As mentioned earlier, PPC stands for pay-per-click. PPC is an effective option for affiliate promotion, if it is done correctly. You should be aware of the word 'pay' in PPC. You will be required to pay for every click you receive on your link, and if you don't pay close attention, your PPC costs can become astronomical!
PPC doesn't always work for affiliate marketing. First, you must be aware of the rules at the site where you are getting your PPC. For instance, Google has rules about promoting affiliate programs with Google AdWords PPC program.
Google does permit affiliate links in their AdWords, but they will only display one affiliate ad per search query, and this includes that of the parent company. They also will not allow links to replicated affiliate websites.
So, what you must consider here is that since there are other affiliates selling the same product you are selling, the chances of your ad actually being seen and clicked on are very slim. Second, if you have a replicated website for your affiliate programs, your ad won't show at all.
You must get more creative if you hope to profit from your affiliate programs using PPC. First, don't use an affiliate link. Use your own link for your own domain, and send the visitor to your website first. You should also have them pass through a squeeze page first to collect their name and email address!
Start small with your PPC campaigns. Do your keyword research, and set yourself a budget. Work within that budget to test different ads. Also, avoid using long affiliate links. These links are obvious to people, and many people avoid them. Again, people do not like to be sold to.
Instead of using PPC to sell a product, use PPC to get qualified leads and to build a list. You will find that this is a much more economical and effective use of PPC in the long run. It may take just a little longer to make the sale, but if you are patient, you will earn more money than you would have otherwise.
Even if you use a PPC company that does allow the use of replicated websites, or will show more than one affiliate ad at a time, where your ad does have more potential for being seen and clicked, it is important that you drive your PPC traffic to the right place.
Again, the squeeze page is essential, as this will help you build a quality list of qualified leads. Many successful marketers use PPC for this purpose and this purpose only. If you drive the traffic straight from the PPC ad to the affiliate link, you won't have any way to contact that visitor in the future.
Further more, you will most likely be driving the visitor to a sales page that may or may not convert the visitor. It is better to bring the visitor to your site and prep them for the sale. By the time they click on your affiliate link, they should have their credit card in hand, ready to make a purchase. This typically won't happen if they are going from Google Search to your affiliate sales page.
The majority of buyers do not start out with the intention to buy. This is especially true on the Internet. On the Internet, where everything is free (according to many people), what buyers are looking for is free information or help.
If you can provide these people with the free information that they are looking for, or free tools that help them with their problem, you've won half the battle. Now, you are building a relationship, and you will profit greatly from that relationship over time.
When setting up a PPC campaign, become the customer in your mind. What does the customer want or need? How can you provide them with this free of charge in order to build a relationship? At what point is the customer primed to buy?
Only you can answer these questions, based on your niche, but in answer to the last question, you can bet that in most cases, the customer is not ready to buy when they click on your PPC link! You've got to get them into your process, and groom them for the sale.
Affiliate marketing isn't just a question of signing up and then using PPC to sell the product, no matter what you've read elsewhere. Again, it's about building a relationship with your future customers, so that they become life long customers.
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