Google announced last week that in the weeks to come they will be re-branding their Ad Manager software to DFP Small Business. According to their official blog, they’ll be bringing ‘many requested features such as new web services API, an improved interface, and new reporting capabilities.’ They will also be re-branding DART (for larger publishers) to DoubleClick For Publishers.

For those of you unfamiliar with Google Ad Manager, it’s a free platform that allows you to setup, manage, and sell advertising inventory on your website. As I explained to John yesterday, without this software, I would be unable to successfully manage the ad inventory on many of the websites I own such as WrestlingNewsWorld.com. Google Ad Manager has allowed me to make sure we sell each available impression for the highest CPM as possible. It has very advanced targeting options and is overall some of the best online software I’ve ever used. While I would pay big bucks for this software, Google is able to integrate Adsense/Adwords and distribute it for free. You actually have the option to list some of your inventory on Google Adwords.

DART (now DoubleClick For Publishers) is their paid solution. Many large websites/networks utilize this software to manage their inventory. It’s basically the same concept as Ad Manager, but had the capability to handle a lot more impressions.

I’m personally really excited for the upgrade and to see the new features. If you currently own a website that sells ads and your not using Google Ad Manager, I suggest you definitely signup today!

If you’re a media buyer, chances are you’ve either ran beside, competed, or seen a site advertising Jillian Michaels’ website where she sells several of her dietary supplements, weight loss DVDs, and other products. Today, it was revealed to the media, that Jillian is being sued because “taking two pills before eating does not miraculously cause weight loss.”

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Christie Christensen of Lake Elsinore, California, claims that the product has failed to lessen her appetite or cause her to lose weight as advertised. Christensen is seeking damages that are not expected total more than $5 million and states in her filing that she has “struggled with weight loss her entire life” and bought “Calorie Control” because of Michaels’ endorsement.

Maybe Ms. Christensen could have had better luck combining Calorie Control with some Acai & Colon Cleanser for maximum results!  Be careful making false claims!

I promised myself I wouldn’t do any work today but I just couldn’t let this one slide… According to Wired.com, the teeth whitening company is suing the following:

1. Google

2. Yahoo

3. Microsoft

and last but not least… AzoogleAds/Epic Advertising!  (There are more parties being sued, check .PDF below)

They are suing the first three because the search engine giants let people run similar ad “ripoffs” that use their name on their advertising platforms. Apparently, the real Dazzle offer was taken down roughly a couple weeks back but was revived by the owner of a corporation that owns Just Think Media, Jesse Willms, who created the Dazzle Smile Pro and Dazzle Smile Pure products.  The whole thing is a big confusing mess with all these other company names mixed into the scheme, all with similar “Dazzle Smile” phrases as their company name.  So let’s break that down… the owner of a corporation that owns Just Think Media recreates a similar product using the trademarks of the original DazzleSmile, LLC product and funds it himself.  (I always thought it was all the same people running Dazzle under different names to avoid legal fire but I guess not? If someone has insight on this feel free to comment!)

It’s hard to tell who is who but basically the original DazzleSmile is really pissed off for supposedly getting all the blame that other DazzleSmile ripoffs deserve. All the similar teeth whitening Dazzle companies are trying to use their trademark for their own personal gain and using deceptive methods in the process, so there are a lot of trademark infringement accusations.

The CEO of Dazzlesmile  blamed Epic Ads for being behind all the questionable activity that the media has been accusing his company of doing by stating the following in an interview with Wired.com in early October:

“…his company was duped by its outside marketing agency, New York-based Epic Advertising, which he claims engineered the deceptive language used in its offers without his knowledge.”

This really is a cluster fuck of names and lawsuits but I have a feeling with the combination of FTC guidelines going active December 1 and further investigations by them against a lot of these teeth whitening companies, there are going to be a lot of changes in the teeth whitening niche and maybe rebills in general.

Here are all the articles I’ve found on the topic:

Main Article on Wired.com from November 24, 2009 talking about lawsuits specifically

Second Article interviewing DazzleSmile, LLC CEO from October 20, 2009

.PDF with all the legal jargon and full list of the parties under fire by DazzleSmile, LLC

Bloosky Interactive posted the following announcement on their website this past Friday:

IRVINE, CA (November 20, 2009) – Bloosky Interactive, one of the largest privately-held multi-channel marketing and advertising companies, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tracking202 Inc., and all of its subsidiaries, in a cash transaction.

The executive team from 202 has signed a multi-year contract to fulfill their vision and continue building the 202 business with the additional resources and funding that Bloosky brings to the project. Clients and affiliates of Tracking202 will continue to benefit from the cutting edge products, exceptional service, and integrated community that play an integral part in the success of their business. Tracking202 will continue operating from their San Francisco location.

I met Wes (the CEO of Tracking 202) this past August in New York City.  He’s a great guy and has one heck of a team working for him.  With the executive team from 202 staying on board for the next several years, it looks as if there explosive growth will only continue with Bloosky’s resources.  Congratulations guys!

A pretty interesting report was made public by our very own senator of West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller. The study was done by a division that he is the chairman of, the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about the “aggressive sales tactics on the Internet” focusing on the post-transaction sales that have been plaguing consumers.  If you aren’t familiar with these type of post transactions, refer to the exhibit above from the staff report he published.

I cannot tell you how familiar I am with these types of companies that are doing these “aggressive” marketing schemes. Personally, I feel like they should just be labeled “scams” all together and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t use that term often.  (Not a lot of people do in the marketing world these days)

Why should they be labelled scams?

1.  They aren’t giving what they promise to give in the first place.  (Free $20.00, Vacations, Auto Insurance, etc.)

2. They are marketed in an extremely fishy way.  (Box check marked, font small, in between confirmation page and purchase page, etc.)

3. Horrid customer service.

4. They are put in a place where members feel like they are safe.  (They trust (business name here) and so they don’t think they are being misled)

The companies (the ones that latch on to big vendors where you buy your stuff) are identified in the documentation:

Three Internet companies—Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty—exploit consumers’ expectations about online shopping to trick them into joining their membership clubs.

Vertrue used to be really big in the incentive marketing place about 2 years ago and they were the shadiest of the shady.  They charged $1.00 upfront and usually paid from $20 – $24 per lead, so naturally they were popular with a lot of sites.  They always had short stints of campaigns coming up and being shot down from legal fire almost immediately after false promises about free money and vacations never proved to be true, among other things.

These types of campaigns should be nixed as soon as possible, that’s why I’m glad to see Sen. Rockefeller and his committee make these guys known and their shady practices.  Not because I’ve been burned before, but it just gives Internet marketing more of a bad name.  The people that support these kinds of things are the big vendors out there, not individual affiliate marketers.  I mean sure, they are just trying to make money but it’s money on top of money they are already making and it’s taking advantage of the consumer that’s supposed to trust you in a very questionable way. Vistaprint is the one who I’m most familiar with doing this since I’ve ordered business cards from them.  I will order, then be pitched their stamps, mousepads, etc., then third party offers show up.  Not to mention the slew of emails that blow up my inbox.

Anyway, I’m glad Senator Rockefeller pointed this stuff out, it’s about time these guys had mainstream media fire shed on them.  I just hope it doesn’t lead to all Internet marketing methods being shed with an even more negative light… If I had to place a bet I’d say that this type of attention will be focusing on rebills in the very near future.  Does anyone else agree?

To check out the list of other vendors that are teaming up with the aforementioned companies, check out this link to the .PDF of Exhibits.

Once again, Google has made some people very wealthy.  It was officially announced this morning that Google has signed a definitive agreement to purchase AdMob, one of the world’s largest mobile advertising platforms, for $750 million.  Founded in 2006 by Entrepreneur Omar Hamoui, AdMob is backed by Venture Capitalists such as Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Northgate Capital, and DFJ Growth Fund.  AdMob currently employees over 100 people in 6 different locations around the world.

If you are a Super Affiliate then you know about AdMob (if not, I’m sorry you’ve been missing out).  AdMob has been the place to take your mobile offers and rock them out with tons of volume.  Just last week, while meeting with several Affiliate Networks, I continued to press the issue that they need to invest a lot of time and money into bringing on more mobile offers.  With the FTC cracking down on shady re-bills, the entire Affiliate Marketing industry is heading for a change.  I was recently asked where I thought the industry was heading; well, here is my answer:

In the United States Affiliate Marketing is going to move back towards lead generation.  While there will always be products that can be marketed via direct response, with ad networks, search engines, and other traffic sources cracking down on what offers affiliates are allowed to run, it is going to be essential to promote offers that enhance a user’s experience.  As the complaints continue to grow, it is going to continue putting pressure on companies to move out of the re-bill business and refrain from using similar deceptive marketing practices.

Aside from lead generation, mobile is another industry we’re going to see blow up.  Just a few years ago, several Super Affiliates promoted ringtones on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.  Once new regulations were put into place, they moved to re-bills, dating, etc.  While the lucrative ringtone market took a tremendous hit, the amount of people with mobile devices only continues to grow.  Affiliates, who were on top of their game, immediately began running offers on mobile ad networks such as AdMob and begin making healthy profits (I’ve heard of some guys making over six figures a day just on mobile offers).   The mobile market is only going to get bigger.

With Google stepping in and purchasing one of the world’s largest mobile traffic sources, I look for regulations on the offers they accept to become much stricter.  It was a nice run for awhile, but Google’s goal is to enhance their users experience (you can’t blame them; they want to protect their brand and image).  Affiliate Networks that do not have several mobile offers, shame on you. While I’m sure you enjoy the astronomical profits affiliates put up with re-bills, it is essential for your long term business plan to bring us in some compliant mobile offers.  Yes, right now you’re not going to get the average consumer to put their credit card number into their mobile device but there still lies a huge area for lead generation, co-registration, etc.

Today is just one tiny example of how big the mobile industry is becoming.  One of the largest companies in the United States just made a $750 million investment that they expect to see a return on.  We as affiliates must continue to adapt with changes on a day-to-day basis as what worked yesterday or last month won’t always work today or next month.

One of the things I find the most intriguing about affiliate marketing is how much and how quickly things change. We write a lot on this blog about change and adapting to it to continue our success as Super Affiliates. It’s essential to evolve with the times to keep from falling behind. Diversification is also very important in affiliate marketing because of how quickly things change. One of the best examples of failing to keep up with change is the story of MySpace.

While social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter continue to grow, MySpace is falling behind and struggling to maintain its position. Media Maverick on CNET News is reporting while MySpace remains the number two social-networking site on the Internet, it only has 30 percent of the social-networking market, compared to the 66.8 percent it captured last year. What at one-time was the king of social-networking is now struggling to remain relevant and is in free fall mode.

Once a company goes into a free fall mode, they scramble to change as quickly as possible. MySpace is now trying to develop more compelling music and video services, but it looks like they could be too late. We, as affiliate marketers, should always remain aware of the story of MySpace to prevent it from happening to us. It’s important to change when you don’t have too. A proactive approach is crucial as an affiliate.

It wasn’t too long ago a lot of affiliates based their businesses around promoting ringtones. Almost every affiliate I spoke with was running at least one ringtone campaign. Now I don’t know anyone running a ringtone offer. The way to promote offers has also completely changed. I don’t look for things to slow down either. With the recent FTC guideline changes and celebrities becoming aware of affiliates using their likeliness, I look for a complete overhaul of how affiliates promote their offers six months from now.

Where will you be when things change? Will you be like MySpace and try to make the changes in free fall mode or will you be proactive like Facebook? Facebook has taken heat for almost every change they’ve made, yet they continue to grow because of them. The growth has made them more profitable and prosperous than ever.

I want my business to be like Facebook. I want to be well-diversified and open to change. I want to “reinvent the wheel” before it needs to be reinvented. I want to be a leader, not a follower. Affiliate marketing is more than meeting goals; it’s about exceeding them to levels that were never thought possible. That is what becoming a Super Affiliate is all about and I hope each and everyone of you reach that level.

For affiliates “fed up” with Google, it appears that Yahoo is making a run to once again recapture the search audience. Yahoo! vice-president and general manager of search marketing David Pann wrote a blog entry earlier this week where he said Yahoo! “absolutely” cares about search marketing.

In his blog, Pann talks about the four major areas of enhancements to their search platform: innovation, transparency and control, value and consumer relevance. Pann highlights new products such as search retargeting and Rich Ads in Search and talks about other new features that have been added in recent months. Pann re-assures that the company’s new marketing campaign “puts the consumer at the center of everything Yahoo! does”.

With a pending deal to sell its search assets to Microsoft, Yahoo! is certainly a company in transition which could be a good thing for affiliate marketers. I haven’t run ads on Yahoo! in several months but more competition is a good thing for the industry. Google became nearly impossible to work with, as many affiliates ran to Facebook for a fresh start. With Facebook becoming more and more difficult to work with as they grow bigger, I am all for Yahoo! gaining a competitive advantage.

Do you have any thoughts on advertising on Yahoo? If so, post them here and hopefully we can create a discussion regarding pay-per-click advertising.

After being given a free copy of the Affiliate Summit magazine in a goodie bag at Affiliate Summit 2009 in NYC, I became hooked on it.  Here it was, a magazine perfectly catered to my passion, Internet marketing, how could I not like it? Although it is probably more for individuals who are more familiar with Internet marketing, it’s definitely worth a look no matter how experienced you are.  I would recommend, for amateurs and experts alike, to check out Scott Richter’s article on PPC marketing.  The tips are spot on.

Issue 8 of Affiliate Summit Magazine

After logging into CX Digital this morning to check the stats on one of our newer campaigns, I noticed the banner to their newest promotion, “Roll like a Billionaire”.  Although I am a fan of CX Digital, I have to admit this promotion is not only ridiculously named but is also a ridiculous prize in my opinion.   If you haven’t checked it out already it’s a promotion valued at a whopping $10,000 but the promotion is a safari trip to Africa.  This is labeled as an “early bird” special, so I guess this is an “appetizer” to the entree because last year their promotion was valued at $100,000+ but regardless…

Now I admit, it would be pretty sweet to go to Africa but that’s just not something I personally find myself wanting to win from an affiliate network.   I’d give them a 10 out of 10 for originality but I don’t know if that’s up the alley of the stereotypical Internet marketer.  Now as Rich mentioned in a previous post, we are not nerds; we aren’t general publics idea of Internet marketers but after attending a couple conferences myself, I know that we would be more apt than the majority of Internet marketers out there to go on a safari trip to Africa.   Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be hunting game in 95 degree weather but I can’t say that I would love that more than hanging out at the blackjack table in Vegas.  Sometimes original is good but too original can be a little bit ridiculous.

I’m not ripping on CX Digital at all, like I said they are a great network and our company will be working with them and competing for the main “Roll Like A Billionaire” competition once it starts but if we have a chance of winning this safari trip (we started September 13 so unlikely), unfortunately we will be “sticks in the mud” and take the cash equivalent.   We would love to hear your thoughts, maybe we just suck or love cold, hard cash way too much…