PPC Affiliate Marketing
PPC Affiliate
Marketing
How to Use Pay Per Click to Be a Successful Affiliate Marketer
Brought To You By
https://www.tradebit.com
Table of Contents
T able of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
I NTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
T ools of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
P romoting Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
G etting Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
L ocating Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
P ay Per Click Affiliate Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
K eywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
P ay Per Click Affiliate Marketing Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0
G oogle Adwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2
L anding Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6
L anding Page Hosting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7
L anding Page Do’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0
L anding Page Do Not’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0
G oogle Adwords Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0
G oogle Adwords Sign Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1
P ay Per Click Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1
P ay Per Click Do’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1
P ay Per Click Do Not’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2
P ay Per Click Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2
K eywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2
K eyword Do’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3
K eyword Do Not’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3
Y ahoo Search Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3
M icrosoft Ad Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4
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O ther Pay Per Click Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4
R ESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5
A ffiliate Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5
F inancial Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6
T ools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7
G LOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8
P AY PER CLICK AFFILIATE MARKETING CHECKLIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 9
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INTRODUCTION
Congratulations! You are now on your way to learning more about Pay Per Click Affiliate
Marketing.
Inside this report you’ll learn how to set up your first pay per click campaign as an affiliate
marketer. You’ll learn how to use the power of pay per click to make money.
Pay Per Click Affiliate Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. It can be both fun and addictive.
Ready to give pay per click a try?
Let’s Get Started!
Tools of the Trade
Achieving success with pay per click advertising doesn’t require a lot of fancy tools. Of course,
there are some nifty ones out there that you’ll probably want to invest in later if you decide pay
per click affiliate marketing is for you.
Right now, you’ll need a computer with reliable Internet access. If you have spreadsheet
software and are accustomed to using it, you’ll probably find yourself using it. If you don’t’ have
spreadsheet software and haven’t a clue how to use it, don’t worry.
High speed Internet isn’t a must for pay per click affiliate marketing, but it does make things
easier. If DSL is available, you might want to switch once you get income coming in. You can
also take advantage of a dialup accelerator.
Protect your computer and your data.
Your computer is at the center of your affiliate marketing business. Before you even log on to the
Internet, make sure your computer is protected. Surfing the Internet, researching products and
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keywords can expose your computer to all sorts of viruses and spyware. Make sure the firewall
on your computer is activated.
Many experts recommend using at least 2 anti-virus programs and 2 anti-spy programs. You can
get free spyware and anti-virus protection from AVG. There are several good paid programs
also. Whatever protection you choose, remember to use. If it isn’t possible to set the software to
run automatically, make a habit of manually running it daily. Backup data and files regularly.
Email
Set up one email account specifically for affiliate marketing. Free accounts are available at
gmail, yahoo and hotmail. Use this email address only when signing up for affiliate programs or
managing pay per click accounts.
Get another email account to use when researching. Use this email address when signing up for
free newsletters, reports, etc. You don’t want to use your personal or business email addresses
because they’ll fill up fast.
Getting Paid
Most merchants and affiliate programs give you the option of payment by check, automatic
deposit or Paypal. Some merchants use only Paypal. Some offer a variety of payment options.
Sign up for a free Paypal account if you haven’t done so already. Use your affiliate email
account for your Paypal email.
If you’ll be receiving commission checks by mail, you might want to get a Post Office Box if
you don’t already have one. Paychecks may be safer in the post office box than in the mail box.
Preparation Checklist:
o Computer.
o Firewall on Computer.
o Anti-spy and Anti-virus software installed and running.
o Email address for Affiliate Marketing and Pay Per Click Ad Management.
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o Email address for research, newsletters and general web surfing.
o Paypal account, if needed.
o Post Office Box, optional.
Promoting Products
Getting Ideas
It’s been said that the hardest part of selling anything is deciding what to sell. The best place to
start is to consider what you know and what you live. Grab a sheet of paper and start listing
everything you enjoy. What are you passionate about? Do you have special skills? What about
hobbies or other interests?
Make a list of 10 or 12 things that you enjoy. Topics that make you smile when you think about
them. Finding something you’re passionate about makes it easier to be passionate about your
affiliate marketing business. Here’s a few ideas to help you get started:
Accounting Arts & Crafts Automobiles Birds Baseball
Books Calligraphy Carpentry Cats Catering
Coaching Computers Cooking Dating Decorating
Dogs EBooks Ezines Fitness Flowers
Football Games Gardening Genealogy Golf
Home Biz\ Home Décor Internet Landscaping Magazines
Marketing Martial Arts Movies Music Parenting
Pet Care Pet Grooming Pet Training Plants Plumbing
Recipes Relationships Romance Sewing Skin Care
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Soccer Software Spirituality Teens Travel
Websites Weight Loss
Have you made a nice, long list of possibilities? Make a shorter list now of your top ten or
twelve ideas. What type of products or services could you sell for each of those ideas?
Locating Products
The quickest way to find merchants with affiliate programs and browse their products is to go
directly to an Affiliate Network.
Clickbank, Paydotcom and Commission Junction are three popular ones.
Browsing the categories may give you even more ideas about products you’d like to promote.
Take the time to look at commission rates, affiliate requirements and other fine print information.
Make sure the commission you’ll earn is worth your time.
Look at payment options and times. How often does the merchant pay or network pay? How are
affiliates paid? Some programs pay at least once a month. Some pay only 3 or 4 times a year.
What is required to qualify for the affiliate program?
Some merchants require completed applications, established websites and specific traffic
numbers before issuing approval. Others automatically approve all applicants.
With Clickbank and Paydotcom approval is usually instant and automatic. Commission Junction
features merchants that have varying requirements. Some will approve you even if you don’t
have a website. Others have stricter requirements.
There are other affiliate networks. We’ve included a list of them in the Resource section at the
end of this report. The three we’re focusing on here tend to be the most popular and the easiest to
get signed up for.
Signing Up
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Sign up at with the affiliate network that has the products you wish to promote. You might want
to go ahead and sign up at all three. There’s no charge to do so.
Once you are approved at Clickbank and Paydotcom, you choose the particular products you
wish to promote. Whenever you choose a product, you’re given a special code that identifies
you. This code is attached to the link that leads to the product page. This is your affiliate link.
Example of an affiliate link: https://www.tradebit.com You may have seen affiliate links in
your web browser’s address page before. Since this link is an example and not a real one, it
doesn’t work.
One of the first thing you’ll probably want to do as an affiliate marketer is to find a way to hide
that code. Unfortunately, there are people who will change it or delete it, thereby cheating you
out of a commission. There are several free and paid methods. We’ll cover them late.
Find 2 or 3 products for the top 2 or 3 ideas on your list. Bookmark the site(s) featuring them.
You might even want to print out a copy of the site for reference later when you get into
keyword selection.
Checklist:
o Sign up for an affiliate account.
o Choose 1 to 3 products.
o Copy and paste your affiliate link into notepad for later use.
Pay Per Click Affiliate Marketing
What is pay per click affiliate marketing? It is the use of pay per click ads to sell products and/or
services. When website owners and affiliate marketers use pay per click marketing, they write
keyword based ads.
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Once the ads are written, placement is decided by bid amount. There is no charge for ad
placement until someone clicks on the ad. The key to success in pay per click is creating an eyecatching
ad containing specific, focused keywords and monitoring ad cost.
When someone surfs the net and clicks on the ad, the cost is equal to the bid amount that has
been set. For instance, if the bid is .$05 on the keyword hypnotherapist, a nickel will be deducted
from the pay per click account every time someone clicks on the ad featuring the word
hypnotherapist.
Keywords
Success in any type of affiliate marketing advertising revolves around keywords. Keywords are
especially important in pay per click. The cost of the ad is determined by the bid.
Keywords are the words that people type into the search bar when they’re looking for something
online. Example: People looking for a Norah Jones CD will either type “Norah Jones CD” or the
title of the CD into the search bar.
The key to selling a Norah Jones CD would be in using the keywords “Norah Jones CD” and not
the generic terms “music” or “CD.” Keywords must be as specific and focused as possible.
In order to compile a good keyword list, you’ll need to make use of a keyword research tool.
Here are a few of the three popular ones:
Good Keywords a free downloadable software
G oogle Adwords Keyword Tool free online tool
SEOBook Keyword Tool free online tool
Wordtracker subscription but offers a free trial.
123Promotion free online tool featuring Overture & Wordtracker
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When you type one of the words from your list into the search box on a keyword tool, the tool
will tell you how many people searched that word or phrase recently. You’ll also see all the ways
they searched for it.
Example: Go to the SEOBook Keyword Tool and type in the word music.
The results show that millions of searches have been done for the word music. Music is much too
broad a keyword. It must be narrowed down. How do you know how many searches make a
good place to start?
Some successful affiliate marketers say that 15,000 searches are enough. Many affiliate
marketing professionals recommend using keywords that have somewhere between 30,000 and
50,000 searches per month.
If you look on down the returned music search list, you’ll see the number of searches for each
phrase. You can choose one search term that has 30,000 to 50,000 searches or you can combine
several keywords and add the total searches for each until the total adds up to 30,000 to 50,000
searches.
Now, let’s try typing the word music into the Google Adword Tool. We can choose to run an
exact match, a broad match or a phrase match. Google will give us an idea of how often a phrase
is being searched and how much competition there is for that keyword.
Type your product keywords into one of the keyword search tools. If you are an experienced
spreadsheet user, copy and paste the results into a spreadsheet. Use more than one of the
keyword tools. Keep adding to your list of potential keywords. Note the keyword or phrase (you
can search phrases as well as individual words) that gets the most results for each product.
Pay Per Click Affiliate Marketing Budget
Keyword Budget is an important part of pay per click marketing. Bid too much and you’ll go
broke, possibly even without sales to show for it. Bid too low and you’ll never get clicks which
mean you won’t get visitors. No visitors mean no sales.
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The best way to set a keyword budget is to take sales figures and costs and do some calculations.
However, if you’ve never sold anything before, there are no sales figures to plug into the
formulas.
For the rest of the keyword and ad exercises, we’re going to use a Clickbank tattoo provider who
pays $23.32 per sale and states that the product has a conversion rate of 100. This means that it
takes 100 visitors to sell one item.
Let’s find out what a visitor is worth.
Visitor Value
Here’s what we know:
The Clickbank Merchant we signed with pays $23.32 per sale.
It takes 100 visitors to get one sale.
Visitor Value = commission amount divided by the number of visitors.
$23.32 ÷ 100 = $.23
So each visitor is worth 23 cents.
This is important to know because you don’t want to pay more for a click than that click (visitor)
is worth.
Our click cost limit is 23 cents, preferably less.
Many people lose money on pay per click affiliate marketing because they do not keep up with
how much they’re spending on ad campaigns and because they fail to check the return on
investment for ads.
In our case, we know that spending more than 23 cents per visitor will mean losing money
instead of making money. It’s very important, especially for the first few days of a new ad
campaign, to pay close attention to the clicks and results.
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Many marketers agree that after an ad has received 200 page views, you have enough
information to do something. If there have been no sales, either the ad isn’t focused and well
written or there just isn’t any market for the product. If you aren’t monitoring the ad information
regularly, you won’t know when you’ve reached 200 views.
Let’s see what we can do with a Tattoo pay per click affiliate marketing campaign.
Pay Per Click Programs
The two largest pay per click providers are Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing.
Google Adwords
Google is the king of pay per click programs. Cost to sign up is $5.00 (given as bid credit) and
your ads can appear in as quick as ten minutes. Since Google is syndicated, ads appear in front of
even more customers. You can target your ads to a particular country, area, or even zip code if
you wish.
While there are less expensive pay per click programs, Google’s Adwords offers several
advantages. Relevant ads rise, price monitoring is automatic, ads go live almost immediately, a
low minimum deposit gets you started quickly, ad areas can be targeted by country or language,
plenty of tools are provided for users and ad price can be set by the word or by the ad.
Google provides several tools to help users succeed. The Google Website Optimizer can help
you test the potential conversion rate of your landing page. As with some other pay per click
programs, Google awards relevancy. The more focused and relevant an ad is, the more viewers
click through. The higher the click through rate, the lower the actual cost per click.
Once you register for a free account, you’re ready to start a pay per click campaign. Use the
Google Keyword Tool to enter all of your keywords. If you haven’t already, you can use the tool
to generate more keywords.
Start with As Many Keywords as Possible
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Your keyword list should contain every word you can think of that applies to searching for your
product. It’s okay to totally brainstorm and to add plenty of keywords with the Google Keyword
tool. The point right now is to get as many keywords as possible.
Additional keyword sources include forums and groups. What words and phrases are people
using? As you continue pay per click affiliate marketing, you’ll want to stay up to date on slang
or buzz words related to your product. Consult an online or print thesaurus to find good
synonyms.
Try typing your keyword in Google or another search engine. Visit the first few sites that come
up in the search results. Click on View, then source to see what keywords the site is using. If the
page isn’t encrypted, you’ll be able to read the list of keywords near the top of the source
information.
Ad Campaigns are made up of ad groups. For instance, an ad campaign to promote tattoos could
consist of separate ad groups focused on angel tattoos, dragon tattoos and fairy tattoos. Use
different ad campaigns for separate product types, different projects or different websites.
Ad groups can be based on several different criteria, including design, style, misspellings,
personality types, seasonal promotions, special promotions. Ad groups may contain just one ad
or several ads.
Clean and Customize Keyword List
Look at your keyword list. Are there any words there that aren’t relevant to the product?
Example: We’ve chosen a Clickbank tattoo site to promote. Three of the top designs on the site
are an angel tattoo, a fairy tattoo and a dragon tattoo.
Our keyword list contains angel tattoo, tattoo design, tribal tattoo, tattoo removal, Celtic tattoo
and skull tattoo, fairy tattoo and dragon tattoo, tattoo piercing, and tattoo needles.
The keywords tribal, removal, Celtic and skull can be deleted since they don’t directly apply to
the designs we’ve chosen to promote. (This is a short example. Your first keyword list can be
quite long before it’s cleaned up.)
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We’ll now create one ad group on tattoos. There will be three ads in this group, one ad for each
type of tattoo. Think of each ad as a sort of classified ad.
Google policy tells us how the ad must be written:
Line 1: headline, maximum of 25 characters
Line 2: maximum of 35 characters.
Line 3: maximum of 35 characters.
Line 4: URL
The word ‘online’ cannot be used on Line #1. Superlatives (best, most, etc.) are not allowed in
any of the lines. Multiple exclamation points and other excessive punctuation is also prohibited.
Line 1: Ad Headline
This will be the first thing viewers notice. It should get their attention, be focused enough to
weed out the ‘tire kickers’ who are browsing, not buying, and should consist of your #1 keyword
search term.
Line 2: Emotional appeal to viewer. State your product’s best benefit here.
Line 3: Factual appeal to viewer. State your products most inspiring feature here.
Display URL: Include words here that emphasize the product benefit
Destination URL: Actual URL that takes viewer to landing page.
Note: Ad readers like numbers. Try including product price ($xx), percentages (20% off) or other
numbers in your ad.
Writing Angel Tattoo Ad:
Angel Tattoos.
Exclusive Designs.
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Quality Creations.
https://www.tradebit.com
This doesn’t look bad but it’s missing a call to action. Let’s try again.
Angel Tattoos.
One-of-a-Kind Creations.
Get your Guardian Angel Now.
https://www.tradebit.com
It isn’t Hallmark but it does include a call to action – something that can increase your click
through rate tremendously. The click through rate is determined by how many times viewers
actually click on your add in ratio to how many times the ad was shown. A good click through
rate not only can result in more affiliate sales, it can result in reduced pay per click fees.
When writing ads, make sure you don’t exceed the character limit. Your keywords should be as
focused and specific as possible. A call to action (buy now, hurry, limited offer, etc.) should be
included. Note: the action phrase click here is not allowed.
The important thing to remember when writing pay per click affiliate marketing ads is that you
pay for every click. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to make your ad so focused and targeted
that only potential buyers click on it
You don’t want to pay for the clicks of web surfers who are just browsing. In the case of the
angel tattoo design, the goal is to provide specific information for someone who is already
interested in and looking for an angel tattoo.
The same would apply to the dragon tattoo ad and the fairy tattoo ad. The simplest budget option
for Adwords is to set a low daily budget ($5.00 or so) and to set a click price based on the entire
ad instead of for each keyword.
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As time goes by and you see which keywords are getting results, write more ads based on those
words. Do monitor your ads closely. If you get too many clicks and not enough sales, try putting
the price in your ad.
Don’t activate any ads yet. In order for the ad to function, you need a page waiting for the
customer at the URL you’ve listed.
Why not just send the customer right to the merchant product page? There are several reasons.
Google Adwords does not allow landing pages (the page where the customer will land when they
click on the URL) to contain pop-ups or pop-unders. Most merchant pages are highly ‘tricked
out’ with some sort of pop-up or floating ad.
By sending the customer to your page first, you get a chance to capture customer information,
pre-sell the product (a very effective practice) and establish your web page. If you have no
experience with websites, don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be hard.
Landing Pages
Google Adwords Rules and Regulations
Adwords’ rules and regulations can and do change. Google provides a free guide to help you get
started, along with information online and the Adwords Blog.
When it comes to landing pages, Google Adwords expects a link that works. (Seems like a nobrainer
but they obviously had to put it in writing.)
Once a viewer clicks on your ad, the promoted product should not be more than 3 clicks away.
The landing page cannot contain pop-ups or pop-unders. Clicking on the back arrow at any time
must return the user to Google.
The landing page is a vital part of pay-per-click marketing. If you send viewers directly to the
Clickbank merchant’s page, you’re required to show yourself as an affiliate. Google allows two
affiliate links per merchant per page. Two. If you aren’t one of the top two producing pay per
click affiliate marketers for the product, don’t bother writing ads.
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URL’s featuring affiliate links or long URLs do not look professional and this can reduce
clickability. Example: Promoting the tattoo site with the Clickbank link would look something
like this – https://www.tradebit.com Some merchant affiliate links are quite lengthy.
Example: https://www.tradebit.com
These are fictional examples but they illustrate the problem. One solution to affiliate links? Go to
https://www.tradebit.com and shorten the link. This is a popular solution. So popular that the words tiny
URL look almost generic. https://www.tradebit.com also offers what they call the preview version, meant to
instill more customer confidence. This version just adds the world ‘preview’ to the newly created
URL.
You can also download profit protector and use it to create redirects. Since this does require FTP
experience, you might prefer to use URL freeze. It’s free and doesn’t involve any uploading of
files. You’ll find it at https://www.tradebit.com.
The best solution to the URL issue is to get your own domain name. Use your keywords.
Example: We’ll pretend that https://www.tradebit.com is available and use it for the exercises we’re
doing.
You cannot set up an actual Google Adwords campaign until you have a URL to direct ads to.
When you type your ad into the Google Adwords ad setup, you’ll be required to provide the
URL. Google will follow the URL, making sure it works and that your landing page contains the
same keywords.
To register a domain name, go to a domain name registrar by typing domain name into the search
engine search bar. There are several popular ones. GoDaddy, and Hostgator are two of them.
Since you’re going to need a 2 page website, it will be easier to get both name and web address
at the same place. While it is possible to point domain names to any location, it takes time.
Landing Page Hosting
To promote affiliate products with pay per click marketing, a lot of bandwidth or server space is
not required. You don’t have to purchase a big, expensive hosting plan. There’s a good chance
that the simplest plan will do nicely.
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If you’re new to website design, it helps if your website host has built in website creator
software. It isn’t necessary. There are a wide variety of free and low cost website templates
available online. They come with directions for altering the template and uploading it to the
server at your web host address.
Creating a Landing Page
Once you have a name and an address, it’s time to create a landing page that results in sales.
Keep it simple. Many marketers state that a simple two column page is all you need. For a header
at the top of your page, consider downloading a banner from the affiliate program.
If our example site https://www.tradebit.com provided free banners for affiliates, getting one would be a
simple matter of going to the page where affiliate tools and links are provided.
Page one should be where the customer arrives when clicking on the pay per click ad. The
second page is the About page. That’s it. Two pages. Google expects to find a home page, an
about page and contact information.
Three key features of a good landing page:
· Easy to Read
· Attractive and Professional
· Directly Represent What Ad Promotes
The landing page should match the ad – it should contain the same keywords. Write a short
review or article about the product you are promoting. Put text links inside the article to the
merchant page.
Example promo written for domain name of https://www.tradebit.com:
The Ebony Angel Tattoo by renowned tattoo artist Cherise is truly a work of art. The ethereal
glow of the angel wings gives the tattoo the look of a living, breathing creature. Crimson etching
shadowing the wings lend an aura of dangerous power… more
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The hyperlink for the word ‘more’ leads to the merchant page. The phrase ‘Angel Tattoo’ and
other keywords, (tattoo, design, etc) should be bold and can also be hyperlinked to the sales
page. This text can be a two to three paragraph article or a short introduction.
Your landing page must hook and hold viewers attention in just a few seconds. Product image(s)
should be placed to the left side of the page.
Other Landing Page Contents
A free newsletter sign up form should be included on the page. This is often in the upper right or
left corners of the page. Many web hosting services that feature website builder software also
provide easy to use forms to include on pages. Some web hosts also include a free autoresponder
to handle the signups.
Contact information should reflect the email address you set up with your hosting provider or a
free email address that you will check frequently.
Opinions vary on how many products to feature on a page. Since the angel tattoo, fairy tattoo and
dragon tattoo are all tattoos; all three could be featured on the same landing page. In this case, an
article or product review would be done for each tattoo.
You can keep the landing page fresh and continually updated by grabbing an article feed and
having articles about tattoo related topics showing on the page. These should be positioned
below your tattoo promo material.
Using RSS article feeds
https://www.tradebit.com and other article sites allow articles to be used as long as resource boxes are
included. If you are using the https://www.tradebit.com feed, you don’t have to worry about anything
except making sure the feed works. https://www.tradebit.com has a high ranking, another good reason to
have them linked to your page.
To get an https://www.tradebit.com feed, go to https://www.tradebit.com There you can scroll down to
the https://www.tradebit.com arts and entertainment - tattoo section. Click on the orange feed button. The
copy and paste the address shown at the top of the page. It will end in xml. In this case it is
https://www.tradebit.com
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This will be the feed address needed to add the feed to your landing page. If the website builder
software that came with your webhosting doesn’t allow easy, automatic feed insertion, there are
many free RSS tutorials online.
Search engines like fresh content and a feed that updates daily is fresh content you don’t have to
be doing manually.
Landing Page Do’s
Do deliver what the ad promises.
Do include ad headline in landing page headline.
Do limit or remove navigation
Do use the search terms at the top of the landing page so that viewers know they’ve landed on
the right page.
Landing Page Do Not’s
Do not use the same old boring text.
Do not clutter the page.
Do not make it easy for the customer to leave the page. (Keep navigation bar a simple one –
home and about.)
Google Adwords Budget
The simplest way to begin an Adwords campaign is to set your daily budget at $5.00. You can
watch daily to see if your ads are drawing clicks. It’s been estimated that 95% of those who lose
money on pay per click advertising do so because they fail to keep an eye on not only the daily
budget but the results of ads.
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Often the most popular keywords will be entirely too expensive to bid on. This is where a long
keyword list can come in handy. Try using more of the words that cost less, in addition to
phrases and terms.
When ads are producing clicks that result in product sales, you can cut your bid amount in half or
even by two-thirds and still get traffic.
Google Adwords Sign Up
Google Adwords Help Center
Pay Per Click Advantages
When used correctly, pay per click ads get immediate results.
Pay per click ads give you the power to test a business idea and find out if there is a market for it
before investing a lot of money.
Pay Per Click Do’s
Do research keywords carefully.
Do use specific, focused keywords.
Do monitor ad campaigns closely.
Do set a budget and stick with it.
Do shoot for a position somewhere between 3rd and 7th.
Do know your profit margin and conversion rate.
Do include keywords in ad titles.
Do consider current event keywords.
Do consider buzz keywords.
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Pay Per Click Do Not’s
Do not automatically bid for the highest spot.
Do not ignore budget.
Do not forget to keep an eye on ads & monitor their performance.
Do not put off turning off ad campaigns that are not getting results.
Do not get involved in bidding wars.
Do not use direct URLs to the merchant site.
Pay Per Click Ads
Typical pay per click ads consist of a heading, a short summary and the URL where customers
who click on the ad will land. Some pay per click providers allow more words per ad, some
allow less. The rules regarding terms and descriptions used vary from provider to provider.
With some pay per click providers, your ads will appear instantly. With other providers, you
must wait until your ads have been approved.
Once you’ve written an ad, try creating different versions of it. Don’t be afraid to tweak ads and
try them again.
ROI, or return on investment is what matters. To determine the ROI of an ad, subtract the cost of
running the ads from the amount earned from the ads. If the ROI is low or is a negative number,
it’s time to stop the ad and change or delete it.
Keywords
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The success (or failure) of your ad relies very much on your selection of keywords. Keywords,
the words customers will use to find your ad, should be as focused as possible. The more focused
the keyword, the more the ad can potentially earn.
Keyword Do’s
Do Choose Keywords Carefully.
Do Use Specific, focused keywords.
Do use more than one keyword tool to build the best selection.
Do Set Negative Keywords.
Keyword Do Not’s
Do Not Use broad keywords.
Yahoo Search Marketing
Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) operates much like Google and other pay per click
programs. Ads appear on pages in the Yahoo Search Marketing directory area. Yahoo’s help
section features frequently asked questions and topic search options.
Cost to get started is a $5.00 deposit (used as bid credits). Although the fine print states that you
may be charged 10% more than the budget amount that you set, this rarely happens. Yahoo does
automatically charge your credit card every time you run low on funds. Other pay per click
providers do not charge your credit card and add more credit to your account until you choose to
do so.
When signed in to Yahoo Search Marketing, you’ll see id ranges, estimated clicks and estimated
share of clicks. You can change your maximum bid to see how this affects expected traffic and
anticipated costs.
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Remember that it isn’t necessary to be in the #1 position. It’s often better to be at #2 or #3 than it
is to be at #1. What matters is that you are on the first page of search results.
Relevant, well-written ads can result in a high click through rate (CTR) and a higher quality
scoring. Ads that score higher often get discounts on click costs.
Where Google lets you choose exact, broad or phrase matching, Yahoo offers standard and
advanced. Ads set for standard match will show when keywords match the exact terms being
searched, in addition to singular, plural and misspelled versions of your keywords. Advanced
matching displays ads for broad range matching.
Yahoo offers standard and advanced match listings. Standard listings can actually appear above
advanced ones when the standard listing search terms more closely match the words being
searched.
Tags: ppc