March 27, 2007 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Often seen of the lifeblood of the web hosting industry, affiliate programs are one of the most cost-effective means for a web host to access a paying audience. Buttons placed on third-party sites not only offer a hosting company branding advantages, they offer immediate access to its products and services. With fees limited to commissions on genuine sales, affiliate programs have traditionally proven risk free and often extremely lucrative. The model is though potentially now under threat, and from a curious source – Google adverts.
Google has entered the world of Pay-Per-Action (PPA) advertising with a program announced Tuesday that is currently in “beta testing”. Given that many of Google’s services remain in beta mode, one might readily assume that the company is already committed to this new approach. With the biggest pool of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertisers on the Internet at its disposal, Google embarking on PPA is likely to be entirely disruptive to traditional affiliate model.
Google’s website (http://services.google.com/payperaction/) suggests users can “increase advertising reach while paying only for actions” they define. The program calls for users to “create ads, define actions and track conversions” with payment only for “completed actions” which the user defines a fee for. The site goes on to say that potential advertisers will be informed whether they are to be involved in the beta program and advertisers will be added to the program on a “rolling basis over the next few months”.
