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 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.
Posted by Daniel on October 1, 2007 under Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Social Networking, Web Traffic |
by Daniel Moro
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8. Solo Mailings to Other Lists
This technique takes classified advertising to a new level. When you send a solo mailing to the subscribers of a closely related newsletter, you will receive highly targeted traffic.
A solo mailing or solo advertisement is a special mailing to the subscribers containing only your message. Many newsletters will allow you to send a solo mailing to their subscribers and they will usually charge a premium compared with paying for regular classified advertising in their newsletter.
It can be worth every cent. One of the weaknesses of regular classified advertising is in just how few of the subscribers actually read far enough to see your ad let alone click through your ad. For a typical email newsletter only 25-30% of subscribers will open the email. And depending upon the ad position perhaps only 5% of those will read so far as your classified advertisement and take action.
When you send a solo mailing you’ll be more likely to have 30% of people opening the email containing your message and therefore a much higher overall response rate.
If you already have good traffic numbers you can probably barter for a solo mailing exchange. If your own subscriber base is much smaller than the one you want to mail to, offer the owner 2 to 3 solo mailings to your list in return for one solo mailing to theirs.
Read more on Advertising…
9. Affiliate Programs
Another good way to build your mailing list and traffic is to operate an affiliate program. The idea with an affiliate program is that affiliates sign up to help you in promoting your web site, product or service. Affiliates then send a stream of traffic to your web site. They do this using a customized link that allows you to identify which affiliate referred any visitor.
Whenever a visitor sent by an affiliate purchases something at your site, the affiliate earns a commission. The affiliate benefits. You benefit. And you are ‘gearing’ up with thousands of affiliates promoting your site and sharing the advertising expenditure. This will save you time and money.
Read more on Affiliate Marketing…
10. Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites are all about community. They are web sites designed typically for members to create and post their own content, often in the form of profile pages, with the purpose of communicating with one another.
Some examples of popular social networking sites include MySpace, Blogger, and Classmates. There are also a bunch of social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Reddit. And don’t forget the likes of YouTube.
Social networking sites are seeing remarkable growth and marketers are paying attention. Nielsen reported in 2006 that the top ten social networking sites experienced a 47% growth over the previous 12 months. And a new JupiterResearch report reveals as many as 48 percent of brand marketers will deploy marketing on social networking channels in 2007.
Emily Riley of JupiterResearch was quoted as saying, “30 percent of frequent social networkers trust their peers’ opinions when making a major purchase decision, but only 10 percent trust an advertisement.”
So how can you build traffic with social networks? You don’t necessarily have to purchase advertising on their network. Start by thinking creatively. Perhaps even a little outside the box. Do you have a hilarious or creative video clip you could post to YouTube? Could you write a absolutely hot article and get thousands of users voting for it on Digg or Reddit? Could you build a blog with a huge following of readers?
Read more on Social Networking…
This wraps up ten remarkably effectively traffic building techniques, from search engines to pay per click advertising, to article marketing, and more. Now take action. Go back over this article and identify those techniques which are most likely to increase your traffic, starting today.
