Bidding On Trademarked Names

[Lynn Terry]

From Perry Marshall
December 15, 2004


The US Federal judge ruled in Google's favor
today - it *is* OK to bid on trademarked terms,
like company names, brand names, etc.

The giant insurance company Geico sued Google
for allowing competing advertisers to dilute their brand
on Google Adwords, but Judge Brinkema said
"There is no evidence that this activity alone
causes confusion."

Bottom line for you: You can bid on trademarked
names, you just can't use those names in your ads.

Now Geico is understandably unhappy with the
fact that when people search for "Geico Insurance,"
other insurance company ads show up on the right side.

Yes, it cost them a lot of money in brand- and
reputation-buiding to get someone to search for
Geico, and then other insurance companies jump
in the fray and grab some traffic.

This is a double edged sword. If you're a little
guy trying to cash in, this is great. If you're
a bigger guy and you've got a reputation you've
built - if people actively search for you or
your company - than you're probably not so happy
about this.

Well there's an easy solution for Geico, or you,
or any other advertiser who wants to prvent this
from happening. Make sure your website turns
visitors into dollars (like I constantly harp
about)... and then launch an affiliate program.

See, if Geico had an affiliate program, they'd
have dozens of affiliates bidding on "Geico" and
they would literally crowd out the rival advertisers.
When people type in "Geico Insurance" they're
a LOT more likely to click on an ad that represents
Geico than anything else. The rival ads get a lower
click thru rate and almost entirely vanish.

The next objection, of course, is going to be
"Hey wait a minute, I spent all this money building
my brand, why should I share the money with affiliates
now, when someone finally decides to buy insurance?"

The answer is: Yes, you will share your profits
with others, but those same affiliates will advertise
in nooks and crannies on the Internet that you couldn't
possibly reach through the usual corporate
command-and-control mentality. What you pay
them for searches on "Geico" will be very small
in relation to the traffic they bring you from
*literally* a million other places. Especially
with a business as big as insurance.

What I teach in my books, courses and coaching
programs is that when you use pay-per-click traffic
to perfect the sales process on your website... then
add affiliate marketing to the mix... you get explosive
results. You achieve a "tipping point" where everyone
sends you their traffic because your program pays
more than everyone else's. It's a really, really
comfortable position to be in.

And it's not voodoo - it's hard science.

If you're an experienced Adwords advertiser, then you
definitely need to know about my Ultra-Advanced course.
It picks up where the Definitive Guide leaves off,
laying out an entirely new level of strategies for winning
this game: www.AdwordsBlackBelt.com

If you're new to Adwords, my Definitive Guide
to Google AdWords shows you how to reach that elusive
tipping point, one simple step at a time. I recommend the
Expanded Version which includes a special tele-clinic called
"Jetfuel for GoogleCash" : www.perrymarshall.com/adwords

To your success,

Perry Marshall

[Hock Ng]

Hi Lynn and everyone,

This is an EXTREMELY important ruling - for us affiliate marketers, that is. Bidding on trademarked terms can be very lucrative in terms of ROI for Adwords campaigns. But the key to know if this will work for your particular campaigns is to test. I would suggest putting these terms in a separate ad group just to compare with the other keywords that you are currently using.

I also came across another article related to Adwords policy but this one does not bode well for affiliate marketers. You can read about .

What do you think?

Hock

[wahmjennie]

It's called "Free Enterprise" when the competition crowds out another company with better marketing, better customer service, or a better product. It's how a really great market works.

Great Ruling!

Intelligent people should be rewarded. Geico would be smart to follow Perry's advice.

[HowardH]

[Lynn Terry]

[HowardH]