Some Affiliate offers (especially on Azoogle) say not to bid on trademark terms of the offer you're promoting. Do you know how closely they monitor this and what happens if you do bid on trademark terms? Anyone have any experience with this matter? (Obviously the Affiliate networks don't really care, they're just passing the restriction down from the offer.)
What happens when you bid on trademark terms?
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Yep the companies just dont want you bidding on their trademarks because you'll take their clicks.
They are kicking themselves in the foot IMO. They'd probably get alot more sales coming in if they allowed affiliates to go all out.
If the rule says dont do it, then dont do it. Its not worth the risk.
I try and avoid programs that dont allow trademark ppc bidding.
They are kicking themselves in the foot IMO. They'd probably get alot more sales coming in if they allowed affiliates to go all out.
If the rule says dont do it, then dont do it. Its not worth the risk.
I try and avoid programs that dont allow trademark ppc bidding.
Most affiliate networks have a compliance dept. and one of their jobs is to check trademark terms for their advertisers. I've been busted a few times and almost kicked off a network for disregarding this policy.
ok... think about it this way. let's say that the company "hal and edna's deviled egg delivery" is advertising on azoogle and offering $20/lead. their trademarked term has no advertisers bidding on it, except for them , and one or two poorly targetted ads like "looking for eggs on ebay".
then you come along, and start bidding on that term. you are getting a ton of clicks that otherwise would have clicked on hal and edna's ad, plus they are paying you per sign up or lead. it doesn't make sense from the company's point of view - why would they want to pay someone for referring someone who they could have found anyway?
that is just the way I have always thought about it.
then you come along, and start bidding on that term. you are getting a ton of clicks that otherwise would have clicked on hal and edna's ad, plus they are paying you per sign up or lead. it doesn't make sense from the company's point of view - why would they want to pay someone for referring someone who they could have found anyway?
that is just the way I have always thought about it.
did they pay you the leads generated in this manner? and what network was it, if you don't mind me asking. i am curious because i have heard a wide range of reports as to how an affiliate company reacted when a publisher wascaight bidding on an advertiser's terms.
I don't want to mention the networks, but let's just say the 2 I'm referring too are both top 5 cpa networks. I got a slap on the wrist and stern warning, but think they went easy on me because of my high volume. If I were a brand new account with little volume, I'm sure they would have canned my ass. They could have easily withheld my payouts related to that one offer which were in the mid $x,xxx range.
Just don't do it. I had an adgroup sitting in google that never recieved any traffic because of QS that had trademarked terms in it...well one day the QS was great and recieved tons of traffic on it. Made some good money but I was banned from the offer. Thankfully they didn't charge back the leads I generated and I've since cleaned up my agroups.
In a nutshell, merchants don't want to pay affiliates for organic traffic they would have otherwise recieved anyway. Seems pretty logical to me. I still know of a few merchants out there that don't care what their aff's on bidding on, but more and more I'm seeing the "no bidding allowed on trademarked names and products" rule. The most stringent merchant I've encountered on enforcing this is Entertainment Book.
I find that merchants are less picky about yahoo and msn keyword bidding than google, anyone else?
I find that merchants are less picky about yahoo and msn keyword bidding than google, anyone else?
actually...it's kind of a catch 22.
If you offer a product or service and you don't allow affiliates to bid on your trademarked name that leaves those spots wide open for someone else that is offering the same type of service but have a different trademarked name.
Say if your trademark is "Blueballs" and you don't allow affiliates that are trying to help promote your product bid on that term or misspellings of the like. If they do, they can be banned and commission withheld. Fair enough. But how doe "Blueballs" stop "Bigballs" affiliates from bidding on them? They can't. Hence all those free spots go to your competition.
What would you rather do pay $5 for a lead to an affiliate and receive a new customer or hand your competition a customer and receive $0?
Meh...
I wouldn't say "Never bid on trademarked terms", but always ask your affiliate manager. Unless it's clearly stated on the campaign page that trademark bidding is off limits, I always assume that it's probably okay, and then double check with my AM. Almost every time I've been told to go ahead and if the company contacts them I may have to stop. That's fine with me. But this way, I've covered my ass with the affiliate company, and they know what I'm doing ahead of time.
Not a bad point - if you have serious competitors. I manage an affiliate program for DNA 11 and currently there is no direct compeition in the USA. That is probably rare though.
I guess that's why some merchants have rules where they allow bidding on core keywords, but then state "don't outrank or outbid on them" so that they can remain #1 or #2 and have the aff's compete to fill out the rest of the spots.
I guess that's why some merchants have rules where they allow bidding on core keywords, but then state "don't outrank or outbid on them" so that they can remain #1 or #2 and have the aff's compete to fill out the rest of the spots.
Working as an affiliate marketing manager for a company, I usually try and turn a blind eye to aff's bidding on branded terms. I don't want to take them down, because A) they do bring in money and B) helps the bottom line.
Our search team is in contact with the major SE's almost every week, so I try to alert a few affiliates before they get a call to let them know what’s coming. Something I tell affiliates to do is block their ads in the state where my company is located and block the state where are network is located.
Our search team is in contact with the major SE's almost every week, so I try to alert a few affiliates before they get a call to let them know what’s coming. Something I tell affiliates to do is block their ads in the state where my company is located and block the state where are network is located.
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