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 October 4, 2008 under Affiliate Marketing, Pay-Per-Click |
by Daniel Moro
Are you relying too heavily on one Pay-Per-Click advertising network for your affiliate marketing? Some affiliates rely on Google AdWords only, and they are losing out on a great deal of revenue.
Many affiliates get into affiliate marketing after reading one of the popular ebooks on the topic that are sold online. But most of these ebooks concentrate on training people to use Google AdWords. I figure that is because Google has higher traffic volumes and because it is very easy to quickly set up your first affiliate campaigns. Many affiliates never get past AdWords, though, and that is where they are losing out.
You should already know that it’s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Particularly when that one basket has seen better days. I can assure you that relying heavily on one advertising network, particularly Google AdWords, is not a smart strategy for growing your affiliate marketing business.
For some affiliate products advertising at the other networks will be even more profitable. In fact you should be using all of the three major pay-per-click networks. They are Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft Adcenter, and Google Adwords.
Here are five reasons why you should consider using a different Pay-Per-Click advertising network.
Reason One – You Receive No Traffic
Sometimes when you set up a campaign at one of the advertising networks, you don’t receive any traffic. This can happen for a number of reasons. Sometimes you can change something in your campaign to get your ads running, but other times nothing seems to help. So switch advertising network. You could be up and running in no time.
Reason Two – Because of Editorial Policy
Sometimes you cannot get certain ad campaigns to be accepted due to the particular network’s editorial and content policies.
For example, Google has recently been rejecting campaigns that promote sites for music and movie file-sharing. I’ve been trying to run a legitimate campaign for one of the major legal music downloading services, and it’s just taking too much effort to get Google to look closer and recognize that my campaign is legitimate. I have more or less given up and the campaign is now running at Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN Adcenter instead.
Reason Three – For Price of Traffic
Sometimes the price at which you can get traffic on a given keyword phrase will vary widely from one network to another. So if you are not getting traffic at a price you are willing to pay, try switching to another advertising network.
Reason Four – To Replicate Your Campaigns
What do you usually do after you find a successful affiliate product? Do you improve your ads, add more keywords, add more countries, and increase your investment? Well, don’t forget to add more advertising networks.
For every successful affiliate campaign you identify, you should be trying to get it running profitably at all three major Pay-Per-Click networks, if at all possible.
Reason Five – To Test New Products and Retest Old Ones
Too many affiliate marketers are only testing out new affiliate marketing campaigns at Google AdWords. The, if the affiliate product is successful at Google AdWords they might roll out the campaign on the other networks. This strategy is seriously flawed.
The problem with this is that there are so many affiliate marketers using Google AdWords compared with a few years ago. They have pushed up the price of traffic on many of the popular keywords and it is much harder to get low-priced clicks now in many topic areas. An affiliate product that was once very good may no longer be profitable using AdWords because of the rising price of traffic.
And that right there is why many affiliates give up. I recommend that affiliates break out of the habit of only using Google Adwords to test new affiliate products. Try some products first at Yahoo Search Marketing or MSN Adcenter. Remember that traffic may or may not be cheaper than AdWords. That is not critical either way, because you will quickly discover that conversion ratios are different too.
I have given you five reasons to take your advertising dollars and spend them somewhere else. Your affiliate marketing business will be better off if you do.
Perhaps you should go back to some of the affiliate products you tested and threw away at AdWords. You just might identify some affiliate products that are actually profitable using another pay-per-click network.
