Promoting Affiliate Programs with Google AdWords

[Lynn Terry]

Originally brainstormed on Gordon Bryan's thread at TLS - brought here to continue as a Case Study:

Open for Discussion! Add your
Input/Suggestions/Questions


Promoting Affiliate Programs with Google AdWords


I chose an affiliate program: It pays $4.50 per LEAD (not sale!) and has tons of searches, quite a variety in keywords/phrases to test...

I researched keywords & phrases, and the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for those keywords. Got some good ones!

I walked through the process myself, trying to get a feel for what a visitor might encounter (what I am promoting versus what they actually see/find once they click). I decided there were too many 'distractions' (options, other than the one I receive commission for) - so I opened up ACB (Affiliate Commission Booster) and created a special link so that my visitors will be taken straight to the 'call-to-action' from my own info-page. Tested... it works. (Boy, that was easy!)

I have approx 30 keyword phrases - so I will group these together and write a specific ad for each group... keeping my appeal as highly targeted to what the searcher is looking for as possible.

I currently have a 33.33% conversion rate with this affiliate program. Its higher than most, because I'm giving something away for free - and from a 'household name' company. So I dont really have to 'make a sale' - just reach the right market and entice them to request a free ___.

Now this conversion rate was BEFORE I made the change to the 'landing page' using ACB - I imagine my conversion rate will be at least that, if not higher, now.

So... Lets say I focus (to begin with) ONLY on keywords I can get for 5 cents/click, and set my minimum at $10/day. I'm only going to get 200 click-through's a day with that minimum, but if I hold steady at the 33.33% conversion rate, that equals almost $300/day in commission.

Now if I choose keywords that cost 12 cents/click and set my minimum at $5/day - I'm only allowed about 41 click-through's. And lets imagine for some reason my conversion rate with Adwords is only 20% (compared to my conversion rate for a direct referral or search engine listing). That would result in approx $36.90 commission. Using the same scenario (12 cent keywords), setting my minimum cost to $10/day, still at 20% conversion, that increases my income to approx $73.80 (net = $31.90 or $63.80... definitely worth the risk of upping my cost/day).

(my commission is $4.50/lead)

Hmm... definitely want to start this with nickel clickers and $10/min on the first day and see how it flies...

So... Lets say I focus (to begin with) ONLY on keywords I can get for 5 cents/click, and set my minimum at $10/day. I'm only going to get 200 click-through's a day with that minimum, but if I hold steady at the 33.33% conversion rate, that equals almost $300/day in commission.

If this held true... it would cost you $300 to make $9,000 - in one month.

$8,700 in pure profit.

Multiply that times 12 - assuming this program did well all year long - and you'd spend $3,600 to make $108,000 ($104,400 profit).

I could get excited about that

I'm planning to begin the campaigns tonight or in the morning - will be a fun weekend project!

--------

Resources:



Researched Keywords using (free trial)

Affiliate Commission Booster - allows "deep linking".
$19.97 - includes full resell rights. (Email if you want a copy)

Great resource for pay-per-lead Affiliate Programs:

[pschlegel]

Great post Lynn,

I definitely need to add leads programs to my mix.

I'm consistently netting over $1,000/month from affiliate
programs, but I really want to kick it up to the next level
which in my mind is $3,000/month, then $5,000, then
$10,000 - then???

Thanks!

[Lynn Terry]

My conversion rate does seem to be quite a bit higher with pay-per-lead programs than with pay-per-sale... though the payout is usually higher per sale than per lead, too.

The success of this campaign is really going to depend on finding highly targeted keyword phrases for a nickel a click... and maintaining *at least* a 1.2% conversion rate (barely above breaking even). I'm expecting 20-35%... will keep you posted

[Abbey]

I have already started reading and watching this over at TLS - learning a ton of course = look forward to following it here now!

btw folks - got three things to say about the 'new' or revived Lynn, shall I say:

1. watch out - this lady is on a serious roll
2. she is proof that you can have it all: a family, a personal relationship, a full time career, and have some time for yourself =all while being happy, relaxed and enjoying every ounce of it
3. she will have the most amazing success story to tell by the end of 04 - watch what she does closely folks

And of course, in regards to this area - folks, listen to Gordon Bryan!

Abbey

[Lynn Terry]

[The Great Gordino]

[Lynn Terry]

[The Great Gordino]

[Lynn Terry]

[Abbey]

Oops -
sorry, all talk with no explaination. Didn't mean to jump in the middle and not explain what I was referring to when made my last post about Lynn. The 21 day challenge is something I will recommend to everyone I encounter. Next one is in March.

I am doing the 7 day trial right now for clickalyzer and think I am going to be addicted to this thing as much as lynn has been! I especially see the incredible benefit for the split testing as well as for any affiliate looking to promote programs (using the remote tracking). Lynn makes a great point on it saving time on tweaking your information because it provides such intense detail on what your visitors are doing when arriving to your ad, your site, whatever.

Hi Gordon
Glad we are keeping this in all one spot now...

I thought you were using the deep link helper for that NFL campaign. Are you saying even with that deep linking benefit, it is still not producing the sales?

Well, you have a good eye for knowing what to keep and what to move onto. Like spotting that win -win-win situation you just jumped on. I know you will find another goody if you drop the NFL one.

Abbey

[The Great Gordino]

Hi Abbey,
no, the NFL site provides perfect deep linking, it's the bloody fans that won't buy!
This is one of those times, where I have tweaked as much as possible.
The ad is only displayed to people who type in the very specific key phrase, the ad clearly states the price and what's available, and the landing page features just those products.
However, the clicks are not bringing enough conversion.
Weird, and I just have to admit it is frustrating, but cross it off my list.

I'll only cross it off my adword list though, all the work I put in has not been in vain.
I have had sales, just not enough to pay for adwords, but it will be worth optimising a site for the search engines without doubt.
once my current seo experiment shows up some sort of result, I can take it further with the nfl campaign.

I was using the tool from Lynn for the ticket campaign.
Unfortunately, this market has a high bid per click, due to the high commission available per sale, and I am a bit loathe to go in at a high bid.
I think it's prob worth it though, so I will have to just bite the bullet and jump in!

I'll keep you updated!
Gordon
p.s. I will also keep recommending the TLS challenge, as much as I recommend Lynn's site/newsletter!

[Lynn Terry]

Reporting in...

I sat down last night to dig into the research for this project. Initially I had used Wordtracker to determine the amount of searches and glanced over Google's SERPs (search engine results pages) for those keywords.

I looked over the terms & conditions - and had to mark four phrases off of my list. The rest all had a full page of AdWord listings showing... So I opened up . What this program does is show me how many PPC campaigns are running for any given phrase - for both AdWords & Overture.

While I had reviewed Keyword Analyzer briefly in the past, this was the first time I'd used it for a specific project - - its amazing! Found even MORE potential keyword phrases than Wordtracker's free trial showed. In addition to showing how many Adwords & Overture campaigns are running for any keyword phrase, it showed the number of searches (monthly) and the number of results displayed in the search engine listings (good info for SEO). Also allowed me to preview all of the campaigns currently running - and the titles, keywords & URLs used in them. Tons of features - I decided this was a good tool (and much quicker than researching it all manually). Should be noted that it uses Overture as its search tool - known to be not as accurate as Wordtracker. You can run multiple searches simultaneously - researching keywords & campaigns for all of your different ad groups, and tabbing back & forth between.

Seeing that most of my keyword phrases already had 20-30 Adword Campaigns running... I chose a few other keywords to research - double checked them in Wordtracker. Unfortunately, found that those with less adword competition have very few searches/day...

Bottom line - looks like this market is flooded. While there is still potential to profit here, I know without a doubt that there are no nickel-a-click campaigns to be had for this program... so I'm off to find another one.

Having gone through this process once, I feel like it will be much quicker from here on out - so I am feeling confident that I will find a good program to promote before the end of the weekend. What took me almost two hours for one program last night, I did for 10 programs in 45 minutes this morning - so I've got a good 'process' going.

My mission here is to find the 'perfect niche', fill it with a 'perfect product'... resulting in very low cost and very high profit - running on auto-pilot for 3-6 months minimum.

I'll keep you posted!

[flensborg]

[ChristyK]

[Abbey]