can I use direct linking in Adwords?

[Razorblade]

Alright - some say yes to this, some say no.

So, what really is the score as far as warriors are concerned? Can I use my affiliate link to directly bring Adwords traffic to an affiliate landing page?

Or, as others would insist, do I need to get PPC traffic to a landing page of my own, on my own domain and hosting, where they will then be provided links to the actual affiliate page?

Thanks ahead for your feedback!

[indexphp]

Yes you can. You just need a good CTR on your ads.

[Razorblade]

Originally Posted by Garrett Aren

Yes you can. You just need a good CTR on your ads.

Thanks for your feedback, Garrett, I appreciate it very much. Any ideas how to ramp up an ad's CTR?

[askloz]

heaps of info on this forum mate

AdWord Quality Score driving me crazy. Hlep!

Originally Posted by Razorblade

Thanks for your feedback, Garrett, I appreciate it very much. Any ideas how to ramp up an ad's CTR?

[indexphp]

Originally Posted by Razorblade

Thanks for your feedback, Garrett, I appreciate it very much. Any ideas how to ramp up an ad's CTR?

Sure, there are a few ways. First, put 1 keyword per adgroup. The reason you do this is so you can put your keywords in your ads, as ads are written at the adgroup level. When people see your keywords in your ads, they get bolded and become relevant.

Second, bid high so you are in the top 3 to begin with and establish a good CTR. With a good CTR, you can decrease your bids a couple % every few days. If you have the best CTR, you will have the cheapest bids.

If somebody is bidding $0.50 and has a 2% CTR, Goog will make $10 every thousand impressions.

If somebody is bidding $0.15 and has a 8% CTR, Goog will make $12 every thousand impressions.

Ad number 2 saves $0.35 per click, will have a great quality score, and will get lots of traffic. This is how Goog works and why CTR is so important.


Edit: This is how you build your PPC Empire. 1 Keyword, ad, and landing page at a time. Start small (20 of the "best" sounds good) and expand from there.

[Razorblade]

Originally Posted by indexphp

Sure, there are a few ways. First, put 1 keyword per adgroup. The reason you do this is so you can put your keywords in your ads, as ads are written at the adgroup level. When people see your keywords in your ads, they get bolded and become relevant.

Second, bid high so you are in the top 3 to begin with and establish a good CTR. With a good CTR, you can decrease your bids a couple % every few days. If you have the best CTR, you will have the cheapest bids.

If somebody is bidding $0.50 and has a 2% CTR, Goog will make $10 every thousand impressions.

If somebody is bidding $0.15 and has a 8% CTR, Goog will make $12 every thousand impressions.

Ad number 2 saves $0.35 per click, will have a great quality score, and will get lots of traffic. This is how Goog works and why CTR is so important.


Edit: This is how you build your PPC Empire. 1 Keyword, ad, and landing page at a time. Start small (20 of the "best" sounds good) and expand from there.

Thank you, indexphp, for making this so easy for a newbie like me to understand. When you say landing page, do you mean the page to where my affiliate link directs somebody who clicks on it? I just want to make sure because my thoughts are about linking with an affiliate link directly to the offer page, not to my own hosted blog/site.

Thanks again!

[jana]

"can I use direct linking in Adwords?"

You may have to check a policy of the affiliate company you try to promote. Someone got banned because they used the direct link. For example, Amazon US doesn't allow direct link from PPC to their website. Just make sure you read and understand all the policies.

[bluenetworx]

Hi there, thought I might just throw my 2 cents in...one word of advice I would give you if direct linking or landing page approach is make sure you TRACK your efforts. Most newbies are scared off by tracking but really its quite simple. When direct linking, set up your clickbank ID and use the create tracking link and place this affiliate link in the destination URL when writing your ad. Then the info for this keyword gets passed onto clickbank and inside your clickbank account you can gets all the stats you need.

Landing pages tracking requires a few further steps but still easy.

Believe me the sooner you learn to track the better.

[AZ]

One really good method of adwords direct linking is to split test your ads and keywords. That way the ads that are performing well, you keep and the ones that don\t cut the mustard you of course , change, adjust, improve. It takes some time and discipline to make it happen- good luck

[andywang]

Am I missing something here? What ever happened to google's policy where there can only be one unique display/destination URL up at any given time? Or are you guys assuming that those particular ad groups will have the highest quality score and bids thus being above all the other ads that have the same display/destination URL?

[CaseWhitney]

Originally Posted by andywang

Am I missing something here? What ever happened to google's policy where there can only be one unique display/destination URL up at any given time? Or are you guys assuming that those particular ad groups will have the highest quality score and bids thus being above all the other ads that have the same display/destination URL?

It's still policy. There can only be one domain per display/dest. url for adwords. You'll be competing with every other advertiser who is using direct linking too and the highest bid among you is the sole listing that will be displayed.

Always check with your vendor where you can get traffic from if it's okay to do direct linking. This spring, Amazon set a policy to no longer allow ppc traffic to direct link.

Direct linking can be good to use as a short term destination url while you're testing if the keywords you're using are buying keywords or if the offer converts well. Once you figure out you have a winner, you'll want to move up to your own landing page and tracking the results of your work.

[indexphp]

Originally Posted by andywang

Am I missing something here? What ever happened to google's policy where there can only be one unique display/destination URL up at any given time? Or are you guys assuming that those particular ad groups will have the highest quality score and bids thus being above all the other ads that have the same display/destination URL?

If you bid higher and have a good CTR, your ad will be the one that shows.

[Lucid]

Listen to what Jana says. Not all affiliates will allow you to use PPC. I understand that Amazon does not allow it anymore.

[rpjackson]

Originally Posted by andywang

Am I missing something here? What ever happened to google's policy where there can only be one unique display/destination URL up at any given time? Or are you guys assuming that those particular ad groups will have the highest quality score and bids thus being above all the other ads that have the same display/destination URL?

not to be rude but yes you did miss the fact that if he adds his own affiliate address then it will be different then any other affiliate address,but it will have the same TLD so im not sure how that will work....

[Lucid]

Affiliate sites are treated the same as far as the rule for "only one ad at a time per domain" is concerned.

If two or more affiliates would trigger their ads, Adwords will determine who has the most relevant ad (QS times CPC) and ignore the others. That's what Andy essentially said and is correct.

Adwords goes by the domain name. If two affiliates ads would trigger for two different products at the same affiliate site, only one of the ads will be shown.

[staxx]

Heres the way I do it. Instead of slug it out with other affiliates, I set up my own page.
On this page I include both content and an offer with a sign up form.
You can try to out do other affiliates but it costs both time and money. Your initial clicks
will cost you too much and there is no telling how much your up against or how long it will take. From my experience some of the affiliates out there are like bulldogs. Now that I have my people on a list i can continue to sell them on the same or even other related offers which is a concept that I believe makes the less expensive click you got even more valuable. Good Luck

[anwayne]

My experience is they want you to have a website, squeeze page or landing page to go to. You may get away with it for a little while but once they find out it is a affiliate link they will freeze your ad. It used to drive me crazy. Hope this helps.