The fusion of Yahoo Search Marketing and Bing has been on the cards for a while now, but things are finally starting to happen. This is going to have an effect on finance affiliates.

First, SEO will become a little more straightforward if anything. Instead of having to optimise for 3 search engines, you will only have Google and Bing to worry about. It would be wise to start reading up on Bing SEO techniques asap if you haven’t already.

Now the bad news – PPC may be a little more complicated. If you are running a PPC campaign on Yahoo! but not MSN Adcenter, your account will be automatically transferred to the Bing platform. The problem is, there are differences between the platforms. For instance, AdCenter has 3 match types, whilst Yahoo! only has 2. You will need to optimise your Yahoo! campaigns so that they are ready for the transition. If you have accounts with both AdCenter and Yahoo!, you should be ok – now is the time to focus on building up your AdCenter campaigns.

Yahoo and Bing only have a fraction of the search market compared to Google. However, the merger provides further growth potential, and whilst the PPC volumes are lower, they are generally easier to deal with than Google, and it is easier to get a better return on your PPC investment.

Last night Google Instant was launched. It is meant to save the user between 2 and 5 seconds per search. Now while Google Instant may be great for people who can’t type, it is not likely to appeal too much to finance affiliates, or affiliates in general.

The long-tail keywords are likely to suffer a drop in search volume, as Google pre-guesses what people want. So people who intend to type in ‘loan quote for new conservatory’ may find what they are looking for at ‘loan quote’ or even ‘loan…’. You could argue that people who do go on to type in the full long-tail phrase will be more likely to convert at the back-end, so while the long-tail traffic may drop, the quality of the traffic should improve.

What this probably means is an increase in competition for mid-tail keywords like ‘loan quote’. A relevant, informative ad will be more crucial than ever.

It also opens up a whole new raft of keywords available to finance affiliates. Will affiliates now start bidding on the word ‘lo’? or ‘ins’?

Maybe Google Instant will be universally hated by users, and disabled on most browsers – I can’t see that happening though.

What do you think will be the impact of Google Instant on the finance affiliate industry? Let us know by leaving your comments below:

I came out of University with a history degree and no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I got a job through a friend working for a new internet marketing company where I worked for 3 years. During those years I learnt how to create and run Adwords/Overture/Espotting campaigns for clients, and I set up affiliate programs for clients in areas like car finance and secured loans. One of our highest-producing affiliates was a guy called Michael Anthony.

Anyway, I was made redundant in 2005. I had 1 month’s redundancy pay to keep me afloat whilst I found another job. That’s when I discovered the newly created Affiliate Marketing School. I was assigned a ’Headmaster’ called Paul. Through loads of help from Paul and Michael, I managed to set up a finance website (despite having NO web design experience) and an Adwords campaign, and began to sell leads to the school. I think I made about £1000 profit in the first month with an outlay of £1000. The next month I risked £2000 and made £2000 profit. I stopped looking for job interviews at this point.

The next few months I was making a couple of grand profit a month working from home. A modest salary but bear in mind the working hours – about 2 hrs a day! With a little more work I managed to scale this upwards.

I’m now living a lifestyle I couldn’t have dreamed of a few years ago – a direct result of joining the Affiliate Marketing School. I’ve had 2 great holidays in Whistler with the school where I’ve met some great friends. Things have become much tougher since the recession so the working hours have increased slightly since the ‘good old days’, and I’m not resting on my laurels, but my example is one of many, of what you can achieve as a member of the school. Paul, who taught me much of what I know about the industry, is currently touring Australia for a year with his family using affiliate earnings.

Are you an existing finance affiliate looking for the best (highest paying, most reliable) place to sell your leads? Or are you a newbie who wants to become a finance affiliate and enjoy more money, more time and less work?

First, download the free finance affiliate guide over there >>>>>>>>>>>

Second, contact me below and I will get you set up at the Affiliate Marketing School, which contains a wealth of free useful advice, and I will guide you through the process of beginning to make money as a finance affiliate. The best thing about it is it’s free – it’s not some ‘get rich quick’ ebook or subscription service. It’s just a regular internet forum.

Fill in the form now to get the ball rolling:

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