Affiliate Alternative; Google Adsense

The Rise and Fall of Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs were once a great source of online revenue,
a savvy webmaster with an eye for marketing could easily
parley a site into a money making machine with a little luck
and effort. However, the evolution and growth of the Internet
has hampered the growth of fortune making affiliate programs.
Constant search engine algorithm changes, along with the
search engine`s clear distaste for sites participating in
affiliate programs; have made it a little more difficult to
earn a healthy affiliate revenue. An influx in the use of
software programs that terminate cookie tracking and privacy
programs that prevent webmasters from tracking referrers, have
also hindered the affiliate sales channel. While it is still
possible to make money through affiliate marketing, other
alternatives ought to be considered.

A Healthy Alternative or Supplement

Google`s Adsense program allows approved websites to
dynamically serve Google`s pay-per-click Adword results. This
has become a popular alternative and an effective revenue
sharing program for webmasters. Google`s spider parses the
adserving website and serves ads that relate to the website`s
content. While the Google`s Adsense program still has some
issues, they are making efforts to improve it.

The website maintenance related to Adsense is very easy and
requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert
javascript into the webpage or website template. The
javascript calls the ad from Google and will ensure that ads
are served each time a visitor goes to the webpage. If the
visitor clicks one of the Adsense ads served to the website,
the website owner is credited for the referral.

The implementation, while simple, has its drawbacks. Google
dictates the format of the ads. Webmasters can select from a
handful of preformatted text boxes that lack creativity. A
recent improvement allows webmasters to modify the ad boxes to
resemble the website`s color scheme. Still, a far cry from
some of the creative ads webmasters are accustom to.

The example below reflects how the color scheme can be modified
to match the look of the website, but the ads physically don`t
fit well into the overall website design.

sample modified to match sites color scheme:
http://www.hospital-software.com (http://www.hospital-software.
com) (scroll to the bottom)

Google determines the content of the ads that are shown/
Sometimes the ads are poorly targeted, and of no interest to
the website visitors.

sample of poorly targeted ads:
http://www.real-estate-supply.com (http://www.real-estate-
supply.com)

Adwords can be a great addition to a website, and when well
matched to the content the revenue stream from Google is
consistent and effortless.

sample of effective Adsense program:
http://www.police-supplies.com (http://www.police-supplies.com)
(scroll to the bottom)
http://www.small-business-software.net (http://www.small-
business-software.net) (scroll to the bottom)

Not that the Google Adsense program is not without its problems.
as the reporting provided by Google is lacking. Google has not
implemented any way to track multiple sites that serve ads;
they simply show the number of ads served, the percentage of
clicks received, and the revenue earned each day. Google does
not disclose the amount of the revenue they share, what
percentage of the revenue they earn and what someone can
expect to receive for each click. Webmasters with multiple
sites will have difficulty determining which websites are
producing the money in the Adsense program.

With affiliate programs many webmasters implement a new browser
launch with each click off the site, Adsense removes the
visitor from the website and there is not currently an option
to launch the visitor into another browser.

Early on Google implemented a filtering system that allowed
webmasters to prevent a specific domain`s ads from being
served on the website. Ad blocking meant that webmasters could
prevent their competitors ads from being dynamically served on
their website.

Overall, adwords are great supplements to websites where
affiliate programs are either not performing or when affiliate
programs don`t exist that target the sites content.

Give it a Try

Implementing and maintaing Google Adsense program on a content
site requires very little effort and can often bring a steady
stream of additional revenue for webmasters. Consider
supplementing content and see what happens.

Written by Gian Luigi Ruggeri © 2001 - All rights reserved
To find other tips, advices, as well as articles, tools and
resources to help your net marketing activity
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http://NetmarketersHelpCentre.com (http://
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