The end of AGLOCO - I hate to say I told you so

As much as I hate to say it, "I told you so!!"

Oh, in case you haven't already heard, I received this very interesting email from AGLOCO today:

We would like to update you on the status of AGLOCO's operations. We continue to believe in the AGLOCO concept, but our revenue is currently not sufficient to give Members a meaningful distribution. And though there are increases in membership, the resulting revenue is not enough to support operating costs. As a development team we are unable to continue to use our savings to fund the operations. If any Member would like to pursue continuing the operations of AGLOCO, you may contact us at agloco1@live.com.

We would like to thank every Member for supporting our effort to bring a piece of the Internet directly to the user. We hope that we can find a way to keep the operations going.

AGLOCO Development Team

I said all along that I didn't think AGLOCO was ever going to happen, despite the desperate promotional efforts of various Internet gurus, such as John Chow, etc. It appears I was right!

Joel Comm and AdSense Account Closures

Contrary to good blogging practice, this is my first post on this blog for a few weeks. Unfortunately I've been busy setting up a new business and moving to a quaint old thatched cottage in the English countryside. Many topical news stories have come and gone during my hiatus but there is one that I just cannot resist commenting on.

One of the big news stories of recent weeks was the closure of several AdSense accounts that were based on MFA (made for AdSense) sites and AdWords arbitrage. However, for me the biggest aspect of that story was the hypocrisy of AdSense guru Joel Comm when he blogged about this topic. To quote Mr. Comm:

What did those publishers do wrong?

They had either built their site specifically for AdSense or they'd been practicing AdSense arbitrage (buying traffic cheaply from one place then selling it on to AdWords advertisers through their AdSense units.)

What both those practices have in common is that they put the ads ahead of the content.

That's just wrong. Google is making a good move for advertisers in drawing the line.

I'm certainly fed up clicking search results and finding myself on a page full of ad links instead of the content I want. And advertisers are fed up paying for clicks from people who aren't really interested in their services.

Do you see the blatant hypocrisy? No? Well, let me enlighten you. First, take a look at these 2 web sites run by Joel Comm, InstantAdSenseTemplates.com and SuperAdSenseTemplates.com. What are these sites selling? MFA web site templates! That is, Joel himself sells templates to create the very type of sites that he is disparaging in his own blog post. If that isn't hypocritical I don't know what is.

To make matters worse, I left a comment about this very issue on his blog but, of course, it didn't pass his moderation. That's the second time I've left a critical comment on his blog that he has refused to publish. Guess he's more concerned about protecting his online empire than actually being prepared to face honest, valid criticism.

I've had issues with Joel for quite some time (see this post and this one), now I've concluded that he's just a shallow money grabber and a hypocrite to boot.

Tags: adsense, opinion, joel comm

My First Text-Link-Ads Sign Up!

Well, it's finally happened, one of my referrals to Text Link Ads has actually signed up and earned me some commission!

As you may have read previously, I've had my doubts about this particular affiliate program and, despite my first sign up, I'm still not exactly over the moon with it.

As of today, I have sent 453 referrals and only one of them has converted. That's a conversion rate of 0.22%. I don't think I'll be retiring just yet!

Tags: text link ads

New Look for the AdSense Home Page

I just went to log into my AdSense account and noticed a new design for the home page. I'd noticed the design a few days ago but it then reverted to the old look. Below is a screenshot.



Interestingly enough, after logging out and going back to the home page, I got the old style page again. I wonder if this page will completely replace the old one soon!

Update: This new design has now permanently replaced the old AdSense home page

Tags: adsense

MoneyTies' New Logo

If you've visited this blog on the web (rather than just reading the feed), you may have noticed our new logo, which was revealed today.



The basic logo was initially designed by LowCostLogo.com (Rogue Media). However, the designer was unable to complete the work following a serious car accident.

The design was then amended and completed by Michelle of Design2Go.net, a graphic design studio based in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales, England.

Michelle did a great job at a great price. If you're looking for a superb, value-for-money logo, contact Design2Go for a quote (and don't forget to mention MoneyTies!).

Issues with Michael Cheney's AdSense Videos Affiliate Program

I am an affiliate for Michael Cheney's AdSense Videos. This is a pretty decent affiliate program and I like Michael Cheney. However a slight problem with this particular affiliate program came to light over the weekend.

Whenever someone purchases the AdSense Videos via my web site(s), I am emailed a confirmation to let me know a sale has taken place. Between Friday 20th and Sunday 22nd April, I received X of these emails. I also checked my stats via Michael's own web site, which also indicated X sales. However, when I checked my stats on Clickbank, through whom the sales were made, I was only credited with exactly half X sales.

I contacted both Clickbank and Michael Cheney's support desk and received some interesting replies.

First, Clickbank assured me their stats were correct (despite opinion across the web that Clickbank is understating sales). Surprisingly enough, Michael's reply read as follows:

Thanks for letting me know. I can assure you that ClickBank is 100% accurate - the discrepancy lies at fault with the tracking software we use unfortunately.

For the definitive sales figures always refer to ClickBank.

Thanks,

Michael Cheney

So, at least Michael Cheney is speaking up for Clickbank. However, if you're also promoting his products don't be surprised if you end up getting inconsistent sales stats.

Tags: michael cheney, clickbank

Policy Change Hurting U.K. eBayers

A change in the way eBay lists items entered on ebay.co.uk has wrought havoc to many U.K sellers.

Until recently, items listed on ebay.co.uk were automatically returned in product searches on ebay.com (the U.S. site). However, with little notice being given, U.K. products are now only returned on ebay.com if searchers use the advanced search option to include U.K. products.

This has caused a dramatic reduction in sales for many British ebayers who have also had to deal with ludicrous fee increases earlier this year. Some sellers have reported reductions of as much as 90% in sales since the change was introduced in Feburary this year.

eBay has formally apologized to British sellers for the lack of notice. Well, "Thanks eBay . . . for nothing."

Source: BBC.co.uk "eBay 'sorry' over policy change"

Tags: ebay

Blog Review: NetBizAsia

I happened across the NetBizAsia blog when the title of a recent post caught my eye in my Google Reader. The post was entitled "Why Most People Fail In Affiliate Marketing With Adwords." I enjoyed reading the posts on this blog so I thought I'd review it. Besides, a little "link love" never did anyone any harm!

This blog, which is authored by Cheryl Goh out of Malaysia is subtitled both "All About AdWords and Affiliate Marketing" and "How I Quit My Day Job & Made Money On The Internet From Scratch…"

I'm sure many readers of this blog are interested in quitting their day jobs too, so this seemed like a perfect blog to review, given that its author has done just that.

Cheryl is predominantly using AdWords to promote affiliate marketing campaigns and has been pretty successful at it. She may not be one of those Internet gurus you regularly read about, she is just a regular person who has made a success of what many of us dream about.

The thing I like most about this blog is that she details many of the steps she's taken to get to where she's at. This involves reviews of many products that I'm sure many of you have seen but wouldn't risk buying because of the uncertainty of their claims.

I also particularly enjoyed the "Why Most People Fail" post because it clearly details the steps that Cheryl is taking to ensure her campaigns are successful. What's more, she plans to go into even more detail in her follow-up post.

If you're an affiliate marketer or are considering becoming one, I thoroughly recommend that you keep an eye on the NetBizAsia blog, especially if you are based in Asia yourself.

Tags: affiliate marketing, adwords

Pre-Populating AdSense Search Box Queries

I've often seen people asking in AdSense discussion boards whether they are allowed to pre-populate the search box when using AdSense for search. In case you don't know what that means, it simply means putting some predefined text in the text box that you would normally type in before clicking the "Search" button.

Well, in a post entitled "If it ain't broke..." on the official AdSense blog, this question was definitively answered earlier today:

our program policies strictly prohibit altering the layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of Google ads or AdSense for search boxes . . . includ[ing] . . . [p]re-populating the AdSense for search box with specific queries.

So, there we have it. Don't pre-populate your AdSense for search text boxes or you could find yourself banned from AdSense.

Tags: adsense

Bidvertiser Introduces a New Pricing Structure for Referrals

Bidvertiser recently announced a new pricing structure for its referral program, as follows:

Advertiser Referrals

When one of your referrals registers as an advertiser, you will earn $5 when the advertiser first spends $10. When the advertiser spends $50 you will receive an additional $20.

Publisher Referrals

When your referrals sign up as a publisher, you will earn $10 when the publisher first earns $10. When the publisher earns $50 you will receive an additional $40.

Comment

Thus, advertiser referrals can earn a maximum of $30 whereas publisher referrals can earn a maximum of $50. In addition, this new pricing structure applies to existing referrals for which you haven't already been paid as well as future referrals. This new pricing structure also means that affiliates will start earning money more quickly, which has been an issue with Bidvertiser's affiliate program until now.

Tags: bidvertiser

March's Most Popular Posts

I've just been away on vacation for 2 weeks and didn't have time to outline last month's most popular posts until now:

1. How to Tell If You Are Getting CPM AdSense Ads - Gave step-by-step detailed instructions to determine if you are getting CPM ads on your site, or just CPC ads.
   


2. Joel Comm's Monthly Templates Violate AdSense Program Policies? - Discusses the reasons why AdSense guru Joel Comm's monthly templates breach AdSense's rules.


3. Kontera Doesn't Support New Blogger - This post outlined problems getting Kontera to work under the new blogger. [Kontera is now working on this blog, as you may have noticed!]


4. Why It's Not Worth Putting Competing PPC Ads Alongside AdSense Ads - Discusses why I don't think it is generally a good idea to put ads from other PPC programs on the same page as AdSense ads.
   


5. Alternatives to AdSense: Kontera. - My review on in-text AdSense competitor, Kontera.

Agloco: Will It Or Won't It?

As I've wrote on March 22nd, according to the Agloco blog, "the Viewbar release is currently scheduled for between Monday April 2 and Monday, April 16."

Well, it's now April 13th, only one working day away from the magical April 16th. So, will the Viewbar be released on or before Magic Monday? Somehow, I suspect it won't, but I'm sure there'll be a really good excuse . . . I mean, er, "reason."

In fact, surprise! surprise! The latest Agloco blog post tells us that

while the Viewbar is still on track for release this month, making the April 2nd to 16th window is getting more difficult [even though] the Shanghai team has been working seven days a week for quite a while now.

It's also interesting to note that the issue that is still outstanding is that of integrating the Viewbar with the ad servers. Isn't that pretty basic to the whole functionality of the Viewbar?

Tags: agloco

Text Link Ads Affiliate Program - Even More Unhappy

As I've written about here and here, I'm pretty convinced that something major is wrong with Text Link Ads' affiliate program.

As of today, I have now sent 410 referrals to Text Link Ads and not one of them has converted. You would definitely think that at least one out of 410 would have "place[d] an order with us or . . . [become] a publisher and install[ed] the ad script on their site."

So, even if referral number 411 does finally convert (which I doubt, somehow), that would be a conversion rate of 0.2433%. Pretty crap, doncha think?!?!?

Tags: text link ads

Blend Your Ads for Higher Click Thru Rates

A recent study by MarketingExperiments.com, "How Matching Ad Design to Context Improved Conversion by 127%" (available as an online Web Clinic in Windows Media and Real Player formats) has established what AdSense users have generally believed to be true, that blended ads generally perform better than ads that stand out from the site's content.

"Blended ads" are ads that use the same font, color scheme, etc. to the site's main native content. The study showed that blended ads "performed significantly better" than non-blended ads in both CTR and conversion rates.

The authors also suggested that the main reason for the increased performance is the effect of "ad blindness" when non-blended ads are used. As well as matching fonts and colors, the authors also suggested that, for maximum performance, any logos etc. used in the ads should be "small enough not to shout 'advertisement' so loudly as to be blocked by the subconscious 'ad filters' of content site visitors."

This study isn't exactly breaking new ground since blending ads has been recommended by Google and authors such as Joel Comm for a long time now. However, it's good to see some empirical data to support this. It's also important not just for AdSense (etc.) publishers but for advertisers who place their ads on handpicked sites - including advertisers using image ads. Thus, if you are advertising on site www.somesite.com, make sure that your ad is designed in such a way that it blends into the site's native content for maximum performance.

Tags: adsense

Why It's Not Worth Putting Competing PPC Ads Alongside AdSense Ads

I frequently read questions on various AdSense discussion forums regarding whether or not you are allowed to put ads from other PPC programs, such as AdBrite, Bidvertiser, Clicksor, etc. on the same page as AdSense ads.

In this post I'll discuss why I don't think this is generally a good idea anyway. However, first, what exactly are the rules governing this situation?

AdSense Rules Regarding Competing Ads

The rules governing competitive ads and services were amended earlier in 2007 and now read as follows:

In order to prevent user confusion, we do not permit Google ads or search boxes to be published on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colors as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure these ads cannot be confused with Google ads.

In various places, Google has also stated that if the competing ads naturally have a similar look to Google ads, they must use a distinct color scheme to clearly differentiate them from the Google ads.

Thus, you can now use pretty much any competing ad program alongside AdSense provided they are visually different, even if the competing ads are contextual, which was formerly prohibited. Of course, you also need to make sure that the competing ad program permits AdSense to be used alongside their own ads!

Why It May Not Be a Good Idea

There are 4 main reasons why I think it is generally not a good idea to display competitive ads alongside AdSense. However, I want to begin with a proviso. I do not consider in-text ads as being competitive ads. By this, I mean such ad programs as Kontera, Intellitxt, etc.

So, here are my reasons:

1. Poorer Quality Ads
Many of these competing programs simply have poor quality ads, as compared to AdSense. They don't necessarily follow the same editorial policies that Google requires of its ads and often just look tacky. However, this definitely does vary from program to program. Also, the format of some AdSense competitors' ads is not good. For instance, Element Ads often truncates the title of the ad when it is wider than the ad width. Thus, you may see ads for "Bicycle Shelters and R" or "Lake Tahoe Mountain Cabi," for example, where the end of the ad title is missing.

2. Lower Paying Ads
In my experience, AdSense competitors tend to have lower paying ads both in terms of the average cost per click and the click-thru rate. For example, on one site of mine, I earned more than 10 times the amount with AdSense in about 6 weeks than I earned from Bidvertiser and AdBrite during a period of several months. (Note: AdSense was not run alongside Bidvertiser and AdBrite).

3. Competing with AdSense
This kinda goes without saying . . . but if you have other ads on your page that are competing with your AdSense ads, you are going to get less clicks on your AdSense ads. If the AdSense ads tend to pay more per click, why compete against them?

Another issue to consider here is that of payment threshold. Suppose your competing program has a $100 minimum payout requirement, like AdSense has. By running the two programs side-by-side you are going to take considerably longer to reach the payment threshold, even if both programs perform equally well. Now, if you're a high-traffic, high-earning site, that's not an issue, but I know there are plenty of AdSense publishers out there struggling to reach $50 in earnings, let alone the $100 minimum! Can you really afford to wait perhaps twice as long to get paid?

4. AdSense is More Than Adquate On Its Own
In my opinion, you really don't need competing CPC ads because you can already place more than enough AdSense units on a page anyway. Under the current rules, you can place 3 ad units (which may each contain up to 4 ads), 1 link unit, 2 search boxes, and 2 referral units per product. That's potentially an awful lot of ads to appear on a single page!

Of course, if you're unhappy with the performance of your AdSense ads, feel free to try other programs, or test their performance against your AdSense ads. However, in my opinion, AdSense is by far the best contextual PPC program available.

Tags: adsense

Agloco Viewbar Release Delayed - Why Am I Not Surprised

According to the Agloco blog, "the Viewbar release is currently scheduled for between Monday April 2 and Monday, April 16."

So much for the March release that was promised! As I expressed in a previous post on the subject, I had my doubts that a March release would occur and I've been proven right.

Given the promises and the fuss that people have made over Agloco, when (if) it does eventually launch the Viewbar, it had better be one highly successful program or there is going to be a lot of "egg-on-face."

I continue to wait with breath that is even more bated than before!

Related Posts
Agloco's 100 Day Report
Agloco Viewbar Scheduled for a March Release
Agloco: What No-One Seems to be Mentioning About It

Tags: agloco

Google PPA Ads: The Pros and Cons

As you've probably already read elsewhere, Google recently announced a limited beta test of its new Pay-Per-Action ads. This new pricing model will initially only be available to U.S. advertisers and the ads are only going to be shown on AdWords' Content Network, that is, as AdSense ads.

Under the PPA pricing model, publishers will only generate income when a customer completes an action that the advertiser has predefined, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, etc. Each action is assigned a value by the advertiser and part of the price the advertiser pays goes to the AdSense publisher.

As part of this new pricing model, Google is also introducting a new type of advertisement: text link ads. This is in addition to standard text or image ads.

So, what are the pros and cons of this new form of AdSense advertising for you, the AdSense publisher?

Pros

More Control
Google's PPA advertising model has four characteristics that provide greater control and choice for the publisher:

1. Publishers can choose whether or not they want to have PPA ads on their web sites.
2. Publishers can choose "between an individual ad, a shopping cart of ads, or a specific term or phrase that is relevant to their site’s content."
3. The introduction of the new "text link ad" format gives publishers more flexibility in the type of ads being served.
   
4. Finally, before the ads start to be served to their sites, publishers will be able to "view the specifics of the ad, including company name, logo and products or services being sold."

I think point 2 is of particular importance. It is a frequent complaint of (newbie) AdSense publishers that they have no, or little, control over the ads being displayed on their sites. With the PPA model, publishers will be able to choose specific ads to display, or ads pertinent to keywords of their choice. This is potentially a big plus for the PPA pricing model.

Potential for Greater Earnings
This "pro" is certainly more uncertain and tenuous than the issue of greater control. However, because the advertiser can place a fairly accurate value on the action, they should be willing to pay considerably more per action than they would pay per click because, in reality, only a certain percentage of clicks ever leads to a conversion for the advertiser.

The issue of clicks and conversions also raises another important point to remember. Under the CPC pricing model, if clicks on the Content Network are less likely to lead to a conversion, the publisher's income per click is reduced as a result of Google's Smart Pricing methodology. Thus, PPA ads are a way of avoiding Smart Pricing.

Cons

Uncertainty and Risk
By far the biggest issue on the negative side with PPA ads are the issues of uncertainty and risk, particularly with regards to income. Because this pricing model is new, it will take time for prices to reach their optimum levels, such that they are attractive to advertisers but still providing a decent income to publishers.

Also, and by far the most obvious issue, is the fact that publishers will only earn when an action is completed. This will therefore put pressure on the publishers to ensure that such ads are displayed on pages that are likely to be read by customers actively looking to complete such actions. Thus, PPA ads are more likely to succeed on, for example, product review pages, than on purely informational or educational pages. Thus, it is going to be risky for publishers to place these ads on their sites without any way of assessing the likelihood that clicks will lead to conversions. This is particularly true of pages that are already generating a relatively decent income on a CPC basis.

Minimizing the Risk
So, given the riskiness and uncertainty of PPA ads for the publisher, how can this risk be minimized?

1. Have you Been Smart Priced?
If you have been an AdSense publisher for a while, analyze your income per click over time and see if it has gone down. If so, that means you have probably been "smart priced." That is, clicks on ads on your site(s) are generally not converting well. In this case, PPA advertising is probably not a good choice for you unless smart pricing has so siginficantly reduced your income per click that the value of a single conversion would exceed your CPC income within the time needed to get a conversion in spite of smart pricing.

2. Analyze Your Site's Content
Take the time to analyze your site's content with regard to the action the advertiser is trying to achieve. Are visitors to your site likely to be seeking to do what the advertiser is hoping for? Is your site's content very specific to the content of the ad and its associated action?

If you can answer "Yes" to these questions, PPA ads may be a good choice for you.

3. Test
Test PPA ads on a small section of your site as a trial. Make use of AdSense Channels to analyze the performance of the ads and compare their performance against (1) non-PPA ads on other parts of the site during the same time period, and (2) the peformance of non-PPA ads on the same section of the site prior to the switchover to PPA ads.

4. Are You Unhappy with your CPC/CPM Income?
If so, then PPA ads may simply be worth the risk!

Tags: adsense, ppa

Update: If you are interested in reading the pros and cons of AdWords PPA advertising from the advertiser's perspective, read my blog post on the subject.

February's Most Popular Posts

Well, better late than never, the most popular MoneyTies posts in February were:

1. Alternatives to AdSense: Kontera. - My review on in-text AdSense competitor, Kontera.


2. Joel Comm's Monthly Templates Violate AdSense Program Policies? - Discusses the reasons why AdSense guru Joel Comm's monthly templates breach AdSense's rules.


3. AdSense Optimization: Tricks That Harm AdSense Publishers - This post looked at how much AdSense optimization is really tricking users into clicking on ads and how this can result in a lower CPC as a result of Smart Pricing.


4. AdSense: A Bifurcated System - This post discussed how Google is willing to bend its rules for premium publishers. Note, since this post was first published, AdSense has changed some of its rules to give more flexibility to all publishers, rather than just to premium publishers.


5. How Google Targets AdSense Ads - Discusses the factors that Google takes into account in determining which ads to display on your web site.

Affiliate Links on this Blog

Several prominent bloggers, such as John Chow, have been discussing the issue of whether affiliate links in blog posts should be marked with (aff) or some other designation.

As you may be aware, with a view to open disclosure, I have generally indicated afiliate links with "(aff)" following the link. However, after reading posts on this topic, I have come to the conclusion that this practice is probably not helpful and could, in fact, confuse readers who are unaware of the meaning of "(aff)". Thus, I have decided not to indicate affiliate links in future but rather to simply state here that any links found on this blog or on the moneyties.net web site may be affiliate links.

Bidvertiser Has a New Look

Bidvertiser launched their completely redesigned Bidvertiser.com web site today.



This new site, which has been "redesigned from the ground up," certainly looks a lot slicker and more professional than the previous site. However, when I've tried to access it today it's often been extremely slow and unresponsive—in fact, it produced a pretty serious-looking error message the last time I tried to visit the home page and also when trying to log in. Not a great start for a newly launched web site! However, given my prior review of Bidvertiser, I am, sadly, not surprised.

In addition to the new look web site, Bidvertiser has also just launched a blog, "where we'll keep you informed with the new features to come." Let's hope the Blog gets off to a better start!

Tags: bidvertiser