February 5, 2012

Why Are Adwords For My Blog Always Disapproved?

Question: I am using blogger.com for my blog. And I’ve been reading a lot of blogs with so much affiliates. Now I joined affiliates and place banners and text link ads in my blog. But when I activated my google adwords to advertise my site, my ads was alwasy disapprove due to violation in landing page or advertising policies. How can I resolve that? I reviewed my site and removed all the ads but still it was disapproved. Can you help. Thanks

That is a pretty big question, and without knowing the specifics, it is hard to give a good answer, but I think I might have some insight you can use.

First, adwords are disapproved for many different reasons.  The email you receive from google regarding your ads is often not very helpful, but it should provide at least a clue.

The most common reason ads are disapproved, based on what you have told us, is your pages quality score. There are a lot of ebooks floating around that talk about “adsense arbitrage.”  That is, you spend money on adwords to get visitors to a page that you then have adsense (or other affiliate programs) on.  While this might have worked 5-10 years ago, the rules have certainly changed, making it harder to get adwords ads approved.

When you create an adwords ad, the system now looks at the total page (and perhaps the entire site) and determines a quality score.  If the quality score is too low, your ad may be disapproved, or it might cost a higher price to display the same adwords ad.

For instance, say you have setup up a blog about vacation deals.  On it you have a page for “vacations in Dubai” where you list some very basic information like “Vacations in Dubai are nice.  Wouldn’t you like to vacation in Dubai?  Vacations in Dubai will form memories that last a lifetime.”  You include a few photos of Dubai, and then surround the content with ads, affiliate programs, pay per click offers, and more.

That is going to be a very low quality score.

If you want to make real money with affiliate programs, you have to provide real content.  If your blog is just a few sentences on each page, surrounded by affiliate programs, not only will you not make money, but as you have said – adwords to your site will continue to be disapproved. A blog with no substance with only affiliate programs is only one step above a Made for Adsense (MFA) site.

Follow the adwords rules and have good content on the page(s) you are doing adwords for.

How Do I Position My Affiliate Ads For Maximum Impact & Conversions?

I have a niche content site and I’m starting to get some traffic, and I’ve identified my first affiliate offer to promote. Now I need to know what is the best technique for making my affiliate ad work best. The product will be of interest to my audience, but is not directly relevant to the site’s niche. Can you give me some advice?

Being successful using affiliate marketing is very possible, sure, if you know how to position your affiliate ads. So let’s talk about that.

The very best way to make maximum referrals from your affiliate marketing ads is to presell the ad. In other words, you can’t just throw a banner ad up and expect it to work. You need to engage your readers with reasons why you’re recommending whatever it is you’re recommending. For example, you can see this on almost every post here at AsktheBlogger.

Good example: I came across this product the other day that I really liked, it’s called the “ABC Product” (put in affiliate link to product) and here’s why I liked it. If you are in the market for a product like this, you might be interested in (link here).

Bad example: This product is awesome, go buy it now.

But Don’t Lie Just To Make A Buck!

Here’s the big ethical issue. Are you simply trying to make money, or are you trying to build trust and relationships? Because that’s what affiliate marketing is all about, trust and relationships. If you are writing bogus content on your site or blog just to sell a product, well, then, your readers are eventually going to catch on and probably not trust you.

You should know that everything AsktheBlogger recommends is something that he has used or experienced. You won’t see any fake content here just to make a buck.

You may want to learn more about how to become an successful affiliate marketer. Check out the AsktheBlogger previous post about how you can quit your day job!

Don’t forget, you can always Ask The Blogger for help anytime!