Ravi’s Rants

My question was very simple: I wanted to know how I could promote products using CPA (Cost Per Action) on the Google Network and allow publishers who have access to “AdSense Referrals” to promote my products by placing a piece of code on their web sites, and when someone clicked over to my web site and purchased one of my products, the publisher would get a piece of the sale.

Classic “Affiliate Program” stuff - where this time around, I wanted to be the merchant, and not the affiliate.

I contacted a Google AdWords Specialist on chat - who turned out to be not as much as a “specialist” as you would think they would be.

Read the chat transcript below to see how long it takes for the rep to even understand my question, and give out a meaningful answer. It is painfully obviously that I know more about Google Products than her!

But I am glad that she eventually gave in and deferred the question to a “technical specialist” (read: someone who knows their $hi#).

Completely unedited except for minor reformatting for readability, and removing of private content.

Chat Information: Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. Please hold a moment while we route your chat to a specialist who will help you with your question: “”.
Chat Information: AM has received your message and will be right with you.

AM: Hello Ravi. Thanks for contacting Google AdWords. I’m happy to help you.
AM: Could you clarify what you mean by referrals?
AM: Ravi, are you there?

Ravi Jayagopal: yes
Ravi Jayagopal: I meant, how would I advertise through Adsense Referrals?
Ravi Jayagopal: I’m currently using Referrals as a publisher
Ravi Jayagopal: I want to advertise my product through Referrals, so that publishers can promote my product, and then I would pay them a commission based on sale
Ravi Jayagopal: you there?

AM: Well, I am actually an AdWords specialist so I am really not familiar with AdSense Referrals.
AM: However, you can find out more at https://www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/Referrals.html?gsessionid=N8x_KdsMNys.
AM: Referrals Help Center
AM: In the Help Center, there is a Quick Start guide.

Ravi Jayagopal: I don’t want Adsense referrals, actually
Ravi Jayagopal: I want to “advertise” - so wouldn’t that fall under “AdWords”?
Ravi Jayagopal: Publisher -> Adsense
Ravi Jayagopal: Advertiser - AdWords
Ravi Jayagopal: No?

AM: Yes Ravi, but you asked about Referrals.
AM: Referrals is not a part of AdWords.
AM: It looks like you already have an AdWords account.
AM: What do you have questions about in particular?

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, here’s my question: Right now, as a “Publisher”, I pick out referral ads and display them on my site, and I make money when my visitor clicks on those referral ads and goes on to buy something. With me so far?

AM: Yes Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, now I want to put my “Advertiser” hat on and promote my product so that “other” publishers can promote “My” product through the referrals network
Ravi Jayagopal: how would I become an “Advertiser” and promote my product?

AM: Through the Content Network.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ah, that’s what I wanted to know
Ravi Jayagopal: So is there a way to say “Referrals” when I put my ad out on Adwords?

AM: You do already have an AdWords account with the email address <>.
AM: All you will need to do to appear on other sites is to opt into the content network when you create your campaigns.
AM: We don’t use that term.

Ravi Jayagopal: But when I opt-in to the “Content Network”, it automatically becomes just a PPC campaign right?

AM: We call your advertisements ads and we call our publisher sites ‘the content network.’

Ravi Jayagopal: I don’t want it to be PPC, but a CPA item

AM: You can also create a CPM campaign.
AM: Cost Per Impression if you’d like.

Ravi Jayagopal: not CPM. I’m talking about CPA - cost per action
Ravi Jayagopal: which is what Referrals is - CPA.

AM: That is not an option right now Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: then how are all these advertisers on Adsense Referrals?

AM: Again Ravi, I’m not familiar with AdSense referrals.

Ravi Jayagopal: Is there someone higher up who can help me with this question? Because it is definitely not an AdSense question - because AdSense is for Publishers

AM: If you want to contact the AdSense team to ask them about that, you can email them directly at adsense-support@google.com.

Ravi Jayagopal: and I am talking as an Advertiser

AM: Ravi, they will only be able to tell you what I am telling you, that you can create advertising campaigns that you’ll pay on an impression or click base.
AM: Those are the only options right now for our advertisers.

Ravi Jayagopal: So how are these advertisers advertising on a CPA basis? That’s what I want to know
Ravi Jayagopal: If you don’t know the answer, I would appreciate if you could put me through to someone who does
Ravi Jayagopal: But don’t tell me I’m asking the wrong question

AM: Please hold on just a moment Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, thanks

AM: CPA is not an option at this time in your account Ravi. I just checked with our technical specialist.

Ravi Jayagopal: Why? And when would it be?

AM: It’s a limited beta right now. If you give me the best email address to reach you at, I can email you if it does become available.

Ravi Jayagopal: ok…thanks…it’s <>

AM: You’re most welcome.

Bottom-line:
You cannot yet sign up as an “Advertiser” and promote your products through Google “Referrals”. It is in limited beta, and unless you were invited to be part of the beta, you would have to wait until they open it up to others.

As much as I love Google and probably qualify as a “Google FanBoi”, I have to say, Google sucks at most things not handled by their machines (read: Human Beings).

This has been around for a while now, but its coming out of beta (a.k.a Google Labs) means that Google is serious enough to support this going forward.

Here’s how it works:

• Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (800-4664-411)
• Say where you’re calling from - City, State or Zip
• Say what you’re looking for (Pizza delivery, from the video below)
• GOOG-411 connects you with the one you pick from the spoken list (or you can get it text msg’ed to your phone)

GOOG 411 - Totally free 411

My “Video Unit” link wasn’t available yesterday when the announcement was first made.

Was able to see it today.

“Linked” my Adsense account with my YouTube account.

Got the confirmation from Google in a few minutes (they do warn that it could take up to 12 hours).

Created my “player”, got the code.

The ads load asynchronously, and they seem quite on target from the other sites I tested so far.

Way to go Google!

In my book “No Business Like E-Business“, I write about the Google Supplemental Index (GSI - Ravi’s acronym). Basically, this is like the “alternate” Google database, where sites that are “on the way in” or “on the way out” show up.

If yours is a new site, it may show up in the GSI before it shows up in Google’s main index (google.com). Similarly, if your site has suddenly disappeared from the main index, you may find it here (before it disappears from everywhere on Google - which means your site probably violated their webmaster guidelines, and has gotten banned by the Almight G!).

Here’s more information from Google Webmaster Central about the Supplemental Index.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the feed while you’re there.

“Our invalid clicks rate – the activity rate – has remained in the range of less than 10% of all clicks every quarter since we launched AdWords in 2002. At Google’s current revenue rate, every percentage point of invalid clicks we throw out represents over $100 million/year in potential revenue foregone.”, says Google’s Inside Adwords Blog.

Yep, that’s $1 billion! Is it really a loss? Because that’s billing that would’ve never occurred anyway, if those were truly fraudulent clicks.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Google. You could even call me a Google fanboy. But when you put it like that, it sounds like Google’s taking a huge hit because of fraud. Doesn’t matter how you say it, sure makes them look like a hero.

We all knew this day would come, but I had been more curious about the type of video ads that would show up: would they be pre-roll (first show the ads, then the actual video)? Would they be post-roll (after the video) or some kind of pop-up (probably not, knowing their Adsense policy about pop-ups)?

Well, it appears that Google is going with overlay ads on YouTube. I am yet to see an ad on YouTube, but I will update this post when I find one.

Check out this pretty cool list of Google’s acquisitions, from Deja to YouTube to Doubleclick to Feedburner.

If you notice the trend, they’ve pretty much tried to stick to their core competency and have bought companies with products that complement their core niche of search and analysis.

Google came to prominence with a “Hate Images, Love Text” campaign. Slowly but steadily, they ventured into “banner” advertising, then “video” advertising, then affiliate programs, and now they have purchased one of the biggest “traditional” online advertisement networks, DoubleClick.

Their huge dependence on their “advertising” model is both exciting and scary at the same time.

I mean, when it comes to searching and finding a real snake in the real world.

Online though, I’m still betting on Google

• Backdrop and Shower curtain from Wal-Mart: $18
• Tripod from Sears: $30
• Expensive, Wireless Headphone (with “compander circuitry”) that sounds like crap: $100
• Cheap-looking, Wired Headphone that just works: $20
• Pink-shade Table Lamp: $10
• 100W bulb (that you need to keep switching off between takes because the lamp-shade says it can handle only 40W): $2
• CyberLink PowerDirector: $90
• Getting great feedback from (rather kind) friends and family who enjoyed your spirited attempt: Priceless!

Ok, I finally gave in to my alter ego (”Wilson”) and started a channel on YouTube.

Had a lot of fun creating the videos. Here’s what I ended up learning (and buying), in order to make a half-decent video:

• Ventriloquism is 60% “funny script”, 30% “sense of humor and timing” and only 10% “mouth-not-moving skills”
• You need to have a decent back-drop (read, your computer desk in the background really sucks). So, got some fabric from Walmart for $6, an extra long shower curtain for $12, and walla - bearable background for my videos! I just placed the shower curtain on the front edge of my book shelf - so didn’t even have to bring out the screwdriver (or my drill) - and no nails were hurt during the hanging of my backdrop.
• Need a tripod - so got a 66″ tripod (~ $30) from Sears - ordered online and picked up the same evening in-store. The 3rd-party merchant I found on Amazon that was selling the 70″ tripod I really wanted, said it would take 3 weeks to ship. I wanted it like, er, “yesterday”. So, 6 inches short, sure, but got it in 3 hours flat.
• You need more-than-good-enough sound. My spanking new $100 wireless headphone bought-just-for-this worked like crap. Went back to my old $20 wired, brandless headphones that I bought from Staples 4 years ago, and the sound is like 10 times better (see difference in sound between video #1 and #2 below). So all you really need is a half-decent mike - don’t splurge on the microphones, unless you have the $500+ ones.
• Need good video editing software - have had PowerDirector for a few years now - have edited a few home videos and stuff. Paid for an updated version - it kicks butt and has pretty much everything a non-power-user would need. Very happy with PowerDirector (~ $90) so far, but I have a feeling I will be outgrowing it sooner than later (especially, when I think of doing, say chroma keying (the green-screen stuff).
• Of course, you need a camcorder (I have an old, big-ass Sony), and the cable to connect it to your computer (faster if you have a FireWire port).
• The regular lighting in your room is no good. So I borrowed my 8-yr old daughter’s pink-shaded table lamp (without her permission, and got yelled at later) and set it up on a chair next to me during the shoot.
• If you have PowerDirector (PD) installed, it automatically prompts to be launched when you plug your camcorder in. Just put the camcorder in “Play” (VTR) mode, and hit the red “Record” button in PD, and it starts recording right away. Once you finish recording, hit “Stop”, save the file, edit it (very intuitive interface) to add sound effects, transitions, trimming out bad takes, etc
• PD v5 has a cool new “Create File for YouTube” feature - where it will create a slightly low-res Windows media file (.wmv) that has a smaller file size compared to MPEG’s (given YouTube’s 100MB limit), and will even upload it directly to YouTube (provided you’ve logged in previously, of course)
• Create a new YouTube account with the same name as your channel (because you can’t change the login later).
• Create and upload the video directly from PD.
• Wait for like at least 2-3 hours before you can see it live (used to be live within just 10 minutes as recently as 6 months ago!)
• Any changes you make to your channel (description, change to template, colors, etc) will take anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours to take effect.
• Wait for it to go live, spam your friends and family, and publish the video on your site or blog

Before launching on this venture, I had performed ventriloquism only once - I had learned it a few hours before my daughter’s b’day party a couple of years ago. So, “amateur alert” ahead

Episode 2: Terrorists and 72 Virgins ($20 headphones)

Episode 1: Wicked Wilson - Woman On A Plane ($100 headphones)

The channel home page is: YouTube.com/WilsonTheWiseOne

To be notified of videos as they are added, please subscribe to my channel at the above link.

Ravi Jayagopal / YouTube.com/WilsonTheWiseOne

Found this article about Sergey Brin - it covers everything from Sergey’s casual attire at work, to his electric massage chair, to his Russian-Jewish upbringing. Even if you don’t like Google or Sergey, you simply cannot pass up on reading about the founders of one of the largest corporations in the world.

Some highlights from the article…

• A typical workday finds him in jeans, sneakers and a fitted black T-shirt
• Sergey and Larry share the title of president
• Google’s workers enjoy such family-friendly perks as three free meals a day, free home food delivery for new parents, designated private spaces for nursing mothers, and full on-site medical care, all of which recently led Fortune magazine to rank the company as the #1 place to work in the country
• Dad: Michael, 59, a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland; Mom: Eugenia, 58, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• They had to leave Russia due to anti-semitism. For many Soviet Jews, exit visas never came. But, in May 1979, the Brins were granted papers to leave the U.S.S.R. They were among the last Jews allowed to leave until the Gorbachev era.
• At Stanford, he was known for his habit of bursting in on professors without knocking.
• His father once remarked, “I asked him if he was taking any advanced courses, and he said, ‘yes, advanced swimming.’”
• In the spring of 1995, during a prospective student weekend, Sergey met an opinionated computer science student from the University of Michigan named Larry Page. They talked and argued over the course of two days, each finding the other cocky and obnoxious. They also formed an instant connection, relishing the intellectual combat.
• Larry and Sergey shopped (Google) around to various companies for the price of $1 million. No one was interested.
• Sun Microsystems cofounder Andy Bechtolsheim (himself a Jewish immigrant from Germany) wrote a $100,000 check to “Google, Inc.” The only problem was, “Google, Inc.” did not yet exist—the company hadn’t yet been incorporated. For two weeks, as they handled the paperwork, the young men had nowhere to deposit the money.
• He shops at Costco
• Finally, “Don’t Be Evil.”

Enjoy The Story of Sergey Brin

- Ravi Jayagopal / LinkOverLoad.com

Google’s Blogsearch and Technorati are great sites for focused reading about a particular subject.

Doing a Google search is entirely different from doing a search on blog search. Google’s Blogsearch and Technorati will both bring you back all posts on blogs and niche sites that have been tagged with, or contain, the keyword that you are searching for.

So, if I wanted to know what’s new about Adsense, I wouldn’t do a Google search, but a Blogsearch for the word ‘Adsense’, or a Technorati blog search, or even a Technorati tag search - so I’ll know what’s the latest and greatest, and who’s saying what in reference to Adsense.

On the flip side, as a blogger, to automatically ping Google’s blogsearch every time you “post” to your blog, add this URL to your blog’s ping list.

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

To ping blogsearch manually, go here.
To ping Technorati manually, go here.

- Ravi Jayagopal / LinkOverLoad.com

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Imagine blogging for a whole year, ending up with a very popular blog that has 23,457 subscribers, ranked #45 out of all blogs in the world, and earning (brace yourself) a whopping $3,350 for the entire year!

Now stop imagining - this stuff is real.
I noted in an earlier post, that in spite of being a Google fanboi, I only see pure “click-thru” earnings decline over time for everyone. This is based on my own theory, as well as general consensus, that the more tech-savvy your audience is, the less likely they are of clicking on Adsense (or other PPC) ads, be it on Google’s search pages or on third-party web sites.

A recent posting on Guy Kawasaki’s blog only goes to prove my theory further, that:

1. It is very hard to get tech-savvy folks to click on ads the way the average surfers (moms-and-pops) do.
2. It is not easy making a living by blogging, leave alone by monetizing your blog with Adsense.

I own a site targeted at moms-and-pops, and I made many, many times more than what Guy’s #45-ranked blog earned. And mine is a very small niche, and many, many, many times less popular than Guy’s blog.
Here are some key stats from his blog:

• 2,436,117 page views (about 6,200/day)
• 23,457 RSS feed subscribers
• Total advertising revenue for one whole year: approximately $3,350 = $1.39 cpm.

This is not very far from the pathetic $1.80 that I’m seeing with my own Adsense earnings these days (a drop from the high $2’s, and even low $3’s). However, this drop is not because of number of click-thru’s or the click-thru rate (both of which have actually gone up due to my persistent optimization of the content and the ad placements), but actually due to a big fall in the CPM (Cost Per-thousand iMpressions).

This could be because advertisers are generally bidding lower in this new year, or the advertisers in my specific niche are bidding lower, or that Google somehow (read smart-pricing) has determined (or just decided) that my click-thru’s are worth less than before, or it could simply mean that Google has given themselves a pay-raise this new year by taking a bigger chunk of the earnings-per-click.

I have already started researching other ad options. I’m not sure how well other PPC networks will compare to Adsense, and in fact I don’t believe the other PPC networks will earn me more than Adsense does. So it is time for a change. Time to change not just my PPC options, but time to change the ad strategy - like maybe CPA (cost-per-action, a.k.a pay-per-lead or pay-per-sale).

It’s the new year after all. Out with the old, in with the new.

- Ravi Jayagopal / LinkOverLoad.com

If you know what a “blog” is, you probably already know what a “RSS Feed” is.

One of the best (not to forget, cheapest and fastest) ways to get free content for your web site, is to display a third-party RSS Feed. Every time the feed’s content changes, content on your web site automatically changes, thus keeping the content fresh and ever-changing on your site.

This trick can be used for both legit and illegitimate purposes. Sploggers (those who create Splogs - “SPam-filled bLOGS”) often use it to generate thousands of “made for adsense” pages, whose primary intention is to increase PageRank, get ranked higher for highly competitive and high paying keywords, get people to visit their splogs, and manipulating the navigation that they end up leaving by clicking on AdSense (or other PPC) ads.

But if you use it for legitimate purposes, you will find that publishing RSS feeds on your site can be a great way to provide targeted, complementary content for your visitors.

Magpie RSS is a great open-source PHP script that will allow you to easily publish any third-party RSS feed on your site. I have personally tried many RSS scripts, and highly recommend Magpie. I have even used Magpie to create a pretty cool web-based feed-aggregator service, a la Google Reader and Google Personalized home page.

If you want a quick and customizable free script that is based on Magpie, and gives you sample scripts that show you how to publish one, two or more feeds on a page on your web site, go get my Free RSS Feed Publishing script, “FeedMonster”.

- Ravi Jayagopal