Opportunity disguised as a PITA.
Google created a headache for nearly 1000 merchants with the pending short-notice shut-down of the Google Affiliate Network. Read the official notice at the bottom of this post. Affiliates are already changing links to promote merchants on other affiliate networks. Sure, it is a huge pain for both affiliates and merchants to deal with, but it is also an opportunity for affiliates and merchants to improve their affiliate activities! Make the most of this “do-over” and leap-frog your competition.
For GAN Merchants wondering what to do:
What you do next really matters.
Make the right decisions in the coming days and your company will profit from this change. Make the wrong decisions and… well, lets just say that a lot of brands will lose a lot of sales due to Google Affiliate Network closing. If you take weeks to think about it, you will be giving away money to your competition. Proactively managing the transition of a merchant affiliate program to a different network AND actively helping affiliates with the transition are both key tasks that must be timely and effective. There is no room for error, especially with such a tight timeline.
Here are the key dates you need to be aware of regarding to the Google Affiliate Network closure:
- GAN Advertisers Services will be shut down on May 1.
- GAN Publisher Support will be ending July 31st.
- GAN Reporting and tracking will be ending October 31st.
Free Consultation & Guidance.
You don't have to go this alone. We are affiliate program specialists who live and breathe affiliate marketing, and we will be happy to point you in the right direction. The award winning MGECOM team is standing by to help you understand your options and help you answer critical questions like:
- What network is the BEST fit for YOUR brand?
- How to save money on a new network launch?
- How to keep from losing affiliates?
- How can your brand use this opportunity to improve your affiliate program
If you prefer, we'll do the work for you.
For merchants that hired MGECOM to grow their affiliate sales, GAN closing is a non-issue. They know that MGECOM will do the heavy lifting to strengthen their customized affiliate program strategy and relaunch their program on a better network. If you would like MGECOM to take this headache off of your hands, contact MGECOM today (contact info below). We will not only take this unplanned pile of work off of your plate, you will also enjoy the unfair advantage that all MGECOM clients enjoy:
- Improved sales & ROI
- Intense Brand protection
- Reduced risk & headaches
Contact MGECOM with any questions!
East: Jeff Cress, VP BD & Marketing
Direct: 919.439.0013
Email: jeff.cress@mgecom.com
West: Mike Bump, Director of BD
Direct: 919.439.0415
Email: mike.bump@mgecom.com
For affiliates:
Great programs for you to promote
MGECOM works with a wide-variety of merchants who span many verticals. Visit mgecom.com for a list of all MGECOM managed affiliate programs, with easy sign-up links.
Here is the test of the official post from Google announcing the closure of GAN:
“An update on Google Affiliate Network
Our goal with Google Affiliate Network has been to help advertisers and publishers improve their performance across the affiliate ecosystem. Cost-per-action (CPA) marketing has rapidly evolved in the last few years, and we’ve invested significantly in CPA tools like Product Listing Ads, remarketing and Conversion Optimizer. We’re constantly evaluating our products to ensure that we’re focused on the services that will have the biggest impact for our advertisers and publishers.
To that end, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire Google Affiliate Network and focus on other products that are driving great results for clients.
We’ll continue to support our customers as we wind down the product over the next few months. And there are other products that can help you achieve your goals. Affiliate publishers can continue to earn AdSense revenue through the AdSense network. And marketers can take advantage of other CPA-oriented Google tools like Product Listing Ads, remarketing and Conversion Optimizer to drive valuable online sales and conversions. These areas are growing rapidly and we’re continuing to invest heavily in them.
Thanks for your support of our affiliate product, and we look forward to helping you grow your business in the future.
Posted by: J.J. Hirschle, Head of Google Affiliate Network”