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Adwords - Really Taking the Plunge
May 23, 2006
I've been thinking about really going for Adwords lately, not just dabbling in a few experimental campaigns, but truly incorporating it into my affiliate marketing business plan.
I know that I'm in the middle of putting together my 50 affiliate sites, but some of the niches I've decided on lend themselves well to search marketing campaigns.
After a lot of looking around and reading, it just seems to me that using PPC is something that I should incorporate into my business. Gives things a bit of a balance, and takes away that reliance on Google and other search engines that can be a bit unnerving at times.
I can go through nice periods where Google likes my sites, but sometimes it's like a roller coaster ride. I'm pretty up on my SEO, I think, and probably getting as far with niche affiliate sites as I can get using organic search results alone.
So I've added PPC to my game plan. I even got a brand new, to be used only for Adwords credit card!
First up: learning copywriting skills for my ads and landing skills. I've got Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letters and Joe Sugarman's Adveritsing Secrets of the Written Word to start with.
I'm also going to dig out my copy of Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Adwords. And re-read High Performance Affiliate Marketing.
But other than learning the basics, it does seem like there's a whole lot of experimenting, testing and tracking to come.
If you do PPC on a regular basis, I'd love to hear your experiences and whether you've finally reached a comfort level with it. Is it worth it? Is it as scary as I sometimes think it is? (You can always email me or post a comment below!)
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Posted by BJ at 07:43 PM in Adwords | Permalink
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Comments
Hi BJ,
I know that your SEO is up to par. You've beaten me on Andy's KRA(ie. Google "keyword results analyzer review"):)
PPC is a good strategy to incorporate. But be very careful. From what I've seen in my personal testing, the product, your landing page and the merchants landing page are the critical elements as you know. Just start slowly and with cheap keywords. Once you've profited from the cheap ones (5-10 cents), then you could go to the expensive/higher demand niches. I was promoting insurance when I first got started and I was blowing away $3-5 a click...ouch. I learned my lesson quick enough. Recently, I found a niche that wasn't tapped at all. I got over 1000 clicks in a few days. However, the traffic didn't convert. I tested out a variety of landing pages but things still didn't work. I concluded that my targets weren't buyers. So I changed niches. Even though PPC is a vital strategy, also focus on at least 2-3 other marketing strategies. Perry Marshall's ebook, and Jeremy's book as well, are great resources.
Charles Amith
http://EZturnkeybusinessidea.com
Posted by: Charles Amith | May 26, 2006 12:56:27 PM
Hi, Charles,
Thanks for the wise words. The bottom line seems to be that PPC is definitely hard work with a lot of testing and tracking, but it can pay big.
I will definitely start small. There seems to be so many things to juggle - you want to have a good CTR so that you can minimize your cost per click, and you want good landing pages that will also generate a good CTR and then you want a merchant that converts.
But once I get into it, at least I'll finally feel like I'm almost fully diversified in the online biz! (There will only be info products left after that ...) :)
Posted by: BJ | May 26, 2006 3:14:14 PM
