Oh what a web we weave… Google has GAN, but integrates Blogger with the Amazon Associates Program. Which when you think about it is a pretty good idea for both companies… and for Affiliate Marketers. With just a few clicks you can now put Amazon offerings on a blogger page. And Google will know who’s doing affiliate marketing on Blogger (well, via Amazon anyway) and can use that data to advance GAN. Let alone the traffic.
But this is a good thing for Affiliate Marketers using Blogger as well. And the level of automation is pretty cool. I gave it a whirl in the wee hours last night and just like the notice from Amazon said.. It was two steps:
“1.Bloggers highlight the relevant text and the Amazon Product Finder will search
Amazon’s millions of products and recommend the ones that are most closely associated
with the text”
“2.Bloggers can then insert a link or image to that product which includes their Associates
ID, enabling them to earn up to 15% in referral fees from Amazon”
We’ve been seeing more and more “automation tools” for offer selection here of late. We actually have several test sites out running the various tools right now (and yes, a future post will compare them). As of right now, the only downside is the reliance on Amazon for all the offers and Google’s restrictions on Blogger. This makes it kind’ve tough to control every single aspect like most Affiliate Marketers like to have. But, it also makes it much easier and faster to deploy sites, build niches, and see what types of offers are working.
Now, this isn’t good for OPM’s and competing Networks if this new tool works well in conversion. It totally removes offer selection from the Affiliate Marketer and has the potential to disrupt the Merchant ==> OPM ==> Network ==> Marketer relationship chain. It will make things tougher for small and mid-size merchants too.
This is something that could be good for business, or could potentially be bad for all but the largest operators. Time will tell.
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