*I am so screwed by my PPC expense and my mother*

[felixt]

Hello warriors

First of all, I'm a newbie in affiliate marketing not much experience in this. I really like to seek out pointers from experienced marketers or veteran on whether if something is wrong with my landing page or what(or the visitors)

All right, you see I ran a Adwords campaign a week ago, got around 300+ clicks for my landing pages, up to today I got NO SALES or anything. I got kind of depressed for days as I had a high expectation of making money online - still wondering if it's because of the stock market.

The PPC expenses and paranoid thinking is killing me. I'm thinking of jumping to SEO but I don't wanna miss PPC as a traffic source which can brings targeted traffic instantly. There's pros and cons in both sectors. Confused*

I just wanna fish for money fast online, although I know it's wiser to focus on the long term plan, but I need money for a car fast.

Please wise gentlemen and ladies, please give me some pointers or tips on making money as an affiliate.

Please check out my virgin website dietgonestupid.com

Thanks

P.S - All my keywords are stolen from my competitors.

[Eric Engel]

There's no fast money. If you need money right now, get off the computer, call a few landscapers/carpet cleaners/contractors, and ask them if they can use some part time / short term labor.

Then come back when you've stabilized and are ready to invest in a business.

[UcheO]

You shouldn't have to choose between PPC and SEO. If you don't have time to do one of them - outsource the work to someone. You have to be willing to spend time as well as money to see results online.

The first thing I would do is examine your ads. Make sure you are not only using the correct wording in the ad, but do your keywords completely relate to your product? What would your customer type if he wanted to find a product like yours? What is the competition like?

After you have all your keyword information - then its time to take a look at your landing page. If you want, you can give me the link and I will take a look at it to give you more advice if there are any issues with it.

[sunwestdog]

Here's a way you can make a few hundred dollars within days. After that, your income is up to you. Have you heard of freebie trading? If it sounds like something you would like to try, I can walk you through how to get started. PM Me or post here and I can give you an information link that will explain how it works.

[youallnome]

There is nothing worse than being a newbie who wants instant results!

Instant cash is never available to a newbie. Making money is a science and a skill you must learn before you can earn money.

As for PPC or SEO - Do both!
One of the best ways to dominate a nice or keyword is to hit the organic AND paid search results.

It makes sense to leave no place for the competition to challenge you, as much as possible anyway.

Once you have built a foundation, then you can make money quickly.
And it is not as time consuming as you may think.

If you are getting traffic with no sales, then you are missing something.

Are you capturing names and email before you send to your product?
Are you trying to "hard sell" or are you offering something of value for free to relax the visitor?
Are you following up?

No quick fix for the newbie. But it does not take long to make money once you know.
I truly wish you great success.

Keep at it!
Sincerely,
John

[steveweber]

It wasn't the economy. PPC is tough...period.

Can you make a ton of money with PPC? Sure!
...after you spend much time (and money) learning the ropes.

Also, "diet" is one of those mega areas which is doubly hard to break into. The competition is huge and talented.

[felixt]

Hi

Thanks for all the great feedback especially John, it did make me more aware of what situation I'm currently in now. I will learn to be more patience and down-to-earth in making money online.

Definitely, I am take in the suggestion, I'm going to tweak my ads and landing page to test it out and figure out what is causing the loss of sales.

I'll keep you guys update

Thanks Guys

Sincerely
Felix T

[GuerrillaIM]

PPC traffic direct to a sales page doesn't convert great. I find it better to send PPC traffic to a squeeze page then hit them with an autoresponder series which generates traffic to your sales pages.

Have each sign up go to your product list and your main list so you can manage it easier.

Hope that made sense,

peace.

[entrepenerd]

Originally Posted by GuerrillaIM

PPC traffic direct to a sales page doesn't convert great. I find it better to send PPC traffic to a squeeze page then hit them with an autoresponder series which generates traffic to your sales pages.

Have each sign up go to your product list and your main list so you can manage it easier.

Hope that made sense,

peace.

My thoughts exactly!

Your PPC is going to a long-form salesletter that sends people to another long-form salesletter -- 2 in fact. It wouldn't matter how good your ads are written. People are not going to buy after going through that.

The best thing you can do is to modify your landing page drastically. If you still want to promote multiple products from a single landing page, then I'd recommend setting up a review type landing page where you outline the pros and cons of each program.

I'd would recommend instead though that you focus on one product per landing page. Make the landing page a "pre-sell" page. Your job as an affiliate is not to "sell" the customer. That's what the vendor is supposed to do.

It's your job to set the customer up to be sold to. You just need to fire up their emotions, remind them of their pain, hit their hot buttons, and then tell them "If you'd like to solve your problem, this might work for you" (this is where your affiliate link comes in).

Your pre-sell page should be short and sweet and not full of fluff. And, as I'm learning from Andre Chaperon, you'd probably do best to have a multi-part pre-sell. Get the customer clicking from page to page to continue reading your message, and you'll be almost guaranteed to get them to click over to the vendor page.

Marketing Bully - No Place for Sissies and Crybabies! (no affiliate link) -- if you're interested in what Andre has to say, and I think you should be. NOTE: this is in no way a promotion of Andre's stuff. I'm just a big fan and student and think everyone should be.

[felixt]

Hi entrepenerd

Thanks you so much for the critique and such fabulous insights in selling to customers.

What you had spoke about, really make sense to me and others. Guess I got it all mixed up by my self-assumption in selling and neglecting what the customers "really" want to see before they're willing to pull out their credit card and buy.

Anyway, I did that "page to page" model but it didn't seem to work out. so I changed it to one page. But still...not working.

Okay, I am going to change my website model to test things out again. I think I might be cutting 50-60% of the original concept and content and focus on a new theme and layout for my website.

Thanks guys

Sincerely
Felix

P.S - I'm going to make them buy someday, yes some days...

[jacstone193]

Hi Felix T - lots to learn and so much information - it took me ages to get my head around it all but I had lots of good training and an expert at the end of the phone to bounce things off when I hit a rut! Keep going and you'll get there.

[entrepenerd]

Originally Posted by felixt

Hi entrepenerd

Thanks you so much for the critique and such fabulous insights in selling to customers.

What you had spoke about, really make sense to me and others. Guess I got it all mixed up by my self-assumption in selling and neglecting what the customers "really" want to see before they're willing to pull out their credit card and buy.

Anyway, I did that "page to page" model but it didn't seem to work out. so I changed it to one page. But still...not working.

Okay, I am going to change my website model to test things out again. I think I might be cutting 50-60% of the original concept and content and focus on a new theme and layout for my website.

Thanks guys

Sincerely
Felix

P.S - I'm going to make them buy someday, yes some days...

You'll get it working. Just keep taking positive action. I believe that if you keep the "pre-sell" in mind for your promotions, you'll be in good shape.

Don't get too hung up on theme and layout for the site. Ugly sites sell just as well as pretty sites. Focus on capturing the prospect's attention right off and firing them up. Get them fired up to a frenzy and then send them off to the vendor's site to buy. You don't have to be pretty to do that. [it doesn't hurt, but if you focus on it, it will slow you down]

Good luck!

[LivingCovers]

Originally Posted by entrepenerd

Your pre-sell page should be short and sweet and not full of fluff. And, as I'm learning from Andre Chaperon, you'd probably do best to have a multi-part pre-sell. Get the customer clicking from page to page to continue reading your message, and you'll be almost guaranteed to get them to click over to the vendor page.

Hi entrepenerd,

I'd like to ask a question.

If your pre-sell page doesn't contain a product review
(which i believe is highly recommended), then is there
any other information one can put in your pre-sell page?

An alternative is probably to put a summary of the
salespage on your pre-sell page, but what's the use of
doing that when eventually the visitor will land on that
salespage?

Hope that makes sense???

[Yetty]

Hi felixt
Learning is really important. you dont just start in a day and expect not face any chalanges but you learn from them. Dont run away from ppc. it matter of time and you will get good result. but hope the sale page is good (attractive and convincind)

[GuerrillaIM]

Originally Posted by LivingCovers

Hi entrepenerd,

I'd like to ask a question.

If your pre-sell page doesn't contain a product review
(which i believe is highly recommended), then is there
any other information one can put in your pre-sell page?

An alternative is probably to put a summary of the
salespage on your pre-sell page, but what's the use of
doing that when eventually the visitor will land on that
salespage?

Hope that makes sense???

Usually what you do is advertise a free report (The free report is your sales letter).

So as soon as they hit the page you have your title:

"Find out how to [insert top 2 benefits] and [insert USP] completely FREE!"

Add in a subhead, some bullets and an optin form and your good to go.

It shouldn't smell anything like a salespage at this point, they have to feel comfortable and have enough reasons to give you their email address. You will have all your sales text, testimonials, reviews etc... on your sales page. The name of the game here is to be ambiguous. Get their mouth watering and eager to get at the information.

For instance: "Find out the secret technique you can do while you sleep that will make you $100,000"

Of course thats just a silly example off the top off my head but it raises curiosity. Put a few more lines in there like that on your bullets and you will convince them to give you their email and stage 1 is complete. Of course to get the answers to all these fantastic questions they will have to pay some money for your product but you deal with this in your sales letter and back it up with lots of proof, guarantees and then make an irresistable offer.

[strauss]

It was really nice posts regarding PPC and SEO, now a days most of the peopel are concentrating on these to make tons of money.

[askloz]

hehee, no such thing as fast money? I would disagree... have you tried trading foreign currencies, now there's a fast money earner

Originally Posted by Eric Engel

There's no fast money. If you need money right now, get off the computer, call a few landscapers/carpet cleaners/contractors, and ask them if they can use some part time / short term labor.

Then come back when you've stabilized and are ready to invest in a business.

[Yetty]

yes you can experiment with HopHunt.com and build yourself before going into paid PPC

[submit2.0]

Why you are not using any Permanant link that's are better then PPC you can get back link free like artical submission, Social bookmarking, Directory submision, Blogcommenting, Presrelise etc.

[affiliateppc]

LivingCovers,

"If your pre-sell page doesn't contain a product review
(which i believe is highly recommended), then is there
any other information one can put in your pre-sell page?"

A pre-sell page can take on many different shapes, depending on the market, the offer you are promoting, the keywords you are targeting etc

Like you mentioned, there is the "review" style where you review 1 or more
products on the same page. This model does work very well in certian markets.

There is the "testimonial" style pre-sell. This is a page where you talk about how you used the product/service and how it worked for you and why you recommend it. Only one product/service on this page.

There is the "opt-in" pre-sell. This is where you have a squeeze page as your landing page. Can take the form of a short sales letter (headline, subhead, leading paragraph, some bullet points with benefits, reason to join your list, call to action).

In some cases you may want to write your own sales letter and direct the visitors directly to the merchants order form. This is however not recommended unless you can write - or outsrouce - great copy and ask the merchant before doing so.

Which one must you use? The market will tell you that. Test and test some more. Enter some of your target keywords into Google and look for Adwords by other affiliates. Now look at what most of them are using. That should get you going in the right direction.

Regards,

AffiliatePPC

[Good News Now]

It is tough and expensive to use PPC, especially in this area of diet. The competition is really huge.

I had a product before that I advertised on PPC. I also was getting very few sales. Then, I paused this campaign to learn some tricks and other techniques.

If you short on spending money for PPC, then just pause your campaign and learn few techniques that may help you.

I am getting some good tips from Anik Singal ppclasroom.com those guys seems like they know PPC quite well.

Vadimus

[Ariel100]

Originally Posted by youallnome

There is nothing worse than being a newbie who wants instant results!

As for PPC or SEO - Do both!
One of the best ways to dominate a nice or keyword is to hit the organic AND paid search results.


Keep at it!
Sincerely,
John

Hes got it right, I would just add a caveat to that. Like oil independence need to pursue every option or else you will be leaving money on the table. But take the time to do both well. My biggest mistake when I first started was that I did everything i could at 60% rather than really making sure each marketing path was squeezed for all its worth. With time it will come, but don't get discouraged when you dont make money right away. Thats your investment of learning. Best of luck!

[pimpinkid]

You need to see what your competition is doing and work from there.

Print out the top 10 PPC ads and analyze them and do the same with the top 10 landing pages. Make comparisons to your site and see what you can improve on.

[entrepenerd]

Originally Posted by LivingCovers

Hi entrepenerd,

I'd like to ask a question.

If your pre-sell page doesn't contain a product review
(which i believe is highly recommended), then is there
any other information one can put in your pre-sell page?

An alternative is probably to put a summary of the
salespage on your pre-sell page, but what's the use of
doing that when eventually the visitor will land on that
salespage?

Hope that makes sense???

Sorry for the delay. I'm out of town right now on vacation, but wanted to take a quick minute to reply to your question.

You can certainly do a product review on your landing page, and that works well for many people. The problem that most run into with that though is they try to hard to "sell" the customer in their review. Customers don't want to read through and obvious sales-pitch disguised as a product review. They want an honest unbiased opinion that they can trust before buying a product.

I would avoid summarizing the sales page from the vendor on your landing page for the exact reason that you pointed out. The customer will hopefully see that content anyway when they get to the vendor page.

What I recommend is that you set your landing page up to quickly get the prospect to feel that you can identify with them. People want to know that they're not alone in their problems. They want to hear from someone who understands their situation.

Take anxiety attacks for instance. This is a painful subject for the people who suffer from them. Your landing page should start with a big attention grabber like:

Are You Tired Of The Constant Anxiety You're Feeling? It's Completely Exhausting And It Seems Like It Will Never End.

Well, you should know that you're not alone. There are millions of people who suffer from constant anxiety or frequent anxiety attacks or panic attacks. These attacks can be physically exhausting, not to mention embarrassing, because most people just don't understand how you feel.

And, if the constant feeling of panic and anxiety wasn't bad enough, the constant state of numbness that most anti-anxiety drugs give you is even worse. It seems like a no-win situation. If you don't do something, you just might explode. But, if you take the drugs that the doctor is recommending, then you feel like a loser for needing them, and completely in a fog from the medication itself.

You're probably a lot like the millions of other people out there who have suffered from anxiety attacks. You're probably wondering if there is some sort of natural way to eliminate this horrible and overwhelming feeling of constant fear and panic.

Fortunately, there have been many others that have gone before you that you can learn from. And, many of them have been able to find an easy, natural way to ease their feelings of fear and anxiety.

If you'd like to learn more about what they found, click here ....

Now this is just a short example, but hopefully you get the point. The great thing about this is that you could make the "click here" link move onto a Page 2 that you create that continues the pre-sell, or you could send the prospect straight to the vendor page since they're emotions are now fired up.

[apatters]

I think it's best to use both PPC and SEO in a manner such that they complement each other.

If you find a keyword where there are already a bunch of PPC ads present, it's going to be an expensive keyword -- focus on organic SEO instead, because the organic search real estate is guaranteed to have commercial value.

Use PPC to determine whether an unproven keyword has commercial value. If you find a keyword which has lots of traffic but no PPC ads... you may have found a commercial opportunity. Put up PPC ads and you can very quickly determine if you can monetize that keyword, whereas doing it with organic SEO could take weeks to get ranked depending on Google crawl rate etc.