I'm new to this affiliate marketing thing. I've only been using Google adwords for the last couple months and doing miserably. I have a web domain that I haven't set up yet.

Q: Is it illegal or unethical to copy a website that I'm promoting in order to have a unique URL for Google adwords?

I've seen it done and I don't think the publisher of the original site would mind getting more exposure for his product.

I'm not sure about "copying" the site, but you can do something like a redirect or a cloaked link.This would allow you to use your own domain name to direct your visitor to the merchants sale page, via your affiliate link.There is a forum section on link cloaking, I would start there.

On a related note, while I do think adwords and ppc can be a great way to generate income, it can also be a money eating beast.If you are new, I would suggest taking a look at some other low or no cost methods of traffic generation.Once you start seeing some success, you can reinvest into an advertising budget and some instruction on using ppc.

Warmly,
Kevin

KevinH wrote:
I'm not sure about "copying" the site, but you can do something like a redirect or a cloaked link.This would allow you to use your own domain name to direct your visitor to the merchants sale page, via your affiliate link.There is a forum section on link cloaking, I would start there.

On a related note, while I do think adwords and ppc can be a great way to generate income, it can also be a money eating beast.If you are new, I would suggest taking a look at some other low or no cost methods of traffic generation.Once you start seeing some success, you can reinvest into an advertising budget and some instruction on using ppc.

Warmly,
Kevin
Thanks Kevin, but I tried the redirect approach and Google disallowed my ads because the Display URL didn't match the site at which people were landing. And if I land at a site that someone else is promoting, then the one who bids the most gets their ad shown. If I actually put a site on my domain, I wouldn't have that problem. I could bid what I want and get my ad shown lower in the listings at a cheaper price. Since I'm unfamiliar with creating websites, copying would be the easiest way and still get more exposure for the product.

On your related note, I've been doing the PPC thing since January and so far have broken even. Unfortunately, it isn't going to pay the bills for two people, eight pets, a car, and a house. All of the low-cost methods I've found either generate almost no traffic or require a web presence. I'm looking into the web presence thing right now, but I'm running out of time and funds. Incidently, the URL I have available to me is being paid by someone else so that it doesn't cost me anything to use. That is where I hope to make up some of my expenses.

Post edited by: avbbiz, at: 2007/05/06 23:13

Hi Andy,
Even though you might be promoting a person's site (so you might assume he/she doesn't mind you are copying the content, etc) Don't copy the site or content with their permission. Personally, I would NOT want someone to do that. There are other ways to promote for them. The reason I wouldn't allow it is because if my site already has a high ranking and is regularly crawled by the search engines and then Google or other searchbots see that there is Duplicate content (the same site somewhere else) my site may drop in ranking entirely. It has happened in the past and can be damaging and unfixable.

Other than that, there are plenty of free options for you to create a site (that can make you money). Wordpress or Blogger or creating a community site, etc. I do not recommend adwords if you are starting out and on a tight-budget because it requires trial and error (which can cost some money). That is why the SEO techniques in my ebook are there! They really do work as long as you keep adding content to your site after you solidify the keywords you choose to opitimize for. Let us know if we can help or what you come up with. Take care.

HollyMann wrote:
Hi Andy,
Even though you might be promoting a person's site (so you might assume he/she doesn't mind you are copying the content, etc) Don't copy the site or content with their permission. Personally, I would NOT want someone to do that. There are other ways to promote for them. The reason I wouldn't allow it is because if my site already has a high ranking and is regularly crawled by the search engines and then Google or other searchbots see that there is Duplicate content (the same site somewhere else) my site may drop in ranking entirely. It has happened in the past and can be damaging and unfixable.
I've figured out a way around that. I can create a frames page with only my link in the frame. When the page opens it is the affiliates page with my link passed to it. Putting NOROBOTS in the header will prevent the spiders from crawling the page. Even if they do, they'll only find a clickbank link.

Other than that, there are plenty of free options for you to create a site (that can make you money). Wordpress or Blogger or creating a community site, etc. I do not recommend adwords if you are starting out and on a tight-budget because it requires trial and error (which can cost some money). That is why the SEO techniques in my ebook are there! They really do work as long as you keep adding content to your site after you solidify the keywords you choose to opitimize for. Let us know if we can help or what you come up with. Take care.
It's too late for me and adwords. I'm already doing adwords because I thought it would be quicker than creating a page on my own. Even with the OSWD pages, I'm having trouble. I can create the frames page and it will open correctly in Frontpage, but not once I upload it to my server.

How can I get the page to open in a domain's subdirectory? I don't want people linking to my homepage. It's not ready.

Hi Andy,

I would do it totally different:

1.) I would create a Lead Generating website, you have a domain, so you can place it there.

2.) Create at least 10 content rich autoresponder e-mails and place them in the autoresponder for the LGW.

3.) Advertise your affiliate links throughout the 10 e-mails and in your signature line.

4.) Advertise your Lead Generating Website through Adsense and other advertising methods (free ones).

I bet you will get much better results plus you can advertise multiple affiliate products through your list, even in a year from now when your list will hopefully 1000+ subscribers.

Guido