Useless Affliate Ads - But Good Looking Webpage Design

Affliate ad doesn't get sales, but adds to page contetn and layout

[send2paul]

On the back of a recent discussion about Google Adsense & other affliate advertising, I thought I'd ask the following question:

"Would you consider leaving a not very productive affliate advertising ad on your webpage/website because in the overall webpage design - it actually looked quite good?"

The reason I ask this is this. I use Amazon affliate advertising on my webpages, along with Google Adsense - which is the main money spinner.

Although I'm getting plenty of clicks on the Amazon ads - nobody is actually buying anything yet. However, the ads do actually compliment the page layout, and add to the content of the page.

So, would you leave the ads in, even if they weren't primarily producing revenue, (the Google Adsense is),but they were being useful as being content & complimenting the design of the webpage?

[edited by: eljefe3 at 3:42 am (utc) on May 9, 2005]

[ChrisSanderson]

"So, would you leave the ads in, even if they weren't primarily producing revenue"

No I wouldn't, I'm sure there most be other firms around that have equally good ads that could work, try rotating the ads a bit and see if it makes a difference. But certainly if it isn't making revenue then i'd want to change it for something that could make revenue.

Cheers

chris

[send2paul]

Thanks for that Chris :)

As I'm relatively new to all thsi e-commerce activity, one of the interesting points that I've come across is this: like my webpages which just provide an informational service, and don't actually produce a product, I've found it difficult to link into an affliate advertising campaign that sells rerlated product to the information that I am providing. I.e. unless anyone knows of affliate advertising that can be targeted for "info only" websites, I seem to be in a situation where "any affliate we do", because one will be as good as another in terms of producing revenue in comparison with the revenue produced from the Gooogle Adsense.

So, I've kept the Amazon ads on there for the reasons mentioned in the earlier post - and not because they produce revenue - unless there is a "cleverer" way to use affliates for "info only" wesbites.

Thanks again Chris

[edited by: eljefe3 at 3:43 am (utc) on May 9, 2005]

[zivkovicp]

I suggest you look for another ad that will fit well and generate revenue... however if your current amazon ad is getting a lot of click thrus then I would guess it is the type of thing visitors are looking for.

Try something new and carefully monitor the results, if it gets less click-thru and no sales, put back the amazon ad.

[send2paul]

Thanks Ziv

This is the bit: " I suggest you look for another ad that will fit well and generate revenue..."

that I'm still looking for :)

[zivkovicp]

we all are. ;)

[send2paul]

I'll let you know if I find that pot of gold first! ;)

[hunderdown]

If it's really not producing, consider replacing it with what would essentially be an infomercial for YOUR site, and which if clicked would take them to your home page, site index, or other page of your choice.

This can be worthwhile if people are coming straight to your pages from search engines, and then leaving without exploring your site. And if, of course, you've got more site to explore!

Try to keep them on the site a while, if only to see more AdSense ads for different advertisers.....

[Beagle]

Coming from "information only" sites myself, I can't think of programs more friendly to them than Amazon, if only because they carry products relating to just about any informational area. Before dropping it, you might want to see if the products can be targeted better toward your visitors and the page content.

[edited by: Beagle at 7:01 pm (utc) on May 9, 2005]

[send2paul]

Hunterdown - that's an excellent idea!

Why just rely on links betweeen pages, when a nice little created table, (or css thingy) - and voila! - my very own infomercial.

I knew it would be good coming to these forums - there's some damned good ideas here ;)

[send2paul]

Oddly enough Beagle I had an email conversation with Amazon about this....

"I have several keyword link banners on my webpage. When I initially set them up, they all displayed the appropriate products in them. Now, when I return to view the webpage, at least three of these banners are showing general Amazon banner ads - which neither look correct for the layout of my webpage, nor represent the content of my webpage. Could you explain this to me please?"

And Amazon replied....

"Sometimes temporary problems with Associates servers can cause the type of problem you described. Also, heavy network traffic can make
it difficult or very slow for browsers to completely download images.

When this occurs, I suggest that you do a "forced" reload to ensure that you are looking at a fresh copy of the page, and not the version stored in your cache. A forced reload instructs your
browser to bypass the cache and retrieve the page from the original server. To force reload, hold down the "Shift" key and click on the "Reload" or "Refresh" button in your browser."

So I said to Amazon...

"Thank you for your prompt reply and explanation. I can reload my page to review correct advertisements, as you say:
"I suggest that you do a "forced" reload to ensure that you are looking at a fresh copy of the page, and not the version stored in your cache. A forced reload instructs your browser to bypass the cache and retrieve the page from the original server..."

However - anybody else, i.e. a potential customer viewing my page will not know to do this, so both I and Amazon lose out on potential sales.
How will visiting customers to my page know that they have to re-load the page in their browser to see appropraite adverts?"

And Amazon said to me...

"Visitors to your site may not know to refresh their page, if they see generic Amazon.com ads instead of the ones you have selected. I have passed your feedback in regard to this situation along to the appropriate department for consideration."

.... and that was April 24th - and they haven't got back to me since then :)

[Beagle]

send2paul--That's the very reason that a lot of "serious" Amazon affiliates (that is, those who really expect to make money from the program) don't use the "We host" types of Amazon ads. You'll always have that problem crop up if you use ads hosted on Amazon's servers--when their server is too busy to provide the immediate link, you get the generic ad (true not only of rotating-type links but even links to a specific item). If you use ads that you host on your own server, you won't have that problem. -- That would cut out the type of "Recommended Product" links you're talking about, but good, targeted links to specific products can certainly be done.

If you want more "nuts and bolts" info on doing this, there are lots of threads on the Amazon Associate message board about it (you won't even have to start a new thread ;-) ).

[send2paul]

That's interesting stuff Beagle.

So, are there affiliates who will give you ads that you can host on your own server?

[Beagle]

Well, I'll edit this in: I'm not sure what you mean by that question, as Amazon has ads you can host on your own server... Are you asking about other affiliate programs that might also do that?

----------

Another thought--guess I waited to long to edit it into the previous post--

I do like to use the rotating Recommended Product ads on some of my pages. Above those, I put a little note that says, "To see more options, refresh the page." And they will see more options, even if they got a proper ad the first time, if your key word is broad enough. And if they get a generic ad, it clues them in on refreshing for that, too.

[send2paul]

On another version of my laser diary page I used to have the full email explanation from Amazon by way of getting people to re-load the page to see the appropriate ad, and not the generic Amazon ad - but it looked a bit "contrived", and didn't go well with the "look" of the rest of the page.

But I shall go back to Amazon, and other places for my own hosted affliate ads, to avoid this "generic ad" scenario.

Thanks again

[send2paul]

Okay - I've finally got those pages sorted out with their own internal infomercials - and got rid of the Amazon Associate ads.

The Amazon Ads weren't doing diddly squat, and at least the infomercials are maintaining internal links within the webpages concerned.