PPC Affiliate Marketing ? An Introduction to Direct Linking
By Anton James
If you're new to affiliate marketing, you may or may not have heard of direct linking. Put simply, it is a method where you send pay per click traffic directly from your PPC ad to the merchant?s web site. It is one of the fastest ways to ramp up an affiliate business as you are not concerned with constructing your own websites or landing pages.
Direct Linking is a bit of an enigma, there is a great deal of mis-information regarding the practical use of it as a strategy. Furthermore, there is the perception in some circles that it is frowned upon by the major search networks. This isn't entirely true, but Google in particular has made direct linking practices more restrictive than they used to be.
If you're looking for a bit of insight into this marketing angle, read on. I'll give a brief example of how it works and then provide some pros and cons.
The Basics:
You construct your ad with the following elements:
* Headline (Contains destination URL)
* 2 Lines of Ad Copy (where you are selling the product/service to the customer)
* Display URL
The Headline is generic text related to your ad but also contains the destination URL as an embedded link. This URL could be one of a number of formats. For simplicity, it's usually a special link that includes the page address where the customer will end up, combined with your affiliate information. They sometimes look something like this:
http://affiliate_info.merchant_info.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=keyword
This is so the merchant can track where the customer was referred from, and pay a commission if there is a sale. Destination URLs can be quite lengthy as they usually contain a lot of information. The limit in most search engines is usually 1024 characters. There are other options like masked domains and cloaked links, but to explain them is beyond the scope of this article.
The display URL must be the primary domain where the customer will ultimately end up. For example, if you are direct linking to the page
www.awesomeshoes.com/nike
your display URL must be
www.awesomeshoes.com
or even
www.awesomshoes.com/nike
The latter is acceptable as you can show sub domains.
Be mindful of character limits with display URLs in search network ads.
Pros of Direct linking:
1. Speed
The most obvious advantage of directly linking your ads to the merchant site is that you don?t have to construct any kind of website or landing page. You can literally have a campaign up and running in a matter of hours.
2. Build Credibility
If you link to a Merchant that has at least some kind of business presence on the web, the customer will see the display URL and will automatically associate your ad with the Merchant. It goes a long way to overcoming the confidence gap customers will feel towards an unknown new business.
3. Great Training
Direct Linking is great for testing Merchant offers to see if they are profitable BEFORE you invest too much capital into your campaign. Pay Per click marketing involves a learning curve, and direct linking lets you get your hands dirty and learn the ropes before you commit to a site of your own.
4. Most Direct Path for the Customer
This is especially important when you are trying to sell retail or brand names online. In many instances people know exactly what they want, and they don't want to jump through too many hoops to get to it. If the customer has to click through too many pages to get to the point where they can purchase the item, they may give up, go back to the search page and click on your competitor?s ad.
5. Landing Page Quality Score
Quality score is a complex beast, but put simply, the search engines penalize or reward you for how relevant the landing page is, in relation to your ad and keywords. If you are landing on an established business's web page and providing your ad is well constructed, your quality score should be healthy.
Cons of Direct linking:
1. Not all merchants allow direct linking
Some merchants don?t allow their affiliates to run direct linking campaigns to their web pages. They feel it offers value that is marginal and creates unnecessary competition. Some Merchants on the other hand love it, as it brings in extra business. Always check your Merchants terms of service. And remember that the Merchant can change their policies anytime they like. Not good if you have a mega successful direct linking campaign you suddenly have to suspend.
2. Competition for keywords and display URLs
This is probably the greatest challenge facing affiliates who direct link. As there may be many affiliates using the single merchant display URL, competition for high converting keywords may be an issue. When you are new, you may get pushed out by affiliates with more bidding power and better quality score due to a solid account history. This is also known as the "one URL" rule. For Example, if there are 10 affiliates bidding on the keyword "ringtones" and all are direct linking to the single merchant, only 1 of those affiliates ads will show up. This will depend on who has the best quality score and highest bid price.
3. You get more control with your own site.
With your own site and landing page, you get the chance to pre-sell to the customer. There are many examples of affiliate sites which take on a "review" format where you can evaluate various products and recommend the best. Many people are looking for review sites to get a third party opinion before they buy.
To quickly summarize. If you are new to affiliate marketing or would like to test a new niche, consider direct linking as a fast strategy where you can try things out before over committing yourself. If you are more experienced and you know that you are in a profitable niche, your own site and landing page will be a great long term investment.
I know you said Instead of affiliate marketing, but have you tryed online casinos? They pay really good for ad placement.
How many keywords do you think is good for a ppc campaign for affiliate marketing?
Im starting a pay per click program for a product. When running ppc campaings what is a good number amount of keywords to use?
It entirely depends on the product. Consider what is known as the ‘long tail’ of search marketing. That is, the hundreds of different variations or related searches people may type that might bring you traffic. There might be 1000s giving lots of opportunities for people to see your ad.
very often the keywords you think are going to bring lots of traffic turn out to be very expensive as your competition is also bidding on those terms. It is often a good idea to avoid the popular terms and stick to the cheap ‘long tail’ terms.
You can then pre qualify your clicks by ensuring that the name, availability and cost of your item are mentioned in your ad. This way you are more likely to only spend money on clicks that are likely to convert to business.
Good luck.
Instead of affiliate marketing and PPC links. Are there any other ways of generating income for a website?
I’ve just started a new website and it’s in its early days but I’ve read up on PPC and affiliate marketing but I was wondering whether people know of any other methods of generating income for a website? My site is http://www.sellersuk.com. Thanks again
Since you’re not experienced, you will simply lose everything you invest in it as it takes some skills to..
- find good keywords
- create a good ad
- create a selling target page
PPC Affiliate Marketing?
I’m new to affiliate marketing and am wondering if PPC (Google Adwords in particular) is still alive and well? Before I invest any more time and money, need some honest answers…
It all depends on what your end goal is in terms of your marketing efforts.
A landing page is that extra piece of real estate that you could use to help you get the sale.
If you need more space to persuade a potential customer to make a sale, use landing pages.
I?ve made sales doing straight links & landing pages.
When you are ready to collect names and addresses for a list, a landing page is a great place to put up a subscription form.
Paul Wilson
No charge to you whatsoever.
Anyone who shows up on your website and clicks any link will not cost you anything. It’s getting them there that can cost the money, and is one reason you might choose to use PPC.
Also, if you have Adsense ads running on your website you will actually get paid (just a little) each time someone clicks them.
See more about PPC at http://www.ValleyPPC.com
If you’re just making money from a single sale, then take your commission and divide it by 100. If you can spend that amount or less per a click, then you’ll either be breaking even or making a profit.
As a beginner in affiliate marketing, shall i start by making a website or just stick to ppc?
I want to promote products in finance sector…
Should I use landing pages with affiliate marketing?
I am somewhat new to affiliate marketing and I am not sure if I need a landing/squeeze page when I am using ppc. I am not interested in building a list just yet.
As a beginner in Affiliate Marketing hopefully you did your research first on how to do it correctly and not just put a few words together and hope they sell the products. I can tell you from experience that one word or one color difference in your headline of your website/landing page/blog, whatever you do will make significant impact on sales. If you are just getting started and haven’t got much experience, I suggest you read up on it ===> at http://www.wealthandmoneyonline.com and get a Free guide that will give you some insight on what it is you are trying to achieve. Browse around the site and learn about what it is all about before you go and spend a lot of money with no ROI. There are ways to do it without spending much money at all. Learn the techniques first, then apply what has been learned.
I am doing affiliate marketing via ppc. i am getting clicks but no purchases..can anyone please help me?
Check this site out. It has a review of affiliate marketing experts, that have proven techniques for writing good web copy.
http://theartofsem.com/category/how-to-make-money
Ewen Chia
http://theartofsem.com/category/ewen-chia/
Holly Mann
http://theartofsem.com/category/holly-mann/
Affiliate marketing ppc question?
If i want to display a hoplink on my website to promote other companies am i subject to fees? Do i get charged for someone clicking on the advert? I am of the opinion that it is just if you do google adwords that you ppc. it’s all a bit confusing. Thank you in advance.
WHO KNOWS ABOUT AFFILIATE MARKETING?
i recently purchased ‘anthony morrison’s’ book and its a lil hard to know where to start….is there anyone from fresno, CA or surrounding areas that can help me out in person…im kind of a visual learner and prefer someone to show me how to do this….a little help please…….i dont really care about what u think about anthony morrison or anything!!!! i jus wana know how to get started on affiliate marketing(ppc, cpm, cpc, etc.)
Affiliate marketing with PPC programs?
Does anyone earn from affiliate marketing without a website and through PPC services like Adwords and Yahoo search marketing, etc? How did you start?
Does PPC marketing work well for affiliate sites?
I have an affiliate site http://www.cheaperticketprices.com/ and have wanted to try PPC marketing for my event ticket page. (concert tickets, sporting events, plays, etc…) Would PPC marketing pay for itself if I was paid 12% commission per ticket sold?
You need to do a lot of “homework” and research before spending money on PPC to drive traffic to affiliate merchants.
If you’re thinking about buying a “program” that some promoter is selling, think twice.
I’ve written an article explaining why most people do NOT make money from this strategy. See http://www.MarkWelch.com/affiliate-arbitrage.htm (no ads, just advice).
A good place to research affiliate marketing is ABestWeb (http://www.ABestWeb.com/) which is a community of affiliates and merchants — don’t post there until you’ve spent at least 10 hours searching and reading old discussions.