Why Google AdSense Is Not the Nail in the Coffin of Affiliate
Programs
By now most people have seen Google's new AdSense ads appearing
on some of their favorite websites. Extending the same
algorithms that make such a robust search-engine, Google is able
to provide webmasters with advertisements related to the content
of any given web page. Simply add a few lines of code, and up to
4 classified ads (nearly identical to Google's AdWords included
in Google search results) will appear on the page. Webmasters
receive part of the revenue Google collects when a visitors
clicks on one of these ads.
I willingly admit AdSense has a few advantages with which
today's affiliate programs simply can't compete. Featuring a
"set it and forget it" mentality, AdSense allows you to spend a
few minutes setting up your page and know that fresh content
will appear each time your visitors return, without any
additional work on your part. The closest I've seen an affiliate
program come to this is Amazon allowing you to display the top
sellers in a given category at any time. It isn't as versatile
as AdSense, though, and it does take more time and effort to
setup.
The other striking advantage AdSense has over affiliate programs
is the range of content pages for which it is appropriate. If
you have a page about web site hosting, there is no shortage of
web site hosting affiliate programs that will help you generate
revenue and provide additional information for your visitors.
Create a page about the American Civil War, though, and you will
have a hard time finding an affiliate program that relates to
your content. Civil War webmasters should sign up for AdSense
and Google will provide several paying links that will likely be
of interest to visitors.
Lest you think the title of this article was an accident, let me
explain where AdSense falls short. The reporting and tracking
available is bare bones. All you get is the number of
impressions, clicks, and total earned for each day. The lack of
information about which page on your site generated the click
and what the text of the ad was makes it difficult to know how
to improve your conversion rate.
Somewhat inexplicably, part of the AdSense user agreement
requires that you not disclose your AdSense statistics to other
webmasters. The only explanation I can imagine is Google wants
to prevent anyone from cracking the algorithms they use in
calculating payments. Which leads to my next point