PPC Marketing Tips | Niche Reaper Lenses

We are going to have to assume you have a basic knowledge of Affiliate Marketing and that you are aware of certain fundamentals but we'll start with a very basic description.

We are also going to be showing examples on this lens that are based on using Google Adwords but the principals are the same for other networks like Yahoo.

So, you should be familiar with the ads (like the one shown) that appear at the right hand side (or across the top) of most Google search results.

These ads are placed either by the merchant or an affiliate and are paid for each time a searcher clicks on them, regardless of whether an ultimate purchase is actually made by the searcher.

The cost per click can vary from anywhere from a few cents to above $10 although you would typically expect to pay between $0.05 and $1.50 provided you have set up your campaigns correctly.

The number of competing ads can also be a determining factor in how much you will ultimately pay every time someone clicks on one of your ads.

So, it's easy to see that you could soon rack up a significant adspend bill. Fine if your sales are more than your adspend... not so great otherwise!

It's important to get it right!

The key is targeting and relevancy... but before we move on let's check how many of you are using PPC marketing at the moment and what you think of it.

Niche Research is our specialty at ANC and we can't stress how important it is when contemplating a PPC Marketing campaign.

Check out our sister lens Niche Research Tips for more guidance.

Niche Research is critical to a successful adwords campaign... you should have a identified a hungry niche... you should have identified their needs or desires... you should have identified the questions they have... the answers they want...

Now you MUST supply the relevant answers...

Remember each click a searcher makes on one of your adwords ads cost YOU money... so you MUST be both targeted and relevant!

Before we talk about how to set up a targeted and relevant adwords campaign let's first have a look at the 'platform' you should use for PPC Marketing and remind ourselves about the importance of the Customer Buying Cycle...

Let us start by saying straight from the off that we would not recommend that you use lenses or blogs for PPC Marketing Campaigns.

There are exceptions but for the purposes of this lens we are going to be looking at using Landing Pages... Landing Pages, linked to a relevant mini-site as outlined in our Niche Website Building Tips lens. (So if you have not already checked that out, do so now.)

Why not use a lens or a blog? Simple, there are too many potential distractions. Remember, you are paying for those clicks... so you want your searcher to hit your landing page, find what he's looking for and then exit to your merchant (via your affiliate link) as soon as possible.

You don't want people to be distracted by adsense ads or links to other lenses or a whole load of blog posts.

Because you are paying for every click with PPC Marketing it's very important to grab your potential customer at the last stage of the Customer Buying Cycle.

More detail is provided on our Niche Website Building Tips lens but let's just pop up a brief reminder of the cycle here.

1.Research Phase. Where they are looking for general information on a topic.

2.Decision Phase. Where they are looking to compare different products and are likely looking for more information and reviews.

3.Buying Phase. They have come to decision and wish to buy.

Whilst it is possible to use PPC Marketing at stages #1 & #2 of the cycle this should, at this point, be considered a more 'advanced' strategy. (In this case you would likely be paying to collect leads onto your marketing list.)

For the purposes of this lens we are only going to look at stage #3 of the cycle: The Buying Phase.

Chances are your potential customer has already looked around for products that satisfy their needs, they may have done some comparisons of competing products but have now decided to make a purchase... they just need that final push!

So, now let's look at how we, as Affiliate Marketers, can provide that...

We have to assume at this point that you have conducted your Niche Research thoroughly and that you have already identified those late Buying Cycle keyword phrases. These will typically be product names but be aware that for some products you are NOT allowed to use the actual (copyrighted) product names.

Examples of which would be:-

'product x'
'buy product x'
'get product x'
'product x review'

You can use Google's own keyword tool or something like MicroNicheFinder to help you identify these.

Let's look at an actual example in the Stock Trading Niche:-

Ad Group : Doubling Stocks

Keywords:-

doublingstocks
doubling stocks
doublingstocks newsletter
doubling stocks newsletter
doublingstocks review
doubling stocks review

We would use all three match types for each keyword. That is broad; "phrase"; [exact]

Ad:-

Notice the use of the dual keyword technique where the phase 'doubling stocks' appears multiple times both in the ad and the display url.

Your ads should be both compelling and offer a solution.

Landing Page:-

Notice the the compelling headline and use of the hyperlinked text 'Doubling Stocks' in the introductory text.

These are affiliate links to the merchant page.

The review of the 'Doubling Stocks' product appears 'above the fold' inviting the reader to scroll down...

Further, alternative product, reviews are contained underneath.

Thus helping the searcher make that final decision to buy your recommended product!

How Google determines your Quality Score (QS) is based primarily on relevancy.

How relevant your keywords are to your ad group, your ad and your Landing Page.

Note: Your Landing Page MUST be linked back to your mini-site (via a footer link) so that Google sees more than just one page when they check out your ads.

If you follow the example above you should get a great quality score and Google will allow you to bid below $0.10. Anything above that may be OK but you should always aim for a great QS in the first instance.

Note: This does NOT mean that you should bid below $0.10. That is determined by your competition and Quality Score.

And this is where it gets slightly complicated...

We always bid high initially on a new campaign....perhaps up to $2.00 (but that's very rare).

You MUST get on the first page of the sponsored ads. Not necessarily the first place but at least position #6.

If you can get to that position and your click through rate (CTR) is good (above 4%) you will find that you will be able to lower your bids whilst retaining your position.

So, a little patience and yes, nerve is required!

It is very important that you watch, monitor and track your campaigns very closely, particularly if it's a new campaign.

One Golden Rule: (A rule Thad and I sometimes ignore but I advise you not to when starting out)

Pause any campaign when your adspend equals ONE commission if you have not made ANY sales.

Pause and re-assess... don't abandon the campaign...just review EVERYTHING again.

Remember (again), that YOU are paying for those clicks.

It's YOUR money on the line here! Not the merchant... Not the Guru who told you how easy it was...BUT YOURS!

Don't rush into PPC Marketing... learn the ropes first... using the free methods...

Then when you are ready get some expert guidance.

We've already told you we highly recommend you get a good Adwords guide like Beating Adwords or join Wealthy Affiliate for that but there are other guides out there.

But get this...

[Join Wealthy Affiliate via THIS link and get Beating Adwords FREE!]

Have your say on which Adwords guide you think is best in the next module...

Good Luck!

More to come...

We'll be building these up as we go... so keep an eye out...

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