Wednesday, 26 January 2011

5 Google Affiliate Secrets To Help You Earn Thousands Of Dollars Monthly

There is no doubt that Google affiliates rank as some of the most successful affiliates anywhere on the web.
Yet few understand the reason behind this success. Even the majority of Google affiliates who are yet to start making huge five figure checks do not quite understand why the Google Adsense program has flourished so much within such a short time.
Anybody who understands the real secrets behind the phenomenal rise of Google affiliates will be in a much better position to benefit and profit from it, whether or not they are current Adsense affiliates.
1. Google Affiliates Are Riding On The Most Dramatic Shift In The Advertising Industry In History
A few webmasters think that this Adsense and pay per click affiliate mania is a passing fad. All indications are that this is not the case. If anything mounting evidence points to one of the most dramatic and rapid shifts in advertising industry history. You can't beat the deal to advertisers where they pay only for actual traffic to their website and more so when they can easily calculate their conversion rate on that traffic and predict their profit margin on the deal. This arrangement cannot be duplicated on TV or in any other offline media with so much precision and accuracy.
This means that advertising revenue will continue to shift away from other media and will move online at an even more rapid rate than is the case currently. And not just any online mediums like banner ads for example. The revenue will specifically shift to pay per click text ads. If you need some proof just look at the Google numbers in recent months, and most of it is being generated by PPC ad revenue.
What does that mean to a blogger or webmaster? It means huge and increasing profits as the number of advertisers grows and the competition between them for clicks grows fiercer.
It means that any expert in any tiny little niche will find it increasingly easier to make a good regular income from a low traffic targeted site with higher paying, more valuable Adsense keywords.
2. Google Affiliates Recognize That Content Is Not King, It's Everything
Writers, or rather good writers are already enjoying a huge advantage as Google affiliates. Only well written content will attract quality traffic and only interesting engrossing content will keep that traffic coming back again and again. Only high-quality keyword rich content will keep a site high in search engine rankings and thus guarantee enough traffic to keep Google affiliate adsense earnings high.
3. Top Google Affiliates Are All Using The Blog Secret
Blogs were created for linking and everybody knows that links are closely related to traffic in two ways, firstly they generate traffic but more importantly, they help a site achieve high search engine rankings with usually opens the floodgates of traffic. Top Google affiliates are using this secret to keep those big fat Google affiliate Adsense checks arriving by special courier every month.
Most top Google affiliates have dozens of blogs loaded with the right keywords and engaging content. With just a little SEO (search engine optimization) skills, these new breed of high flying online professionals are able to get their sites to the top of search engine rankings. It is then minimal maintenance as they sit back and watch the traffic volumes flow to their blogs already loaded with Adsense ads. The result of all this is that the clicks happening at their sites shoots up and with it their Google affiliate Adsense earnings.
4. Google Affiliates Are Using The Secret of The Hook
In advertising it is called the hook. Journalists call it the angle or slant of the story. Both mean the same thing. It is all about picking up a subject and asking yourself, what aspect of it most interests your audience? If you answer that question accurately then your ad or your article will attract maximum interest.
Online this is becoming more critical by the day. Content that is not slanted to fit the interests and needs of you audience will not attract enough interest and this impacts on the traffic of your blog or site and ultimately on your Google affiliate adsense earnings.
Christopher Kyalo is a successful online writer and entrepreneur. Read the rest of this article at his Google affiliate writer’s blog. He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com

Meet Your Google Affiliate Network Team at Affiliate Summit West

The Google Affiliate Network team will join our fellow affiliate marketers at Affiliate Summit West January 9-11 at  the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. 

We are looking forward to this annual industry gathering and the opportunity to start the new year by spending some time with our valued advertisers and publishers.  Stop by the Google booth to meet your team and get ready for the playoffs with a Google Affiliate Network rocket football.

Affiliate Summit West
Google Affiliate Network 
Booth #235 

See you soon!

Posted by: Kristin Hall, Manager, Network Development

Google Celebrates 10 years in Chicago

These days, you probably know the city of Chicago as the home of great comedyamazing parkssoaring skyscraperschampionship hockey and—no matter what our colleagues at Google NYC say—the greatest pizza in the world. But you might not know that Chicago is also home to one of Google’s oldest U.S. offices: this week Google Chicago celebrated its 10th anniversary. To mark the event, we celebrated with a party, a giant anniversary cake (18 lbs of butter, 100+ eggs and 60 lbs fondant) and most importantly, 10 community grants to 10 organizations in Chicago.



Over the past 10 years, Google Chicago has grown in terms of both size and responsibilities—we started with just two members of our nascent sales team, but today we have more than 400 employees in our office across engineering, sales and operations. Chicago too has certainly come a long way from Carl Sandburg’s days and we’re proud to be playing a small part in making the city a center for technological innovation.

Along the way, we’ve been fortunate to work with folks from around the region to make things better for users. Our Apps team has helped bring our email and app solutions to students at both Notre Dame University and Northwestern University, we’ve built a project 
with the Chicago Transit Authority and last year, we announced, alongside Mayor Daley, Google’s $3.2 billion economic impact on Illinois.

We’re also particularly proud of our contributions to Google. Our Chicago-based engineering team launched the 
Data Liberation Front, which allows users to export their data from our products, from the ground up. With those efforts, the team has begun to change the way consumers think about web services and data portability. In 2007, we acquired Chicago-based FeedBurner, and today the product has been fully integrated into Google’s ad platform. And Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick included what is now the Chicago-based Google Affiliate Network, whose deals have helped consumers across the globe.

Google Chicago couldn’t have come this far without a talented group of employees. We’ve been very fortunate to find top-notch talent in the Midwest to build out our sales and engineering teams, and we don’t expect that to stop anytime soon. Come 
join and help usbuild the next 10 years in Chicago!

Oh, and one last thought: please ... when you visit us in Chicago, NEVER put ketchup on your hot dog. (In Chicago, 
we know a thing or two about our hot dogs!)


Tracking Links Available: Affiliate Exclusive Holiday Offers

Last week we announced a roster of affiliate exclusive holiday offers from over 20 Google

Affiliate Network advertisers. These affiliate exclusive offers will be

live and valid only on
December 13th and available to any publisher who has a relationship with the participating advertisers.

Tracking links and banners are now available for the offers via the Google Affiliate Network platform. Navigate to the Home tab and scroll down to the Announcements section.

These links will also be made available on December 13th via the Links section in the Google Affiliate Network platform. To locate these links, search by “December 13 Offer” in the Find Links search box.

The offers will not be live or valid until December 13th and all offers
will expire at midnight. Affiliates may not post offers until December13th.

If you are not currently a publisher in Google Affiliate Network but would like access to these exclusive offers, sign up today with your AdSense Publisher ID. Further questions? Check out our Help Center for answers to frequently asked questions OR feel free to contact us with any questions.

Posted by Mari Condon, Google Affiliate Network Publisher Team

Affiliate Exclusive Holiday Offers from Select Google Affiliate Network Advertisers

Google Affiliate Network is pleased to announce affiliate exclusive holiday offers from select Google Affiliate Network advertisers. The special offers will be available for Monday, December 13th, one of the busiest e-commerce days of the year. Offers will be live and valid only on December 13th.

Any Google Affiliate Network publisher who has a relationship with the participating advertisers will have access to these exclusive offers. If you are not currently a publisher in Google Affiliate Network but would like access to these exclusive offers, sign up today with your AdSense Publisher ID.

Participating Advertisers:
Below please find the advertisers, offers and application links to the advertiser’s Google Affiliate Network program.


New customers receive 25% off all personal products

Apply Now
LG Electronics 50" 1080p 600Hz Plasma. Now $766 Free Shipping*

Apply Now
*Additional exclusive offers available, search for “December 13 Offer” links on Dec. 13.
$5 off $50 or more
Apply Now
30% off your entire order
Apply Now
Free Shipping on all orders
Apply Now
$10 Off orders of $50 or more
Apply Now
16% off one item on December 13th
Apply Now
30% off Xenon Double Puck Light Kit
Apply Now
One Day Only SAVE 25% on Gourmet Gifts and Baskets (min $29)
Apply Now
$20 off $100+
Apply Now
Zenith 50" Plasma HDTV $565.99, save $134
Apply Now
10% of $100+
Apply Now
Save 20% on Personalized Gifts
Apply Now
Save 20% on Flowers and Gifts $39.99 or more
Apply Now
Free hat/cap with any regular-priced footwear purchase
Apply Now
Save 15% on Unique and Personalized Gifts at RedEnvelope
Apply Now
15% off $100 plus Free Shipping from Road Runner Sports
Apply Now
Sharp 46" LED HDTV $849.99
Apply Now
SAVE 25% on Hand-Dipped Berries and Gifts (min $29)
Apply Now
$10 Off All Orders
Apply Now
$15 off orders of $150 or more
Apply Now
Save 20% off The Thomas Kinkade Santa’s Workshop Bouquet
Apply Now
30% off your entire order
Apply Now
Free Shipping on all orders
Apply Now
Mug Mondays - 40% off mugs and magnets
Apply Now

Tracking links will be available on December 6th via the Google Affiliate Network platform in the Announcements section within the Home tab.

The offers will not be live or valid until December 13th and all offers will expire at midnight. Affiliates may not post offers until December 13th.


Further questions? Check out our Help Center for answers to frequently asked questions OR feel free to contact us with any questions.

Posted by Mari Condon, Google Affiliate Network Publisher Team

Monetize your site with Google Affiliate Network

Guest post by Google Affiliate Network (GAN)

There are lots of great ways to make money from your blog. One of those ways is to use an affiliate network. Put simply, an affiliate network is a way to promote products from some of your favorite retailers; you get paid when any of those retailers makes a sale based on a promotion you ran on your blog. Our friends at the Google Affiliate Network have a great program and have agreed to make a special offer to our users—so if you haven't heard of GAN already, have a read, and be sure to sign up!

With Google Affiliate Network, you can access affiliate ads for top retailers. If the ad or text link you post on your blog results in a sale, you earn a commission. This means that you can start working with advertisers who will pay you a performance fee for driving a sale or other conversion.
Google Affiliate Network gives you access to a diverse range of affiliate programs for advertisers including Barnes & Noble.com, Red Envelope, Sears, ProFlowers, Abe Books and Puma. Once you have access, you can apply to create advertiser programs, promote ads, search for links to specific products, sign up to access product feeds, and utilize Link Subscriptions that deliver the latest links and promotions directly to you each day.

Google Affiliate Network is featured in the Monetize tab in your Blogger account or you can apply using the link below (please note that you’ll need an AdSense ID to join).

Here’s how to get started:
  1. Sign up for a Google Affiliate Network account with your valid AdSense Publisher ID.
  2. As soon as you're approved for Google Affiliate Network, sign in and apply for advertiser programs.
  3. Follow the instructions to start displaying cost-per-action ads.
Check out our Beginner’s Guide to help you through the process of becoming a successful publisher and continue reading for the answers to our frequently asked questions.

Apply before December 13th and take advantage of affiliate exclusive holiday offers from select Google Affiliate Network advertisers. The special offers will be available for Monday, December 13th, from over 20 advertisers including Barnes & Noble.com, Sears, Red Envelope, Arden B and 6ave. For more information, please visit this blog post or apply now with your valid AdSense Publisher ID.

Older posts Change is in the air

2011 has already market  some significant change in the air. i think this year is going to be one hell of a year. and its going to mean a lot of pressure on smaller affiliates.
Affiliate marketing has always been an informal industry, looking round any conference you’ll see people who looked like they just stepped off a plane from Barbados (to be fair they probably have), not that its any reflection on an individuals choice of fashion at all, but you’ll assume that if you were going to be speaking to the marketing director of, lets say Sky, you’d make a little bit of an effort to look like you mean business.
which is really the crux of the issue. this year, its all about professionalism, merchants are alredy going through massive cost cutting exercises and they don’t really care for small affiliates who suck up their time with banner requests and ask for exclusive codes without really having the traffic to justify it. this year, the big affiliates will get all the attention, and the deals are going to be longer term and far more specific.
what this means for the average one man affiliate is you’re going to need to up your game, think about affiliate marketing as a business not a game or a hobby, start thinking about the client and stop thinking the world owes you a favour and an exclusive code. start thinking about how you can push the boundaries to improve the quality of your traffic and the volume of your traffic and merchant will stand up and pay attention. Ranting on the forums and sounding off about how a merchant hasn’t done such and such isn’t going to change things…be more influential on their campaign and you might just see merchants tailoring the campaign to your favour.
at the end of the day its simple. merchants want lots of new customers, who don’t use codes…if you can get this, the flood gates will open.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing basics, All Articles | Leave a comment

books to read

if you’re in affiliate marketing, or interested in the traffic element of digital marketing (i.e. SEO, PPC, affiliate, email) then your job is very much all about the numbers, looking for patterns, trends and anomalies on which to back up theories and spot problems, using this data you can then build and plan strategies that should in theory improve the performance of your affiliate program. as such i’m always fascinated by business books and economics, despite being one of the worst ever economics students when i was at school (it wasn’t until i actually started to work with the number that it all started to make sense).
so, book you simply have to read because they are all about data and finding patterns and outliers within the data -
1. freakonomics, totally amazing book and documentry film that really stresses what is a consequential result of data, what is coincidental and what is causal, really good for anyone interested in looking at why certain things are the way they are and will help you think in a way that helps you to make causality related analysis.
2. outliers – another book about causality and spotting remote yet directly connected data to help explain result, really easy to read and the kind of data shown will really blow you away.
3. blink – not so much a book about data, but kind of remotely related, and stresses how important it is to be an expert as well as to trust your gut instinct then look at the data to back up your suspicions.
if you haven’t read these i highly recommend them not lease because all are highly entertaining mind blowing books that will really sharpen your mind.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing basics, All Articles, Campaign Planning, Multichannel planning | Leave a comment

in scope 2011

finally back in the swing of things, with work already starting the mount up, i’ve not had some time to sit down and write. so, whats big in 2011 in the world of afiliate marketing?
1. retargeting – i reckon, the world of affiliate marketing will see more and more retargeting and its associated privacy issues
2. vouchers – every year this comes up, so i’m going to be a little more specific, i personally think there will be a shift from this, particularly by brands, every client i’ve worked with has asked how we can get the same volume of traffic without having to use the voucher sites. this being said, you cant ignore just how influential these sites are. regardless, its sure to drum up debate on the usual affiliate forums and no doubt we’ll see merchants starting to edge away where they can.
3. attribution – hopefully this will be the year that we actually see a working attribution model on an affiliate campaign, more importantly i’m hopeful that we’ll see a theroetical model of how multichannel, multinetwork/affiliate attribution could work
4. Mobile – apparently this is the year of mobile, and we’ve already seen a mobile affiliate network developed, i suspect we’re going to see changes in tracking to allow compatability between moblie and online, i’m sure we’ll start to see a new breed of app affiliates crop up, and hopefully doing a bit more than simply listing vouchers.
6. B2B – i think we’ll start to see more B2B businesses asking to working in an affiliate format, however its chicken and egg given we’ll need B2B affiliates as well, i suspect this is a growth area that will see movement this year.
7. new customer vs repeat customer – i think several businesses are now at a point where their internal CRM (customer relationship management, i.e. email marketing) has grown to the point where the believe they shouldn’t be pying affiliates for repeat customers, i think we’ll see more affiliate campaigns that focus on new customer, perhaps paying lower or no commission at all for repeat customers.
8. CRO (conversion rate optimisation) – i think this year will see the growth of CRO within businesses, its not a directly linked to affiliate marketing, but conversion rates always have an impact on affiliate campaigns, so growth in CRO will have a knock on effect with affiliate campaigns.
9. merchant to merchant partnerships -i think we’ll see more of merchants acting as affiliates of other merchants, though i mean affiliate in the looses sense, they payment or exchange won’t necissarily be money, but could be traffic.
10. 2011 the year of data – i think we’ll be looking at more data being captured and menipulated by merchants agencies and networks, i think that networks are going to need to be smarter and more creative with the technology they provide.
Overall, i think 2011 is going to be a strong year for affiliate marketing, especially with global economies still teetering precariously, i think we’ll see growth as more businesses start to realize that affiliate marketing is both cost efficent and safe as a marketing and payment model, which should help the industry become more organized and professions…all good things in my eyes.
Posted in All Articles, Best Practice, In the news, Industry News | Leave a comment

Merry xmas and the Xmas rush

First happy Xmas to everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the Xmas period and able to spend time with all your loved ones.
Xmas 2010 has been pretty good for me in affiliate land, my own affiliate sites have been doing really well, results peaked on black Friday in the US as I expected giving my traffic sources. After that dat commissions and sales started to decline, it was the same with my google adsense commissions, all in all it’s been a pretty good Xmas, I think I’ll clear around £500 in affiliate commissions.
Workwise, the data shows that sales peaked earlier in the US than in the uk, we saw peaks the week of pay day over here, but there were issues around delivery dates and consumers being particularly concerned about getting the right products in time.
From a research point of view I’m very keen to look at the comparables -
Are people buying more?
Are people buying cheaper?is there a pattern between ppl buying more closer to Xmas? And how does this affect the basket value?
How does this compare with last year?
What has the usage of voucher codes been, and how does this affect product choice and basket values, how is this related to the time before Xmas?
What has the impact of cash back sites been?
Getting and understanding of the data is the fun bit for me and will help up start thinking about the consumer behaviour around the biggest shopping period of the year, with the weather this year having had a significant impact on consumers lives, will next year see new services and options for consumers help address these concerns?
Posted in Affiliate Marketing basics, All Articles, Campaign Planning | Leave a comment

Using the data

My job is more like that of an analyist rather than that of a creative, in affiliate marketing you ahev to blend creative and entreprenural thinking against commercial decisions, given this, its all about the data, and its all about letting the data justify your actions. we test everything and no decision we make is done with out first looking at the data, and setting up a clear question of what it is we’re looking to test, i believe that this is one of the key benefits of affiliate marketing, and most online marketing channels. after all, its the data that counts. the kind of things we look at include impressions, clicks, sales and sales volume, this is just the base level the next level is conversion rates, click through rates and comparables against other channels – i.e. cost per click, revenue per click, cost per thousand impressions, reveneu per thousand impressions.
by looking at this data on a campaign, affiliate type and individual affiliate level, we can optimise the campaign using various ‘levers’ these levers include consumer incentives, discount codes, site optimisation to improve conversion rates, creative optimisation to improve click through rates, affiliate selection and commission adjustments.
in this way we can take campaigns from simply ‘running’ to fully optimised, though optimisation never ends.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing basics, All Articles, Best Practice, Campaign Planning | Leave a comment

Different types of affiliate management

Affiliate management is one of those titles that no one really knows what it means, it’s a role that isn’t really defined in a way that a fund manager or accountant is defined, and in reality it’s a role that encompasses many different roles. I started my working life in affiliate marketing, you could argue that I’m one of the first generation of affiliate marketing professionals, in as much as professionals who have started their working careers in affiliate marketing. Given this I started right at the bottom of the ladder at a network, and in the grubbiest part of affiliate marketing, lead gen. I’m now pretty much at the top of the affiliate management ladder so i’ve managed to see how affiliate management has changed and witnessed many different approaches to affiliate management.
The old guard – the generation of affiliate managers before the ‘first gen’ (my generation) were able to capitalise on a newly emerging industry with few rules and only open to a select few, it was a small industry with only a few key affiliates, PPC brand bidding was rife and PPC agencies and teams weren’t common, this was how a lot of affiliates made a lot of money very quickly, and affiliate managers had their cut, it was ‘easy’ in as much as you knew who to work with and expectations and competition as well as knowledge was limited, so even a small improvement was significant. It was a case of who you knew more than anything else.
The arrival of the PPC agency- with many affiliates and agencies taking notice of Googles PPC proposition and merchants getting more experience of the online world and the numbers and implications, brand bidding started to become more limited this resulted in more competition, and a greater need to innovate, it became about content and big site, in particular price comparison, however as the price comparison grew, the affiliate marketing industry grew again and affiliate managers had to get yet more creative.
Discount discounts, everywhere – this falls well and truly in my generation of affiliate managers, in the generation we even have businesses and entrepreneurs who haven’t done anything else in their professional careers other than affiliate marketing. Discount codes have become even more significant with the the global recession really making consumers jitter and seek better value and bigger deals, it’s at this point that the industry really started to become more professional (we’re talking about 2008/09) the IAB affiliate marketing council was formed, affiliate managers were starting to get a stronger and deeper understanding of how affiliate marketing influenced the bigger marketing picture.
Different styles different strokes – these days affiliate management is done by freelancers, agencies, affiliates, and networks, everyone has a different idea everyone has a different approach and as with anything in the world of business, there is no right or wrong way of doing affiliate management. So with this, here are some different approached I’ve come across
The schmoozer – you see them at all the events wining and dining affiliate, he’s your best mate, so long as you run his campaign..but there is a bit of a catch, his campaigns really aren’t all that great.
The content writer- they’ll give you all the content you want, code it all up and generally give any affiliate what they want but when it comes to the client, you’ll struggle to find a report.
The back room loner- hardly seen at events, he’s the guy on your msn that you’ve done business with for years yet you’ve never seen him in person, he’s hard working and good with numbers, shame you’d sooner get water from a stone than any kind of bespoke strategy or innovation.
The trader – an all rounder that missed the turning into investment banking, good with numbers, good with peep, he’d see him mum just to get you to push his campaign, every things a deal and there’s no such thing as a free lunch
The analyst – it’s all about numbers with this one, want an exclusive code? You better prove it with numbers, need more reactive? Get the number, want a data feed? Yep, you guessed it, get the numbers.
The wanna be affiliate- they will always side with the affiliate, forget about what the client is trying to achieve, it the affiliates that count, they’ll get a client to allow brand bidding and release as many codes as possible just to keep affiliates happy
The innovator – affiliate marketing isn’t affiliate marketing to these folk, it simply a payment mechanic and it’s all about pushing the technology and mechanics to the n-th degree just to try something new.
The green ear – these are the marketers who ‘fell’ into affiliate marketing, they don’t get it and probably never will, then think cookies are for eating and de-duping is a kind of soap, good luck trying to explain to them a simple mechanic, they’ve made their mind up and will probably not change it even as the world crumbles around them
Posted in Affiliate Marketing basics, All Articles, Best Practice, Multichannel planning | Leave a comment

Googe Affiliate Network: Improved Datafeeds Delivery

By Vlad Zablotskyy October 15, 2008
In the past, if you needed datafeeds form Google Affiliate Network (former Performics) you had to e-mail such a request to the support. And in some cases, you would have to wait indefinite amount of time before your request was processed. My first request was processed about 6 months to the date I requested it and only after I commented on a prominent affiliate’s blog about the issue.
I believe there are few things that each affiliate should have easy and free access too. Some affiliate networks have done it (PepperJam Network, LinkConnector, Share A Sale and now Google Affiliate Network), some still have ways to go (CJ and LinkShare).
On October 11, Google Affiliate network has upgraded the user interface by adding and option to subscribe to datafeeds straight from the interface:
Google Affiliate Network: Datafeed Delivery
You can specify which advertiser’s datafeeds you would like to receive:
Google Affiliate Network: Datafeed Delivery
Configure the “delivery method”:
Google Affiliate Network: Datafeed Delivery
Currently you only can configure one FTP account where all your datafeeds will be delivered to. So I highly recommend to choose file names carefully. At the time of configuring the delivery method, I have chosen to name my files after the advertiser’s ID. It is probably want cause you any problems if you have one or two merchants datafeesds. But it will save you a lot of time if you subscribe to large number of datafeeds.
I have got hoocked on datafeeds about two years ago. They give you an opportunity to develop websites with thousands of products. I yet to code my own website. Until now I have been using products like Affilistore and WordPress Datafeed Import

Google Affiliate Network To Change Data Feeds Distribution

By Vlad Zablotskyy October 2, 2008
I doubt that any one from Google Affiliate Network ever read my recent rant. However todays e-mail from Larry Adams, the network’s product manager, caught me off guard. Just as I made a decision to concentrate on other affiliate networks that provide easy access to product data feeds, Larry shares that Google Affiliate Network, is introducing few changes:

On October 11, we plan to release a new feature in our user interface that will enable you to sign up for and configure data feeds.
If you have missed his e-mail make sure to dig it up as you may need to act and update some of the settings in your account.
I personally welcome this change, as it will definitely make things much easier for many publishers.
Starting on October 11, you will be able to subscribe to merchants data feeds via FTP. While you will have to point all your data feeds to one location. It looks that this option will be available to every publisher and will be configurable from within your accoun.

Can Some One Offer A “Wake Up Kick” To Good Folks At Google Affiliate Network

By Vlad Zablotskyy September 29, 2008
Yes I know. In English it is a “wake up call”. But I am becoming convinced that some folks at Google Affiliate Network need a kick in the rear end to actually wake up.
Several days ago the network undergone through some sort of the system update- at least the splash page said so when any one attempted to login. I generally pay little attention to any of those, as they often take place on Commission Junction as well as other networks. I would have probably ignored that update completely if it was not because of the stats on one of my website.
Day after the upgrade the click through on my affiliate links along with the earnings took a sharp and unusual dive. It turns out that that affiliate links for the two merchants featured on the website are not working. This includes both datafeeds and links from the interface.
What is particularly frustrating is that all the deep links I have created in Google Affiliate Network’s interface went south.
I have called the Performics support line today, but in the spirit of mighty Google after choosing the appropriate extension I was referred to web page where you can submit a support request via e-mail. Unlike PepperJam Network, LinkConnector and few other networks, Google Affiliate Network does not seem to care about their affiliates.
The irony about it is that I followed one of the merchants in question from Commission Junction.
I don’t even want to start on the support Google Affiliate Network. I can’t even say it sucks, because there is no support.
It took me 4+ weeks to be approved for the datafeed to one of the merchants and I am still waiting (2+ weeks) to be approved for few others.
I am having very hard time understanding why is it such a problem to make sure the affiliate links are working properly? Why should I spend money and time on promoting offers when the network can’t even assure me of such a simple and basic thing?

Perfomics Re-Branding Is Underway: Google Affiliate Network

By Vlad Zablotskyy July 2, 2008
To be completely honest, I have gotten some what confused today after receiving an e-mail from Google Affiliate Network. A network I did not remember to have ever joined. But of course I have forgotten that Google bought DoubleClick more than a year ago.
It does feel a little strange, especially for those of us who have been banned from AdSense.
I login to my Performics account almost daily, and have not noticed any change there as far as re-branding goes. It will be interesting to see if Google will start messing “innovating” with Performics platform. I can hardly see this as a launch of a new affiliate network

Google's Blogger Adds Amazon Affiliate Monetization Option

Google-owned Blogger has added a new revenue generation option: direct integration with Amazon Associates to search Amazon's product catalog and add links to products where Bloggers can earn commissions when their readers buy products they recommend.

"Making it easy for our Associates to advertise relevant content on their websites is the foundation of the Amazon Associates program. Our goal is to help our Associates earn the trust of their followers by giving them the tools to search through the millions of products on Amazon and select those that are most relevant to their audience," says Dave Cotter, General Manager of the Amazon Associates Program. "If you’re a Blogger and you’re writing about the new Michael Crichton book, 'Pirate Latitudes,' you simply highlight the text you want linked to Amazon, click on 'Go' in the Amazon Product Finder, and click 'Insert link.' Setting up Associates links to Amazon and earning referral fees is now that easy."
Amazon Associates Integration with Blogger
"This is something that Bloggers of all shapes and sizes will benefit from as they look for ways to add compelling content to their blogs and make money," said Rick Klau, Product Manager for Blogger. "Our goal is to do more than simply give our bloggers the easiest tools in the market for creating blogs, it’s to make Blogger the easiest platform for bloggers to make money on. This integration is a testament to that commitment."

The timing of this partnership is somewhat interesting, as the FTC's guidelines about disclosure recently went into effect. Klau does make it a point to encourage openness, however.

"A quick note about trust: affiliate programs work well when readers trust you," he says. "You should avoid promoting products simply because of the referral fee you might earn — readers may lose some of that trust if they sense your posts exist solely to make you money. You may also want to disclose to your readers that you will earn a commission on their purchase — some readers even prefer knowing that you benefit from their business."

Amazon Associates integration is not the only way Blogger offers its users to make money. Blogger has a "Monetize" tab in the Blogger app. Users can use AdSense of course, and they recently added AdSense for Feeds as an option.