.

    I'd still be interested to hear from anyone on here who sends traffic via Adwords to a squeeze page/landing page and do this kind of marketing. Would love to hear some more thoughts.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Here is an example:
      searching for: raising chickens



      You might want to check out the site plamondon.com

      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author yankforlife41
    You can try facebook too.
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  • Profile picture of the author EndGame
    Hi Yankforlife41,

    Thanks for the suggestion. But I have tried Facebook, and I am absolutely no good at it. Ideally, I don't really want to deviate from Google as a traffic source, although I would like to get to the bottom of this issue.

    I think Paulgl has been really helpful in some of his suggestions for sorting it out. I still welcome any feedback from anymire experienced Adwords pros.
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