Forum Moderators: skibum
There are instances where I could see allowing an affiliate to bid on KW, but even then I would only allow a limited number.
Those ads reflect on my brand. The last thing I want is for inexperienced, get rich quick types flooding those very visible spots with bad ads for MY product.
If a company doesn't let its own affiliates bid on keywords, affiliates of a competitor will occupy the spots anyway and the competitor will get the sales at a fixed payout.
But, you are in control anyway. You can refuse when they apply or you will not renew the contract...
<Will these advertisers refuse you when you apply?>
No, they won't.
<or they just refuse to pay the commissions at the end of the month?>
No, they did not.
I saw the conversion ratio on their products in my account is high and I want to drive more traffic to their sites but I cant because of their TOS.
<If a company doesn't let its own affiliates bid on keywords, affiliates of a competitor will occupy the spots anyway and the competitor will get the sales at a fixed payout.>
Yes, they're not alone.
One of advertisers that did not allow me (its affiliate) to buy some certain KWs so I dropped it without cancelled and signed with its competitor. A month later, I was informed that it has dropped the "KW disallowable" policy. I did not return. It's too late.
Google is not likely to approve ads that are inaccurate, disparaging or otherwise not appropriate for a site. Merchants can often learn a lot from the ads affiliates put up because they have to be ROI positive. In order to stay up, (assuming the affiliate is in business to make money & not just give the merchant free publicity) the keywords, bid prices, and creative have to be spot on.
(which advertiser£¿£©
Despite that, I think that having a few affiliates with permission to bid on KWs is fine, but I would never let them do it wholesale. No matter if I get 25 spots for a KW filled up and make a million bucks in three weeks, it looks so spammy, that it would still affect my brand (and sales) in the long run. Unfortunatly many affiliates are not in it for the long haul (I said many, not all) so they really only care about their short term gains. I, as a merchant, have to think about my long term standing.
You may think that you are hurting a merchant by dropping them, but really, if you are using systems like CJ and the others, there are 10 more affiliates waiting to take your place. If you really want a merchant to value your services, start looking outside the affiliate services like CJ for some inhouse affiliate programs.
Bingo. Either way, they are competing with the very same affiliates. May as well at least get the sales :)
<<You may think that you are hurting a merchant by dropping them...>>
We work with one particular merchant in which we send $2,500,000+ per year. This is a very significant number for them. If they lose us, they can get all the cj affiliates they like and it will not make a dent...
Your average affiliate through a network is not worth that much. We just took on a new site and they have a program through CJ. They have over 1000 affiliates and I will not care if 995 of them drop us. Sure, there may be a few that I would like to keep, but for the most part the threat "I'm gonna drop you" will get a shrug.
Not always, there are those 5 who mean something. But if you are doing only KW bidding for me, I definatly won't care. It doesn't require that much talent to do KW bidding. Anyone can do it, no matter what you think. It's not the same as building a good site that gets traffic.
And I did say I wouldn't mind letting a few do it, to fill up a few of those spots, but too many affiliates, like too many cooks, can spoil the CPC pot.
We don't really use PPC much anyway but do deal with merchants that make way too many rules. Often, I understand their position and am pretty sure they understand mine when we bolt. If you get good traffic, it's easy to sell and there's little need to haggle with picky, arrogant buyers
