PPC Fool » Affiliate Marketing

So, what do you do …?

Dave — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:28:53 +0000

If you have been in this game for awhile, you will inevitably have to answer the question, what do you do for a living? I always kind of balk at this, because a majority of the time I will have to go down the path of explaining what affiliate marketing is, using google adwords, ‘how it works’, etc… and it gets kind of repetitive, especially when you get that stare like, that doesn’t make sense.

How easy it would be if I could say, a doctor, lawyer, engineer, IT consultant, architect, etc … but working as an affiliate is kind of vague isn’t it? When explaining it, I usually refer to amazon, as they were one of the pioneers of affiliate programs. I explain to them when they are surfing the web and they see an amazon book on a website, well if they click on that book it leads them to amazon, and if they buy, the website owner gets a commission etc… If that doesn’t work, then I will talk about one of the myriad of offline referral type companies and referral commissions, refer a friend to your bank = get $25, car insurance referral = get a free gas card, etc…

That being said, I still have to answer the question, What I do for a living. I’ve used the following in describing my profession:

I’m an affiliate marketer
I sell things online
I manage websites
I own an online media company
I own a home business
I’m an entrepreneur
I own an internet business

I’m ready for a new one now, so if you have any ideas, share.
(and no not a spammer )

In relation to the last post, google credited my account, THANK YOU!

$65,490.71 = 1 Day Ad Spend on Google

Dave — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:45:33 +0000

So I get this email from the Google team saying that there was a ‘technical issue’ in the billing this week and that I may have been overcharged. Logging into AMEX, I see that yesterday I was charged over $60k for Adwords. While I spend a lot, it is not quite that much on Google … Yikes!

Kudos to them for being swift to address this and hopefully get it resolved. If they wouldn’t have sent an email, I probably would have been scratching my head come next month when the bill was due wondering why I spent so much. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up for those that still use Google (there seems to be a lot of banning going on lately). You might want to check your CC.

Is your campaign social proof?

Dave — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:21:33 +0000

Have you ever wondered why old sitcoms have canned laughter or laugh tracks? If you watch an old rerun of Seinfield you’ll know what I mean, someone makes a joke and you hear that ‘laughter’ in the background. Funny thing is, if you ask what most people think about this they’ll say it is dumb, fake, and useless. So why did these top TV executives do it?

It is human tendency to see an action as more appropriate or acceptable when they see others doing it

The idea of this herd behavior or social proof is very powerful and is often used in business and marketing. ‘Social proofing’ your campaigns can give the end user that little extra push to take action, hit the buy button, or fill out a form. It is very simple to incorporate this into your affiliate campaigns, and there are 2 primary ways of doing this: testimonials and taglines or sub headings.

Testimonials

Most people would agree, sprinkling your landing page with testimonials can only help your conversions. The idea of social proof is when someone is in a situation not knowing what to do, they look to others for guidance. Seeing and reading other people using the product and taking action makes them more comfortable.

Taglines and Sub Headings

Taglines are a great way to social proof your landing page. There have been many studies done that people really do read taglines and sub headings. The best places to put them are directly under your main heading or just under your call to action button or hero shot/main image. People will read them.
Here are some samples that I’m sure you have seen before on other people’s landers:

Join 5,267 other members …
Over 100,000 sold …
Amaze your friends …
Over 1 million downloads
etc …

Don’t think this works? Take a look at the tagline below:

Don’t Launch a Campaign Late at Night

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:23:17 +0000

So I was up late last night working on a test campaign to get it going. As usual Adwords Editor was taking its sweet time to upload the campaign, after I had finished the keywords and ads. It was fairly late around 1am and I was sleepy, for some reason I get more done late at night

Well, I woke up this morning to find out I was over $700 in the hole! In my rush to finish I forgot to disable the search network as this was suppose to be a content only campaign. That little check box cost me a pretty penny. I hate to lose money, so any amount is not fun.

Yeah I could have had a lower budget, but content is usually slower to be approved so I figured by the time I wake up it would have just got going. Unlike search where it is usually pretty fast for me.

Moral of the story is don’t get sloppy when launching campaigns. I think I’m going to write up a pre-launch checklist just because of this as there are a handful of things that should be checked.

Dr. Jarvik, Flogs, and Affiliate Marketing

Dave — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:23:15 +0000

Jon Volk and Linda at 5 star affiliate programs both recently posted about the crack down on fake blogs or flogs and the selling of Acai.

Apparently the Attorney General of Connecticut wants to sue the owners of these sites for fraud. While I definitely do not condone that type of marketing, isn’t this tactic already done in many mainstream industries?

Take big pharma for example, how many times have you seen on TV, some big drug company pushing their new drug just released with a chorus of testimonials and doctor approvals. I highly doubt there are not a few paid actors in there if not all the above. What is the difference?

Case in Point

Ever seen that drug commercial for lowering your cholesterol called Lipitor by Pfizer? Well the main spokesperson, Dr. Jarvik has no medical license and was just hired by Pfizer to do the commercial. They finally pulled the ad after 2 years because it came under scrutiny. In one part of the commercial they even had a stunt double ‘row’ for Dr. Jarvik?! Thus the image. You can read all about it here

So how can they do this? I think it boils down to deep pockets and lobbyists… hey maybe we affiliates need to form a lobbyist group haha I guess also they list all 101 possible side effects to cover themselves.

Either way, someone should go after those companies that start charging your card for no reason. That is just wrong. Anyways, I just wanted chime in on the topic, and would be interested to know what you think about this …

5 Things You Can Outsource Right Now!

Dave — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:01:35 +0000

With everything competing for your time, it can be smart to outsource your work. Especially those tasks which are tedious, time-consuming, and the ones that you are not very good at. Below are 5 things that can be outsourced with not too much effort. Remember, the whole purpose is to free your own time so you can be more effective…

1. Content, Copy, and Blog Posting

This is the easy one. Writing copy and content for your affiliate sites and blogs is something you should not be doing. (Except for your personal blogs of course ). Hire someone, at $5 – $10 a post or article, this is money well spent. Try elance, getafreelancer, or guru.

2. Graphics, Images, and, Design

Setting up your site or landing page is another good task to pass along. Let someone else fool with the CSS formatting, and finding the perfect image for your header. Apart from the previous 3 sites I mentioned, 99designs is another good resource.

3. Programming or Anything Excel/Data Related

Extracting keywords over the web, formatting them nice and pretty, or other excel macros or tools can save you boatloads of time. I have this one little tool built for me that takes all my keywords, ads, and text, and with the push of a button, makes them ‘upload ready’ for Adwords editor with split test ads and all.

4. Bookkeeping

Yes, this is sensitive data, but keeping track of your daily costs, revenues, profits, etc … can take up a lot of time. Choose a more reputable firm for this, I’ve heard good things about brickwork, personal friday, and tasks everyday. Or you can just hire your wife

5. Accountant/CPA

This is probably the most important hire you can make. Having a CPA to do your taxes is a huge load off your shoulders. Not to mention how much money they can save you. You will probably want to go local for this so you can visit and talk in person. Also, if they can help you setup your business entity, it makes it much easier for you come tax time.

Yes, with all outsourcing there is a learning curve, and you will probably hit and miss a few times. But taking this step can really cause your business to grow! Be interested to know what other crucial tasks you guys outsource …

3 Word Split Test Worth Millions?

Dave — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:52:05 +0000

I recently watched a webinar on the importance of split testing. Very convincing to say the least. The presenter talked about in one example how a 3 word change was basically worth millions for Dell. Take a look below at the screen shot courtesy of FutureNow.

Changing the Learn More Link —> Help Me Choose Link made a huge impact on the bottom line. The reasoning was since the customer was already in buy mode, people are not looking to learn anything. But helping them choose is what was needed.

Here are 5 simple things you can immediately start to test:

Headlines
Images
Call to Action
Landing Page Layout
Copy

Ok just another rant on the importance of split testing, mainly for me
So are you doing it?

What’s your weakest Link?

Dave — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:28:56 +0000

Well it doesn’t surprise me in the poll most important factor in a PPC campaign that keywords was voted the most important.

Research came in second, which should tell you guys who are just starting out how important the research step is. What did surprise me was to not see bid/keyword management with more votes. I would rank that up there with the others.

Weakest Link?

Anyways, now that you see all the components of a campaign. Asking a different type of question is what is your weakest link?

Look at each component of the campaign as a part of a whole process:

In manufacturing, the production runs as smooth, fast, and efficient, as the slowest part of the whole process or the weakest link in the chain. Something I learned in B School

I think it is similar with a pay per click campaign. Your campaign is as strong as its weakest link.

Did you do the research and compile a solid list of keywords but drop the ball on the landing page? Your campaign will show that. Or maybe you spend all the time on your landing page and ad copy but fail to do any research?

Something to think about …

Important Factor in a PPC Campaign?

Dave — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:09:43 +0000

Ok guys I wanted to do another poll that I thought would be interesting. What would you say is the most important factor in a successful PPC Campaign?

Please vote below:

Most Important Factor in a Successful PPC Campaign ( polls)

Apart from the individual, everything should have been covered, but if I blatantly left something out, just let me know, and I’ll add it in there so vote!

7 PPC Tips You Can Learn from a Monkey

Dave — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:02:52 +0000

Affiliate marketing can sometimes be a tough nut to crack. I know there are times when I get frustrated and a little down. So where do I look to for a little guidance? Yep, monkeys. Monkeys apparently have high IQ’s, so here are a few ppc tips that us humans can learn (This post is part of a group writing project put on by problogger.)

1. Start Small
If you are just starting out, don’t expect to become the 800 pound gorilla in your niche the first week. I’d suggest picking a smaller niche and getting a profitable campaign under your belt first. Then you can tackle the ringtones, dating, and financial offers. Also, build your campaigns out over time, add a few hundred keywords a day, to get the feel of how to manage the offer. Dumping 20,000 keywords into a campaign will just get you frustrated, not to mention a huge CC bill.

2. Do Your Research
I think one of the most overlooked keys to being a successful affiliate is the research. The niche, competition, offers, keywords, landing pages, etc… This can really make or break you. Spend some time going over each component of the offer. As you get more experience this step gets easier and quicker.

3. Split Test
You’d be amazed at how just the smallest changes can bring a losing campaign into a profitable one. Be sure to split test, if you’re not you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. I’ve literally seen conversions double from just 1 tweak. Test the ad copy, headlines, images, landing page copy, call to action etc… This is just part of the optimizing.

4. Use the Technology Given
Their are a handful of extremely useful tools that are available to the affiliate, lots of them free. Use them. Things like adwords editor, prosper202, keyword discovery, wordze, aweber, typo tool, etc. Take full advantage of these tools. They will not only make your life much simpler but can speed up the process of cranking out campaigns and better optimizing them.

5. Speak Their Language
It’s important on your landing page to speak the visitor’s language. Is your target customer young, old, mothers, dog owners, webmasters, etc … The more your landing page copy sounds like them the more they will listen. Also, pulling your keywords into your lander can really give conversions a nice boost.

6. Outsource
Being a one-man business can get overwhelming very quick. Easy to burnout. Two basic things you can outsource are web design and content. Most of my content and some design work as well as some keyword research I outsource. Plan out a campaign from start to finish and break it up into smaller tasks. This may give you some ideas at other areas you can possibly outsource. It’s helpful to focus on your strengths and hire someone else do the work in areas your weakest in. Use sites like elance, getafreelancer, and odesk.

7. Take the Plunge
You will never get anywhere if you don’t take any action. There will never be a perfect time when all the stars line up for you to start. You have to be willing to risk in order to succeed in this business. Don’t wait until tomorrow start TODAY!