Google Shadow goes live, and it is brought to you by Chris 'X' McNeeney and Tim Houston. The product helps speed up the creation of your Adwords campaigns, so you can upload hundreds of ads in a short period of time.

So, how does Tim make $100,000 a month using this system? He uses direct linking in Adwords. Here are some things you need to consider, though...

A lot of people think that direct linking in Adwords is dead. But let's go back first and find out what all this DL talk is about.

When you create an ad in Google Adwords, you can send people to either your own web site or landing page, or straight to the merchant's salespage (if you're an affiliate marketer). In direct linking, you Adwords ad will take visitors interested in that ad directly to the merchant's site.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Some merchants do not allow you to create Adwords ads that directly link to the merchant's site.

If we try and figure out the Google Shadow system, this means you will need to find independent merchants who are not members of a network (i.e., Clickbank, Commission Junction), get in touch with their affiliate managers, and get permission before you run your direct linking Adwords campaigns.

2. If there are many Adwords ads directly linking to the same destination URL, the ads will be rotated.

And that's why you will need to create many ads, as well as monitor the performance of such ads. If you will manually create 10 ads, your ads will become practically invisible compared to another affiliate who puts up (with the help of the Google Shadow software) hundreds of ads.

(That's one reason why some merchants will ban affiliates who use direct linking in Adwords. Those merchants do not want their own ads rotated out of view by affiliates.)

3. Google does not seem to like direct-linking "thin affiliates."

A "thin affiliate" is someone who simply drives traffic to an affiliate offer, without providing value to the readers or visitors. Imagine what would happen, for example, if 10 people put up an Adword ad that leads straight to the Google Shadow salesletter using their affiliate links.

That's right... the Google search results page will contain numerous ads all leading to the same web page. How boring, right? It would be better if search engine visitors have access to a variety of content. Thin affiliates, however, are not able to provide a different take on things because they practically send people straight to the same merchant site.

What happens when you are identified as a thin affiliate? You are charged more for your Adwords Ad. Instead of paying US$0.50 per Adwords click, don't be surprised if you get charged $10 (or more). Clearly, some folks want to encourage "thin affiliates" to fatten and provide added value to the web in the form of meatier content.

Given all of these (i.e., lower visibility of rotated ads, higher Adwords costs), you will need to find less popular merchants with affiliate programs, and write hundreds of ads. You can outsource the writing of those ads, and use the Google Shadow software to transfer those ads to your Adwords account.

No wonder Tim Houston adopts the "put up many and see what sticks" approach. Clearly, success in this game depends on volume. I wonder how much time and money Tim spends to get $100,000 a month.

Is Google Shadow for you?

If you're willing to write a lot of ads (as much as 50 a day), find merchants who will allow you to use direct linking in Adwords, analyze and track which ads brought in the most affiliate commissions, weed out non-performing ads, and set aside enough cash for your Adwords budget since you usually get affiliate commissions after 30 days, then go and visit Google Shadow today. :-)

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"Google Shadow"
First Posted: February 11, 2009 | Filed in: Make Money Online

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