One of the things that concerned me when packing in the “real” job in exchange for the life of an affiliate marketer was the lack of training availble. Granted, you learn as you do. And affiliate marketing is certainly about “doing”! So i have no qualms there… But it’s still nice to be able to push yourself, or to see if you actually know as much as you think you do.
So i decided to take the Google Adwords exam. 110 Adwords related questions later, and i managed to score a pretty nice 82% (75% required to pass). I was slightly dissapointed with several ambiguous questions, but overall very pleased to have passed. If anyone is planning to take the exam i would reccomend this blog post, and the quizes on the Adwords learning centre.
So what does this mean for me?
Well… I get this nice fancy badge.
I get some promotional credits for any adwords accounts that i will manage in the future.
And i get the satisfaction of achieving something (other than sales), and knowing that i have pushed myself that little bit further. Plus it might be a nice reference to have if i ever do decide to go back to the “real” world.
So whats next?
Well it looks like the Yahoo exam is currently down. See here and here. (the email address bounced). I am also tempted by the Microsoft adExcellence exam, although having just started with them i might wait a month or 2.
Anybody else got any ideas? I might go back to trying to generate some sales now 
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Been thinking about doing this myself. How much prep-work did you do before taking the test?
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Hi Dean,
its hard to say. I do a “fair” amount of PPC (log in every day, but i’m not really a heavy user). So i went through each of the quizes on the learning center, read the 10 tips from seoptimise, and then took the plunge.
Also, i didnt want to “waste” weeks revising for something that i could already pass.
Hope this helps…
Peter
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Congrats on passing the GAP exam Peter!
Do check out http://www.adexcellence.com for details of the Microsoft adCenter Test.
Contact me through http://www.adcentercommunity.com and I’ll tell you how to sign up and give you some pointers.
Cheers
Mel
September 24th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Thanks Mel,
i will check it out!
Peter
September 24th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Thanks, I took a few of the quizes on the adwords quiz site and scored pretty much 100% on most of them.
Might have to give it a shot since it’s only $50 and would certainly help attract new clients.