PPCs and multiple website topics?

[scott]

With PPC search engines, do you really have to have a website that is about only one topic?

My understanding is , that with my fishing site, I can only add fishing related content. Meaning, I could get away with hunting, camping etc because those are related topics. But, if I started adding lots of content on "internet marketing" for example, I'd be punished by the search engines, because internet marketing is not related to fishing.

Am I correct on this?

Does the same hold true for PPCs?

Couldn't anyone grab a generic domain name, create a page on the topic of internet marketing and sell their affiliate wares from that page, then turn around and create a 2nd page for auto parts (under the same domain) and continue the process?

If I'm right, why would you not want to do this?

I'm just looking at this from a PPC perspective.

Thanks in advance!

Scott

[sugarrae]

"I'd be punished by the search engines, because internet marketing is not related to fishing."

I see lots of sites with varying topics on a single domain that do okay in the search engines. However, as a rule of thumb, if your fishing website is more than a few pages dedicated to fishing, it is smart to buy a more generic domain to advertise other programs with. This isn't neccessarily from a search engine standpoint, but more of a topical standpoint. Your will need to have links pointed to your subpages - if you add a subpage to your fishing site and it is not linked to from within your fishing site (which would look weird to visitors) and is not linked to from outside sites, it will have an extreme uphill battle ranking in the SE's.

From a PPC standpoint only it doesn't matter one bit. If the page is on a domain and not connected to any other pages and your sole purpose is to use the page for PPC advertising, you are good to go.

However, my suggestion would be that you leave your fishing site alone and buy a second domain and hosting (which you can do for under 50 bucks for the year) and as you said, go with a more generic name like internetdeals.com (I am SURE this is taken, was just trying to get across the point of generic) and use this site to market all of your PPC campaigns.

But, that would just be my preference ... with PPC advertising, you don't actually NEED to do this. However, keep in mind that with some PPC's like Adwords, your domain will have to be listed in the ad. So, if you are advertising digital cameras and the ad shows www.fishingstuff.com as the URL, it may bring down your click thru rate.

However, this is all really just speculation and theory, as I usually keep everything seperate myself. I do have one generic domain for PPC that has some unrelated stuff on it - but the domain is very generic, like the example I used above.

LOL, ok, I am babbling way too much here today.

[scott]

Rae,

Thank you very much!!!!

Thank you for all the help you've given me over the past few days!!

Scott

[marlene_s]

Hi Rae

May I jump in line to ask a question?

Would you recommend that, instead of using an affiliate link (be it cloaked or uncloaked) as the URL for Adwords, I set up a one-page "mini-site" that presells the merchant, BEFORE sending the visitor to the affiliate site?

I've been sending visitors directly to the merchant site, and I am looking for ways to improve the conversion rate. Personally 'm not a mini-site fan, because I agree more with the Ken Evoy way of C-T-P-M, but I was wondering if some sort of "landing page" would be a good idea.

~Marlene~

[sugarrae]

LOL, these are nothing but my opinions, so take em for that and with a grain of salt .

I think it depends on the merchant. Some merchants have invested a lot of time and money into making sure their site SELLS. Some merchants though have not. So, in that case, making an entry page would probably help. I personally use entry pages for my PPC campaigns (anything I market via SEO gets a full site, which is most). Helps to make you not look exactly like everyone else promoting the program as well. But, from what I have read about the affiliate program you are with I wouldn't spend much more effort. When there are so many healthy horses out there, why try and drag a sick one to water? But again, this is all just opinion based on my own experiences.

[scott]

[marlene_s]

ROFL, Rae - that was exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for! I'm kicking the sick horse back into its Linkshare stable, and I'm saddling up another (healthy) affiliate program. I'm going to try the landing page idea, and I'll report back how it works out.

Scott, Ken Evoy talked about C-T-P-M in the latest issue of the 5 Pillar newsletter. It stands for Content-Traffic-Presell-Monetize. In a nutshell, you want to write/provide great content, generate traffic, and presell your visitor BEFORE you can even consider monetizing from a site. I thought it made a lot of sense, and I really enjoyed the article.

~Marlene~

[scott]