It is no hidden secret that the first decade of the 21st century often described by experts as the decade of Internet commerce has witnessed unprecedented growth in the online e-commerce space. More than $29 billion changed hands in 2009 over the Internet through online commerce transactions with the figure expected to go up 22% this year when final reports come in after Christmas. It is no wonder that Internet profits, according to ComScore, touched a record $900 million within a 24-hour period on December 15, 2008.

As anyone might justifiably expect, Mr. Google, the emperor of the online space, had something to do with it. You all have heard about Adsense and Adwords. However, there is something called the Google Affiliate Network which, if leveraged correctly, can help you rejoice all the way to your bank and some more. In this brief report, we tell you what the CPA Google Affiliate Network is and how you can generate passive income that has the potential of turning into a mighty waterfall from a gentle stream.

What is the Google Affiliate Network

You will recall that Google has a stated business strategy of taking over successful companies that demonstrate future potential. Urchin Software became Google Analytics, You Tube became Google You Tube and a little known NGO trying to build a trustworthy Internet directory much like Lii.org and Business.com became DMOZ. The list is rather long and since you are here to read about the Google Affiliate Network and not read a textbook chapter on Google 101, we will leave that discussion for another day tempting as it might sound.

Google took over a relatively unknown company called DoubleClick which ran a little known cost-per-action or CPA network called Performics in direct head-to-head competition with Amazon’s Amazon Associates Affiliate Program. A CPA network, simply put, is an affiliate network in which publishers—website owners who wish to make money online through affiliate marketing—receive a commission each time an online visitor performs a clearly defined action. This may include but is not limited to completing a marketing survey, applying for an insurance policy, applying for a credit card—you get the picture. On June 30, 2008, google renamed DoubleClick’s Performics affiliate network and we all know it today as the GAN or the Google Affiliate Network.

Signing up for Google’s CPA Affiliate Network

Becoming a member of Google’s CPA Affiliate Network is not as easy as 1-2-3 as you might expect. The number of prerequisites and eligibility conditions you need to fulfill is rather long but by no means complicated. Since thousands of Internet marketers, in their ongoing attempts to increase web traffic, have smoothly graduated to GAN membership status, you too can become a contender. Here are a few of the major eligibility conditions you will need to fulfill:

Up and Running Google Adsense Membership

The Google Affiliate Network was recently integrated into the Adsense network by Google to make it easy for publishers (affiliate marketers) to manage both accounts seamlessly. You therefore need to own an Adsense-supported website to apply to Google’s make money online GAN platform. Unlike Adsense, you can choose which advertisers you wish to represent and on which page you intend to showcase them through banner ads, text ads or a combination of both. Advertisement displays on Google’s CPA affiliate network are not context-sensitive. You are welcome to rotate them though after checking out the advertiser’s ad banner and text link inventory. Simply paste the code on your HTML source pages, test, tweak and upload. Although not compulsory, Google would like you to provide a short review, preferably positive, of the CPA advertiser you are planning to plug on your website.

Complete Adherence to Google’s Adsense and GAN Terms and Conditions

There are no hidden secrets in either set of terms and conditions. You need to remain honest and transparent at all times. You are not permitted to support anti-social activities on your website or indulge in any unethical practices even remotely so, and so on. Remember that Big Brother Google is always watching you and looking very quietly over your shoulder. This is great for us because it keeps the riff raff out of the Google Affiliate Network or any other Internet-based money-making value proposition for that matter thus instilling that much needed credibility among our target audience of global site visitors.

A Superior CPA Affiliate Network than every other Kid on the Block

Although this report has been prepared with publishers in mind and a quick follow-up report will be presented exclusively for advertisers, you need to know why we believe that Google’s CPA Affiliate Network is the best. Here are our reasons and we are sure you will find more as you apply and subsequently reap the phenomenal benefits of GAN membership status:

Transparency

The Google Affiliate Network is as transparent as it can be. As an advertiser, you know precisely who your publishers are—their entire Google analytics record, traffic counts, visitor ratios, bounce rates, you name it. Similarly, publishers can thoroughly check out an advertiser prior to submitting an application to become a CPA affiliate. The GAN platform provides both advertisers and publishers with the never-before option to check each other out thoroughly so that the business relationship can commence smoothly from the same page.

Seamless Monetization

Your GAN payment account is 100% secure as it is combined with your Adsense account. There are no third parties or intermediaries processing your payments. It’s strictly between Google and you. The added convenience of timely payments based on a preset schedule makes GAN membership a highly attractive value proposition.

Steadily Increasing Network of Advertisers

There have been a few rumblings recently leading prospective publishers to believe that unlike Commission Junction or ClickBank, Google’s CPA Affiliate Network isn’t large enough. Technically, this is true to a certain extent. Having said that, you will notice that the advertiser sign-ups on GAN have been rapidly gaining momentum in the recent past. The exercise is well worth the wait.

Completed Action versus Triggered Action

Many of the CPA affiliate networks do not generate commissions and affiliate income unless an action leads to a sale. In other words, you don’t get paid unless an insurance application is monetized through a sale by the insurance company in spite of the fact that you generated the lead. This is not the case with Google’s CPA Affiliate Network. You are paid referral incentives for having generated a lead and there is no upper limit to how many leads you are allowed to generate as long as each lead you generate through an action is 100% legitimate and above board—a condition that Google monitors 24X7.

Support for both CPA and CPC Revenue Models

The Google Affiliate Network helps you make money online in two ways. Once you increase web traffic to your content website, you are at liberty to choose which affiliates you can represent. CPC links generate online profits when a sales transaction is completed while CPA links help you make money online when an action is completed thereby generating a lead for the advertiser.

Conclusion

Is the Google Affiliate Network right for you? We believe so. Even if you are new to the exciting world of making money online and passive income, you can still participate because the playing field is as level as it can be. Start out by building a content rich website in a niche that is both marketable and interests you. Increase web traffic through organic search engine rankings, social media and Google Adwords if your pocket book allows you to do so. Apply for Adsense once your traffic reaches respectable limits after waiting for at least three months. Stay with Google Adsense for another three months so that you have great Google Analytics to report to Google. Finally, apply for membership into the exclusive GAN Club and you are probably set for life.

Easy Keyword Research for Targeted Web Traffic

The first step of any internet marketer is to create a set of highly targeted keywords and phrases that describes the product and/or services exactly and that is in your niche.

What if you don’t have a product or service?

If you are someone who does not have your own product or you provide a service as part of a company, and you have no idea what to promote or even how to get started looking for keywords, there is a FREE tool that Google provides that will help you find the right kind of keywords. Rather, using this FREE Google tool, you may uncover ideas for products/services that may just fit in with your niche.

Here is the direct link to that free Google tool:

http://www.google.com/sktool/

If the link above does not work, simply

go to Google.com and type in “Google Search-Based Keyword Tool” to quickly get the link.
If you do not have any ideas for keywords in your mind, take shortcut by going to the Google Search-Based keyword tool page and click the “Or see top keywords across all categories” link located at the bottom of the sktool page.

In the image below you can see the keyword tool page just mentioned:

Let’s say if you decide to click the link that in a red circle around it in the image above. On the next screen you will see a list of categories on left-hand side of the page. When you type in a keyword to see the top search keyword phrases that appear for each category, you must then try to identify a possible product or niche idea from the keywords generated in the list.

Please note that this tool does not provide pay-per-click strategies to get traffic. If you are looking for specefic keywords for PPC, you will have to consider those keywords that have high competition and/or high suggested bid cost.

The more you use this free Google tool to look up keywords, remember these keywords are not to be collected to build a keyword list to purchase traffic. That is not your aim. Your entire purpose is to find a list of keywords to attract maximum traffic and leads through the Google Alerts system.

Basically, just find keywords on which the advertisers are spending a lot of cash to buy traffic from. So actually, you are taking advantage of other advertiser’s hard work.

While using this free keyword search tool, there are two quick methods that may help you discover the potential hot products or services to promote

a) The Category Method

Simply click one of the categories listed on the left-hand side to see all the top searched keywords. Clicking on each category on the right will how you top searched keywords / keyphrases and an estimated bid rate, that advertisers are paying for. You may browse through as many categories to have a quick look and get an idea for the product / service you may wish to promote.

Once you have identified the hot niche, all you have to do is find an affiliate for the product / service and start promoting it.

You can find related affiliate programs is to search through affiliate networks such as:

CommissionJunction.com
Shareasale.com
ClickBank.com
Paydotcom.com

b) The Keyword Method

Another method of discovering a hot product or niche idea is by using the Google search-based keyword tool search box to reveal all the top searched keyword phrases that may contain your main keyword.

AMAZING secret tactic for finding what people are looking to buy when they are using the Google search engine is very simple but VERY valuable information. If you knew what people are looking for, you could then successfully find a product idea or affiliate program to join. For instance in the sktool, enter each of the following keywords one at a time to generate a keyword list that features these keywords:

Buy
Purchase
Order
I want

Notice when you punch in the keyword “buy.” You will as well notice all the top keyword phrases that contain the word “buy.” This can be an instant list of HOT product ideas BIG time.

To have insights and detailed step by step training, you may like to have “Quick Google Traffic” guide for collection by clicking here, or simply by copy pasting the following url in your browser

http://www.quickgoogletraffic.com/

Once in a while companies like Google which sell, trade and distribute knowledge, come up with products that can be understood only when you use them. They certainly attract Google traffic by the truck loads. However, they tend to preserve an aura of mystery around them—

the “vow factor” always remains in focus. Google Base is one such product.Defining Google Base in Terms of a Viable Google Traffic Strategy Google Base can best be described as an adjunct to its overall search mission—to provide its users whom Google likes to call “searchers” with the finest search experience that innovation can produce. Think of Google Base as a relational database in which you can upload just about any type of content and categorize it not necessarily for immediate use but surely for use down the road by way of added listings on one of the many search engines which Google currently operates and manages.

Google Base allows owners and legitimate aggregators of content to upload text, images, and structured information in formats like XML, PDF, Excel, RTF, and even Word Perfect. You can upload content through both online and offline means. We will tell you how to do so in just a moment. Features and Highlights of Google base Content uploaded on to Google Base will eventually become fully searchable through either Google.com, Google News, Google Maps, Google Images or any other future search products which Google may introduce down the road.

It goes without saying that this is perhaps one of the most innovative ways to increase website traffic through a Google traffic matrix. Google will even go to the extent of hosting your content for you if your content does not happen to be online. This is different from Google.com and the other search products in that you have to be hosted independently for Google to display you in its search engine results pages (SERPs). Google Base also enables you to describe the features of your content which you have posted on its servers. WE can think of Google Base as a type of online classified service featuring not products for sale but information designed to satiate the human thirst for knowledge—an asset which is sure to attract much Google traffic especially on topics that happen to be contemporary and time sensitive.

Uploading your Content on Google Base

You can upload your information files to Google Base Servers through various gateways. For instance, you can use the Google Base FTp address to upload content via FTP.
Google also provides an API in order to automate the process. Look for it in the Google API library. Google provides a host of analytic tools to track performance and generate usage statistics.

Benefits of Google Base and Improving Google Traffic Counts

Here is a quick summary of the various benefits of Google Base, which in unison, clearly demonstrate that Google Base is indeed a sound value proposition for the upbeat content
owner:

Google Base is available free of Cost at the present time
Submission of online and offline content is easy, you can submit content either via a Google base API or a data feed.
Currently Google Base is available in two languages– English and German.
Content which you submit on Google Base will eventually be found on Google properties like-Google or Google Maps.
Google Base allows you to add characteristics called tags in which you can describe your content, so that searchers can easily find it. When the individual attributes become more popular, Google will suggest them when others post the same type of content. Popular content will be shown as suggested items in the “choose and existing item type” drop-down menu.

Great Way to Generate Google Traffic

Thus, Google Base makes the process of search and information retrieval a breeze. It provides content owners and aggregators with a dependable platform to post their online and offline content. Google’s welcome decision to even host the offline content when no independent URLs are available is surely the right step in the right direction as it will leave no one excluded If you wish to explore the power and potential of Google Base to generate Google Traffic, welcome to the club. You are certainly heading in the right direction. The first thing you need to do is to identify content that is unique to your niche. Hire a content specialist to develop Google Base content for this purpose if you are unsure of how to do it yourself. Once it meets the parameters Google has established for automated submission, it is time to upload. Use the following link to learn just about everything there is to learn about increasing Google Traffic through Google Base and to upload your Google Base content to generate quality Google traffic: http://base.google.com/support/

The Google Cyber Megaphone

It is customary for Google to make major announcements through official blog posts. Whether it is about managing Google traffic statistics, streamlining keyword research or avoiding the pitfalls of duplicate content, Google communicates entirely through the blogosphere.

Google Caffeine is certainly no exception.In August 2009, Google revealed through an official blog post that it was getting ready to commence research on the next generation of search technologies dubbed with the codeword Caffeine. The reason why Google did not spill the beans about Google Caffeine at that time was simply because Google did not have any beans to spill. The concept was only on the anvil and at a rather preliminary stage. A few months have passed since then and although the fundamentals pertaining to the experiment are not fully formulated, we know enough to be able to judge the direction in which the experiment seems to be heading.

Mission Google 2010

It is the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits ‘under the hood’ of Google’s search engine, which means that most users will not notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we are opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback,

As is evident from the direct quote above, the primary, and in all probability, the secondary emphasis in Google Caffeine will be on innovation combined with improved search architecture. Google recognizes, like all of us do, that technology has progressed on multiple fronts in an explosive fashion ever since the first time Google search technologies were conceived, tested and implemented almost a decade ago. Google now wants to integrate, as seamlessly as possible, just about every new facet of search technology that can be leveraged to its benefit. Google Caffeine is all about harnessing these complex and often diverse technologies so that the search engine major can provide its users with a near-perfect search experience resulting in increased Google traffic for millions of websites.

Under the Cover Design for More Google Traffic

Several Googlers, Matt Cutts included, have indicated that Google’s attempt to solidify its position in the real time search engine space will result in changes that will occur purely “under the cover” or “under the hood” meaning that users will not notice anything significantly different on the surface in terms of the search engine results pages (SERPs) Google will generate. At the end of the day, the goal is to provide those Internet surfers who visit Google’s main website and all its regional search websites with the type and quality of results they expect to receive from a company like Google. End result? Near instant indexing of content posted on the web, improved relevance and a much wider span of indexable web pages—milestones that are fully in line with Google’s user mandate.

Unconventional and innovative thinking processes which usually result in tangible online services have triumphed once again at Almighty Google with the arrival of Google Squared. Before we tell you precisely what Google Squared is and how you can use it to generate qualified and targeted Website traffic on your website to improve both ROI and conversions,

let us first tell you what Google Squared is not.Google Squared has very little, if anything, to do with square routes and mathematical equations at least at the front end. The back end is sure to be a different story since many of Google’s search algorithms are based on complex mathematical calculations that are considered proprietary by Google.

Google Squared is best described as a mini search engine to be used when you need results in a nutshell very quickly presented to you in a graphical and tabular layout. Search results, although highly accurate, are presented in a compressed manner without an option of viewing cache or displaying complex snippet data. Your search results will often include images along with the source of the information. There are other search tools such as Zahdoo.com, Wolfram|Alpha.com and noodlesquares.com which are essentially variations on a similar theme. Google’s tool has both the corporate as well as the research advantage to support it. You should experiment with all the tools we have listed to enjoy the various flavors of performance.

Here is how Google describes Google Squared:

Google Squared is a search tool that helps you quickly build a collection of facts from the Web, for any topic you specify. Facts about your topic are organized into a table of items and attributes (we call them “Squares” for fun). Customize these Squares to see just the items and attributes you’re interested in. See the websites that served as sources for the information in your Square.”