Pay Per Click (or PPC) advertising is one of the most cost effective ways of advertising online. PPC can bring in highly targeted traffic to your site at a very low cost. PPC advertising accounts for a large portion of the internet based advertising market, with nearly 8 billion dollars projected to be spent in PPC ads this year (according to Forbes magazine).
So how do PPC search engines work?
These search engines rank listings based on how much the owners of websites will pay for a click from that particular search engine. Advertisers will then bid on these keywords or keyphrases. The highest bidder for a given keyword or keyphrase then will have their site in the top ranking on the PPC search engines – thee second and third highest bidder will follow and so on. The ads from these bidders will then receive prominent placements on search result pages based on the size of their bids per click.
How can you make money by using PPC in your affiliate marketing business? Affiliate programs generally pay a commission only when a referral makes a purchase or opts in to a mailing list (or any number of other conditions) after clicking through your site to reach the merchant. Your earnings will vary since they are dependent on the content of ht site and the amount of traffic received.
One good argument for adding PPC advertising to your affiliate marketing efforts is that it is far easier to make an income using PPC than not using PPC. You’ll make money from every clickthrough made by visitors on the advertiser’s website – you will not have to rely on visitors making a purchase pr performing some other action.
PPC can do a lot for your website; PPC search engines can help you to make money even from those visitors who are not interested in your affiliate program’s products or services – those same visitors who drop in and leave never to be heard from again; PPC gives you a chance to make some income even from these visitors!
You’ll make commissions from visitors who are just searching for relevant products and services while building brand recognition for your website – a valuable end in itself. Visitors who have found what they were looking for on your site are more than likely to come back and look again at what you have to offer.
These affiliate programs also help you to make even more money – when a visitor to your site searches using the PPC search engine and clicks on an advertiser listing, then the advertiser’s account will be deducted from; and 30% 80% of that bid amount will go to you.
Other than making a little extra money for little effort, PPC can also help you to promote your site. Many of these programs let you spend you commissions on advertising instantly and have no minimum earning requirement. This in effect allows you to trade raw visitors for targeted traffic which is more likely to lead to sales.
What will happen if you when you integrate PPC into your affiliate program? PPC programs usually have some easy to use, affiliate friendly tools which are a simple matter to integrate with your site. Most common among these are search boxes, text links, banners and error pages (404 pages). Search engines tend to use custom solutions and can give you whit-label affiliate programs. This lets you integrate co-branded, remotely hosted search engines into your site with just a few simple lines of code.
The benefit? More money for your affiliate program and a small extra income on the side. And once you get a few friends with websites of their own involved, a lifetime of potential commission income.
Where else can you get all of this while making money for your site at the same time? Availing yourself of the resources available to you will let you earn while you earn – no one would argue against that idea.
You should lean more about using PPC search engines as a part of your affiliate program to avoid missing out on the chance to earn more money for your web based business.
29 Comments
Hector Herrera
September 16, 2008This is a terrific articles which clarifies the concept of PPC which needs to be applied carefully to obtain results without losing your shirt in the process.
I really enjoyed the article.
Regards
Hector
www.JuanitaOsborne.com
September 16, 2008PPC is well worth it if you have the budget to advertise and play around with writing the right ads that get noticed and clicked. There are programs that will teach you how to write good ads. I here google assassin is good, but I haven’t tried it.
Bill
September 16, 2008Hi Reed,
I think your approach to PPC has to be well researched, and looking for alternative words for niche products can bring you better results especially if you’re on a budget.
You can’t rule out PPC for obvious reasons but you can get results through organic means, Right now tagging is hugely popular and if you set up you blog right including the deep linking of your affiliate products, you will see results.
These search engines will drive quality targeted traffic as long as you pay close attention to your PPC (Pay Per Click) strategy.
Bills last blog post..The Hard Truth about Affiliate Marketing
Neil thrussell
September 16, 2008Once again, great article Reed.
Neil
http://www.bestucanb.ca
Paul
September 16, 2008Reed,
More and more information you continue to present here…top notch even for the beginner.
You keep “giving away the farm’!
Best,
Paul
Afam Uzoechina
September 16, 2008Hello Reed,
I totally agree with Bill on the necessity of a thorough keyword research to determine the profitability of a particular keyword before embarking on a PPC campaign or else the many benefits or else the advertiser ends up making money for google adwords and CO.
Thanks
Afam
http://www.free-trafficscrets.com
Afam Uzoechinas last blog post..Keyword Research Revealed
Jane
September 16, 2008PPC can be extremely effective, but it can also be very expensive if not done properly. Keyword research is important as mentioned by a couple of others here, but in addition to doing keyword research you also need to determine and monitor those keywords that are most relevant to your site. You need to fine tune and monitor your keywords regularly until you get it right. You do not want to be paying for clicks to your website that are irrelevant because when the visitor gets to your site they’ll realize you don’t have the information they are looking for.
Be specific with your PPC advertising and it will be much less costly and much more cost effective in the end.
I monitor my PPC advertising daily…sometimes more than once a day until I know it’s working. Don’t be afraid to throw out keywords that are costing you money without results!
P.S. Reed…I found the article a little confusing. At some points it sounded like you were talking about Adwords and at other points I thought you were talking about Adsense. Or were you talking about a combination?
Jane
http://www.sales.yournichetemplates.com
donald epps
September 16, 2008Hi, my name is donald epps Ive got three web sites with very little traffic I try every way I know how but don’t get much business. this program sounds real good and some thing, I should do. But since I don’t know very little about ppc I would lose my ass and come out in the hole. I wish I could find some one to show me how this works?? Thanks Don Epps
James
September 16, 2008Reed
Good day my friend another Information packed post Your willingness to help others shines right through.One of the first things that I learned about Internet marketing is to build a strong relationship with your list and provide
answers to there problems and then you start
to make the money.By sharing your knowledge sets a prime example of this.
See Ya
James
John Bandy
September 16, 2008Hey Reed,
What can I say? Man you are a big help to me. I like all the good info. Thanks Pal and keep it coming.
John
Sandi Baker
September 16, 2008PPC can be vry profitable done the corect way. One must research their keywords and keep track of their budget. However this can be out of reach for many starting out but should be carefully considered.
Very good article!
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info
Doug Allitt
September 16, 2008Hi Reed,
This is a little confusing – I agree with Jane. There are two sorts of PPC that I know of. One costs you money to advertise your offer/s. The other you get paid for each click-through from your ad to someone elses site that you are advertising – and I don’t necessarily mean adsense here. Some people will happily pay you 5 to 10 cents or even more to attract click-throughs to their site. The trick is to find them. They are worth their weight in gold and are a great source of passive income.
Cheers to all,
Doug.
Doug Allitts last blog post..Take your time – about your day.
William Beck
September 17, 2008Hi Reed,
The article seems to be full of that would be useful for a person
WITH an advertising budget. Do you have some ideas for a person
living on a shoe string budget?
Thanks
Willy B
http://www.my-family-money.com
William Beck
September 17, 2008Hi Reed,
Sorry did not proof read before I clicked.
The sentence is missing (information). Should read.
The article seems to be full of INFORMATION that would be useful for
a person with a budget.
Sorry
Willy B
jake
September 17, 2008PPC can be really effective, however it also can be very competitive though. A lot of key words can cost over $10 per click, depends on the landing page.
admin
September 17, 2008@Hector thank you
@Juanita yes I wouldn’t advise PPC unless you have money to burn
@Bill I agree everything should be researched and tested
@Neil thanks
@Paul thanks I hope it’s helping people
@Afam yep research is key
@Jane yes I see the confusion. I guess I kinda hopped around there. Sorry.
@Donald can you tell me more about what your sites are and what they are about?
@James thanks 🙂
@John glad to help
@Sandi thanks, research is key and keeping track of costs
@Doug yes that can be a great way for passive income. Back in 2006 I was doing AdSense arbitrage. I was buying ads on AdWords and sending the traffic to a page with AdSense on it. I was on track for $30K a month in residual income before Google told me I wasn’t allowed to do that.
@William my main tip for you would be to learn more about joint ventures as that is what set me apart.
@Jake yeah PPC can get expensive, but if you can make it work it’s a nice stream
@thegameoflove thanks for the trackback.
Delords
September 17, 2008Thanks Reed this really can help an affiliate newbie in starting up with PPC campaign which is by far the best way to make money with affiliate marketing.
sondaj
September 17, 2008Thanks for the link. Sounds like interesting read
David Braybrooke
September 17, 2008Unlike You, Reed, I’m a little sceptical when it comes to PPC advertising. In the right hands, this invaluable tool can net many a fortune, However, PPC advertising has an art to it and woe be it to the ‘Newbie’ who dives in head-first hoping to make a quick buck!
I started with Google Adwords some time ago and had a few campaigns that were quite well-received. But there were many more that were nothing more than giant money-suckers and failed dismally!
And before You jump to conclusions, I was Not an unguided beginner at PPC and had studied this form of advertising in Great detail. Even with an arsenal of refined knowledge behind me, I still lost money for quite some time! Based on this experience, I can categorically state that PPC advertising is Not (and I reapeat NOT) the answer for everyone!
It may not be the solution to the business problems that You face and, if after a reasonable amount of time experimeting with Pay Per Click, You don’t start to make some decent money, I would strongly suggest dropping this type of marketing until You can either: (a) Study the intracacies of PPC in great detail with a reputable organization or education institute or (b) Study Google’s point-by-point guide on Adword’s rules and techniques. (If You Prefer Yahoo! Search Marketing, MSN or another alternative, be sure to study their approach in as much detail as You possibly can!
I’m afraid I’m not as passionate about PPC as Reed seems to be – his headline: ‘Easy PPC Profits In Your Affiliate Marketing Business’ is a bit of a misnomer, or at least will likely be in many cases!
One drawback of PPC advertising is the ‘limitations’ that are placed on the affiliate marketer in some cases. For example, Google Adwords frowns on ‘direct linking’ to affiliate products and actually police the rule that only one PPC campaign can be direct linked to any one merchant/sale’s page at a time! What this means is that You have to have Your own websites or landing page before leading to the merchant’s site. All well and good You might think, but it can be surprisingly difficult to create an effective page that inspires the viewer to click through just once more to the point of sale!
I for one am not overly impressed with a ‘maze’ of pages that have to be successfully ‘negotiated’ before one is taken to the product purchase phase. Surely there is enough advertorial ‘garbage’ out there on the net and there doesn’t need to be a lot added to this overwhelming volume!
In my opinion (and that of many others too), the main trick to successful PPC advertising is to keep Your ad copy and tightly grouped ‘common keywords’ extremely relevant to the creative on the merchant’s page. Have no surprises for the potential customer and make sure they are fully aware of what’s on sale and are savvy with all the advertised product’s features and benefits before they arrive at the purchasing stage.
Although I may not be as keen as Reed on the whole PPC game, I have to say that it is an advertising avenue that should at least be considered by any Internet marketer who is hoping to make good money and promote their website effectively!
Don’t be fooled, PPC can lead to riches and prosperity, but it can also too easily result in a depleted bank balance and dead-end sales!
Study the ads already displaying in Your niche market and especially take note of those that are very highly positioned in the shown ad lists. They are high up for a reason and likely have good ‘Quality Scores’, an attribute that Google Adwords (and others) reward highly!
Remember to try other PPC sites besides Google’s version and consider duplicating succeeding Adwords campaigns on to YSM and MSN too in order to widen Your reach and customer base!
Good luck with Your PPC efforts; here’s to Your success!
Yours truly,
D. Braybrooke.
David Braybrookes last blog post..Join Trafficera.com for FREE Today!!
Kenny Ritchie
September 17, 2008I have to agree to a certain extent with David. PPC scares the hell out of me because if you are not trcking your results it can get out of hand.
One major benefit is it can produce a more regular stream of traffic to your site and could be included for that reason. Unlike JV mailings and traffic from social networking type sites which can be very short term big spike and then nothing.
The above can produce an avalanche of traffic hence the term “dugg to death” as a front page placing on Digg can produce a server overload for the small webmaster but this cannot be turned on an off at will like PPC.
If you have a budget possibly outsourcing this work would be worthwhile if you have little time or budget think very careful about this one.
Kenny Ritchies last blog post..What are private label rights?
Jussi Koiranen
September 17, 2008I think I need to get a lot of more information. This definitely sold me on the idea of integrating PPC with my site, but still have no idea or grasp of the concept of PPC…
TrudyVan
September 17, 2008Hi there again Reed. I totally agree with your opinion on PPC. Great Post as always
kindest regards
TrudyVan
TrudyVans last blog post..Empty Nest syndrome
admin
September 18, 2008@Delords personally I still think JV’s and list building are the best but if done properly PPC can be very profitable
@Sondaj glad to help
@David and @Kenny good points you bring up. PPC may not be the easiest thing to get going right but once you get it figured out it can be very easy money
@Jussi I’ll probably write up some more info on PPC at some point.
@TrudyVan thank you
danywealth-easy money online
September 18, 2008There are many easy ways to make money online, it is important to remember that not all of your options will send large amounts of cash your way right at the start. With some of your online work choices, your cash flow may trickle in slowly and then gradually build up.
admin
September 19, 2008@dany good points
Chris Imamshah
October 13, 2008Hi Reed,
Good post again. Thanks. I have stayed away from PPC after reading so many horror stories of people losing a ton of money.
I think, like any other advertising method you need to do proper research into the process to learn how to do it right and protect your wallet.
I’m thinking of braving a campaign soon so wish me well.
Chris,
http://www.christineimamshah.com
Adwords Book
May 8, 2009Very good post thanks!
Aubrey Roberts
May 7, 2010my PPC advertising on Google Adwords is really effective in promoting my affiliate links. my Adbrite PPC advertising cost seems to be higher than Adwords.”~:
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