Affiliate Marketing Guide Online

Ok, so we all know that Performics is an affiliate marketing company. But not only do they work in affiliate marketing, but they also run an SEO business on the side.  So, how interesting for them, that they’re now working with google.  Is it possible that they can promise to help clients climb the ranks of search engines everywhere without biting the hand that feeds them. Or should we all be jumping inline for insider secrets only known by Performics employees.  Only time will tell. 

There seems to be two prevailing theories among affiliate marketers about how to promote affiliate products.  It’s interesting that the SUPER AFFILIATES who sell books online promote the hard sell.  That is, get the customer as close to buying mode as possible and throw the product in front of them, when they already know what they want.  

However, I found a second school of thought that amuses me that’s the soft sell.  Basically speaking it says that you should build an informative website about something, and feature product reviews and information and drive traffic there, without selling anything.  If you like video games, talk about your favorite games that you rent weekly at blockbuster (and religiously rent a game every week and review it), etc.

 Now the interesting thing about the soft sell is that requires a lot of time to build, and it’s return on investment certainly does not come overnight, nor does it immediately start raining $100 bills, but it can create a little niche income.  The real catch here is that you have to have fun building your site, and enjoy the time you spend putting it together, otherwise, it’s not believable and doesn’t draw traffic.

Many website think that they need or want to use adsense and affiliate links / products hand in hand. It does sound logical - why not get paid for both clicks and sales at the same time? 

But before you jump to any conclusions, don’t forget that only the most expensive clicks earn more than 50 cents or a dollar or two a click.  Your clickbank or CJ product might sell with a $25 commission.  Lets do the math.  

If your adsense conversion rate is 1 in 10, and you make an optimistic $1 a click, that means that out of every 100 visitors, you’ll $10.   If your product converts at a rate of 1:100, and your commission is $25, you’ll make $25.  Would you rather have $10 or $25? 

Ok, raise your hand if you want $35. You want to earn $10 for the clicks, and the $25 for the product.  That would work great, if everyone got paid for suggesting a product.  BUT, remember that affiliate marketing requires a click, and a cookie (and you have to be the LAST cookie).  

if your website has adsense, and your shopper has noticed that you are showing an adsense ad for the same exact product somewhere else, they may be temped to comparison shop, or at least click away from your site.  No click / no cookie for you. 

So, then, the question becomes, do you use adsense at all on an affiliate site?  Well, sure. You can use it on informational pages, if you aren’t pushing for a hard sale.  You can use adsense on content pages where you’re pretty sure no one is in a buying mood.  And you can use adsense on website ideas where you don’t have a great selection of product to sell.  (the downside with this is that usually if you don’t have a great selection of affiliate products, you also won’t get great adsense ads.). You can also use adsense on informational websites where you aren’t making a hard sell at all. See my post on soft selling.

I’ve seen many websites that have said that Google’s changes to content match make it worth a second look. So, lets take a look at the kinds of sites that use Adsense and why you might opt to use content match for some of your PPC campaigns.

Adsense is used on sites that find the consumer either in browse mode or purchase mode. The problem for most PPC bidders is that it’s hard to determine which websites are which. While showing ads on a directory or shopping comparison site may be just as effective as a search engine, showing ads on a blog or fan site is not likely to yield a high, if any conversion.

Google is taking steps to weigh producing sites, by adjusting payouts on the adsense side of the scale, however, even at a few pennies a click, is it worth playing the content match game?

If you’re looking for brand exposure in relevant markets, you’ll gain a large percent of traffic and exposure to your URL by appearing in content match. However, at what price, and will the conversions bring sales to the bottom line?

Jeremy Palmer’s  Quit your Day Job guide to performance marketing is now a free download.  Go get it off the presses while it’s still hot. This is probably one of the best guides to PPC that I’ve read, although I must admit that it’s not 100% complete. Jeremy takes you so far, but he leaves some of the details for you to figure out on your own. Or at least, he’s not telling you how to make 100k a year. But he says that in big bold letters.  I like his strategy though, fundamentally.  

Don’t look now, but ValueClick, owner of CJ, is being examined by the FTC for the use of the word “FREE” in incentive programs. FREE IPOD, FREE XBOX 360, you name it, it seems to be free.  But upon further review, these items aren’t free at all. In order to get a nice shiny Iphone, the consumer must purchase enough merchandise to earn his way to a free Iphone, and then still sign up for pages of lead generation offers.  Sound a little, well, suspicious? The FTC thinks so.. Read more about it at  searchmarketing standard.com

I sometimes find that I’m addicted.  First, I check CJ. Then I check google. Then I check clickbank, then yahoo, then on and on, until I’ve totaled up the days earnings.  Except that it’s only 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Surely I’ll make twice as much by 10 pm. Or maybe not.  Maybe I should adjust the bid price. Take a deep breath.  If you’re like me, sometimes you think you need to watch your PPC campaigns like a hawk in order to make them perform better.  Keywords should be checked two to three times a day max. Earnings should be checked even less, with one exception. New, untested campaigns.  A new campaign can end up costing you big bucks with no return if you’re not very careful. Setting a daily limit only keeps google and yahoo within 20% of your limit. Monitoring of your keywords can make sure that you’re not getting your ads shown for non-performing keywords.  

The ads always sound great on paper.  ”Follow these five steps and earn $$$$’s a day!” “Make $1,000 in just ten minutes a day!” “Earn $$$$’s on your Blog”But how do you really make money with your online website, blog, or just dive into affiliate marketing?   There are many variations on these basic models for making money online.

1.  Pay-per-click marketing - you buy or bid keywords and drive traffic to a vendors site. Think of this as gambling or buying stocks. You’re hedging your bets that you can buy clicks cheap and earn big commission on sales. 
2. Natural websites / blogs - you build a website and sell or recommend products.  In this case, you’re basically a magazine full of advertisements, product reviews and recommendations. Get a big reader base, and you’ll have your own little cash cow.
3. Coupon Sites, Incentive Sites, Comparison Shopping - Cut to the chase and build a site that pre-sells product.  Here, you might list all the coupons available for internet web hosting, or compare prices for people shopping for a product. Catch consumers in “buy” mode and hook them in to your favorite affiliate’s website. 

In all cases, you can choose to fill your new blog or website with pay-per-action or pay-per-click links.  This simply means, do you want to make money every time someone clicks, or everytime someone buys something. Very few Pay Per click (PPC) networks still exist, but the biggest is Google Adsense, followed by Yahoo’s network. In a nutshell, you put adsense code on your website, and when someone clicks, you get paid anywhere from a few cents to a dollar.   The other option is to join an Affiliate network that pays per action, per lead, or per sale. In this instance, you get paid every time someone fills out a form or buys a product. Pay per action, which is known as affiliate marketing, has taken popularity, over PPC networks like Adsense, because of things like click fraud and simple return on investment.  In general, pay per action is better fit for both advertisers and publishers, because while PPC may only pay 10 cents a click on some clicks, pay per action sales may pay anywhere between 1%-50% or more commission on a sale.   To be continued…. 

I recently downloaded a copy of John Leger’s  FREE SEO Myths Exposed report.  In a nutshell, he says that there are too many SEO “experts” out there who are talking and not enough who putting their money where their mouth is.  So, take a look at the PDF, it’s worth the read. I must say, he’s got some sound ideas, especially with his duplicate content theories and linking ideas.  Here’s a brief summary of some of the myths he debunks - straight from his site. 

 Myth #1: Google Knows All and Sees All
Myth #2: Google Will Not Rank Duplicate Content
Myth #3: You Must Get Links From Related Subject Sites to Rank
Myth #4: Your Site Must Focus On One Subject To Rank
Myth #5: High PageRank Means Good Rankings
Myth #6: To Maintain Good Rankings, You Must Add New Content
..and.. 
MYTH #7: THE BIGGEST MYTH: Ranking In Google Is Hard!

So, Go check him out. The SEO report is at SearchEngineMythsExposed.com

Today I was wading through a list of new publishers for an advertiser’s program that I oversee, and I was amused to find that someone wrote that their site incentive was - and I quote -  ”I give you kiss if I make sale.” Someone else preceded to enlighten me that Travelocity and Office Max have great deals all the time.  Needless to say, I did not hesitate to hit the big DECLINE button. Many publishers don’t realize that someone reads their CJ or Linkshare application other than the affiliate network where they apply. In many cases, the affiliate manager of the program also reviews or screens each publisher’s application, looking for certain criteria to find a good match between publisher and advertiser. Advertisers have complex lists based on the needs of the advertiser, and sometimes include things like a publisher’s earnings, category of business, and promotion methods, so don’t be offended if you get declined from a program. However, your application to the program is a lot like a resume - if it looks great, you’re a lot more likely to get accepted to the affiliate program of your choice. When filling out applications for affiliate networks and programs, try to include the following:

• Your full name and business name. If this is going to be a serious business venture, treat it seriously. At first glance, a company name looks a bit more like something that’s going to earn some revenue than “wallysmith” 
• A valid email address, preferably one that would look good at the top of a resume.
• The urls you use or own. If you don’t own a website yet, buy one for your new company, and think of it as real estate. Even if you’re just interested in running PPC campaigns, create a small website that says that you’re a PPC business. (see other articles for more info on creating websites)
• Any offer or incentive that you are passing on to the consumer. This only applies to loyalty or coupon sites. Are you donating a portion of the purchase commissions to charity? Are you giving the consumer cash back? Does your frequent buyer get a free ipod with $10,000 worth of purchases. You get the idea. Otherwise, don’t put silly things in the box. Incentive offers get double flags for advertisers, so when reviewing, I have to click ok twice. An affiliate manager on his 25th new publisher might get annoyed and click cancel or decline by accident. 
• Use correct grammar and punctuation. Remember that people reviewing these are from the 9-5 business world. They’re looking for some level of professionalism. 
• How you are going to promote the product. Depending on the affiliate network or program, this is either in a drop down form, or in a paragraph style form.  If you don’t have any ideas of how to promote your new advertiser, don’t apply yet - you’ll risk getting kicked out for being inactive. For those of you who are a bit confused, here’s the breakdown of promotion methods
  • Content / Website - You own a website, you’re going to put banner ads or articles about products on it. 
  • Email Marketing - You’re going to create a list of people and send them emails about products
  • Paid Search (Search Marketing) - You’re going to advertise on Google / Yahoo / MSN and then link back to their site or a landing page that then links to their site. 
  • Incentive - You’re going to give them something to buy products.

Insider TIP: Ever wonder why you were declined from an advertiser? Don’t hesitate to ask. You might be a perfect fit, but were missed because the advertiser didn’t understand how you were going to promote their product. Maybe your DVD site didn’t make sense for a women’s clothing store on the application, or your country of origin is outside of their shipping range. A quick email may be all it takes to get back on board.