So I had high hopes for the Google Cash Detective 2 -- seeing as though I even continually logged on to the site on its hectic release date sitting at my husband's hospital bedside to buy it.But alas, for all the nifty searching and keyword discovering you can do with the thing, I still canceled GCD2 and requested my $997 refund to my Amex and for the $97 monthly charges not to begin.
Why did I cancel Google Cash Detective 2 and ask for a refund?
One disappointment was not being able to uncover keywords for my main affiliate earner, Amazon.com
Typing in all variations of Amazon.com* as the url with * everything didn't return nearly as many keywords as you know folks are running to Amazon.com products. (Even AdGooRoo couldn't do this either, because there are just too many.)
Couldn't figure out who the elusive "tag=googhydr-20" Amazon affiliate is either...
...which a lot of techies are trying to figure out.
If you type darn near any product into Google, you'll see googhydr-20 has got a lot (but not all) of Adwords ads running to Amazon.com -- some claim he or Google or Amazon, whoever the mystery super-tagging affiliate is, has 5 million keywords tagged.
So I typed http://*googhydr-20 into the URL search box on GCD2 and all variations thereof and it just hung.
There are millions of keywords on Google Cash Detective 2, though...
...and I had fun discovering stuff that people look to buy, like this Swisher Skid-Steer Horizontal/Vertical Log Splitter #LS5-24S
. (There, you guys who wanted to buy GCD2 but didn't can have that tip for free.)While it's only a handful of people literally searching for "buy SkidSteer" log splitter or whatever, at least if one person buys one, it's good commission on it since it's such a high price.
I've yet to sell one of them, but I've got a campaign still running for them.
I do like Chris Carpenter's tip on Google Cash Detective 2...
...the video that shows you how to gain position over an affiliate with a long-running campaign for a product you want to promote.
He says to set your CPC pretty high, like 5 bucks or something -- but set your daily budget for that campaign low, so you won't spend too much money.
Then, that high CPC should get you some impressions and therefore some clicks -- and as your CTR increases, your CPC will go down, and you can adjust your bids down accordingly. I thought that was a neat tip that I didn't even think of.
So GCD2 is helping me sell stuff...
...like wine online, which I got 1 sale on thru MyWinesDirect.com (yes, I spied another LinkShare affiliate selling them) and it was cool until I saw I paid for 132 clicks on Adwords, but LinkShare only tracked about 40 to MyWinesDirect.com -- I emailed the affiliate manager and he just said that was weird and that they don't take away clicks.
I wasn't satisfied with that answer, and maybe God wasn't satisfied with my excuse that since Jesus turned water into wine as His first miracle, it can't be all that bad to sell wine gift baskets online to 21-year-old and above adults, but maybe that didn't fly with Him. So I stopped that campaign. (Yeah, maybe the woman who commented earlier that it's unethical to spy on other people's campaign was right -- but I know folks can spy on my Amazon ads thru GCD2, but they didn't all show up.)
But I'm still selling Amazon products...
...ironically thru products I pray God gave me thru another idea: Turn my CPTimes.com into a product blog showing the best-selling products on the Internet like books, videos, home improvement stuff, etc.
So checking those lists daily gives me fascinating insight into what people are buying daily, moreso than GCD2 did.
Plus, I've got taxes and an Amex bill to pay, so I figure it's a good time to be flush with cash.
Amazingly, I just balanced my checking account and He is still keeping me rather well, despite all my crazy buying and stuff that has popped off lately.
The Healer healed my husband, and He's healing my bank accounts, too!
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