The agenda for the 2011 A4U Expo 2011 in London on 18th-19th October has just been released. For those of you who haven’t been, you should book your ticket now. Last year’s Expo was my first, and I got so much out of it as you can see if you read this post. You can view the full agenda for the 2 days over at the A4UExpo website here.

Here are just a few of the sessions I will be looking out for from an affiliate’s point of view:

Essential Paid Search Tools: From Excel to Automation. This should contain lots of useful PPC tips from Jon Myers at Yahoo!

The Science of Influence and Engagement. For anyone who listens to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast like me, you may be interested in what podcast presenter Kelvin Newman has to say about the psychology of product marketing and services.

How to SEO like a Super Affiliate. I have been referred to as a super affiliate in the past, but I have a poor grasp of SEO techniques so I will be very interested in this one.

Copywriting for Conversion. Content is so important to publishers, not just for SEO but for paid search too.

Am I Really Taking Advantage of Seasonality in Affiliate Marketing? Seasonality is so important, particularly to a finance affiliate. A greater understanding of seasonal trends will be really useful.

Performance Marketing Health Clinics. This is a 2 hour session looking at real life, live analysis of your business.

Post Panda: Affiliates Guide to Surviving Google. I have a love hate relationship with Google. This seminar promises to cover stratagies I can use to to improve my Google organic search traffic.

Mobile and M-Commerce: The Complete Picture. There is no doubt that mobile is the future of not just affiliate marketing, but the internet as a whole, and I will be hoping to learn a lot from this talk by Kevin Edwards of Affiliate Window.

Are Incentivised Customers Really Valuable? The experience of the panel draws me to this one, including Carla Arrindell and James Little.

There Must be 50 Ways to Leave Your Merchant. Dom Hodge is hosting this session, and it should be entertaining and funny.

Stepping Up The Game For Lead Generation. This includes 20 tips to a successful lead generation campaign in 10 minutes.

Demystifying Mobile. This session is being led by Stephany van Willigenburg from Google UK and it is one of several sessions to deal with mobile.

As you can see there are loads of really useful seminars to take in, and this only touching the surface of what is on offer at this year’s A4U Expo. Don’t forget all the networking which is invaluable to any affiliate. Coming face to face with people you do business with but rarely see is extremely helpful, and makes attending something like this all the more worthwhile.

See you there in October!

Are you getting value for money and the level of FSA compliance support that you deserve?

If you are already Directly Regulated, then Ecompli can provide you with ongoing compliance support ranging from:

	Completing Tailored Compliance Support Visits
	File Monitoring
	Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) implementation and review
	Assisting and managing GABRIEL / RMAR submissions
	Providing access to a compliance helpdesk (telephone and email)
	Receiving concise regulatory update newsletters
	Access to a dedicated team of compliance specialists
	Financial Promotions / Advertising Compliance review and support
	Access to a constantly updated compliance resource website
	And Much More…

FSA Applications

If you are currently an Appointed Representative and wish to be Directly Regulated then we can help you every step of the way…

We provide a comprehensive FSA application support service that guides you through the whole process. We have assisted a large number of firms with their applications which has led them to receive prompt authorisation from the FSA.

As soon as you receive your authorisation you will need to consider your ongoing compliance support options. We can help you to choose the level of support that is suitable to your individual requirements ensuring that it remains affordable both now and in the future.

Ecompli – Treating our Customers Fairly!

A few weeks ago I had an automated email from MSN Adcenter, explaining that several profitable keywords on one of my campaigns had been made inactive. This was frustrating, as a very vague reason was given for the ban.

Similar things have happened to my account in the past, but this was when MSN Adcenter first launched and they were having teething problems with their automated systems.

So I gave them a call – it turned out the keywords had been banned because they were ‘finance-related’ and deemed high risk. I explained to the support rep that what I was doing was perfectly above-board, and he went away to talk to the Editorial Team.

A couple of hours later I received the following email:

Dear Mike,

This is Jon from Microsoft adCenter Support. I have just tried to contact you via telephone to discuss your account and the disapproved keywords that you believed to be incorrectly disapproved.

It would appear that our automated system had caught these keywords due to the high-risk nature of them (regarding their financial implications) incorrectly. I have therefore been in touch with our Editorial Specialists to consult them over the matter.

After review, they have now deemed these keywords to be acceptable and in line with our guidelines. I would like to apologise for any inconvenience and delay this may have caused you. Your keywords are all now active and serving on the Bing search engine for your website.

You mentioned that you would like to discuss your account over the phone Mike, but as I could not contact you I have sent this email instead. If you still wish to have a conversation regarding this or any matter, then please either get in touch via the phone number below or respond to this email with a suitable time and date and I will be happy to call you back, quoting the reference number xxxxxxxxxx.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Warm regards,

Jon

Support Representative,

Microsoft adCenter UK Support Team

Hours of operation: Monday – Saturday / 08:00 – 1800

The beauty of Microsoft Adcenter is that they actually listen to your arguments and take action. You can REASON with them, and they listen. Their phone number is easy to find from within your account. The key is to call them if there is a problem. I am pretty sure that an email would not have been enough.

Please leave a comment below!

The Bank of England today decided to maintain the base rate at 0.5%.

It amazes me just how much money some finance merchants are wasting on bad PPC. By bad PPC I mean bidding on terms which simply have no chance of converting, and which can even negatively affect the brand.

For instance, type ‘loan shark’ into Google and you get scores of paid results. One of which is Tesco Finance.

Type in ‘loan deal for (insert favourite footballer’s name here)’ and you get loads of paid results including Ocean Finance.

Type in ‘The Loan Ranger’ (a common mis-spelling) – well done YesLoansUK, you have no competition for that term. It won’t convert for you though.

Type in ‘debt of Liverpool FC’ – loads of debt management services paying to appear here, but the user was not looking for you!

Type in ‘third world debt’ -  UK Debt Advice Line – why are you prepared to lose money like this?!

I could list hundreds more examples of shoddy PPC techniques which cost finance merchants hundreds of thousands of pounds. This is not limited to bad choice of keywords but also ad position, titles, descriptions and URLs. Don’t get me started on the landing pages, some of which have simply no chance of converting. I get the impression that many finance merchants outsource their PPC to agencies who must be paid regardless of conversions, encouraging this kind of scattergun approach to PPC.  

It is this kind of wastefulness which allows finance affiliates like me to make a profit in this competitive industry, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much!!

If you have an opinion on this, please leave a comment below.

OMG are pleased to announce a fantastic and exclusive new opportunity for OMG affiliates on the Vanquis campaign.

From the 1st November 2010 to the 31st January 2011, you can earn a very impressive £32 for ever validated sale achieved, not only this but you will also be in with a chance of winning a £1500 holiday voucher or a state-of-the art iPad from Apple!To win one of these prizes, affiliates must reach a combined sales target throughout the three month offer period as well as demonstrate evidence of growth – based on the average number of sales already delivered by them for August, September and October 2010.

How to WinFor a chance to win the award winning iPad, you need to generate a minimum of 100 validated sales during the offer period. The affiliate who then delivers the highest percentage of growth based on the average number of sales delivered three months prior the offer start date will win!

OMG affiliates who deliver more than 225 validated sales during the offer period, will be in with a chance to escape the cold British weather and jet set off into the sun with a £1500 holiday voucher. To be in with a chance to win this fantastic prize, you need achieve the highest percentage of growth out of all affiliates eligible for this offer – based on the average number of sales delivered between 1st August and 31st October 2010.

Winners will be announced shortly after the closing date. Terms and conditions apply.

Sign up link coming soon…

 

LSL has acquired Pink Home Loans from Skipton Building Society for £1.59 million. Following the acquisition of Pink Home Loans, LSL says it aims to create a ‘formidable new force’ in the intermediary sphere.

I had a renewal reminder today for my soon to expire Data Protection registration. The letter came bundled with an ominous ‘Notification Fee Changes – what you need to know’ booklet from the ICO.

It turns out that for 90% of businesses the fee will remain the same – £35 a year for Data Protection Registration. You pay more if your company has:

Over 250 employees, is a ‘public authority’ as defined in the DPA 1998, and has a turnover of £25.9 million or more in their last financial year.

So in summary, your fees are unlikely to change.

Do you want to promote the sponsors of your favourite Premier League club? Here are the affiliate programs available to you:

 

Arsenal

Kit Sponsor: Fly Emirates

Sector: Travel

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign up link: http://www.affiliate.emirates.com

 

Aston Villa

Kit Sponsor: FxPro

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://partners.fxpro.com/

 

Birmingham City

Kit Sponsor: F&C Investments

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? No

 

Blackburn Rovers

Kit Sponsor: Crown Paints

Sector: Painting & Decorating

Affiliate Program? No

 

Blackpool

Kit Sponsor: Wonga.com

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.wonga.com/money/affiliates/

 

Bolton Wanderers

Kit Sponsor: 188Bet.com

Sector: Gambling

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.en.188bet.com/Help/Affiliates

 

Chelsea

Kit Sponsor: Samsung

Sector: Electronics

Affiliate Program? No

 

Everton

Kit Sponsor: Chang

Sector: Alcohol

Affiliate Program? No

 

Fulham

 

Kit Sponsor: FxPro

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://partners.fxpro.com/

 

Liverpool

Kit Sponsor: Standard Chartered

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? No

 

Manchester City

Kit Sponsor: Etihad

Sector: Travel

Affiliate Program? No

 

Manchester United

Kit Sponsor: AON

Sector: Finance/Insurance

Affiliate Program? No

 

Newcastle United

Kit Sponsor: Northern Rock

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.northernrock.co.uk/intermediaries/

 

Stoke City

Kit Sponsor: Britannia

Sector: Finance

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.platform.co.uk/intermediaries.aspx

 

Sunderland

Kit Sponsor: Tombola

Sector: Gambling

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.tombola.co.uk/bingo-affiliate-program/bingo-affiliate-home.asp

 

Tottenham Hotspur

Kit Sponsor: Autonomy

Sector: Software

Affiliate Program? No

 

West Bromwich Albion

Kit Sponsor: HomeServe

Sector: Home Emergency Cover

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.homeserve.com/affiliates

 

West Ham United

Kit Sponsor: SBOBET

Sector: Gambling

Affiliate Program? No

 

Wigan Athletic

Kit Sponsor: 188Bet.com

Sector: Gambling

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.en.188bet.com/Help/Affiliates

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Kit Sponsor: SportingBet

Sector: Gambling

Affiliate Program? Yes

Sign-up link: http://www.sbaffiliates.com/

 

 

This A4U Expo seminar was presented by Dush Ramachandran from Clickbank. The dreaded ‘Google Slap’ is a hot topic in affiliate marketing, so this session had a large attendance. Clickbank have been working closely with Google to learn more about their quality score standards and how affiliates can avoid trouble with Google.

According to Dush, Google is an ‘extraordinarily idealistic company’. Anyone who has worked with them for any length of time would have to agree with this statement. Idealism is their chief motivation, ahead of profit or any other motive.

Google’s core beliefs:

• To deliver high quality relevant ads to users.
• Ads are information too – they help Google in their mission to organise all the world’s information.
• Rather than show low quality ads, Google prefers to show no ads at all.
• Google is constantly striving to improve ad quality.

Google’s underlying philosophy is the ‘wisdom of crowds’. Google submits search terms to a large human audience who rate ads as if they were the user. The average rating is calculated, and the ad is given its appropriate quality score. Not every site is looked at in this way though. Google will rate a site in a particular area which they believe to be one of the leading sites in that sector, then they deconstruct it piece by piece using a bot. Other sites in the same space are compared to this site in order to determine their own quality scores.

Why does Quality Score (QS) matter?

Eligibility – The QS determines whether an ad is eligible to appear for a particular search query.

Position – The position of an ad on the search page is largely determined by the QS.

Extensions – Sites with a very high QS can have site links in their listing on Google.

Price – the price of PPC goes down as the QS goes up.

Top Slot – Only the highest quality ads and sites get the top ad slots in Google, regardless of the price you bid.

DKI – Dynamic Keyword Insertion only works with good quality landing pages.

Factors which determine QS:

• Click through rate –  this is by far the most important determinant of quality score. Again, using the wisdom of crowds mentality, if the public like the ad and the site is good, we’ll rank it highly.
• Relevancy – the ad must be relevant to the product you are pushing. Forcing non-relevant ads on unrelated keywords is bound to lead to low QS.
• Landing page – your landing page is analysed by Google and becomes an important factor in determining QS.

Google cite Amazon and Ebay as examples of good landing page quality. Dush emphasised the fact that AESTHETICS MEANS NOTHING to Google. The prettiness of your site is not a factor. All they care about is whether the site does what it says on the tin, presents it’s information clearly to the user and provides a good user experience. Is your landing page clear about what the user is supposed to do on it?

What is likely to be slapped by Google?

• Multiple URLs with similar content.
• Data collection sites – free gifts, subscription services etc. (Google will often manually test these offers to see what happens)
• Arbitrage sites which solely show ads. For instance, sites which take advantage of users mis-spelling words and brands. If you show an ad for a misspelling of ‘Sainsburys’ which leads to a site full of ads for other shopping sites, you are likely to get slapped.
• Malware sites. While sites dropping a cookie on the user’s PC is deemed OK, any site which promotes or encourages user download of malware or spyware is likely to get slapped.

High risk of a low QS:

• Sites peddling ebooks with frequent ads
• Get rich quick sites
• Comparison shopping sites
• Travel aggregators
• Affiliates who don’t comply with Google’s affiliate guidelines

How to improve your Quality Score?

• Organise your account for maximum effectiveness
• You can email or call Google to ask them about your account standing. If it is good, don’t change it. If it’s bad, ask them what they recommend to improve it.
• Choose relevant keywords
• Create straightforward, targeted ads.
• Point users to landing pages with relevant original content with quick loading times. Flash can increase load times, so maybe best if avoided where possible.

 

Quality Score Myths:

1. Let there be ads everywhere – Google does not care if no ads show for a particular query. Unless there is a relevant ad, they will not show one.

2. If I am the only advertiser on the page, ads will be cheap – You will not get clicks for 1p simply by being the only advertiser on a particular query. Relevance and QS is what matters here, not competition.

3. Keyword match types matter - They do not. Changing your keyword match types will not alter your QS.

Any questions about avoiding the Google Slap? Post a comment below!