Moose on the Loose

In relation to Google’s Trademark Policy Change, I will expand my thoughts in due course, but you can view existing blogs & threads at the footnote of this blog entry. They cover quite a lot of opinion, for which I will precis in conjunction with my own viewpoints at a later date, but make sure you read these as it will give a better overview of the whole topic & the vulturism of those I deem as carnivorous annelid worms of the class Hirudinea, plus it will lead you into this next maybe slightly controversial observation / option (not necessarily opinion)

If a network, the BGG’s & the merchant have no consideration to the cookie over-writing of other affiliates, why should there be a consideration from content affiliates to their self professed omnipotent attitude & contempt in their treating of content affiliates.

Now, some might argue that two wrongs don’t make a right, but if you want to reclaim back some of what you may have unduly lost, then perhaps it’s reasonable enough for self preservation purposes to be a competitor of the merchant’s BBG.

By simply removing yourself or expiring the relationship with the merchant who has a BBG. Thus meaning the network has no jurisdiction over the relationship anymore & cannot be involved in any dialogue or reprimanding.

You can then bid on the brand / hybrids [brand+generic] / mis-spellings & promote a competitor who doesn’t have any clauses objecting to or you can arbitrage instead .. this Google policy change will be an arbitrager’s paradise. Noting : that hybrid terms [brand+generic] are less detectable in the sense they are often mistakenly identified as brand bidding when it was broadmatch on the generics anyhow. Make sure you use the Google Keyword Tool and check out synonyms, you will see that there is a lot of correlation for what is known as expanded match or I refer to as synonym. With the impending automatic matching this could prove even more beneficial.? Let’s consider it divine retribution.

Two wrongs can make a right, if any networks with BBG’s don’t have the respect for content affiliates & cookie over-writing, breaching contracts without proper disclosure, then why should content affiliates give an iota in return. Now as a competitor bidder you may not be able to have the brand in the ad copy, ad title or display URL .. so your click thru rate (CTR) maybe less & minimum bid maybe slightly more, but as long as a competitor advertiser is making a positive ROI which is what it is about (unless is a brand building exercise) then for every £1000 you earn thats £1000 less for the BBG’s and £300 less (30% override) for the network, plus in tandem there is a trimming of the fat from the fat cats from both ends, the BBG’s CTR will decrease, minimum bids rise & ROI reduces.

So am I advocating this? You’ll have to decide for yourself, and be happy with your own conscious if you partake. But this is business and its survival of the fittest, these BBG’s & the merchants / agencies are affecting your bottom line without any care for you i.e it’s like an additional stealth tax. If your tax rate went up 20% you wouldn’t think that was reasonable would you? Therefore I will have no sympathy with all those parties involved in a BBG whether it be an affiliate, the merchant / agency or network … and those affiliates going head to head with the BBG’s won’t get any complaints from me.

Now, the problem is decent merchants will be affected by this too, so the gauntlet is if you decide to target merchant brands, then only go after those merchants with BBG’s. I’ll happily shared compiled lists of merchants with other affiliates.

I do have a solution to BBG’s which can benefit all, which I blog later, which would be a win win situation for most.

Forthcoming Blogs:

1) A Solution To BBG’s group (before the idea gets nicked and a network or merchant does themselves.)

2) My Viewpoint on Google’s Trademark Policy Change?

3) How Long is a Piece of String? (The Answer)

4) Why I Am Considering Moving Away from CPA to CPC

5) Which So Called Leading Strategic Networks We Are Going To Dump & Why

Read these blogs & threads to keep up to date with Google’s Trademark Policy Change

• AdWords – Brand Bidding Group Feeding Frenzy Ahead !?

• The 10 Affects Of Google’s Trademark Policy Changes For Affiliates

• The new Google UK Adwords Policy – My view on the pros and cons

• Google Opens up Brand Name Bidding

• Google Revises Trademark Trigger Policy

• Should We Be Worried About Google’s New TM Policy?

• Which Network Do You Think Has The Most Brand Bidding Groups?

• Google trademark policy change

• Google Trademark Shake Up in UK

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 12:37 PM and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, Closed Groups. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.