Jeremy as usual pulls out all the stops and has started the BIP off with a ton of valuable information. He is absolutely right about working in niches that you have experience with and/or passionate about. I have bombed in niches because they really didn't interest me and I found my self struggling to stay motivated. However, when I took a niche that I enjoyed talking about, promoting it became very easy.
Submitted by danlifeisfun on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 02:25.
Jason,
"I have bombed in niches because they really didn't interest me and I found my self struggling to stay motivated. However, when I took a niche that I enjoyed talking about, promoting it became very easy."
Check out my blog on Squidoo. It's up to #138 in the SEO & Marketing category. I'm not sure if that's an acheivement or not. http://www.squidoo.com/blackinkblog
Submitted by danlifeisfun on Tue, 05/06/2008 - 12:52.
Chopper,
Great blog post about TBIP.
I checked out your site and thought I would throw in my two cents.
1- I like the domain name!
2- The big red navigation buttons have got to go and you need to consolidate your buttons. For example (photo links and local links) (Contact us and Privacy policy).
3- Don't have a button to your Amazon Deals, talk about them on the home page and link to them.
I am a firm believer in the 3 clicks and you are out policy. Anytime a customer has to click 3 times to get to something.... they are history.
4- More content on the home page. Content is king. Content, content, content. I read your entire home page in less than 10 seconds. More content.
A good example is http://www.dpreview.com/. The #1 site on the internet for its category and dpreview.com has a traffic rank of: 1,133 on Alexa.
Jeremy mentioned direct linking is a great way to test out a new niche for profitability before building a landing page/mini-site...
You definitely want to make sure that the merchant you are advertising for permits the use of direct linking from the search engines. Ebay does not - and I learned that lesson the hard way - lost $$ on ppc.
Boza has accurately answered your question. In the earlier years of PPC - folks were paying .5 - .15 cents PPC and direct linking to merchants... needless to say they made small fortunes!
You can still direct link by putting your affiliate link in the destination url of your ppc ad (not the display URL), however, note that search engines may not allow more than one display url displayed per page:
If you are promoting shoes on ebay for instance...
Cheap Shoes!
find cheap shoes on ebay www.ebay.com
Google will only allow one "www.ebay.com" display url per search page results, but if you have a landing page instead:
Cheap Shoes!
find cheap shoes on ebay www.abccheapshoesxyz.com (this being a landing page that would have affiliate links to ebay)
... then you won't have to be concerned about your ad not being displayed.
Jeremy was saying in the webinar that you can direct link to test new niches, but you will want to:
1. Make sure the merchant allows direct linking from search engines
2. Be aware that if you are using the merchant url - your ad may not be displayed if there are other advertisers using the URL for your chosen keyword. (tip: find relevant keywords that are not currently displaying the merchants URL - easier said than done of course)
There were some tweets going on during the webinar about having some dedicated chats post session for folks to keep the discussion going, in addition to here of course.
But perhaps a shared project might be a good idea as well, or a couple of ongoing things.
I'd certainly devote some time to it if it would help folks out.
Submitted by Jeremy Palmer on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 04:03.
Contemplating the idea of a free-for-all friday with a live chat window and video on Ustream or Yahoo Video. Anybody else game? No promises yet - still considering it. Just want to gauge interest and get opinions.
What about opening a web chatroom that BIP people can use throughout the day. It can assist the people that can't make some of the live sessions as well as allow ideas to bounce back and forth. It adds to the students teaching students factor as well.
This can probably be easily done using a seperate php/html page or a Drupal module such as Chat Room
Submitted by Ayn Elise on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 17:20.
Jeremy-
That would be a great idea, I'd be in. I have never used Yahoo video, but I have used Ustream.
Ustream is very user friendly. In case anyone doesn't know this, the " show " can recorded during
the broadcast to be archived right on the site. So dependent on what other services offer, that can eliminate the
need to double handle the video. The chat is not archived with the recording, though, if people would watch
the video later on.
Submitted by alchemizer on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 10:14.
When Dan opened up the question of direct linking...as Jeremy mentioned, it's a good initial strategy for testing purposes. Plus it's also nice to know that some people actually do very well with direct linking campaigns still - just on their own.
My question is - when doing a direct link to a merchant from Google do you cloak the link...as well as track? If I had to choose between the two, the tracking option would win out, but just wondering how people are doing this?
Any suggestions or insights much appreciated.
Elise
P.S. oops...forgot to comment on Jeremy's question - yes, the idea of a free for all Friday sounds good.
What I do before testing a merchant offer is first make sure they support Google conversion tracking or pixel tracking. If they don't, then I usually move on. If they do, I then send them my conversion tracking code. Then I setup a small test campaign (don't go crazy here). Then I start sending traffic directly to the merchant. I will lose money for the first few days, but want I am looking for is consistent sales. If I see that I am getting consistent sales then I know I have a winner even if I am losing money. This means all I have to do is start optimizing my campaign. Optimization includes improving ads, creating landing pages, split testing, getting rid of unprofitable keywords, etc.
Submitted by Hadi (not verified) on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 17:12.
I'm always amazed at how poor the conversion rates are when I have direct linked to merchants.
It's incredible that some of them are still in business - I've yet to see one convert at better than 2%.
I think this is what makes affiliate marketing so scary for newbies - if the CTR on your ppc ads is around 10% and then your landing page converts at around 2% and then the merchant converts at 2%, you need one heck of a lot of traffic to make much money.
Submitted by RandyRandola on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 14:50.
Jeremy - I would be in for a discussion on Friday.
Jason - Some really good thoughts there. Didn't think about the support for tracking. Following you on twitter now...
Ken - I like Ken's idea as well. Put together a project and do a real time test on it. Then we can see the real thing unfold in front of us. I always like demonstrations. Pretty pictures...
By the way, I've got one direct linking campaign that linkd directly to the merchant offer. THis campaign is optimised and I'm the only one who is bidding with merchant's URL for some good traffic kws (my CTR is also 13-17% so Google keeps my bids at 0.64$ per click).
But recently due to the market fluctuations my CR from direct linking campaign lowered, sometimes it's just several % above break-even.
I want to test my new LP for better CR, but I don't want to lose my merchan's display URL, as the competition can take advantage of this immediately. Google reviews campaign changes in several days, so theer will be the time gap while Google lets my updated campaign start.
How to cope with this situation? I see the best way would be having multiple GAdwords accounts =)))
Submitted by alchemizer on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 19:05.
Hi Jason and everyone here,
Thanks for replying with your strategy there...I agree, if you can't track what's going on with your keywords, then you're just shooting in the dark. I know what you mean about consistent sales...at this stage, we're just looking for "signs of life"...we can always work on the ways to improve once we have that!
I was reading some great posts over on Amit Mehta's super affiliate mindset blog - he has a post on direct linking with Clickbank products and gives some good tips...just look under affiliate marketing...then there's another link you can follow from there, to "How to get started as an affiliate".
He is also promising to come out with a direct linking case study soon, where he's going to go through the process he uses step by step, in case anyone is interested.
Conversion tracking is a way to track your sales/leads within your PPC campaign. When you enable conversion tracking in Google or Yahoo they give you a snippet of Javascript code that you give to the merchant or affiliate manager. They place this code on the final page of the check out or registration. Some merchants don't allow Javascript so you can provide a pixel tracking code. Google will also provide this code to you. The benefit of all this is once you start running a PPC campaign you can see what ad groups, ads, and keywords are converting. Without this information you can't possibly know where to optimize a campaign for profit.
I agree Chopper...
I think Jeremy is a born teacher. I got a lot out of tonight.
Chuck
My hat off to Jeremy!
Jeremy as usual pulls out all the stops and has started the BIP off with a ton of valuable information. He is absolutely right about working in niches that you have experience with and/or passionate about. I have bombed in niches because they really didn't interest me and I found my self struggling to stay motivated. However, when I took a niche that I enjoyed talking about, promoting it became very easy.
Cheers,
Jason Woods
Follow me on Twitter
Exactly!
Jason,
"I have bombed in niches because they really didn't interest me and I found my self struggling to stay motivated. However, when I took a niche that I enjoyed talking about, promoting it became very easy."
I could not agree more.
Dan
Sounds good
Can't wait for the download since my current Day Job keeps me from listening live.
Art
Yes oozing with value and
Yes oozing with value and the price is right for this whole class. LOL
Maybe we should get together and blog something about the BIP and all agree to use the same word/phrase and google bomb some traffic.
Wonder what Jeremy thinks.
Also anyone know how many people were in the webinar?
-Ken
got twitter?
www.twitter.com/kensavage
blogging
Check out my blog on Squidoo. It's up to #138 in the SEO & Marketing category. I'm not sure if that's an acheivement or not. http://www.squidoo.com/blackinkblog
chopper
Great blog post.
Chopper,
Great blog post about TBIP.
I checked out your site and thought I would throw in my two cents.
1- I like the domain name!
2- The big red navigation buttons have got to go and you need to consolidate your buttons. For example (photo links and local links) (Contact us and Privacy policy).
3- Don't have a button to your Amazon Deals, talk about them on the home page and link to them.
I am a firm believer in the 3 clicks and you are out policy. Anytime a customer has to click 3 times to get to something.... they are history.
4- More content on the home page. Content is king. Content, content, content. I read your entire home page in less than 10 seconds. More content.
A good example is http://www.dpreview.com/. The #1 site on the internet for its category and dpreview.com has a traffic rank of: 1,133 on Alexa.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Indeed - excellent webinar!
Indeed - excellent webinar!
Jeremy mentioned direct linking is a great way to test out a new niche for profitability before building a landing page/mini-site...
You definitely want to make sure that the merchant you are advertising for permits the use of direct linking from the search engines. Ebay does not - and I learned that lesson the hard way - lost $$ on ppc.
Direct linking?
Could you explain what direct linking is?
Thanks
Dan
direct linking
I believe direct linking is sending a customer directly from your PPC advert (eg Google AdWords) straight to the merchant's website.
The alternative to doing this is to send them to a landing page on your affiliate site and from there direct them to the merchant's site.
Boza has accurately answered
Boza has accurately answered your question. In the earlier years of PPC - folks were paying .5 - .15 cents PPC and direct linking to merchants... needless to say they made small fortunes!
You can still direct link by putting your affiliate link in the destination url of your ppc ad (not the display URL), however, note that search engines may not allow more than one display url displayed per page:
If you are promoting shoes on ebay for instance...
Cheap Shoes!
find cheap shoes on ebay
www.ebay.com
Google will only allow one "www.ebay.com" display url per search page results, but if you have a landing page instead:
Cheap Shoes!
find cheap shoes on ebay
www.abccheapshoesxyz.com (this being a landing page that would have affiliate links to ebay)
... then you won't have to be concerned about your ad not being displayed.
Jeremy was saying in the webinar that you can direct link to test new niches, but you will want to:
1. Make sure the merchant allows direct linking from search engines
2. Be aware that if you are using the merchant url - your ad may not be displayed if there are other advertisers using the URL for your chosen keyword. (tip: find relevant keywords that are not currently displaying the merchants URL - easier said than done of course)
Thanks for the clarifying
Thanks for the clarifying points!
Thanks Ryan!
Thanks Ryan!
Dan
Not a bad idea Ken
There were some tweets going on during the webinar about having some dedicated chats post session for folks to keep the discussion going, in addition to here of course.
But perhaps a shared project might be a good idea as well, or a couple of ongoing things.
I'd certainly devote some time to it if it would help folks out.
k
-------------------------------------------------
Yet another guy learning the ropes.
Visit my charity site: http://www.showsomecare.com
Twitter Me: http://www.twitter.com/kmore
Contemplating the idea of a
Contemplating the idea of a free-for-all friday with a live chat window and video on Ustream or Yahoo Video. Anybody else game? No promises yet - still considering it. Just want to gauge interest and get opinions.
Sounds good to me!
Sounds good to me!
sounds good to me as well
Great idea!
Count Me In
Hi Jeremy,
Great idea. Count me in.
Best regards,
Judith
www.twitter.com/judithstephens
Web Chat Room
What about opening a web chatroom that BIP people can use throughout the day. It can assist the people that can't make some of the live sessions as well as allow ideas to bounce back and forth. It adds to the students teaching students factor as well.
This can probably be easily done using a seperate php/html page or a Drupal module such as Chat Room
contemplating the idea
Jeremy-
That would be a great idea, I'd be in. I have never used Yahoo video, but I have used Ustream.
Ustream is very user friendly. In case anyone doesn't know this, the " show " can recorded during
the broadcast to be archived right on the site. So dependent on what other services offer, that can eliminate the
need to double handle the video. The chat is not archived with the recording, though, if people would watch
the video later on.
Ayn Elise
That will be great.
That will be great.
Good idea...
Count me in also.
Chuck
Direct linking with tracking/cloaking?
When Dan opened up the question of direct linking...as Jeremy mentioned, it's a good initial strategy for testing purposes. Plus it's also nice to know that some people actually do very well with direct linking campaigns still - just on their own.
My question is - when doing a direct link to a merchant from Google do you cloak the link...as well as track? If I had to choose between the two, the tracking option would win out, but just wondering how people are doing this?
Any suggestions or insights much appreciated.
Elise
P.S. oops...forgot to comment on Jeremy's question - yes, the idea of a free for all Friday sounds good.
Elise, What I do before
Elise,
What I do before testing a merchant offer is first make sure they support Google conversion tracking or pixel tracking. If they don't, then I usually move on. If they do, I then send them my conversion tracking code. Then I setup a small test campaign (don't go crazy here). Then I start sending traffic directly to the merchant. I will lose money for the first few days, but want I am looking for is consistent sales. If I see that I am getting consistent sales then I know I have a winner even if I am losing money. This means all I have to do is start optimizing my campaign. Optimization includes improving ads, creating landing pages, split testing, getting rid of unprofitable keywords, etc.
Cheers,
Jason Woods
Follow me on Twitter
Poor merchant conversion rates
I'm always amazed at how poor the conversion rates are when I have direct linked to merchants.
It's incredible that some of them are still in business - I've yet to see one convert at better than 2%.
I think this is what makes affiliate marketing so scary for newbies - if the CTR on your ppc ads is around 10% and then your landing page converts at around 2% and then the merchant converts at 2%, you need one heck of a lot of traffic to make much money.
Cheers
Hadi
Good thoughts
Jeremy - I would be in for a discussion on Friday.
Jason - Some really good thoughts there. Didn't think about the support for tracking. Following you on twitter now...
Ken - I like Ken's idea as well. Put together a project and do a real time test on it. Then we can see the real thing unfold in front of us. I always like demonstrations. Pretty pictures...
Question on direct linking!
By the way, I've got one direct linking campaign that linkd directly to the merchant offer. THis campaign is optimised and I'm the only one who is bidding with merchant's URL for some good traffic kws (my CTR is also 13-17% so Google keeps my bids at 0.64$ per click).
But recently due to the market fluctuations my CR from direct linking campaign lowered, sometimes it's just several % above break-even.
I want to test my new LP for better CR, but I don't want to lose my merchan's display URL, as the competition can take advantage of this immediately. Google reviews campaign changes in several days, so theer will be the time gap while Google lets my updated campaign start.
How to cope with this situation? I see the best way would be having multiple GAdwords accounts =)))
Thanks in advance for your suggestions)
Yes, use another Adwords
Yes, use another Adwords acc.
How much do u bid? $1.00? $1.50? and get $0.64 per click from Google?
There are ppl making it big using direct linking. What markets would that be? Let's test all the markets ala Campaign Blasting Method.
Thanks...
Hi Jason and everyone here,
Thanks for replying with your strategy there...I agree, if you can't track what's going on with your keywords, then you're just shooting in the dark. I know what you mean about consistent sales...at this stage, we're just looking for "signs of life"...we can always work on the ways to improve once we have that!
I was reading some great posts over on Amit Mehta's super affiliate mindset blog - he has a post on direct linking with Clickbank products and gives some good tips...just look under affiliate marketing...then there's another link you can follow from there, to "How to get started as an affiliate".
He is also promising to come out with a direct linking case study soon, where he's going to go through the process he uses step by step, in case anyone is interested.
e.
Keep us posted on that one
Keep us posted on that one please.
Amit Mehta's direct linking case study
Amit promised to come out with this study at the beginning of May.
Did he?
Does anyone know?
Amit Mehta's direct linking case study
Hi alchemizer and everyone here,
did you hear or see anything about Amit Mehta's promised direct linking case study?
Regards,
I second that ?
Please let me know if you find out anything about that - thanks!
Twitter.com/RyanHakes
What does that mean
Alchemizer mentions cloaking the link vs track? Jason mentions conversion tracking or pixel tracking. What are those?
Conversion tracking is a way
Conversion tracking is a way to track your sales/leads within your PPC campaign. When you enable conversion tracking in Google or Yahoo they give you a snippet of Javascript code that you give to the merchant or affiliate manager. They place this code on the final page of the check out or registration. Some merchants don't allow Javascript so you can provide a pixel tracking code. Google will also provide this code to you. The benefit of all this is once you start running a PPC campaign you can see what ad groups, ads, and keywords are converting. Without this information you can't possibly know where to optimize a campaign for profit.
Cheers,
Jason Woods
Follow me on Twitter