Ad query from visitors

Should I tell them?

[thegreatpretender]

I often receive queries from visitors asking me about the quality of the products or services appearing on my site.

My questions are: Should I tell them that those are ads served by google and I have no idea how great those products are? Are you getting these querries as well? What do you tell them?

[alwaysthinking]

I think the BEST way to handle their inquiries is to ignore them. If they are interested enough to exoend the energy of composing an email to send to you, then there is a GOOD chance that they ARE INTERESTED in whatever the product or service is.

If you don't reply... then there is a GOOD CHANCE that they will CLICK ON THE ADSENSE AD... and if the Advertiser really has what the surfer is looking for, then the Advertiser can CONVERT the click-through into a sale!

That's the way EVERYONE involved would like the process. However, if the Advertiser isn't presenting their wares properly and potential buyers are confused, then they need to polish up heir web presentation.

If you get a lot of inquires about the SAME Advertiser's products... I'd pass the word on to Google AdSense/AdWords reps and suggest THEY contact the Advertiser and recommened improving their web presentation.

Seeing how we are not permitted to contact advertisers directly, this is the best way that I can see for trying to work as a "team" in this effort...

Unfortunately, Gogle AdSense program is a little clumsy when it comes to coordinated cooperative marketing efforts... Just think how better thinks could be if publishers & adversisers could communicate betwen each other to "fine-tune" matters such as this...

Oh well... maybe in the future...

[Hobbs]

Coming to think of it, that would be the perfect way to document a TOS violation and get an unaware publisher's account closed, good advice, Do Not Reply!

[david_uk]

I have an "Advertising and privacy policy" on my site. It's my understanding that in the EU nowadays you need to disclose if you use cookies and why, so I have a brief explanation of where and why I use them. I also have a brief explanation that adsense ads are picked by Google, and that they should be mostly relevant to the page content.

I think this a good solution personally.

[hunderdown]

I agree -- don't respond. Or if you do, refer them to a policy page. When I joined AdSense 2 years ago, I had a policy page explaining my relationships with various programs. Because Google was so protective of the program, I actually got them to clear the language I put there, which included a link to an AdSense information page at Google.

[ronburk]

Should I tell them

This is really a frequent event? People frequently asking questions equals publisher opportunity.

If you go with the other folks advice to ignore them, maybe you could sticky me the topic and some sample questions and pass the unwanted opportunity along :-).

Seeing how we are not permitted to contact advertisers directly,

Yes, that's exactly what Google says. And since you don't know who might have run an ad on your website at any given time, you're not permitted to contact anyone about anything. (I've decided it's a competitive advantage to try to help propagate the you-can't-talk-to-advertisers myth).

[alwaysthinking]

It FACT Not MYTH RONBURK:

Just as my advice above states, direct to GOOGLE any communication regarding Ads:

[google.com...]

3) Communications Solely With Google. You agree to direct to Google, and not to any advertiser, any communication regarding any Ad(s) or Link(s) displayed in connection with Your Site(s).

[david_uk]

My advertising & privacy policy simply has links to Google, fastclick and chitika with a message to contact them if you have any queries about the ads.

Simple, and looks professional.

[Celicaphile]

If the customer inquires about a specific product, couldn't you just find an affiliate program for a company that sells that product and reply w/ an affiliate link, thus generating more revenue than a click would?

[thegreatpretender]

I'll just ignore them then...change my policy and put a link to google. Thank you all.