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I figured even the most hardcore cheats in affiliate marketing would know better than to continue promoting “free ringtones” since the Florida Attorney General officially opened an investigation on the matter last week.
It appears some people never learn, or they’re just too damn greedy.
Earlier today, I searched on Google for “free cingular ringtones” and to my surprise and disbelief, I saw the following ad:
Free Cingular Ringtones
100% complimentary Cingular tones.
Download ringtones instantly now!
CrazyRingz.com
When I clicked through (see the video), I came to a page with the screaming headline: 100% Complimentary Cingular Ringtones!
Then I clicked on the Cingular logo and hit a page for Blinko where I could join the Blinko Club for $9.99/Month.
I guess $9.99/Month is the new free.
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12 responses so far ↓
1 roger mconeha // Mar 27, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Wow, good catch Shawn. Looks like AzoogleAds is at least doing their job. The link looks to be terminated now, but the most interesting part about this, is guess WHO is actually behind this “free” ringtone posting, - CPAEmpire! If you look carefully at the redirects in the video you posted, the link clicks through tracking101.com and then to Azoogle.
Could CPAEmpire just be trying to get Azoogle in trouble by making these “free” listings on Google?
I hope CPAEmpire, aka Media Breakaway stops this right away.
2 thephone // Mar 27, 2007 at 2:41 pm
that was actually my website and i forgot to negative match “free” in some campaigns.
i have immediately paused the ad and am working on fixing the problem. dynamic keyword insertion can definitely get you into trouble on google and thank you for adressing the problem.
3 Mr Telephone Man // Mar 27, 2007 at 2:55 pm
> Looks like AzoogleAds is at least doing their job. The link looks to be terminated now
Isn’t that sort of like hitting the breaks after the police catch you speeding?
Maybe they ought to hire Shawn to head up affiliate compliance.
4 MM // Mar 27, 2007 at 3:25 pm
That’s an easy mistake to make. Especially for beginners. They allow you to bid on “FREE” in your keyword list. It just can’t be anywhere in the ad.
When you’re dealing with thousands of keywords, sometimes you aren’t the best at sorting them and “FREE” keywords get on the wrong list and sneak into your dynamic ads.
How he let an obvious one like Free Cingular Ringtones slip; that’s probably another story.
5 CC // Mar 28, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I found another site promoting free. Type in beyonce into yahoo and you will see bosstonez.com saying “Free Beyonce Ringtones”. There is no excuse for this guy.
6 Shawn Collins // Mar 28, 2007 at 2:32 pm
I just tried it out and saw two sites promoting “Free Beyonce Ringtones.”
There was the bosstonez.com one you mentioned, as well as ebaketones.com.
7 Jon // Mar 29, 2007 at 9:59 am
I thought the word “complimentary” was considered acceptable, yes?
8 Shawn Collins // Mar 29, 2007 at 10:07 am
> I thought the word “complimentary” was considered acceptable, yes?
The issue here is the use of “free”.
9 Reon // Jun 20, 2007 at 7:26 am
I think its the norm, when i go search for free ringtones, there is always some catch, like subscribe and get the first 5 ringtones free and then you get charged a weekly fee for the service. I think the affiliate companies should tighten the rules.
10 John // Jul 17, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Are these free ringtones legal.
John
11 mrkrabs // Aug 10, 2007 at 7:54 am
Hey John
I don’t think they are legal. I’m also wondering about such ads being displayed. It’s the same with Google ads. Find offers for free ringtones a lot.
Tim
12 Raj // Oct 16, 2007 at 5:48 am
Yeah, it’s really missleading the visitors by promoting that way and I think there are new rules coming this October 10th regarding the campaigns. I think affiliates are not allowed to use landing pages anymore, they should send the traffic directly to ringtones sites.
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