First off, let me start off this post by saying that I love Google Adwords, it is by far the biggest single traffic source for all my affiliate marketing endeavors, however, it only accounts for about 45% of the traffic that my affiliates sites receive each month from all my traffic sources, and only about 35%-40% of my profit from all of these traffic sources come from Adwords!

Too many affiliates are focused way too intensely on Google and it isn’t even their fault!  It’s our fault!  The so-called gurus of affiliate marketing…  We push and push and push Google Adwords and we are always talking about them, we talk about how big they are, how they control ~80% of the search market, our latest Google slaps, and more!  It seems like there is always something to say about the giant we all call Google.  However, even though they are the biggest and are extremely important to your business as an affiliate marketer, for some people (like myself) they aren’t even where most of their money comes from!  If Google was to go bankrupt tomorrow (just go with me on this…) I would still be okay!  Would you?

Another interesting fact about Google, is that out of the three major search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing (Microsoft) they don’t even have the best traffic!  According to a post I was reading on TechCrunch, Bing users are twice as likely to click on an ad then Google users!

There are so many different companies and opportunities to drive traffic to your affiliate sites that it can literally drive you crazy trying to figure out all the ways!  Hopefully this post can give you a couple ideas that you may not have thought of and can help you break the curse of having all your eggs in one Google!

Search Engines Besides Google

There are several search engines besides Google.  The two most talked about after Google is Yahoo Search, and Microsoft Bing (formally known as live.com).  However, there are even more sites, now I must say that as you move away from the top three, things can get a little more tricky and requires a lot more patience, split testing, and time to get them right…and sometimes you never can get them to work for you!

Just to name a few of the other search engines that I’ve had success with in some niches are as follows…

• Ask
• 7Search
• Looksmart

Ad Buys

Ad buys are basically when you do some searches in a search engine for terms relating to your niche, then you go to some of the top organic results and see if they offer advertising on their sites and buy direct from them instead of through a company.

There are plenty of benefits to ad buys, first off, you can typically get the advertisements very cheap and get some very decent traffic if you keep your eyes open and do enough digging!  Secondly, and this is purely from personal statisitics, but I’ve always had higher CTR’s and higher Conversion Rates when I do Ad Buys directly instead of using content networks to do it all.  Not saying that I don’t use the content networks and that they don’t bring in some niche bling!

However, one of the big downfalls to Ad Buys is that it can take a lot of testing and money to find sites that actually produce results and it can take a ton of time doing it if you aren’t careful!  Although, it does become easier to spot good deals and websites the more you do it, so the time thing kinda pays off if you stick it out!

PPV (Pay Per View)

Another method that isn’t talked about as much, but can produce some great results is PPV aka Pay Per View.  Basically PPV is adaware, which means that the person that’s gonna see your ad, downloaded a program that was free that is supported by ads.  I could write a piece about this here, however, Bryn from Bryn.me did a great writeup about PPV and what it’s all about and he even listed some of the companies he uses.  Instead of just rehashing his stuff, or writing up my own long thing on this, I’ll instead point you to his post on pay per view advertising!

Article Marketing

Article Marketing is basically where you write articles that you end up submitting to article directories that either A.) include links to your affiliate offer directly or B.) links to an affiliate website you have promoting an offer.  The article you would write would be about the niche that you’re promoting an offer for, you’d stick in a couple of links to your affiliate site, and submit it to some article directories.  This is extremely popular with BANS (Build a Niche Store) sites, however, I’ve seen it work and I’ve personally used it with several other type of affiliate stuff!

Again, since I’m just trying to give you guys a quick description of all the possibilities out there, instead of talking too much on this one subject, I’ll point you to a post about article directories and article marketing from a friend of mine named Alan, from Affiliate Confessions.  Now, in this post he is using the example of a BANS store as I stated before, however as I said, I’ve seen article marketing used in a lot more ways then just for BANS stores.

Mobile Applications

One of the more recent ways we are seeing affiliate offers being promoted is by companies that create an application for a mobile phone like the Palm Pre, the iPhone, the HTC Touch, etc.  They are building applications around a certain niche, let’s say an application that has recipes for cooking and such and then they are promoting cookbook offers, learn to cook membership sites, etc…

This isn’t something that I’ve had time to fool with yet, however, I have two friends that have released free applications for mobile phones and they have both done fairly decent with doing so.  Do realize however that this is a much newer form of advertising affiliate offers, and there isn’t a ton of data out yet, so it’s a ton of trial and error, however, that’s almost always the perfect time to make it big with a new traffic source if you’re willing to put in the time, money investment, and have the knowledge to figure it all out!

Ending Statement

So, above are just a couple ways besides the normal traditional methods that I’m sure you’ve read about a hundred times and hopefully you’ll be able to use one of them to spark something new in your mind that can get you going in the right direction!  There are so many ways to advertise affiliates offers, and I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, so make sure you keep looking for new opportunities and you’re sure to do fine in this industry!

Popularity: 5% [?]

As most of you know, Google changes from time to time the way their quality score affects your Adwords account and quite frankly they do it so much that i just never feel like posting about it because if you were a smart affiliate, you’d already be following the Google Adwords Blog, however, since I know there are people out there that don’t and this seemed like something that I thought was actually newsworthy.  I decided to do a quick little post about it explaining the changes.

There are two changes that are being talked about, the first one being…

Ad Position CTR being MORE precise.

More precise Quality Score calculation
Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the most significant component of Quality Score because it directly indicates which ads are most relevant to our searchers. As you probably have observed, ads in high positions typically earn better CTR than those in low positions, because ads in high positions are more visible to searchers. To calculate the most accurate Quality Scores, it’s important that the influence of ad position on CTR be taken into account and removed from the Quality Score.

CTR (Click thru Rate) plays a big factor in your quality score when it comes to PPC companies.  In fact, I believe it’s one of the most important things.  Also, you’ve probably noticed that the higher your ad position the higher your CTR…I know rocket science right???

Well, Google knows this as well and so they judge if your CTR is good enough or not based on what ad position you are in…They have improved this they are saying which will give us more precise calculations.  They are saying this will now allow for more fairness in their quality scores.

The second change will allow for more ads to appear above the Organic Search Results!

Higher quality ads above the search results
We’re also improving the way we determine which ads show in the yellow region above the search results. These positions are particularly valuable to advertisers because they are prominently positioned on the page. Given their prominence, it’s especially important that these ads be high quality; we therefore place extra emphasis on quality when determining which ads to show in this location.

To appear above the search results, ads must meet a certain quality threshold. In the past, if the ad with the highest Ad Rank did not meet the quality threshold, we may not have shown any ads above the search results. With this update, we’ll allow an ad that meets the quality threshold to appear above the search results even if it has to jump over other ads to do so. For instance, suppose the ad in position 1 on the right side of the page doesn’t have a high enough Quality Score to appear above the search results, but the ad in position 2 does. It’s now possible for the number 2 ad to jump over the number 1 ad and appear above the search results. This change ensures that quality plays an even more important role in determining the ads that show in those prominent positions.

Currently in order for an ad to appear above the Organic Search Results it must be ranked the highest and meet a certain quality score, however, now Google will be allowing ads with just a high enough quality score to jump over ads if it has to in order to appear above Organic Search Results instead of only on the right side of the page.  So in essence, ad 2 could now jump over ad 1 if ad two met the quality score requirements.

Honestly, I believe this is simply being done so that Google can earn more revenue and profits by giving more ads a shot a being displayed and clicked on.  I believe this is why they are going to allow more ads to appear above Organic Search Results.  I also don’t believe that the normal affiliate will see a huge change as many seem to think they will…I think this will only benefit top affiliates in top positions and I’m not even sure if it will benefit them!

I’ve never had much lucking being placed above Organic Search Results…I always seem to get a lot of “blind” clicks.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Most affiliates start promoting products and services in affiliate marketing, however, what they fail to realize is the United States isn’t the only market out there you can sell to! Most new affiliates don’t even work with companies or networks that involve marketing to a different country, however, today I would like to discuss two different countries you should be looking into if you’re not already!

1. Affiliate Marketing in the United Kingdom:

The United Kingdom is one of the countries that I see touched on quite a bit. I’ve seen several other affiliate recommend that if your not currently running any offers targeting the United Kingdom crowd, then you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

The cost of running offers on the PPC network’s in the UK is significantly lower than the prices you would pay for click for US offers.

There are over 15 million people in the UK with online access and out of these 15 million people, 84% has a high-speed internet connection.

2. Affiliate Marketing in Canada:

As I said above, the UK is a country that is talked about at least somewhat in the affiliate industry, however, when it comes to affiliate marketing and Canada, most of you have not read a thing on it I bet. This is the market I really wanted to touch on as there is a huge opportunity here and it may not last long so you need to get in while you can!

I read a report the other day in Search Marketing Standard that said,

The latest PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment and Media Outlook predicts that online ad spend will grow faster in Canada than anywhere else in the world over the next five years!

24 Million Canadians are currently online which is equivalent to 73% of the population of Canada! 85% of these households are running on a high-speed internet access.

Again, as with the UK, the prices you would pay for a click is massively lower than what you would pay targeting the same exact niche here in the United States. However, the CPC is even lower when targeting the Canadian market.

Conclusion:

The opportunity is out there for you to create a killing if your willing to take the time to learn how each of these countries work. You’ll need to research which landing page colors work best, which ad types work best, how to funnel your visitors correctly, etc. The problem lies in the fact that these markets can be quite different from the United States, thus, leading to affiliate marketers never getting into them.

I would highly recommend that you take the time to learn these different markets and take the time to learn them well. You’ll thank me later for it!

Popularity: 23% [?]

Most of you have heard of Tracking202 from Wes Mahler.  It’s a service that’s completely free to use and allows you to track which keywords in your PPC campaigns are converting and which ones aren’t.  This allows you to bid higher on keywords that convert and get rid of keywords that don’t.  Sound pretty simple right?  We’ll believe it or not, most affiliates have a very hard time tracking keywords and most new affiliates don’t have the money for a paid tracking tool.

Also, most people don’t like that idea of sharing which keywords are converting with these companies that allow you to track for free.  For example, Google Adwords Pixel, Yahoo’s Pixel, and even Tracking202.  This is where Prosper202 comes into play.

Prosper202 is a free PPC keyword tracking application from Wes Mahler and his crew.  It’s the same people that created Tracking202 only this tool (Prosper202) allows you to host the application directly on your hosting account if your not willing or are feeling nervous about your keyword information being out there on someone else’s server.

You can visit their site for more information about the product and all of it’s features, as I’m only going to touch on a few of the products features.

• Works with Every Single PPC Network Out There!
• Cloaks Keywords from Advertisers and Affiliate Networks keeping them a secret!
• Works with Landing Pages or With Direct Linking!

Again, it seems like a great tool, I’ve only been able to play around with it for a little while but I definitely think you should check out the service being provided by Prosper202 if your in need of a great keywords tracking application.

Also, just to give you guys a little recap and to give a little more insight on some of their other “202″ tools they have available…

• Tracking202 – PPC Keyword Tracking tool that is completely FREE of charge.  This application is hosted on their servers.  Good if you don’t have a server to put Prosper202 on and you wanting to use this program.
• Prosper202 – Same thing as Tracking202 only you can use this version on your own server thus allowing you to keep all your secret ninja like stuff from getting into the wrong hands.
• Export202 – Allows you to easily convert campaigns from one PPC campaign to another.  Currently works with Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN Adcenter.  Again this program like the other two is completely free to use.

Again, I think Wes Mahler and the team are doing a great job and I can’t wait to see what other tools they release under the “202″ brand.

Popularity: 50% [?]

I was reading the Click Consultants Forums and someone asked the question, Should I be using PPC to drive traffic to my affiliate pages or should I be using SEO? This is a question that I get a lot, and I see a lot of people ask on other blogs and forums, yet I never really see a definitive answer and a list of the benefits and cons of each. That’s why this post has been born, to help you decide which is best for you and for your situation.

First, let me come right out and ask you all a question. Why would you only do one or the other? Now you may have a very valid reason for doing so and I’d love to hear it, however, I personally use both PPC and SEO to my advantage in my affiliate marketing career. Thus, this is what I recommend you do and I’ll explain why in this post.

Let’s get started with PPC first.

Advantages to using PPC (pay per click):

• Instant Traffic! Your ads are visible and clickable within minutes. Visitors will be to you site within minutes of setting up a PPC campaign.
• Extremely targeted customers. Since you choose the keywords you know your visitors will be looking for exactly what your selling/offering.
• You Control Everything! Unlike SEO, you decide where your ad is placed, how it looks, what it reads, the price you pay, the amount of time it runs, etc.
• You only pay for Clicks! You don’t pay unless a visitor actually clicks your ad when your advertising via PPC.

Disadvantages to using PPC:

• It’s Not FREE! Unlike SEO, this traffic costs you something and you have to be careful about going over your budget or spending more than you make!
• There is a Danger of Losing Money! While it’s easy to setup a PPC Campaign, it does require time and experience to learn how it works and how to use it effectively.
• Requires a lot of Tracking. When your using PPC you need to track everything!  You should be tracking landing pages, ads, and keywords to see which is converting better.  This means you should be split testing your landing pages and ads.

Now, let’s move onto SEO:

Advantages to using SEO (search engine optimization):

• Completely FREE Traffic! Unlike PPC, the traffic that you receive via your SEO efforts is completely free.  Doesn’t cost you a penny.
• Can Lower PPC Costs! When used in conjunction with PPC it can help you increase your quality score in Google Adwords thus reducing the amount you need to pay in order to secure top positions in PPC.
• Excellent long-term Potential! Although SEO takes a while to rank for certain keywords, the benefits can last for years to come.  With PPC you will always pay for clicks, with SEO, you will always receive those clicks for free.  So, its a great way to build a long-term campaign.

Disadvantages to SEO:

• Requires Time! Unlike PPC, SEO can take some time to rank for certain keywords, as much time as a month to several years!
• Requires Extensive Knowledge: In my opinion, learning SEO will take you a lot longer to learn than PPC.  There are tons of factors to SEO, whether they be big or small, so be prepared to spend time learning!

Now to wrap up this post!  The reason I listed the advantages and disadvantages to each is because well, there isn’t a right or wrong answer as to which one you should be using.  That’s a decision you need to make.  As I said above I personally use both methods and in the next paragraph I’ll explain why I do and why I think you should as well.

PPC and SEO go hand in hand the more intelligent algorithms become.  Google Adword’s Quality Score looks at tons of factors to consider how much you should pay for a top spot in their PPC engine.  Some of these factors include things like Ad CTR%, Bounce Rate, and Relevancy.  However, it also includes things like how many sites are linking to yours using relevant anchor text, if the keywords on your landing page match those in your PPC account, etc.

As you can see, not only do they look at PPC factors when they decide your Quality Score, they also look at things that would be considered SEO factors.

Also, as mentioned above, SEO traffic is free!  So even if your not a die hard SEO person, like myself, it still makes sense to at least try it out in order to receive free traffic.

Personally, the way I do it, is to first build my PPC campaign and after I have it up and running and making a profit I’ll start doing some SEO work to my site as well.  Again, as I said above, it’s a great long-term strategy.  As more and more people use PPC, prices are going to continue to rise so what would be a feasible amount to pay for traffic now, may not be feasible in 2 years from now.  However, if over those 2 years you’ve used SEO to your advantage, your campaign will still be receiving tons of traffic thus it could still be quite a profitable campaign even if you stop doing PPC on it.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments and if you have any advantages or disadvantages to using either PPC or SEO.  Also, let me know what method you personally use and why!

Popularity: 25% [?]