Ever since Panda rolled out, everyone has been talking about how it has affected their ability to monetize pages.  Article Submission Sites or Content Farms have been hit the hardest, with some of them seeing as much as a 85% drop in traffic. The reason is simple: Duplicate Content is penalized significantly when it comes to Google now, rewarding those who make unique interesting content.  This was simply done because Google wants sites with actual content to show up first, instead of marketers trying to manipulate their search rankings.  However, some people have found they have been squashed by the big Panda even though they are making new content. What is a marketer to do? Here are some tips that you might not know.

[pullquote]You Need to Avoid:
Writing Similar Articles about the Same Subject.
Having Too many Adsense Ads on the Page.
Heavy Template Content.[/pullquote]

Avoid Writing Similar Articles about the Same Subject.

Google is really interested in not only unique content, but unique titles. There is a lot of proof that the title of the articles can really affect how google treats indexing. At one time people would make tons of articles about the same subject, hoping they were all indexed and thus creating more opportunity. Now, instead, many webmasters are finding that killing most of the content and concentrating a few articles about the subject with different viewpoints is working better.

Yes, the site above is trying to use the same keywords over and over again, and it’s just hurting them. Allowing people to create basically the same article numerous times, with same keywords PLUS the site description is a really bad idea. If the site is actually about that topic, there is fewer penalties, but the keywords in the title when it’s not general keywords in the site, is a redflag. Something stinks!

Too many Adsense Ads on the Page.

Despite many people telling us that Google wants you to plaster you page with tons of ads, there is enough proof that having loads of Google Adsense ads placed all over the page actually hurts results. Remember, Google doesn’t want you taking away from their revenue by driving visitors to your page, from their search engine, only to then turn around and spam visitors with ads. The team that looks for spammy type content search engines is completely separate from the adsense team. Look at Wisegeek below, which was hit hard during the update, and this week during another update hurt even worse.

Nothing says crap in my opinion like a bunch of adsense ads all over the content.

Way too Heavy Template Content.

Simply put, there are a lot of sites out there that try to use heavy template content in order to create tons of links and get the same information about the site always in front of the users. While google realizes that most sites do this for various reasons, including navigation, they have a filter in place that basically will start to ignore and site that has too much of the same content from the template. What does that mean? That even if the main article is different, if the surrounding content is too similar, google treats it as the same page within the same site. Most people theorize that the 95% similarly is about where the cut off begins, but some say it is as high  as 90%.

This can be particular dangerous for any site that just shows videos, but has a lot of similar text surrounding the video. Google doesn’t always show a video as unique content, just one URL around hundreds of similar text examples.

Similarly, avoid please having too many columns with “recent articles” and “rest comments” One column is enough, but if you start to load in the same links over and over, it will push your duplicate rate through roof.

One way to easy prevent this is to put most of the duplicate stuff at the bottom of the pages, and allow for real users to interact via comments. Google loves commenters!

You can use this great tool to weed out pages in your own site that have a high similarity. http://www.duplicatecontent.net/

One thing to remember, that I’m going to keep on recommending, is that long term, creating real content for real users actually makes you a great deal more money. Return visitors, those who sign up to your newsletter, those who actually are fans of your site are longer term revenue models than getting someone to click on an advertisement and making a few cents. Creating actual websites, with actual content, with actual interested readers will always last longer for any affiliate and performance marketer.

My two year old son loves my smart phone.  I would go so far as to say he is much fonder of it than I am.  It was only because of his affection for the phone and its capacity to amuse that I made a discovery that led to me writing this.

Recently I went looking for applications or “apps” as they’re called.  I can understand the need to abbreviate, application being such a long and cumbersome word.  What I can’t understand though is the prevailing disregard among “app” designers for U.S. copyright laws.  In less than a minute I spotted half a dozen apps that misused copyright protected media of all kinds including text, sounds, music, etc. and did so blatantly.

I’m guessing if you want to enforce copyrights they “have an app for that” too but you’d never know it by the free-for-all atmosphere of the marketplace I was browsing in.

For years now logos and copyright protected materials, registered names, and trademarks have been exploited on the Internet so I should probably be immune to the practice of plagiarism and misuse.  But for some reason I thought that the app marketplace was fairly regulated by the cellular carriers or at least monitored.  But as I looked over the available soundboards full of ripped off clips from movies and TV I realized that the app market was something of a mall of misappropriated property for sale (or in many cases free of charge) to anyone with access to it.

So who is in charge there?  Where are the Mall Cops?

Apparently Apple, AT&T, Verizon, and their other competitors are all busy with trying to buy or obliterate each other and can’t be bothered with enforcing copyright adherence among apps available for download by their mobile phone customers.  So how long until this hits home with those who are being advertised on these apps that violate U.S. copyrights and trademarks?  Eventually the abuses are bound to result in more than just C&D letters and once it passes that point how far will the blame be passed along?

One question that occurred to me was how much liability can be transferred from the affiliate or publisher to the advertiser when trademarks or copyrights are violated?  I wish I could shed light on this but I’m neither an attorney nor an informed follower of copyright infringement suits.  One interesting thing I found though, this article covers a suit involving alleged infringement on a search engine.  Though branded keywords don’t seem to be getting the same level of protection that other instances of brands and copyrighted materials receive this article by Chip Cooper on SiteProNews.com titled “Web Marketers – Are You Liable For Your Affiliates’ Trademark Infringement With Keyword Ads?” was interesting to me because of the defense that was used to shield the advertiser from blame.  In the end it was the opaque nature of the affiliate network that saved the advertiser it seems.  If this defense were successfully applied in instances outside of search engine marketing then it might be worth considering in this context too.

What can marketers and advertisers who are seeking to leverage the impressive audience grabbing powers that apps possess do to distance themselves from app publishers who are breaking copyright laws?

The only answer to that question that seems plausible to me is to not allow run-of-network ads for your campaigns on mobile networks.  Only with your most trusted mobile publishers and networks can you really be sure that your ad won’t wind up on an app that uses illegal methods to build an audience but even then extra monitoring of your ad placements is a great idea.  I suppose what I’m getting at is it’s important to know what’s going on in this new publishing medium so you don’t assume that it’s any less prone to abuses than the online media you may be more accustomed to using.

I’ll close with this.  A friend of mine who has a great deal of experience working in affiliate marketing described it pretty concisely.  He said something to the effect that everything you do successfully with affiliates is based on having stellar relationships.  You may not be able to count on Verizon to watch your back but if you have solid relationships with your networks and direct affiliates maybe you can count on them to.

ADOTAS – With the continued growth of smart phone uptake, a number of opportunities are opening up for advertisers within m-commerce. According to Nielsen’s latest data, 38% of all U.S. mobile phone owners now have a smart phone, with Apple’s iPhone showing the most growth in recent months. Given the expansion of this market, affiliate marketing can and should play a pivotal role within any mobile advertising strategy.

The rise in smart phone usage has coincided with a shift in how consumers view information. In many cases, the convenience and timeliness of a handheld device is preferable to sitting in front of a computer.

A new study by ExactTarget found that more than half of U.S. consumers who made at least one purchase on their smart phone have done so based on a marketing message delivered via mobile email. In addition, data shows that messages received through a mobile device can lead consumers to an in-store purchase.

Beyond the “on the go” convenience of mobile devices, they are also widely used when consuming other media. A recent study by Performics revealed that 66% of mobile internet users reported at least occasional use of mobile search while watching TV.

Advertisers can use this to their advantage to engage consumers in a multichannel advertising experience. By providing a URL at the end of a TV ad, advertisers can drive TV viewers to a dedicated landing page. In addition, advertisers could increase their bids for mobile search brand terms and generic terms related to the ad for a period immediately after it airs on television.

With the rise in smart phone usage, a number of high profile advertisers are engaging with mobile commerce. For example, eBay generated $2 billion in mobile sales in 2010, outstripping their projected total of $1.5 billion. With applications for a number of devices including the iPhone and iPad, a purchase is made every second through their mobile apps, with 94 bids every minute coming through mobile devices.

So how does the growth of mobile tie in with the affiliate channel?

Affiliates are often the first to embrace new technologies and the advancement of mobile advertising is enticing a number of affiliates to enter this market. As part of this movement, more affiliates are developing sites that are fully optimized for mobile.

Even if an affiliate does not own a dedicated mobile site, consumers are still browsing affiliate sites through mobile devices — therefore encouraging affiliates to optimize sites for mobile to enhance the user experience. Further, companies such as mShopper are offering advertisers an easy-to-use software solution to create a custom-branded mStore.

In addition, a number of affiliates are building their own mobile applications that their loyal customer base will regularly use. Rather than serving as an afterthought in the purchase funnel, many large affiliates are major brands in their own right and become the first stop for a consumer who is ready to make a purchase.

Additional technologies such as QR codes and location based services are further enabling affiliates to deliver additional value. Aside from serving as a pure acquisition channel, affiliates are able to combine location based offers to drive in-store traffic.

For example, advertisers can work with affiliates to accomplish the following:

• Design a promotion that encourages  visitors to redeem a specific offer sent directly to a mobile device
• Offer incentivized check-ins  to drive visitors to their store
• Provide in-store customers with additional incentives and discounts

Mobile Driving Social

The growth of mobile commerce has also seen a rise in the consumption of social media through mobile devices.  Research undertaken by comScore highlights that social media has grown 45.7% year on year – the greatest growth area of mobile usage.

Additional stats indicate that consumers spend more time on Twitter through a mobile device than they do on PCs. This is relevant for affiliates as they are able to send timely deals to their followers and capitalize on the increased mobile usage.

Similarly, consumers spend a considerable amount of time on Facebook through mobile devices, although this is not as high as PC usage. Again this is a useful medium to send out offers to an engaged user base.

Executives at T- Mobile are also reviewing a number of mobile trends and reported the number of cell phone users connecting to Facebook through a mobile device grew by 112% from a year ago, while Twitter experienced a 347% jump. In addition, they saw 60% of all traffic to their YouTube page delivered by mobile devices.

More and more advertisers are embracing the growth of m-commerce and putting comprehensive strategies in place. With an increasing number of affiliates designing their own mobile apps and dedicated mobile sites, they should be considered an integral part of mobile strategies.

In order to engage with affiliates through mobile, it is essential to ensure that affiliate tracking is added to mobile sites. Without this, advertisers could be missing out on a wealth of additional opportunities.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) along with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies have come down with a statement that basically asks ICANN to can the idea of new domain extension.

According to a letter written by the ANA, the idea of allowing anyone to create their own domain extention, could intrudce “confusion into the marketplace and increasing the likelihood of cybersquatting and other malicious conduct.” The letter claims that allowing people to register their own extention, such as .Pace or .Pepsi would in lead to people registering domains of well known brands and somehow use it deceive consumers.

Similarly, the head of the IAB, Randall Rothenberg claims that, “there appears to have been no economic impact research, no full and open stakeholder discussions, and little concern for the delicate balance of the Internet ecosystem, This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work.”

ICANN nicely responded with a resounding “WTF are you talking about” in a letter stating that “ Multiple public meetings and at least 45 lengthy public comment periods were conducted and thousands of comments, representing a broad range of interests, were received.” The letter also points out that there is nothing to be worried about from brands, because there is a process in place that would allow trademarks to be protected and owners of the trademarks to contest any application that would violate that trademark.

The letter also points out that part of the system would be the “ Establishment of a Trademark Clearinghouse as an information repository performing specific information collection and data validation services.”

I have to wonder if the IAB did any research of its own before issuing that letter? The benefit to advertisers and marketers would be amazing – one of the reasons that the proposal of allowing anyone to create their own domain extension would be to allow brands to better promote themselves, with domain extensions that match their brand. Pepsi will be able to have .pepsi, and perhaps if lucky, someone will buy .affiliate.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

SmarterChaos is a boutique agency and consulting firm that works with brand name Advertisers to navigate the online Affiliate Marketing and CPA Network space.  We build online lead and sale campaigns better than the Advertiser could themselves.

SmarterChaos also works with Affiliate Networks and CPA Networks to certify their channel to become more compliant and more transparent in order to attract larger Advertisers, and maintain a more stable online distribution channel.

SmarterChaos creates a more profitable, compliant, and transparent online sales channel.

CornerBlue is a top performing and service oriented mobile affiliate network that runs smartphone optimized mobile offers only (such as the iPhone and Android devices). We are located in Santa Monica, CA and always welcome new affiliates to the mobile marketing space. We custom design mobile pages and creatives for our advertisers to make sure they work over all mobile devices and even make mobile offers for tablets. CornerBlue pays its affiliates monthly and high-volume affiliates are paid weekly. We also have the most number of quality click-to-call offers, which we track with our custom built real-time tracking system.

Home warranty, one of my recent topics, generated quite a few questions from readers.  I would like to address some of them here for the benefit of others who might be curious.

If you missed the first article on home warranty leads you can click here to see an example of the type of lead generation campaign I referred to.  You can also read the original piece here.

Here are some common questions that might help you better understand home warranty as a marketing and sales opportunity.

 What is the difference between home warranty and home owner’s insurance?

While many home owners are required to have home owner’s insurance nobody is ever required to have a home warranty.  For this reason there is less awareness of the product and what protection it may provide to a home owner financially.

Typically home warranty is a term that generally refers to any extended warranty or service contract that covers major appliances and/or large systems in the home such as air conditioning.  The limits on what is covered vary from one home warranty company to another and often include dollar amount limits on how much coverage exists per covered item, per year, or per contract lifetime.

Unlike home owner’s insurance a home warranty covers normal wear and tear in most cases and in some cases may even cover manufacturer’s defects or owner’s lack of proper maintenance.

As an Internet performance marketer what do I need to consider?

I’ve been marketing home warranty almost exclusively for two years now and can say that the best way to decide whether to market home warranty or not is to consider these few points:

–  Do you already come in contact with home owners in your existing campaigns?

– Is targeting geographically something you and/or your affiliates are comfortable with doing?

– Does your typical campaign model consist of selling leads exclusively?  If not are you flexible enough to make a new campaign successful if selling the lead multiple times is not an option?

If you answered yes to at least two of these questions then it’s likely that home warranty, no matter how niche it may be, could be a good fit for your company’s marketing campaigns.  Targeting is very important in some cases though so it’s important to consider the limitations of your lead buyers before you choose to move forward.  Many home warranty companies you may work with will only be offering warranty coverage to home owners in a handful of states and some will even have numerous zip codes they exclude from their coverage.  This is typically due to lack of licensed and approved contractors to meet the need for service calls but may also be due to licensing requirements in certain states.

What is the competitive space like right now both from a lead buyer’s standpoint and from a lead producer’s point of view?

For marketers using affiliate traffic the competitive landscape currently is somewhat challenging.  If you are competing with other companies for email or search traffic from affiliates you should pay careful attention to what you can afford to spend per lead.  Conversations with affiliates and simple searches on sites such as OFFERVAULT.com should prove helpful.  You may find that what your lead buyers are willing to pay is not sufficient to support a competitive affiliate payout.  There are many other good strategies for producing leads though and depending on the volume demands of your lead buyers you may not need to strain your margins on lead sales in order to compete with larger advertisers who can afford to pay more for affiliate traffic.

From a lead buyer’s standpoint there are more sources of home warranty leads today than two years ago so it’s certainly a buyer’s market relatively speaking.  With so many lead producers using PPC search traffic you may find that duplicate rates on leads are too high to make the leads worth what you must pay for them.  For this reason it’s critical as a lead buyer that you question the production methods of your lead producers.  Search traffic is not a bad thing but if you have a small budget per customer acquisition then duplicate leads are a risk you must manage pretty conservatively.  As an alternative to paid search I personally rely mostly on organic search publishers but even this produces a fair number of duplicate leads.  Ultimately you are going to compete heavily with other home warranty companies and sales companies if you go anywhere near search traffic so be prepared to make your call center or your client’s call center as efficient as possible regarding the speed of follow up calls.

Is home warranty a one-call sale?

A one-call sale for home warranty can be tricky because so many consumers have existed without any home warranty coverage for so long.

If your price is low enough and your brand well-known then there’s a good chance based on my indirect experience with call centers.  Be prepared for a need for follow up though and also be prepared to pass the gate keeper.  By this I am referring to a tendency I saw in call center recordings where the initial call is just a fact-finding mission and the decision is made afterward.

As a marketer why would you help to educate other marketers on this topic?  Aren’t you just creating more competition for your company?

My reason is simple.  Though it’s true that competition might come out of this information I’m sharing I believe that there is a need for more high quality marketing for home warranty.  The more home owners become aware of the service that is available to them the more the industry will grow and that in itself creates more business for me.  If my company loses traction against other marketers who enter the competitive space it won’t necessarily be because I wrote some tips and made them available for free.  It will more likely be because I did not do a good enough job of taking care of my clients.

I’m happy to help anybody who wants to produce high quality home warranty leads.  If you have questions I have not answered please let me know by visiting www.paradoxm.com.

OJQ is an Affiliate Network, built on the basic premise of providing our clients with quality in every way we can. We understand that as Affiliates and Advertisers you have a wide variety of choices in the online marketing world, and we believe that we can make the choice of network easy for you.

At OJQ we’re passionate about making money, and feel that you don’t need a bunch of buzz words and marketing fluff to see that we’re serious. To put it simply, we care about three things: Matching quality offers with quality Affiliates, who have quality traffic. With the combined expertise of our team, large variety of offers, easy to use tracking platform, and reliable payments; choosing to work with us is the best choice you can make.

Leading the new phase in media buying, Clickbooth has been providing proprietary industry technology for more than six years. Never adhering to the industry “mold” most CPA and CPC networks form, Clickbooth takes an innovative approach to affiliate marketing and consistently surpasses industry standards – taking their CPA and CPC affiliate network to the next level. Clickbooth provides partners with a progressive full-service management platform dedicated to optimizing revenue generation for both its Advertisers and Publishers, delivered in one convenient package.

Adperio is an online marketing and advertising firm. With 16 years of experience in online marketing, we provide clients with unrivaled expertise in email, social media and performance based advertising. We have an unmatched commitment to Best Practices and provide full transparency and visibility to our select group of Fortune 500 advertisers and brands.

With a track record of consistent growth and over a decade in the industry, we’ve seen a lot of change over the years. Our own company has grown from handling only the smallest of clients to handling campaigns for multinational corporations. But unlike other companies that have seen tremendous growth, we still enjoy servicing our advertisers and publishers of all sizes. While we’ve earned our stripes serving large corporate advertisers, we still haven’t forgotten the value of investing in relationships with smaller advertisers and publishers. That’s why we have the broad view that only a full service agency can provide.

UniqueLeads values partnerships with our select publishing base more than any other company in the business today!

Ad Angler is one of the largest online affiliate networks and internet marketing advertising agencies. Ad Angler assists our advertisers by providing cost effective, highly targeted lead generation for a fraction of traditional marketing costs. Our affiliates specialize in effective online advertising methods such as search engine marketing, email marketing, social media marketing and mobile and SMS marketing. Ad Angler provides both advertisers and affiliates with the tools to increase their revenue potential and monetize their online traffic. Our staff utilizes marketing statistics and analytics that provide our advertisers and publishers maximum optimization for every advertising dollar spent. Ad Angler operates on a performance based business model to guarantee our advertisers and affiliates that our staff will alway be pushing to surpass your advertising goals.