Thursday, June 22, 2006

Google V Affiliate Networks

So Google plan to launch a CPA network and finally go from being one of the worlds biggest affiliates to potentially the biggest network.

So what works in Googles favor?

* Simple transition for existing advertisers using Google Adwords to extend to CPA network campaign. With the introduction of conversion tracking i am on the understanding a lot of advertisers already have the tracking in place.

* More transparency for a merchant over general user activity using their google analytics tools, this will allow merchants to know more about how traffic from a given site performs. This is great information for a merchant to share with affiliates, and will help affiliates refine their promotion strategies.

* Google can extend its video ad techonolgy into the CPA network, something a large number of advertisers now want to use (merge TV to Online). We are already chatting to them about CPA for Trailer Views so would open up new revenue opportunities for affiliates.

* Google won't need to charge a hefty setup charge or monthly fee and can afford to take a much lower override/kickback commission.

* Googles position in the market means they can strike deals with large portals, giving them a unique portfolio which existing networks may not be able to offer.

If they offered everything on an affiliates wish list, the real question is how many affiliates would move over? Only time will tell!

I personally think if Google did merge CPC, CPA & CPM, they would probably stand up more for affiliates who can generate traffic and broker the better deal and merge sites off CPA and onto Hybrid or higher CPC deals.

Also Google Now, then Yahoo! perhaps even MSN will extend to these types of deals. All of these 3 companies have 1 thing in common 'brand equity' and that stands for alot with merchants as they feel like they are working with trusted partners.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

'Fraudster' Domain Registras

Every wondered why that domain you want is unavailable? Well you need to look past the adsense junkies & webpimps (TigerStep article 3rd May) to find the real root of the problem.

In April 2006, just over 35 MILLION domain names were registered. Of these domains only 2.3 MILLION were actively used by individuals building websites.

So what were the other 32.7 MILLION being used for? Answer is a new style of domain scam. The process is this, a domain registry makes a large deposit at a source supplier like VeriSign, at current domain costs they could register around 100,000 .com domains. The registra then has 5 days to cancel a domain & get their money back. However in this time they can still actually have a website live. They can manipulate this by dropping the names after 5 days but simply going back in and re register them, over and over again! Not paying a penny for the actual domain name. Of course this process can be automated which again reduces man power.

The above registra will attempt to buy misspellings, common combination phrases, niches etc which will get type in traffic. This scam can also benefit from SEO indexing, as the change over time is quick a search bot may find the site while active and therefore index accordingly

The sites the bent registra creates are ladened with Google adsense which means the registra makes almost 100% profit; after all the sites take up little bandwith so hosting costs are minimal.

Both ICANN and VeriSign have known about this practice for quite sometime — but have looked the other way. This is Domain Shame! on a whole new level!

Source: GoDaddy's Co-Founder Bob Parson

Friday, June 09, 2006

Digital Downloads OverTake Music Retailers

A recent data release from the BPI (British Phonographic Institute) revealed that digital downloads have more than tripled in the last year.

The news is as a landmark for digital music, highlighted by Gnarls Barkley becoming the first act to reach the UK number one on digital sales alone. ,

The Digital Downloads market accounts for over 50% of the singles market. The latest news has triggered the UK record industry to request the release of singles with no physical release included in the chart. This would ultimately result in more digital music being sold and marketed online.