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Archive for the ‘Google’ Category

August 10th, 2007

Breaking! Google changes formula for top ad placement

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Written by Dominic Lee

Topics: Google, Google Adwords, Internet Marketing, PPC

Ok here’s a breaking news, I just found out from my adwords account that Google is changing its formula for top a placement on adwords. Here’re the details from Google:

In the coming weeks, we’re improving how high quality ads are selected for top positions above Google search results. This change is designed to improve the quality of our ad results, and to give you more control over achieving top ad placement.

The core components of the top ad placement formula will remain price and quality. However, we are improving the way we factor price into the formula. We’re also adjusting the way your actual cost-per-click (CPC) is determined for ads in top spots. As always, only ads that meet our stringent quality requirements will be eligible to appear in top spots.

What are the details?

In the current top ad placement formula, we consider your Quality Score and your actual CPC, which is determined in part by the bids of advertisers below you. Even if you have a high quality ad, if advertisers below you are not bidding very much, your actual CPC may not be high enough to qualify your ad to appear in a top position.

With this new formula, instead of considering your actual CPC, we’ll consider your maximum CPC bid, which you control. This means that your ad’s eligibility to be promoted is no longer dependent on the bids of advertisers below you. Therefore, if you have a high quality ad, you now have more control to achieve a top position by increasing your maximum CPC.

Your actual CPC will continue to be determined by the auction, but subject to a minimum price for top spots. The minimum price is based on the quality of your ad and is the minimum amount required for your ad to achieve top placement above Google search results. As always, the higher your ad’s quality, the less you will pay. And you will never be charged more than your maximum CPC bid.

How might this affect me?

We anticipate that most of your ads will continue to perform as they have in the past. In some cases, you may see that ads previously shown alongside search results are now shown in top spots, and vice versa. As a result, you may see a change in the average number of clicks and average CPCs for impacted ads.

I think this is a great move by Google and will further ensure higher quality ads to achieve the top placement. The problem, however is, do you REALLY want top placement - which typically attracts tons of low quality click?

Let me know what you think about this new change in the comment section!

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August 2nd, 2007

Google Checkout WAY Better than Paypal in Detecting Fraud

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Written by Dominic Lee

Topics: Ecommerce, Google, Paypal

My textbooks company was recently a victim of a credit card fraud, causing us to lose around $4000 USD. It is somewhat typical, someone bought a whole bunch of textbooks from our site, and then suddenly email us to have the address change to Niger, Africa. It is quite obvious that it is a fraud, but my staff who processed the order was inexperienced and shipped out the books - causing us to lose $4000.

To make matter worse, we initially send them an invoice through Google checkout and Google cancelled the transaction because it is associated with “suspicious activity”; so my staff send the scammers an invoice through Paypal AND it went through!

You would think if Google checkout can detect a fraud, paypal should be able to - but NO!!

Not only was Paypal not able to detect the fraud, after we lost the chargeback, we even have to pay ANOTHER fee to compensate for the loss of chargeback!

Lets see how Google checkout is BETTER than Paypal:

1. Fraud Detection

How does Google Checkout protect me from fraud?

Google Checkout performs industry-standard Address Verification System (AVS) and Card Verification Value (CVV) checks to prevent credit card fraud. Google Checkout also protects you from fraudulent activity with the following:

Advanced risk modeling
Google employs advanced risk modeling to detect fraudulent transaction cues across Google services. Google also actively leverages external, cross-industry resources-such as worldwide fraud blacklists-to prevent fraudulent users from accessing Google Checkout in the first place.

Automatic fraud detection
Google proactively identifies and filters out fraudulent transactions. All fraudulent transactions are immediately cancelled after being detected. Any active orders associated with the same credit card will also be cancelled to protect you.

Supplemental manual review
If a transaction appears to be high-risk, Google will restrict the order to protect you from shipping the order to a fraudulent buyer. During this time, our Google Checkout specialists will review the situation further, cancel the transaction if it’s fraudulent, or release it if it’s valid. We may also contact you directly as a backup precaution.

Information sharing
Google Checkout provides buyer verification information within the buyer’s order details to help you run your own fraud checks as needed. If you’re concerned about a particular order, or if you’re unable to contact the buyer with the information we provide, you have the option to cancel the order to avoid further risk.

Chargeback resolution
All merchants are covered by our Chargeback Resolution Policy: our specialists will evaluate all chargebacks you receive through Google Checkout and, whenever possible, dispute them on your behalf. As an additional benefit under our Chargeback Resolution Policy, we also guarantee payment for all transactions that are eligible for Google’s Payment Guarantee Policy: If you receive a chargeback on an eligible transaction and provide Google with sufficient supporting documentation within ten business days after receiving a request from Google, Google will reimburse you within a week of receiving and reviewing the information.

Paypal? None of these stuff.

2. Chargeback Protection

The Payment Guarantee Policy is an unique benefit under the Chargeback Resolution Policy that offers you even more protection from unwarranted chargebacks. Here’s how it works:

For all eligible transactions, we’ll completely reimburse you for any chargebacks resulting from claims of unauthorized purchases and non-receipt of goods. To qualify for this additional protection, you must meet the following criteria:

  • You shipped the order to the buyer’s shipping address (as specified in the Google Checkout Merchant Center or the Google Checkout API call) according to the shipping method and timeframe agreed upon when the order was placed.
  • You provide a tracking number or other proof of shipping for transactions less than US$250.
  • You provide proof of delivery with the buyer’s signature for transactions greater then US$250.
  • You receive a request from Google for supporting documentation and provide this information within ten business days.
  • You’re currently displaying a clear return policy on your website. (Learn more)
  • The disputed order doesn’t involve intangible goods.
  • You abide by the Google Checkout Terms of Service.

    At a minimum, Google will reimburse you for eligible chargebacks up to $10,000 per year. If your gross Google Checkout sales exceed $1 million per year, we’ll protect you for 1% of those sales. For example, if your Google Checkout sales are $2 million, we’ll protect you for up to $20,000.

    • Paypal? None of these stuff.

    Conclusion? Google checkout is WAY cooler than Paypal.

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    July 24th, 2007

    Google’s Pay-Per-Action Beta Expanding Globally

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    Written by Dominic Lee

    Topics: Affiliate Marketing, Google, Google Adwords, Internet Marketing, PPC

    Here’s the latest blog post on the Google Adwords Blog, announcing the global expanstion of PPA Beta.

    In March, we launched the pay-per-action (PPA) beta in the United States. Today, we’re pleased to announce the worldwide expansion of the PPA beta. Here’s a note from Rob Kniaz, the product manager for PPA:

    Starting today, advertisers who use AdWords conversion tracking and receive more than 500 conversions from their cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) campaigns in the most recent 30-day period will be invited to join this beta test, on a rolling basis. Eligible advertisers will see an alert in their AdWords account informing them that they can now try the PPA beta.

    As a refresher, pay-per-action advertising is a new pricing model that allows you to pay only for completed actions that you define (such as a lead, a sale, or a page view), after a visitor has clicked on your ad on a publisher’s site. With CPC and CPM campaigns, advertisers need to continuously monitor and tune their campaigns to meet their target CPA (cost-per-action). With pay-per-action campaigns, advertisers only need to set their desired cost-per-action and pay for completed actions to hit their CPA targets.

    PPA ads will appear on publisher sites in the Google content network. Publishers are free to choose the PPA ads most relevant to their site and run them in new ad units.

    I have been using PPA since it launched for one of my lead generation site and has generated pretty good results, how would it expanstion affect YOUR business. Leave us a comment and let us know!

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    June 25th, 2007

    3-somes are the new 2-somes

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    Written by Dominic Lee

    Topics: Google, Link Building, Search Engine Optimization

    Ok, I’m talking about link exchange. ;)

    It used to be the case that you can just do 2 way link exchanges with other websites and achieve high ranking. Since 2006, Google has catched on to that and devalued the links generated from 2-way link exchanges.

    As a result, I’ve seen lately a lot more link exchange schemes that involve 3 way exchanges. In essence, instead of website A linking to B and B to A (2-way) - website A will link to B, B to C, and C back to A. This way, it is much harder for the search engine to detect so all 3 parties will get a lot of quality links.

    To add on to that, a lot of these link exchange schemes encourage the exchange of articles with link embedded in them to take advantage of the Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) of Google. I wonder how long it’ll take for Google to catch on this time. For now, I’ll be taking advantage of this and advice you to do so too.

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    June 17th, 2007

    Exciting news from eBay live

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    Written by Dominic Lee

    Topics: Ecommerce, Google, Retailing, eBay

    So eBay live - an annual conference for eBayers have concluded on Friday - after all those Google eBay drama (you can look up details about this yourself, its all over the internet). I’m here to inform you couple of the more exciting announcements they made during eBay Live which I believe would change your business tremendously. (I know it’ll change mine) Of all the changes, I’m most excited about the extra protection eBay will provide us powersellers against non-paying bidders. eBay is finally waking up and know that they need us powersellers to make eBay continue to be a vibrant marketplace.

    Price + Shipping Sort
    Bill also mentioned an important test underway. We’ve all been frustrated by excessive shipping and handling charges. Price + Shipping Sort is a new search option that sorts search results according to the total cost of the item, including shipping and handling charges. That way, buyers can choose to have the full price picture sorted by either highest total cost or lowest total cost.

    Powerseller Program Changes
    The PowerSeller program is a vital part of the marketplace. As we work to improve the buyer experience, we’re shifting the focus of the PowerSeller program so that it offers more value to our best sellers who consistently deliver a great buyer experience. While more changes will be coming over the next several months, Bill introduced several important initiatives we’re ready to launch this fall.

    “Seasonal” sellers to be eligible. This long-requested change is finally happening! If you sell a high volume, but just during your particular selling season (such as if you’re selling skis, golf clubs, etc.), we want to recognize your contributions. We know you work incredibly hard, so soon you’ll have access to phone support and the PowerSeller icon heading into your peak selling season, right when you need it most.

    High-volume, Low-Average Selling Price sellers to be eligible. Sellers who list items like trading cards or media or other items with low average prices will now be eligible for the PowerSeller program. Just like seasonal sellers, you work extremely hard selling a lot of product, and it’s time to recognize your efforts. We’ll be adjusting our eligibility requirements so each PowerSeller level can be obtained based on dollar OR unit volume.

    Enhanced PowerSeller support for Bronze level. Later this year, Bronze PowerSellers that meet the annual sales requirement, either through consistent monthly sales or high-volume seasonal sales, will have access to phone support just like Silver PowerSellers.

    “Unpaid Item Insurance” for PowerSellers following best practices. You’ve often asked us for protection against losses from non-paying bidders, and we’ve listened. I’m pleased to let you know that by August 1st, PowerSellers will get their money back for any listing feature fees when the buyer doesn’t pay for the item and you file an Unpaid Item claim. You simply need to follow these selling best-practices:

    1. List in the auction format (since you don’t have the option of requiring Immediate Payment for auctions).
    2. Specify reasonable shipping & handling charges.
    3. Accept PayPal.

    Summer discount
    And on that note — before I close — I’m pleased to offer our sellers a little summer relief to your selling costs. Starting June 19th and continuing through August 5th, we will LOWER the first tranche of Final Value Fees from 5.25% to 4.5%. This applies to auction, auction BIN, or pure fixed price format listings. Consider it a little eBay Live! gift to our fantastic community.

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    May 22nd, 2007

    Google Analytics Change & eBay Affiliate Policy Change

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    Written by Dominic Lee

    Topics: Affiliate Marketing, Ecommerce, Google, Google Adwords, Internet Marketing, eBay

    Change in Google Analytics

    Google Analytics has just changed its outlook last week. I haven’t had much time to play around with the new version but it seems like the layout is much better and contain more information than before. The new version is still in Beta so you can still login to your old version. More on that later when I get around to checking what the difference are between the old and new version.

    Change in eBay’s affiliate policy

    Another big change on internet marketing last week has to do with the recent changes in the eBay.com affiliate program - at which you can now send traffic to YOUR OWN auctions and store listings.

    The old rules prevented this, but now eBay has has wised up! In an announcement released today they’ve made the rules friendlier and the payouts higher.

    Under the old rules (which were insane) you could send traffic to any destination on eBay EXCEPT your auction listings or store. That made no sense so I won’t try to explain why they had that rule.

    It now makes more sense than ever to send pay per click ppc traffic (such as Google Adwords, or Yahoo Search Marketing) to your own eBay listings.

    Once you sign up for the eBay affiliate program you can send traffic to ANY ebay destination and…

    - 40% to 65% commission on eBay Revenue generated from ALL purchases
    - up to $35 in commission per new active user referral

    I love the “flexible destination” feature of the eBay affiliate program. Even if a customer you send to eBay buys from a competitor of yours and you still get paid!

    This just opens up a whole new door of making easy money online. Are you kidding? You can just go on eBay, find a product that has a high ASP (average selling price) and high sell through - because the eBay commission is more - source that product, sell it on eBay, and drive traffic to your listing using pay per click ppc while making extra commission off them! Can this get any easier?

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    April 29th, 2007

    Questions Cleared Up About Google’s Cost Per Action Model

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    Written by Dominic Lee

    Topics: Google, Google Adwords, Internet Marketing

    Since Cost Per Action advertising model has been introduced by Google, there have been many questions about it in the industry. Today, Google cleared up some of them in its blog post:

    Do pay-per-action ads show on Google.com or on sites in the search network?
    No. Pay-per-action ads are not eligible to show on Google.com or in the Google search network. They’re only eligible to display in the Google content network.

    I am an advertiser using My Client Center (MCC) and am interested in the pay-per-action beta test for my clients, as well as for my own business. What are my sign up options?
    We’re only adding individual AdWords accounts to the beta test, so if you are an advertiser managing multiple accounts with an MCC, you can add the individual accounts that you believe will benefit from pay-per-action, including your own.

    Is it possible to set a cost-per-action (CPA) value (i.e. the amount I’d like to pay for a specific action) as a percentage of the amount of the purchase rather than as a fixed amount per purchase?
    We don’t currently offer the option to set a CPA value as a percentage. The cost-per-action value must be a fixed amount.

    I am also an AdSense publisher and would like to participate in this test. How can I sign up?
    Please visit the AdSense referrals beta site, on which you’ll find a ‘Sign Up’ link.

    I am not a US advertiser, and wonder when pay-per-action will be available in my country?
    Although we plan to extend the pay-per-action beta test to advertisers outside of the US in the future, we don’t currently have a date for when this option may become available in other countries.

    Although I am not a US advertiser, my campaigns do target US customers. Can I participate in the beta?
    At this time, we’re only accepting advertisers who have a billing address located in the United States.

    Have you start advertising on Google’s new program yet? If not, what is holding you back? Let us know!

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