Google Affiliate Network Shutting Down [Updated]

Google has quietly announced that the Google Affiliate Network (GAN) will be closing. This appears to be a quick decision, or at least was kept very quiet internally, because they recently created new help videos, have been adding new advertisers, and are active on Google+ and Twitter.

An official closure date has not been announced at this time. GAN vaguely said it will wind down the affiliate network over the next few months, although I received information from an advertiser stating that Google's support will not be available after April 30, 2013.

Update - May 2, 2013 (email notice): All GAN services, except for payment and reporting, will be suspended on July 31, 2013. On October 31, 2013 the remaining services are to shutdown and Google Affiliate Network will be terminated. Payments to publishers will be made for activity through July 31st; after this date you should remove all link/add placements from your web properties. If you are interested in trying Google AdWords and do not currently have an AdWords account please email me for a promotional credit.

I have found affiliate advertising to benefit the advertiser more than any other party involved. Don't get me wrong, that is not a bad thing if you are the advertiser! As a publisher I have displayed Google Affiliate Network ads over the years with little success. The primary reason I did not see meaningful revenue is because I don't have the amount of traffic to generate enough clickthroughs. Even still, most visitors didn't click and the people that did rarely ordered which essentially allowed the seller to get extremely inexpensive display advertisements. I understand Google's decision and feel it is the right choice for them. Many people love it and if you are looking for a new service try AvantLink, ShareASale, and Impact Radius.

Google has other advertising solutions/services such as Product Listing Ads, AdSense, and The Conversion Optimizer that marketers can use.

What do you think about the closing of the Google Affiliate Network? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

GapAd Puts a New Twist on Advertising

GapAd has launched an innovative advertising network and display tool that triggers on one simple action; leaving your website. They are currently beta testing the product publicly and you can signup on their site. The signup and setup are very fast and simple and includes adding a small JavaScript code snippet in your body tag. I was very surprised to have ads running on my site in under 60 seconds. The name is great and, I assume, is a play on the "Mind the Gap" signs and audio from the London Underground (best trip of my life).

The ads are triggered when a visitor leaves your domain by clicking on an external link on your site. They are not triggered when the browser or tab is closed (these are not pop ups), when you move within the domain, or if you open a link to a new tab or browser. You also have the ability to exclude exit links if you like. I did not want an ad being shown if someone is going to my accounts like Google+, Twitter, or my RSS feed, so I am excluding them.

You are also allowed to adjust the timeout and background opacity to make your ads as unobtrusive as you like or conversely to drive more revenue.

The reporting is simple, but has everything you need to track your performance and earnings. All payments are made via PayPal. I would think both of these areas would become more robust in time.

A sample ad with my settings:

It will be interesting to see the engagement (clicks) over the nest couple days. For you web analytics people, I have asked them if the referring website on the site the user is clicking to will show as the true originating domain or the GapAd network (app.gapad.net). As soon as I know I will update the post.

Update: Ian Clarke, Co-Founder of GapAd, replied to my question:

Dain, 

That is a good question. 

Currently the referrer will be GapAd, as the referrer passed to the destination website is determined by the visitor's browser. 

Our engineers are investigating whether there is a way to pass the original website's URL through to the destination site, to ensure that the destination website's analytics are accurate. 

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any additional questions, 

Kind regards, 

Ian

TED's Ads Worth Spreading Competition Winners

TED launched their Ads Worth Spreading challenge last year and below are their winners.

In my mind their challenge was met; these are some amazing advertisements!


Batelco - INFINITY


The Clock  is Ticking


Chrysler Born of Fire with Eminem


Changing our Future


Target Fasion Kaleidoscopic


Dulux Walls


The worlds smallest stop-motion, by Dot.


The Chase Film


Selinah by The Topsy Foundation


The Infinite House by Hornbach