Mysteriously changing bidding rules!!!
Submitted by ddeems on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 18:26.
I'm a bit panicked as I generated a good amount of commissions for an advertiser this month, and when I went in to create some new links today, I saw that their whole keyword structure had been changed.
Publishers are no longer allowed to bid the URL, must land on a landing page / site, and a whole slew of other new bidding rules, some of which affect me. There had been no bidding rules in place previous to this new addition. There was no email or other update to let any publishers know that there was a change to the terms, so I'm a bit concerned that the intention is to reverse the commissions earned for the month.
Has anyone had this happen to them?
Thanks.
Some advertisers will do this, but it is usually done when third party affiliate management companies take over and wreck your income. Some will even tell you you can't bid on words that are not their TM. Affiliate management companies want to appear to be doing the advertiser some good and so they put all these restrictions on the program.
If the program is being managed by a 3rd party, then you will have plenty of time to set up a site and you can stay in the gray area with your bidding. I made tons of money in the gray area for over a year on one program. The 3rd party affiliate management team was too lazy to police their strict policies and I had only a couple of competitors.
Don't rely on this solely for your income because it can and will go away, but milk it for all you can for now. Also look at the keyword rules--if it looks like they are going to be reversing commissions then proceed with caution. It mainly depends on the advertiser.
Thanks, Jason.
It's made me make a new years resolution that no one advertiser should make up more than 20% of my "portfolio". I've decided that I should consider advertisers to be more like a pack of marbles and less like an exclusive relationship, that way, at any time, i can lose one or two occasionally and not feel so much like I want to throw a brick at the computer! :evil:
Good thinking. I lost an advertiser who shut down their program over Christmas. Let's just say they were providing more than 20% of my income :wink:
I'll definitely have a better diversification plan in the future. It's tough not to pour everything you have into a campaign when it is converting so well and producing a large steady income. However, if I would have worked to establish more campaigns that were profitable instead of pouring so much money and effort into this one, I'd be in a better position now. I'm left with a pretty decent wad of cash (more than a year's salary at my old job), but no new campaigns ready to fund.
So what am I doing writing this? Time to get to work!!
Mike
I've had 2 different markets go from 6 figures to nothing. I put all my effort into saving those markets and lost them both times. Now I'm in a big hurry to find the next big thing, before I have to go back to being a cubicle slave.
Jason
It happens, but it's nothing to panic over.
I've had this happen to me more than once.
In 2005 I had a six figure month merchant do something similar. It wiped out about 50k/month in revenue. At the time I thought I would never be able to replace that income, but after a few months of dedicated focus I had replaced that 1 advertiser with a handful of others.
One of my top 5 advertisers from 2006, which earned about a quarter of a million dollars is no longer in my portfolio. The ROI went from 200%, to 100%, to just about nothing. I was frustrated, but it motivated me to seek out some new opportunities. I haven't replaced that revenue yet, but I'm on track.
It's easy to get emotional when one of your top performers tightens the noose, but stay level headed. I remember thinking back in 2005 that the good times were over, and actually entertained some consulting gigs. Had I done that I never would have went on to grow my business and would have been back in the cubicle maze.
Stay focused. Spend some quality time looking at other offers. It's hard to prioritize when your in charge and nobody is telling you what to do, but you need to take a step back and look at the opportunities in front of you objectively.
Understand that it will take some time to replace that revenue, but stay persistent.
I wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Jeremy
Perfect advice and just what I needed, since I'm in the exact stage of replacing that "1 advertiser with a handful of others". I've got a spreadsheet going of merchant offers that I'm working on, and the campaigns are all in various stages of launch readiness. I don't expect them all to produce income, but I'm betting some of them will.
Thanks again Jeremy - threads like this make me value the QYDJ community highly.
Mike
Thanks Jeremy for the management pep talk. I too have been slowly finding my way evaluating campaigns, testing, and seeing what's working..
This is all very good advice and I have had this happen to me too. This is also why I recommend everyone go to the CJU conference.
Back in 2007, I had one merchant that was making me about $70,000 a month in commissions. I went to CJU in 2007 and met the marketing manager for a company that asked me to be an affiliate for their company.
Within a few months, I was making very nice commissions from that company and about that same time, my $70,000 a month merchant went away over night. If it hadn't been for me meeting that other merchant at CJU, I would have been in a lot of trouble.
I was obviously in a panic, as I'm sure anyone would be when they lose that much money over night, but the fact that I had the other merchant as a cushion, and the fact that I had been able to build that campaign in such a short time, taught me that I understood the game well enough to keep playing and that I needed to diversity.
I’m looking forward to meeting many more great merchants at CJU 2008, and I’m always looking for other great niches and verticals.
James