7th August 2007

A Singular Point of Reference for Keyword Policy! My Midichlorian Count Must Be Low!

posted in Affiliate Marketing, PPC Brand Name Bidding |
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I was & wasn’t surprised, but definitely disappointed, to find out from different networks that when a merchant changes their keyword policy, they still don’t have an automated alert method to ensure that both the affiliate or network are made aware of any keyword policy changes, no matter how significant or insignificant they maybe/seem or deemed.

On a merchants information page these are too easily merged or at a later date appended into the program description, or if a merchant has a specific keyword restriction or keyword link, changes can all too easily be made without anybody knowing, unless of course you’re a psychic / clairvoyant or have some form of extra sensory perception by feeling a disturbance in the force.

Countless times have keyword policies been changed or sneaked in without notification, most networks are very polite about any breach of keyword policy you may have not known about, a few are not, or alternatively you are kicked off a program because your psychic abilities are not finely attuned or your Midichlorian count is too low.

Because some networks, merchants & agencies are so protective & over sensitive with keyword policy, & have been for quite a while at an increasing rate, it really is about time some basic parameters are implemented.

Firstly there should ONLY BE A SINGULAR POINT OF REFERENCE with regard to a merchants keyword policy and ONLY whatever is written in there should be applied / enforced. Yes, we know about not having ambiguous keyword policies & the need for it to be written clearly, concisely, politely & never in a forthright or dictatorial manner.

Any changes for keyword policy can ONLY be made within the SINGULAR POINT OF REFERENCE keyword policy section & nowhere else!

Lastly & most importantly, whenever the slightest change, no matter how minute or subtle it maybe, is made within the SINGULAR POINT OF REFERENCE for keyword policy there MUST, MUST, MUST be an automated communication sent out to both affiliates & the network via normal email as well as any internal mail system on the networks admin area which affiliates access.

This is a simple request & something which is well overdue within the industry. Come on networks, it’s not exactly rocket science to set up.

Right I am off to have my Midichlorians levels boosted.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 2:18 PM and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, PPC Brand Name Bidding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 8 responses to “A Singular Point of Reference for Keyword Policy! My Midichlorian Count Must Be Low!”

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  1. 1 On August 7th, 2007, Fraser Edwards said:

    Great post Paul as it’s an issue that needs addressed. A single reference point for all keyword information combined with automatic notification of changes and polite enforcement is just the basics but I don’t think any network yet ticks all the boxes.

    I’m still bemused about the day I got kicked off a program because I was in breech of new T’s & C’s which were getting introduced the next day!

  2. 2 On August 7th, 2007, Paul said:

    Even since I have written this post, I have noticed another one. Everytime, and I do mean everytime I might log into a network & periodically check the keyword policy of say 25-50 merchants at a time we are already signed up to, we always find a few where policies have changed without any notification being received. Now for all networks we have more than one account, so it’s extremely unlikely that both separate email addresses wouldn’t capture an email pertaining to any changes. They really do need to buck their ideas up & for the time being, it can continue to go to a dead page, when we have other projects of greater prioritization.

  3. 3 On August 8th, 2007, Matt Bailey said:

    Paul,

    Good suggestion. I will have a look at how we can implement this.

    Matt

  4. 4 On August 8th, 2007, hero said:

    We had found this problem with some of our merchants, changing their program settings to amend their setup (ppc policy included), despite having a separate field (which the merchant doesn’t have access to) defining their ppc policy.
    We have since implemented alerts to the account managers notifying us when a merchant tries to make unauthorised changes.
    I don’t think that the alert should go out to the affiliates when a merchant touches that field – that would overwrite the notice email. Having the network alerted, gives the account manager the opportunity to speak with the merchant, understand what they are after and if/how to implement it, while protecting the affiliates’ interests. Once agreed and defined, the account manager will sent the notice email to inform the affiliates of the new setup.
    This applies to all aspects of a program’s Ts & Cs, not just ppc policy, may I add.

  5. 5 On August 9th, 2007, Paul said:

    Hero, Would the change in PPC policy then not go live until the network has authorised the changes, and then when the “authorise” button is pressed an email alert is sent to affiliates.

  6. 6 On August 10th, 2007, hero said:

    It’s not so much about “authorising” the change, it’s about ensuring the notification policy is respected, first of all. Moreover, a lot of merchants don’t word their policy correctly to communicate what the restrictions actually are – there is a lot of confusion from merchants and often not a clear vision of what they are trying to achieve. We have found a lot of merchants who by “no brand use” they actually mean “no bid on our name if you use our display url”, so we always aim to 1. clarify 2. reason with the merchants if they are being unnecessarily restrictive 3. outline their options to resolve the issue effectively.

  7. 7 On August 10th, 2007, Paul said:

    Hero, I agree with where you are coming from.

    Only today I was signing up to new programs & though only came across one example today, the policy was conflicting in description & keyword policy section. One said open, the other said closed.

    On another network a merchant said in their keyword policy “affiliates are permitted to bid on competitors brand terms”. What kind of message does that send out?

    And yet again coming across programs where keyword policy has changed without notification. It’s simply not good enough.

    It’s also a shame that some merchants don’t put as much effort into writing a decent review than they do their keyword policy.

  8. 8 On August 11th, 2007, Paul said:

    A forthcoming blog will be on where networks are allowing merchants to encroach still further on our space, but requesting / insisting on affiliates adding negative phrases for when we are bidding on generic terms. Whether it be direct to merchant or going to an affiliate site where multiple merchants are applicable to that generic term.

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