Highest Payouts My @ss !

I decided to profile a number of PPC vendors/affiliates today, just to ensure the info I have to hand is correct. This is of course a major departure from what they actually publish.

In fact, sifting through the bullshit is like researching the latest & greatest SEO practices.. 90% waste of my time, 5% indirect waste of time and 3% a qualified ‘investigate further’. I suppose its like the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’, but still, I like to think theres a little truth in the usual marketing banter of PPC vendors.

That people actually do business with parties that claim to have the highest payouts, broadest market share and so on, baffles me. If someone lies point blank to your face, do you then rush off to do business with them ? HELL YES !

At least, that seems to be the game on the net nowadays - much like popular opinion drives the notion that content is king in SEO circles, it seems publishers are happy to look for PPC affiliates that rank highest on the bullshit-ometer !

If you’re sick of the crap these parties publish to try and land accounts, sick of the lack of reliable information, and frustrated by the lack of reliable PPC references that provide the lowdown on these parties, I relate - but grab your jewels.. it gets worse..

Not only do they deliberately publish misleading information, they manage to waste the time of prospects by deliberately avoiding disclosure of qualifiers. By this, I mean failing to disclose the criteria by which they assess publishers for inclusion, instead preferring to cloak it all in generalisations and blanket statements.

Not to mention the actual KEY CRITERIA by which all publishers should assess an affiliate - and that of course is the dollar value per unit, click, impression etc.

It seems so far, that any foray into the world of affiliates is nothing short of neverending shades of deceit.. and advertisers wonder why their dollars amount to vapor. When prospective publishers are treated like this, what do they expect ?

Right now my observations are simple. If they throw the usual bollox at you, avoid them. If you’re an advertiser, ask yourself if you can honestly believe their pitch. If not, if you have even the slightest doubt, do yourself a favor and move on. If you’re a publisher, ask yourself what control they afford you - what are they disclosing. Are you left hunting through reems of FAQs & fineprint to try and answer the simplest most obvious of questions at the outset ?

At the end of the day, these companies KNOW the questions you’re arriving with, they KNOW what you’re hunting for both as marketer or publisher. They know what you need to qualify them as a partner. If first impressions leave you confused, dont pay for them.