EPN Gets Smaller, Traffic Gets Bigger
It has now been several months since the first wave of Ebay Partner Network slaps. Since then I’ve heard many stories of accounts being disabled, both from strangers as well as from friends of mine. Those of us who still have accounts in good standing can’t help but feel a little bit paranoid, especially with the new terms.
If you aren’t up to speed with the new changes to the EPN program, some adjustments have been made that further restrict the types of promotion allowed. One major change is that it is no longer acceptable to drop your EPN links on ANY site that you do not own and have complete control over. This includes social networking sites like Twitter as well as free blogging platforms such as Blogger and WordPress.com. The only exception is if you obtain permission in writing from Ebay Partner Network prior to using these promotional methods.
As a precaution I’ve spent some time the past couple days disabling old links (the ones that I can) that were dropped on sites like those listed above. It’s a bit unnerving to think that although maybe only a handful of clicks are coming from these now illegitimate sites, it is still technically enough for EPN to show me the door. However…
The Bright Side
I’m not sure how exactly this works out, or if it just mere coincidence, but Google traffic on my PhpBay sites is way up. Like 110% up. Of course this is just the past week, so I’m not exactly counting on this being consistent. But I’ve talked to other phpbay site admins and I’m not the only one experiencing this phenomenon.
I’m only speculating, of course, but could it be that the high (and getting higher) barrier for entry to the EPN program as well as the harsh promotion restrictions has caused Google to attribute a little more credibility to phpbay/BANS type sites? It would make sense, since autoblogs and black hat type sites monetized via EPN are now few and far between.
After all, Steve Hartman and the folks at EPN have made it very clear that they are shifting their business model away from quantity and now trying to focus on quality. Wouldn’t it make sense that Google would make a slight algorithm tweak in response to these recent changes?
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. But…maybe not.
Wisdom Nugget
Also, I’ve gotten some questions from folks asking about how I set up my phpbay sites in order to get a favorable Google ranking. That is a whole different post in itself, but I will say that I’ve seen a ton of them making the same mistake: A ton of phpbay results on the homepage.
When I first started building them, I wanted to of course get as many EPN clicks as possible, so it made sense that I should put clickable auction results on the home page to minimize the time visistors spent on my site and get them clicking through to Ebay as soon as possible.
I learned pretty quickly that that is a very short-sighted mentality, and in the long run you will do much better to have unique content on a pleasant looking site with user-friendly navigation. There is a lot you can do with phpbay to narrow down categories and provide a lot of value to your visitors. I know it sounds corny, but my EPN dashboard makes me feel a lot better about it.
So, keep the results off the front page. Yes, that is a protip.
Results can work on the front page though, I think the trick is to not mass produce the sites, they work best when you stop, think and plan the site to be as unique and tailored to audience as pos.
Do you think that Ebay slap was what resulted in the Bans guys packing it in?
Shit man, my EPC is craptacular across all sites and niches with Ebay. Haven’t been able to pull any of them up, really. Suppose I might as well try taking results off of the front page. Tried everything else, after all…
“Do you think that Ebay slap was what resulted in the Bans guys packing it in?”
Back in August of 2009, not many were “packing it in.” Many got de-listed by Google for having shitty sites, or caught by eBay for using black hat tactics. I was glad to see them go.
Currently, many BANS veterans have stopped producing BANS sites. Not because BANS is bad, but it is outdated. WordPress has made great strides with people producing plugins and themes. WP sites with good content rank well in Google and ePN seems to like them, as well.
The BANS creators have little interest in further developing BANS. They are intent on selling the entire platform, so the smart ones who bought BANS long ago have moved on to bigger and better opportunities.
The only ones still promoting BANS are those members who have built their business around selling BANS to others through blogs and backlinks. Once BANS has completely folded, they are going to be pretty lonely trying to sell it to each other.
I used to push BANS because I believed in it and it worked. Because of the change by ePN to a QCP payout, BANS is not a viable program, as it wasn’t designed for “Quality Clicks.”
Today, I wouldn’t promote something that is truly dying, to someone that has little to spend.