Posted by Daniel on December 17, 2008 under Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Article Marketing, Pay-Per-Click, Social Networking, Viral Marketing, Web Traffic | 
There’s sometimes a lot of hype surrounding how you can get Google AdWords traffic more cheaply. And I know people who have spent a lot of money on a guide from a so-called marketing guru only to discover that the amazing traffic techniques were really not so incredible at all.
Leaving the hype aside, here are four ‘down-to-earth’ techniques that will enable you to obtain cheaper traffic from almost any of your Google AdWords campaign.
1. Combine an Increase in Keywords with a Lower Bid
One of the best ways to get more traffic from your Google AdWords campaigns is to add more keyword phrases in conjunction with lowering your pay-per-click bids. By doing this you can end up drive much more traffic through your campaign at a lower price per visitor.
Make sure that the new keyword phrases you add are still very relevant. I bet you can still find plenty more relevant keywords if you think carefully. Many advertisers initially set up a new campaign with a bunch of keywords to test it out, and then they forget to come back later and add more relevant keyword phrases. You can find many more relevant keywords using the free software, Good Keywords, or even Google’s own Keyword Tool. I like Good Keywords’ Phrase Builder as it enables you to build lists of hundreds of keyword phrases in seconds.
2. Use Phrase or Narrow Match
Try using phrase match or narrow match for your keyword phrases. The reason you should try this is that narrower keyword phrases do not always trigger the same minimum bids at AdWords and therefore you can get traffic cheaper.
Often when I’ve been unwilling to pay the minimum bid on broad match for a keyword phrase, I have been able to get it showing quickly by using phrase or narrow match.
The best thing about this technique is that your traffic is will be even more targeted because of the matching so it will most likely convert better, and all the time it costs you less than the broad match would have
To add a keyword phrase with phrase matching put quotes around it like this:
“keyword phrase”
To add a keyword phrase with narrow matching put brackets around it like this:
[keyword phrase]
3. Advertise in Other Countries
North America is an excellent geographical target area for many campaigns, but it also very much more competitive to get traffic when compared to other regions. Try targeting a few other countries that may be interested in your product or service. I can think of one particular campaign where I simply cannot get North American traffic for under $0.05 per click, yet I still get loads of traffic from parts of Europe for $0.01 per click.
4. Use a Keyword Research Tool
If you spend a considerable amount on pay-per-click advertising you should really be using a professional keyword research tool. A good keyword tool like Keyword Elite will enable you to quickly research good keyword phrases that have less competition.
And less competition means you will pay less for your traffic if you bid on those keywords.
There you go. Four ways that you can get more traffic from Google AdWords at a lower cost per click. Try it and watch your advertising campaigns become more profitable.
Posted by Daniel on November 6, 2008 under Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Pay-Per-Click, Web Traffic |
by Daniel Moro
Many affiliate marketers become caught up with identifying and testing new affiliate products and sometimes miss out on the opportunity to maximize profits products which they are already successfully advertising.
A few hours spent optimizing pay per click advertising campaigns can sometimes be a wiser investment of time than continually chasing after new products. There is a time and place for doing that, but my advice to affiliates is to make the most of the good products you have already identified and ‘milk them’ for every dollar that you can.
Recently I went through some of my own ‘successful’ campaigns and I was quite surprised to learn how easily I could increase the performance of each campaign. Almost every campaign became more profitable as I employed a combination of the following techniques. I suggest that you check if any of these might lead to improving the profitability of your advertising campaigns.
1. Increase Your Campaign’s Click-Through Ratio by Split Testing Ads
If other affiliates are promoting the same product at the same pay per click network, then you must make every effort to capture as high a percentage of the available traffic as possible. One of the best ways to get your ad showing instead of your competitors’ ads is to increase the CTR or click-through ratio of your ads. The reason for this is that major advertising networks usually prefer to show ads with good click-through rates.
So how can you increase your click-through ratio? The simplest way is to split test your ad. Always be running at least two versions of each ad. After you see the click-through rates for each version, discard the worst performing ad and write a new one. Keep repeating this process over and over again, improving each time.
A good shortcut is to study your competitor’s ads. Why pay for all the research and testing of ads when other affiliates are doing it already? It is a good idea to monitor other affiliates’ ads for a week or two and note any changes that they make. To see their ads either do a search at Google or use Google’s free AdSense Preview Tool. There are also a number of great competitor analysis tools available on the market.
2. Add Additional Keywords to Increase Traffic
Another way to maximize the revenue from your PPC advertising campaign is to increase your keywords. You can quickly generate large keyword lists using software such as Good Keywords, which is free, or even better, Keyword Elite if you can afford it.
One word of caution. If you add too many keyword phrases that are broadly related to your product, then even though your ad impressions and overall clicks may increase, your sales and commission conversion rates could fall. Take care when adding keywords to add only those keyword phrases that will result in targeted visitors who might purchase the product you are advertising.
3. Consider Targeting Your Successful Campaign to Additional Countries
When you created your original campaign, which geographical settings did you specify? For example, you may have targeted USA only, or North America. Now that your product is proven to be successful in the original region, consider whether people might purchase the product in additional countries. How about United Kingdom and Australia? Depending upon the product you might also discover a good response from Europe, Asia, or even the Middle East.
The key to success here is to test the new market independently, so be sure you have a way to track which countries your commissions are coming from.
4. Replicate Your Successful Campaign on Other Advertising Networks
You have already found a product that converts well when promoting it through one pay per click advertising network. Now replicate that success at the other major advertising networks. I try to replicate every successful campaign at Google AdWords, MSN Adcenter, and Yahoo Search Marketing. Due to differences in visitor demographics, traffic quality and editorial policies it is not always possible to get every campaign working successfully at all three networks, but that is always my goal.
These four techniques will make a big difference to the profitability of your affiliate pay per click advertising campaigns, and that’s all without going out and finding another product.
Posted by Daniel on January 21, 2008 under Advertising |
Once you have a mailing list of your own with several thousand subscribers consider setting up ‘ad swaps’ with other newsletters. Make a list of possible newsletters that would make good swapping targets. This list might include newsletters on the very same topic as yours, but it could also include publications on closely related topics.
A newsletter on copywriting, for example, might do an ad swap with another copywriting newsletter. Or they might swap with newsletters on related topics such as advertising, editing, and freelance writing.
Swapping ads one of the most effective low cost techniques for building traffic. There is only the opportunity cost of not having paid advertising in those spots of your newsletter. I can assure you that the traffic growth will be worth more in the long term than a one-off advertising payment from someone for a classified ad.
See also Classified Advertising and Solo Mailings.
