More Pay Per Click Madness

By Rick Carbone

I wrote this article a few years back and obviously a few things have changes since then, so I thought that I would update it with some new information about PPC although I still think there is Pay Per Click Madness online. Let me explain:

I’ve been doing business on the Internet since 1999 and I’ve seen a lot of things happen, some for the good and some for the bad. Affiliate marketing, for example has changed dramatically. It wasn't that long ago that several large online sites held command of the affiliate universe. Even today they still have the largest number of affiliate memberships. What has changed is that just about anyone can have an affiliate program due to the emergence of sites like ClickBank and Pay Dot Com. The affiliate member has the opportunity to share in the profits by as much as 70%! The Pay Dot Com business model is slightly different in that it is exclusively tied to PayPal. Sites such as Sharasale have more CPA (Cost Per Action) type programs, that only require a zip code or an email address to get paid. They also have lower pay outs than the more traditional affiliate programs in the range of a few pennies to several dollars depending on the level of engagement for the viewer. The more information they get the more you will get paid. CPA type programs run best and make more money if you are a bulk mailer. Broadscale emailing has changed over the years, mostly due to spamming, in that it is all "permission based" or opt-in mailing. You can get a crash course on our email business guide.

The main reason that just about anyone can be an affiliate today is because PPC or Pay Per Click advertising has changed the landscape quite considerably. Google and Yahoo (These two account for about 90% of all PPC traffic) have changed the affiliate marketplace because if you are smart enough you have figured out that you can buy keyword advertising from Google or Yahoo and advertise someone else's product, provided you are an affiliate for that product. You don't need a website because when the individual clicks on the PPC ad it is directed to the affiliates web page or landing page. You collect the commission if that person buys the product or service. Sounds easy, it is, but as with all good things there are some catches.

Both Google and Yahoo are very easy to join however be sure to have your checkbook ready because they can become expensive if you don’t know what you are doing. The process works the same for all of the pay per click based programs such as: you think of keywords that are associated with your product. You list each of them within your Google ad. Google then asks you what's the maximum price per click you'll pay. Being an astute business person, you decide that you can afford $.10 per click with a maximum of $25.00 per day. This would give you 250 clicks on your ad per day. That doesn't mean that 250 people will buy, it just means that 250 people have looked at the "landing page." How many of the 250 will buy? Good question. I knew you were paying attention. The answer is: your guess is as good as mine. It could be 10% of the 250 clickers or 1% of the clickers or .1%.

Now comes the fun part. Remember that I said you decided to put your maximum per click price at $.10 per click. (See the previous paragraph) and your maximum daily amount at $25.00? Let's say that one of your top, top keywords. the one that you really felt was going to bring in the big clicks, was not available because your maximum per click was only $.10 and the going rate was over $2.00 per click! (Google will not divulge the top price but only indicate if your maximum is too low.) $2.00 per click you say I can't afford that! Well that's how it works. This type of thing happens everyday. Should you quit the PPC game? Absolutely not! Then how does one on a limited budget play in the PPC market? There are a number of ways to break in without depleting your bank account.

You can test your way in by utilizing alternate PPC networks. There are several. You can also find niche markets for keywords that are far less expensive than the more obvious ones. This is probably the most popular way to go today because you find under-served keywords that are less expensive. Simply stated, the key to making money with PPC advertising is finding under-served keywords for niche markets. Also it pays to use a keyword search mechanism such as Wordtracker to help develop the niche markets for you.