Tag Archives: ringtones

FTC Cracks Down On Free Credit Report Offers

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Free Credit Report offers have been a hot ticket for a long time. From the annoying FreeCreditReport.com jingles on TV to the hundreds (if not thousands) of websites and affiliate offers, people have been making money on this vertical.  However, it might get slightly tougher to convert these offers now that the FTC has passed down a new law.

Effective April 1, 2010, all marketers using the words “free credit report” in any creative (text ad, banner, landing page, email subject line, etc.) must include a large & prominent ( and clickable) disclosure across the top of each page mentioning “free credit reports” that states:

FTC Notice

Yikes.  This is pretty similar to when Google started forcing people promoting ringtones to put “$9.99 per month” right in their text ads.  It definitely hurt marketers, but they found other ways to market the offers.  I think this change is actually worse than that was, because you have to put it right on your landing page or the advertisers have to put it right on their offer page.  It will be there no matter what traffic source you use to get the clicks.

So, is this the end of Free Credit Report offers, or will it simply be another bump on the road to success for crafty marketers?

Google Launches YouTube Video Targeting Ads

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YouTube Video Targeting

Google has just launched a brand new type of ad unit for AdWords that is now in Beta, called the YouTube Video Targeting Tool.  Every time there is a new ad marketplace that opens up, there is a massive displacement that can be taken advantage of by savvy marketers.  The people that jump in early are going to have a definite advantage in this game.

One of the coolest things about the new YouTube Video Targeting Tool is that you can get very specific with your targeting, right down to selecting individual videos.  You can also target by demographics, channels, and some other methods.

You can choose from two different ad units, InVideo Overlay and In-Stream Video.  The InVideo Overlay can be setup as Text Ads or 468×60 image ads.  The In-Stream Videos are a “15/30 second in-stream video + image companion”.  I’m not exactly sure what that boils down to, since I haven’t had the chance to actually put any ads live yet.

People have been marketing via YouTube for quite a while now, especially in the Ringtones space.  The tried-and-true method is to rip the music video of your favorite artist, put a watermark on it with your Domain leading to the Ringtone offer, and try to get as many views as possible through both natural and artificial means.  This method has become less and less effective as YouTube has been getting wise and closing some of the loopholes used to inflate views to videos and game the rankings.  This new Video Targeting marketplace could be a game-changer for people that have been looking for a way to have a sustainable business model on YouTube without worrying about the impending Account Bans and Video Bans that come with the old method.

The only odd thing I noticed when playing with the interface is that when I searched for some of the YouTube mega-hit videos like the “JK Wedding Dance” and the infamous “Leroy Jenkins” video, they didn’t appear in the list.  Also, most of the videos that were in the list seemed to have relatively low view counts.  I’m assuming that this is because the program is in Beta still, and hopefully the big videos will be fair game once the program has the kinks worked out.

So what are you waiting for?  Head over to http://google.com/videotargeting and check it out!

Can Ringtones Still Make Money On Google?

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If you are promoting ringtones offers, then you no doubt have been affected by the recent changes to Google’s AdWords policy regarding mobile offers.  The question is, how big of a hit is this to the Ringtones vertical?  Is it still possible to market Ringtones on Google?

One thing that can be said about affiliate marketers is that they are a creative bunch.  Anytime something like this happens in the industry, there is a few days of moaning and gnashing of teeth, but after that everyone gets back to work and decides that it’s just another obstacle to overcome.  Some of the big guys might even be glad for changes like this because it knocks the newbies out of the running for a while.  It will take some time for the effects to be fully felt, but perhaps the change could even result in lower click costs, due to less competition.

Google AdWords Machine

Grants? Nope. Acai? Nope. Ringtones? Hmm...

When you are thrown a curveball from the big G, it’s time to take a look at the variables and see what can be changed to increase conversions.  The glory days of 2002 are long gone, there will be no more promotion of ringtones on Google AdWords by telling people that it’s free, when it in fact costs money.  Now that you’ve got that ugly “$9.95/month” telling people not to click on your ads, you need to give them some other reason to.  Luckily you still have control over some of the most important aspects of your ads, the Headline and the Display URL.

SendMe Mobile recently sent out an alert to their partners pointing out the effect of changing the position of the carrier name in the Display URL has.  Most of the ads that you see will put the carrier after the slash, as in “URL.com/Verizon”.  SendMe suggests that they have seen an increase in CTR from putting the carrier as a sub-domain at the start of the Display URL as in “verizon.URL.com”.

This makes sense because it appeals to the people looking for a trustworthy source for their ringtones.  Now that the pricing is on all the ads, people are going to want to give their money to someone that seems legit, as opposed to “TonsOfFreeTones.com” ($9.95/month).

Of course there is the other alternative, which I’m sure many of you have thought about, which is to get your traffic from somewhere else.  I’ve heard more than once that Ringtones have been dead on Google for a long time, and while I disagree, this proves that people are not just relying on Google for 100% of their traffic.  It’s time to look at the alternatives, even outside the big 3 search engines.  There is lots of 2nd and 3rd tier search engines to be found, and there’s also PPV, not to mention doing specific Media Buys or direct ad placements on websites.

To answer the original question, yes, I think that Ringtones can still make money on Google, but it might be less and less a part of your overall marketing strategy for these offers.  It’s time to put on the thinking cap, go back to the drawing board, and get creative.

Now go make some money!

affiliate.com’s Economic Bailout

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Today affiliate.com announced their Revenue Stimulus Program.  Here is the official announcement:

Affiliate Economic Bailout

In today’s challenging economic climate, it seems like just about every industry is getting some kind of bailout program.  But, we haven’t heard anything proposed for the Affiliate Marketing Industry.

Rather than waiting for the Congress to institute a bailout program for our Affiliates – we thought we would just do it ourselves.

Introducing the
affiliate.com Revenue Stimulus Program

Our industry was built on the principles of self reliance and innovation.  In the tradition of those guiding principles, we have instituted the affiliate.com Revenue Stimulus Program to help our Affiliates generate some extra income this holiday season.  We believe that the best way to help Affiliates drive more revenue is to give them an incredible payout increase on one of the hottest offers in the industry.

Beginning today (Monday, December 15, 2008) at 10:00am Mountain Time, we will be raising the payout on Ringtones.net (6013) to an unheard of $16.  (This new payout will remain in effect until December 31, 2008.)

Ringtones.net
Payout Increase – $16
(From December 15 – December 31, 2008)

Take advantage of our Revenue Stimulus Program today and watch your revenue soar this holiday season!

This is the time to make some serious money with Ringtones.net.  I’m not just saying this because I work for affiliate.com, this is a HUGE payout on a Ringtones offer.  I remember when Flycell used to pay something similar and people were going crazy for it.  If you already promote ringtones, you owe it to yourself to switch out your links for the next 2 weeks and enjoy the extra revenue boost.  Nothing starts off the new year like an infusion of cash.

Now go make some money!

FlyCell Drops Payouts

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For those of you who have been following the decline of the Ringtones game in Affiliate Marketing, this might sound like a doomsday warning.  FlyCell is going to be dropping the affiliate payout on all of their campaigns to a measly $6.

Remember when FlyCell used to be promoted by affiliates on forums as, “The Ringtones offer that pays $16”?  Those days are gone, and I doubt they are ever coming back.  There have been more lawsuits by the Florida A.G., there have been more talks of the carriers taking control of the market and selling through their own sites exclusively, and now payout drops.

This also comes shortly after the announcement that Flycell no longer accepts Sprint traffic.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.  There are still some Ringtones offers that are doing well.  At CPA Empire we have Ringtones.net with an affiliate payout of $10, and it accepts Sprint traffic (EDIT: As of 10/10/08, Ringtones.net is losing Sprint as well.  Sprint is dropping pretty much all of their ringtones providers).  Jamster is paying out $9 at NeverBlueAds and $10 at ClickBooth.  There are a few other smaller offers, but until someone figures out how to monetize Ringtones better on the backend, I doubt we’re going to see prices much higher than $10 for a while.

Flycell No Longer Accepting Sprint Traffic

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In an announcement dated today, the ringtones provider Flycell announced that they will no longer be accepting traffic from Sprint, Nextel, or Boost customers through its landing pages.  There is a process being put in place to allow affiliates to become certified to accept Sprint traffic, but it is going to be looked at on a case-by-case basis from Flycell.

This is another case of the carriers pulling back from ringtones aggregation sites like Flycell.  Mark my words, it won’t be long before one of the major carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T or Sprint) announces that they will only be selling ringtones through their proprietary store.

CPA Empire affiliates are encourage to redirect their Sprint traffic to our Ringtones.Net offer, which does still accept Sprint customers.

To see the official Flycell notice with instructions for become certified, click below.

sprint_notice_08-29-08

Are ringtones dead?

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about whether we  have seen the peak in the ringtones market.  I personally don’t think that ringtones are dead just yet.  However, they are a lot harder to get in to if you are a new affiliate.  The keywords on the big 3 search engines are getting to be quite expensive, and without the higher payouts that the top affiliates are getting from their networks, it is almost impossible to be competitive.  There are, of course, other ways to promote ringtones besides search, but it’s not exactly going to be like the glory days when bids were low and conversions were high, and the ads could say “Free Ringtones!” without mentioning the $9.99 that would mysteriously end up on their phone bill the next month.

These changes are bittersweet, because although they have made it a tougher industry to compete in, they have also legitimized it to the point where now the carriers are trying to figure out how they can get a bigger piece of the action.  The lingering question is, once the carriers (T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.) decide to take control of the ringtones game, would they need affiliate marketers anymore?  Obviously we all know the value that we bring to the advertisers, more so than than even they do, I’m sure.  But the carriers hold the power, they control the medium, and if they decide to flip the killswitch, it’s game over.

One bright spot amidst all these rumors of war & doomsday predictions is the International Ringtones market.  Countries like Canada, Australia, and the UK are nowhere near the saturation level that we are experiencing here in the United States.  The point of this article is not to get into a heated debate about specific offers and how they are converting in what countries, it’s just to gain a high-level perspective of where the market is going.  For those that keep their ear to the ground and jump into new countries and markets at the right time, the rewards could be great.