I have always despised Advertisers who pull this Bullshit about not bidding on TM when using PPC. I find it greedy and un-professional. They want Affiliates to bring them big numbers but they won't allow you all the ammunition possible to do it and want to keep the TM bidding to themselves and leave all the crap left over for the affiliate. Yet the Affiliate is the one who puts the money on the table and takes the risk of running the Campaign and paying for it up front. Yet they determine what we can and cannot bid on and also dictate when and how they will pay us.
I guess it's what transpired over the last few days, with a reputable firm and my Affiliate Manager that really pissed me off and I feel it calls for some venting.
Nothing pisses me off more then seeing this on a Campaign:
( they have determined some search engines will not be used and have stated the following) If any affiliate bids on these engines, they will be terminated from the search program. Search terms allowed – Any terms that are directly related to ***** and *******. Let me know if you need a specific list or if we should leave it up to the affiliates. Search terms NOT allowed – Affiliates cannot bid on our trademarked terms – “****” and “******”. They cannot bid on any variations of these terms, including hyphenated words or misspellings. If affiliates violate this rule, they will be terminated from the search program.
At least in this Campaign their Greedy rules were posted, but I put together a Campaign about a week ago which I got off a reputable affiliate house. When I read the Campaign TOS there were no search restrictions. I started the Campaign and it was converting really well. Everything was going great for the first day (besides the advertiser I was the only other promoter!!). I came down the next morning to find my Campaign
had been disapproved by Google for bidding on TM and the Customer had complained that I had done this without their permission. Here is a copy of the email:
In response to a complaint made by the trademark owner of `*****', we have disapproved your ads that contain `*****'. The trademark owner of `*****' notified us that your AdWords ads were running with the trademark without the trademark owner's permission.
Please note that this may also apply to misspellings and variations, depending upon the trademark owner's complaint. You can learn more about Google's trademark complaint procedure at http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_adwords.html.
We thank you for making the suggested changes to your campaign and appreciate your effort in complying with our guidelines. I have now reviewed your ad and confirmed that it is running.
Yeah, unfortunately this product does not convert well except on TM!
So I wrote my affiliate Manager and and informed her of the matter, I have only been with them a couple of months, off and on, but I have been pulling in some good numbers for them. She simply shrugged it off , she spoke to the client and then got back to me with this:
The advertiser told the sales manager that they trademark their name on Google. But, if we have an affiliate that will do a good amount of traffic for them, they can allow you to use the name.
He then went on to ask what kind of volume you could potentially bring to the table.
So essentially, If I don't do exactly what they say from the get go the will kick my ass out of the program and I if want to use their TM I have to promise them some numbers. And I guess the fact that the Affiliate House seemed totally un-organized and offered no support what so ever really did it for me.
I told them to kiss my Ass!!
You know it started off good with these guy's and I have been making some decent coin but they just seem to be going down hill ever since they were investigated a couple of months ago.
I guess it's time to pack it in with them.
I think there is a need for some kind of Affiliate Organization we can all turn to for support or at least backup and tell assholes like this to stick it and inform all Affiliates they may want to pull off their Network if they don't smarten up.
It seems unless your pulling in over 10K a month for them they treat you like second class. I pity any beginners starting out with them, sure is enough to discourage them.
I guess it's what transpired over the last few days, with a reputable firm and my Affiliate Manager that really pissed me off and I feel it calls for some venting.
Nothing pisses me off more then seeing this on a Campaign:
( they have determined some search engines will not be used and have stated the following) If any affiliate bids on these engines, they will be terminated from the search program. Search terms allowed – Any terms that are directly related to ***** and *******. Let me know if you need a specific list or if we should leave it up to the affiliates. Search terms NOT allowed – Affiliates cannot bid on our trademarked terms – “****” and “******”. They cannot bid on any variations of these terms, including hyphenated words or misspellings. If affiliates violate this rule, they will be terminated from the search program.
At least in this Campaign their Greedy rules were posted, but I put together a Campaign about a week ago which I got off a reputable affiliate house. When I read the Campaign TOS there were no search restrictions. I started the Campaign and it was converting really well. Everything was going great for the first day (besides the advertiser I was the only other promoter!!). I came down the next morning to find my Campaign
had been disapproved by Google for bidding on TM and the Customer had complained that I had done this without their permission. Here is a copy of the email:
In response to a complaint made by the trademark owner of `*****', we have disapproved your ads that contain `*****'. The trademark owner of `*****' notified us that your AdWords ads were running with the trademark without the trademark owner's permission.
Please note that this may also apply to misspellings and variations, depending upon the trademark owner's complaint. You can learn more about Google's trademark complaint procedure at http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_adwords.html.
We thank you for making the suggested changes to your campaign and appreciate your effort in complying with our guidelines. I have now reviewed your ad and confirmed that it is running.
Yeah, unfortunately this product does not convert well except on TM!
So I wrote my affiliate Manager and and informed her of the matter, I have only been with them a couple of months, off and on, but I have been pulling in some good numbers for them. She simply shrugged it off , she spoke to the client and then got back to me with this:
The advertiser told the sales manager that they trademark their name on Google. But, if we have an affiliate that will do a good amount of traffic for them, they can allow you to use the name.
He then went on to ask what kind of volume you could potentially bring to the table.
So essentially, If I don't do exactly what they say from the get go the will kick my ass out of the program and I if want to use their TM I have to promise them some numbers. And I guess the fact that the Affiliate House seemed totally un-organized and offered no support what so ever really did it for me.
I told them to kiss my Ass!!
You know it started off good with these guy's and I have been making some decent coin but they just seem to be going down hill ever since they were investigated a couple of months ago.
I guess it's time to pack it in with them.
I think there is a need for some kind of Affiliate Organization we can all turn to for support or at least backup and tell assholes like this to stick it and inform all Affiliates they may want to pull off their Network if they don't smarten up.
It seems unless your pulling in over 10K a month for them they treat you like second class. I pity any beginners starting out with them, sure is enough to discourage them.
