Wanna Try PPC with CPA

26 replies
Im think im gonna give it a go. I have experience with adwords and will be bidding on low competition long tail keywords. So this is where I stand right now:

  • I have chosen my offer- Its a two page submit collect email address and physical addess.
  • I have a domain
Next steps are to create a landing page for the offer and create some adwords ads to test.

Ill probably test with the a small budget. The google keyword tool says the estimated CPC is .05 for the main keyword. Somehow, I don't believe this. When I search the main keyword, no ads are shown. What does this mean... I know there are advertisters? Any tips are very welcome.

Lets see how much money I can lose... i mean make!
#cpa #ppc #wanna
  • Profile picture of the author FredFarnes
    If you don't see advertisers on the google search page, there are none. This could well be a non-commercial search. Either it's not worth your time, or you've found the holy grail...

    Whenever I find a decent opportunity, I usually find some competition.
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    So, you want to sell me another way to easily make "X" dollars in "X" days? ROFL too funny! IM success requires hard work and lots of time. Most newbies do not survive the steep learning curve. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling you a fantasy.

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    • Profile picture of the author rvrabel2002
      Originally Posted by FredFarnes View Post

      If you don't see advertisers on the google search page, there are none. This could well be a non-commercial search. Either it's not worth your time, or you've found the holy grail...

      Whenever I find a decent opportunity, I usually find some competition.
      Couldnt have said it better myself...
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      • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
        Okay... so ive finished the landing site. Ive actually added a few offers on the site and plan to send users to a specific offer to test. Then, if all goes well ill already have the others in place.

        Next step is to create some ads.
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        • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
          Holy crap... Im already seeing conversions! I honestly can't believe it. Apparently my CPA networks tracking works faster than Adwords cause im seeing clicks in my CPA account before Adwords. So here is the status of my campaign:

          Adwords spend: $.05
          Lead Conversion: $3.00

          That looks like profit to me. I can't believe it.
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  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    Originally Posted by iMikeDesigns View Post

    Next steps are to create a landing page for the offer and create some adwords ads to test.
    !
    you may need to create a land site not a land page , keep us in the loop n how you go
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    | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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    • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
      The thing is... the Google keyword tool shows tons of competition but when searching for the keyword nothing shows. I really don't understand because as you mentioned, anytime before when im researching competition, there have been ads when searching for the main keyword. I dont know...

      @tryinhere
      Well, I planned to use wordpress which will be a site nonetheless... Is there something I need to know here?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    I hope you found a gem, but I have found the bid suggestion to be way off sometimes. Absolutely worth testing out though.
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  • Profile picture of the author GSX Enterprises
    Wow congrats!

    Hopefully it sticks though because AdWords can be a money hole if your not careful. Many times I've chased that 1 conversion for others until I end up spending 5 times my initial investment. Kind of like a vegas ambling syndrome.

    Either way, good luck and keep experimenting! Keep us updated!

    -Safe Travels
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    • Profile picture of the author Burtgummer
      Forgive me, I haven't been following up on CPA recently....

      But isn't Adwords strongly against CPA, even if it isn't direct linking? I thought people were getting banned by promoting CPA offers...direct lniking or not.

      That's why I left CPA a month ago......
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      “Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.” -Nikola Tesla

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      • Profile picture of the author Vikram73
        @BurtGummer - those are just myths that have developed around AdWords because some marketers had a bad experience.

        Google is absolutely ok with affiliate marketing and CPA as long as it's done according to their guidelines.

        Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines - AdWords Help

        It is easier to get ads placed on Facebook/Yahoo/Bing - in general, Google has the highest standards for what they'll accept.

        It does mean more work - but it's a huge market there.
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    I have heard about people getting banned for promoting CPA offers. But, others seem to be using PPC with no problems. Ive also read that the sites linking to the offers must contain relevant content. I think people are getting banned for using adwords to send people to offers not at all related to the ad. For example, an ad like:

    Alice in Wonderland
    Watch the Trailer Here
    Best Movie Trailers
    www*movietrailers*com

    An ad like that or anything popular that either direct links, or links to a landing page that is clearly promoting an iPad email submit seems to be the issue. Then again, G is probably trying to put an end to all affiliate marketing. I dont understand how they are affected by someone else making money... it will bite them in the end when they begin to see their ad revenue drop through the floor. Its like theyre saying, dont advertise with us if you are promoting or selling something... which to me is the only reason to advertise in the first place. Anyways, enough ranting.

    My campaign is moving slowly now... i think my first adwords click converted, which is exciting, but ive only had 4 more clicks since. I think my ad needs revamped. Its working though... this is all for testing anyways. My daily budget is set to ten bucks and if I see potential then ill ramp it up. Ill post my progress.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    What google worries about is ruining the customer experience, particularly with other search engines coming into the picture. They want search engine users to find what they are looking for and be happy with their experience using the engine. If every time they click on an ad it leads to an endless tunnel of offers that promises a light (freebie) at the end of the tunnel or they see a free trial that makes them want to rip somebody's head off because they cant cancel it, then this gets search engine users frustrated and looking elsewhere.

    With that said, there are plenty of affiliate marketing endeavors that do create a good experience and there are many CPA offers that are wonderful and valuable. This is what you should focus on. Look at your campaign through Googles eyes. Its an art, but it will help prevent you from getting banned and slapped all the time. I am still running many CPA campaigns successfully via PPC.

    Mike, is your offer a decent one and a decent landing page that Google should like? If so, you may have found that gem!
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    • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
      Thanks everyone for the input. Here is the current picture and some questions:

      Adwords Spend: $1.66
      CPA Earnings: $9.00

      I was using 2 ads, one was getting a CTR of %.23 and the other .10%. So, I dropped the lower ad and will be creating another to test. Heres the problem though, last night I my ads were triggering for some awesome keywords and my bids were great. Today, most of my keywords have stopped triggering due to my bids being too low or low quality score. So, im not sure what to do to optimize my campaign at this point. This is the adwords picture right now:

      Impressions: 18,699
      Clicks: 33
      Leads: 16
      Conversions: 3

      So, I guess I need to optimize the campaign for better results. I appreciate any insight.
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    Well, im still getting lead. The CPC jumped up on my main keywords after a few leads. Is that due to Google Slap? The campaign is still successful so im branching it out with a few more offers. Also, im working on my landing pages to get a better conversion rate.

    Adwords Spend: $3.15
    CPA Earnings: $21.00
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  • Profile picture of the author Colton
    Did you do a lot of keyword research? And are you using exact matches or going broad on the keyword setting? Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fox30
    Tracking, tracking, tracking is the most important thing I can recommend. Without it, you will not know how to improve your campaigns.
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    @Colton, not really. Ive done a little but most of my conversions are coming from my main keyword.

    As far as tracking... im tracking everything through Adwords so thats the only way I have to track. Should I be doing something more?

    Update: I tweaked my landing page after my last post and converted to Adwords clicks to leads. So, landing page conversion seems to be going up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Mike, good stuff man. Your numbers are really great for a new ppc campaign. Sweet feeling aint it!
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    Yes... it is indeed a sweet feeling. I tweaked my landing page about half an hour ago and since then ive had 2 clicks convert to 2 leads. So, I should start to see better lead conversion from my landing page. Fingers crossed.
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    Sorry Colton for not answering your question completely. Most clicks are coming from exact matches.
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    Ive ran into a problem now with my campaign. My ad is not triggering for my main 2 keywords. It says they are "Rarely shown due to low quality score." When I hover over, it tells me that there are no problems with my landing page but my keyword relevance is poor. I dont understand this because my keyword is directly related to my ad and landing page. Any tips here?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Does that keyword show up anywhere in your ad or on your lp?
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    • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
      Yep. The keyword is in my ad twice and all over my landing page. It now longer says poor relevance, now the 1st page bid has jumped to $1.00. I need somewhere else to advertise. How can I get my ad to trigger for cheaper long tail keywords? Also, im trying facebook now using cpm but im not getting any impressions. How much should I expect to pay 1000 views?
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      • Profile picture of the author amdev
        Originally Posted by iMikeDesigns View Post

        Yep. The keyword is in my ad twice and all over my landing page. It now longer says poor relevance, now the 1st page bid has jumped to $1.00. I need somewhere else to advertise. How can I get my ad to trigger for cheaper long tail keywords? Also, im trying facebook now using cpm but im not getting any impressions. How much should I expect to pay 1000 views?
        I have found facebook to be terrible for sales but good for CPA since people on there seem to be less "knowledgeable" of how things work.
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  • Profile picture of the author iMikeDesigns
    Yea... I think I just learned that quick lesson with Facebook. I just ended up paying almost 8 bucks for 7 clicks that didnt convert to leads. I think a simple email submit would have converted. So, ill try that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Burtgummer
      What are you using for your landing page template? Blogger, Wordpress, custom HTML/PHP?

      I've recently found that I can get easy 7/10s with custom HTML pages, as long as I have meta tags in them. Are you using meta tags? If not, it's pretty much a required factor for landing page quality.

      When I tested a previous PPC campaign, I made 1 landing page per keyword. A lot of work, sure, but if you have 10 or so converting keywords, it's definitely worth it.
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      “Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.” -Nikola Tesla

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