Paid Per Click (PPC) advertising has become more popular than ever, as marketers look for ways to increase their traffic without having to spend money directly on advertising campaigns. The idea behind PPC is simple - advertisers are willing to pay an established price each time someone clicks on one of your advertisements. However, there's no guarantee that people actually clicked on the advertisement and visited the site.
In order to ensure that they're getting visitors from the right audience, many businesses opt for Pay-Per-Click affiliate marketing instead. Instead of spending money on hosting or designing websites, an advertiser only pays when users click through on their link.
This makes PPC affiliate marketing different from traditional affiliate marketing because if you don't sell anything, then how could you possibly be making any money? Although this sounds like a daunting task, we'll discuss some basic principles of PPC affiliate marketing so that newbies can learn about the concept before trying out this method of online income generation.
Before jumping into PPC affiliate marketing, let us first explore whether PPC works at all. Yes, Google Ads, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Bing Ads, etc., all offer pay-per-click services. You just need to find a good service provider who offers these options. You should also check out how much competition exists in your niche market, since you may not want to waste your hard earned cash if no one else is using your keywords. In addition, the quality of your website matters too. If your website isn't optimized well enough for search engines, you won't see high rankings and therefore low conversions.
If your website gets ranked highly enough for your target keyword phrases, you can use this ranking as proof that people were interested in clicking on your ads. With this information, you can now decide which type of PPC campaign would suit you better.
You might wonder why you wouldn't simply choose the top performing ads based solely on number of impressions and CTRs. Well, this is where things get complicated. While the higher the CTR means fewer competitors bidding for those same keywords, this doesn't necessarily translate into a higher conversion rate. There are other factors such as user experience and bounce rates that play a role here.
For example, you might notice that while the top 10 ads perform equally well, the second page shows a lower average CTR but a higher percentage of conversions. On the flip side, the third page displays almost nothing except for the last two results. What happened? It turns out that the first few pages show ads that are irrelevant to your customers' needs, and they tend to leave quickly after viewing them. These types of ads aren't worth paying for either, unless you've got something special to offer. Thus, you'd probably rather put up several relevant ads on the first three pages and hope for the best.
When looking for a suitable PPC partner, consider the following criteria:
Is your budget large enough to cover the cost of running the entire campaign?
Will your chosen PPC company allow you to test multiple landing pages within the same campaign?
It's important to note that PPC affiliate marketing requires a certain level of expertise to set up and manage properly. Even though there are free tools available to help build landing pages, you still need to understand how to optimize these ads in terms of content, structure, design, and layout. Many webmasters recommend building a separate blog for each product, which allows readers to follow along step-by-step until the purchase process is complete.
Now that you know the basics of PPC affiliate marketing, let's examine some of its pros and cons.
The answer depends largely upon your goals. For instance, if you plan to drive targeted traffic towards specific landing pages, you must select ads that match your desired keywords closely. Otherwise, you might end up attracting a lot of irrelevant traffic. This would result in a very poor ROI.
However, if you wish to earn commissions off of sales made via referral links, then you need to create ads that encourage visitors to visit various sites. Since you already have a list of potential buyers, you can try creating more appealing ads to attract even more attention.
Yes, although you'll likely lose out on profits due to the fact that you'll have to share a portion of your commission with the PPC agency. Moreover, if you're targeting non-US accounts, the fee charged by the PPC agencies tends to vary according to location.
Some companies charge $1 per CPM (cost per 1000), while others charge around $0.50 per CPM. Therefore, if you're working with an international clientele, you may need to negotiate a deal with your PPC agency to reduce the fees involved.
A word of caution: never sign up for a PPC campaign if you haven't done your homework yet. Make sure that you fully understand how your account operates and how you intend to monetize your efforts. As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid.
Another thing to keep in mind is that once you start earning money, you will be required to fulfill certain obligations. Most PPC providers require you to maintain a minimum payout threshold and/or post-payment requirements. Be careful not to fall victim to scams and fraudsters who promise great returns but fail to deliver.
After setting up your account, you'll receive emails daily letting you know how many times your ad was displayed and clicked. Your earnings depend on the bid amount that you agreed to pay for each impression. Once you reach the pre-determined goal, you'll receive payment accordingly.
As you can imagine, this approach comes with risks. One wrong move and you could potentially lose everything. That's why it's imperative to research thoroughly beforehand so that you can minimize losses and maximize gains.
Although this strategy certainly holds potential, it's best suited for experienced bloggers who have lots of knowledge regarding SEO techniques. Before diving headlong into PPC affiliate marketing, take the time to read our guide on how to start blogging effectively. A little bit of practice goes a long way in learning the ropes. Good luck!
There are many ways to monetize your website with affiliate links or banner advertising. You could use Google AdSense to display sponsored content like text ads above your pages, but how about using Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising instead? Can you actually make money this way? Read on as we explore the benefits of PPC advertising in affiliate marketing.
Pay-Per-Click advertising has been around since the dawn of online commerce. It's simply an auction style system where advertisers bid against each other to be shown their ad at the top of search results for relevant keywords. The person who bids the lowest gets the privilege of displaying their ad first. In fact, if one advertiser pays more than another, they'll always get higher placement.
The advantage of using PPC advertising over traditional forms of advertising such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, or even email campaigns, is that there is no need for any human intervention. Instead, the process happens automatically based on bidding rules set by the owner of the site where the advertisement appears.
In short, when someone searches for something on Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc., they see advertisements appearing at the top of their page. These ads appear as sponsored listings because they're being displayed due to the payment made by the company behind them. They might not look very professional or attractive, but they still help generate revenue for the websites whose owners sell products through these ads.
Some examples include Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network, Commission Junction, ShareASale, and others. Some companies offer both PPC and SEO services so you may want to check out those which also provide free training materials to walk you through setting up your own campaign.
It all depends on your niche market. If you already run a blog related to travel, fashion, finance, DIY projects, personal development, health & fitness, or anything else, then yes! You should definitely consider using PPC advertising to boost traffic and sales conversions on your website.
You don't necessarily need to build a full fledged ecommerce store either. Just create some landing pages with different offers targeted towards specific groups of people. For example, if you only want to target men aged 18 - 35 years old, you could design a landing page targeting just that demographic group.
If your business model revolves around selling physical products though, then you won't reap much benefit from PPC affiliate marketing. When buying goods from merchants, consumers usually expect to receive them immediately after clicking a link. However, PPC affiliate marketing relies heavily on conversion rates to determine whether you've earned enough commission for your efforts. So unless you manage a high volume of clicks, then you probably shouldn't bother trying to convert visitors into buyers.
Furthermore, depending on the product type you choose to advertise, you might find yourself having to deal with negative reviews and complaints from previous customers. Negative feedback often leads to lower conversion rate, thus affecting overall earnings. Since you'd likely be getting less income per sale, you wouldn't gain much from promoting low quality items either.
However, if you know exactly which niche markets you would like to specialize in, then PPC affiliate marketing can prove quite lucrative. There are plenty of opportunities available to anyone willing to learn and take action before competitors catch on.
So far, I haven't mentioned "affiliate" anywhere in my explanation of PPC affiliate marketing. That's because there isn't really any difference between the two methods. Both involve generating web traffic and earning commissions off the sales generated from those visits.
The main distinction lies in the nature of the relationship between the merchant and the visitor. With PPC affiliate marketing, the transaction occurs directly between the seller and buyer without intermediaries. On the other hand, with affiliate marketing, the visitor becomes part of a larger network of sellers, acting as a middleman between the merchant and consumer.
Advantages of PPC affiliate marketing over direct affiliate marketing:
Less risk. The risks involved in PPC affiliate marketing are minimal compared to direct affiliate marketing. Unlike direct affiliate marketing, there aren't any third parties involved. Therefore, you don't have to worry about fraudsters stealing credit card information or losing control of your account.
No need for lengthy signup processes. Direct affiliate marketing requires users to fill out long registration forms that give away too much information. Even worse, once registered, you must wait for them to buy whatever products you were promoting. Meanwhile, PPC affiliate marketing doesn't require you to collect names and emails beforehand. All you need is a website address and keyword phrases. Visitors land on your page via organic means anyway, so you can start making money right away.
Affordable. Although PPC affiliate marketing costs slightly more than direct affiliate marketing, it's nowhere near the cost of conventional offline marketing and publicity techniques. Compared to TV commercials, newspaper ads, outdoor billboards, radio spots, and magazine subscriptions, PPC affiliate marketing is almost completely self-sufficient. Once you've built traffic and established authority within your chosen niche, you can easily scale your profits upwards indefinitely.
Higher conversion rate. According to statistics gathered by HubSpot, PPC affiliate marketing generates a whopping 70% more revenue compared to direct affiliate marketing. And according to CPC Exchange, the average clickthrough rate for PPC affiliate marketing is 8 times greater than that of direct affiliate marketing. As a result, PPC affiliate marketing provides better ROI for the same effort invested.
Are you interested in learning more about PPC affiliate marketing? Check out our list of best PPC affiliate networks below. We recommend checking out the following resources for further reading:
1. What Is the Best Way To Earn Money Online?
2. How Do You Make A Profit From Advertising?
3. How Much Should You Charge For Your Products?
4. How Many Sales Does A Website Need Before Profiting?
5. How Long Does It Take To Get Traffic Through Social Media Marketing?
6. Why Should You Buy An Email List?
7. Is Facebook Worth Buying Or Making Friends With People Who Have Them?
8. Are YouTube Videos Good Ads?
9. Which Free Tools Will Help Me Monetize My Blogs?
10. 10 Tips To Build Authority Around Any Topic
11. 7 Ways To Create High Quality Content Without Getting Writer’s Block
12. 6 Steps To Building A Successful Ebook Store
13. 3 Simple Strategies To Generate More Leads From Twitter
14. 5 Things You Must Know About LinkedIn
15. 9 Proven Methods Of Attracting Customers Using Pinterest
PPC (pay per click) advertising has been around since Google launched its first ad service back in 1998. As an alternative to banners or text links, PPC allows advertisers to bid against each other for placement on search results pages. The advertiser who bids the lowest gets their advertisement shown next to the organic listings. While this method is highly effective at building brand awareness, it's also very expensive if done incorrectly. It takes time to build up your audience, and then when they are ready to buy something, you need them to be able to find you easily enough so that you get the conversion rate necessary to turn those clicks into sales.
The good news is that there are ways to optimize the process so that not only will people see your listing more often but that they'll actually click through. In fact, some experts say that as many as 50% of all online shoppers use Google AdWords or another similar platform to find products and services while searching for something else. By using PPC effectively, you could end up getting a significant number of visitors to your website from these searches without having spent any money on promotion whatsoever!
If you're interested in trying out PPC affiliate marketing, here are five things you should know before diving headfirst into the world of PPC.
In general, the higher your keyword rank, the lower your CPC (cost per click). For example, if you were bidding on "dog food," you might expect to pay $0.10-$1.00 per click depending on how competitive your term is in relation to others already listed. But if you're bidding on "pet supplies", maybe $5-$20 would be reasonable. Because the competition levels off quite quickly after the top 10 positions, it's usually worth spending a bit more than average to secure one of these spots. If you want to learn more about keyword research, check out our post on 5 free tools for finding keywords with low competition.
It depends. Like anything involving internet marketing, you've got to take a long view. Some months may yield no revenue at all, because you didn't spend enough money to overcome the cost of buying traffic. Other times, you'll rack up thousands of dollars in profits just based on volume alone. Just like with SEO, the key is to test different approaches until you find the right mix that works well for your business model. Once you've found that formula, stick with it consistently over several campaigns. You'll eventually reach a point where every month brings in new customers and/or additional income.
There isn't really a definitive answer here. Different sites offer different amounts, and even within the same network, rates vary wildly depending on how much you pay them for the privilege of being featured. Some networks charge anywhere between.01-.05 cents per click, whereas others can go as high as.40 cents. There's also the issue of quality vs. quantity -- some networks allow you to put multiple advertisements on the page, which increases your exposure dramatically, but means that your cost goes way down. Again, it comes down to trial & error to figure out what works best for you.
This is going to depend entirely on your skill level. When I was starting out, I used ClickBank to run my initial trials. They offered extremely generous terms for placing ads, and once you reached certain thresholds, they'd give you a bonus commission. At the time, though, I had zero experience with this sort of thing and ended up losing hundreds of dollars due to poor judgment calls. Nowadays, I prefer to try to steer clear of big name networks unless I'm confident that I understand exactly what's required to succeed. Instead, I tend to stick to smaller niche networks such as Amazon Associates, Bidvertiser, ShareASale, and AdvertEase. These require less upfront investment and don't have nearly the overhead costs associated with larger competitors.
The truth is that nobody knows exactly how successful PPC affiliate marketing will ultimately prove to be. That said, though, we think that given proper direction and careful planning, anyone can successfully implement PPC affiliate marketing into their own business model. So now that you know everything you need to know about PPC, let's talk about how you can start making it happen.
First, you'll need to decide whether you want to advertise directly yourself, or whether you'd rather rely on someone else to handle the heavy lifting. Personally speaking, I recommend outsourcing whenever possible. Not only is it easier than managing your own campaign, but you can always add extra resources later on if needed. Plus, it gives you peace of mind knowing that someone else is handling all the details for you.
Next, you'll need to choose the type of product that you're promoting. Do you sell digital downloads or physical goods? Are you selling eBooks or software? And finally, you'll need to determine which platforms you plan to target. Will you focus on mobile apps? Or perhaps desktop web applications? Keep in mind that your targeting options are almost limitless. Even if you decide to stay focused on a single category, you can still target specific sub-groups within that market. For instance, if you're selling dog treats, you can set up separate campaigns targeted towards pet owners living in New York City versus those located elsewhere.
Once you've selected your product(s), you'll want to create a landing page designed specifically for that particular item. This is crucial if you wish to convert sales. Most of the major networks provide templates that you can customize for your needs. Don't forget to include a call to action in case users aren't sure what they want yet. Also, consider including testimonials and reviews, especially if they are written by actual buyers.
Finally, you'll need to decide how you intend to track conversions. A few companies offer tracking codes that you can install on your website. These codes enable you to measure how many unique visitors are converting into buyers. However, keep in mind that these numbers will fluctuate greatly depending on factors outside of your control. For instance, if you place a link to your site inside another person's blog post, chances are pretty decent that you won't receive credit for the sale. This happens frequently with social media posts, too. On the flip side, you may receive no credit for a sale made via email marketing. Therefore, it's important to monitor your stats closely throughout the life cycle of your campaign.
These tips should help you navigate the waters of PPC affiliate marketing. With a little effort, you should soon see positive results coming in. Good luck!
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.