Direct Linking Is NOT Dead!!! ($205 on First Day!)

[Mormuno01]

To all:
I have been studying Internet Marketing for over a year now. I bought like every launched product over the past year, and hadn't earned a DIME until yesterday. I was going through Pay Per Click Formula 2.0 course and it inspired me to set up an Adwords campaign, and just run something for fun. Well to my surprise, since last night at 11PM or so, I have made a total of $205.80!!! And here is the kicker; I have only spent $34 bucks in Adwords, and I am Direct Linking!!!

If you are afraid to get started, Just Do IT!!!

[Scott Ames]

Don't tell anyone.

[Mark Ross]

Not really sure what you did here but it sounds awesome.

Could you toss me a link with some more info?

Thx!

[mikeyman120]

I don't believe it! Lets see if you can keep it going. I haven't tried direct linking for years now. I believed there were direct linkers out there making a killing. Just not many.

Mike

[LegitIncomes]

The key is to keep it going. But Congrats, you have a very good start and have made more money in one day that most starting out in IM will make in a month!

[Daniel Brock]

Wait...I thought adwords didn't allow direct linking?

[RGallowitz]

Wait...I thought adwords didn't allow direct linking?

Off course they still allow it.


Reinhardt

[Daniel Brock]

Well thank god. Tired of dealing with the slow @$$ yahoo search marketing!!

[Derek S]

they don't allow more than 1 person to direct link

[dubhlinn]

That's so cool, just as i was getting annoyed with my attempts at making anything online. Congrats must feel great.

[linkedinlincoln]

nice Work.

Just goes to show you why blindly accepting "facts" without proof isn't always a good idea. I've never even tried to direct link. Seriously, never. Because I had always heard it was dead ever since the "slap". Glad to see not everyone is as ignorant as I am

-Kathy

[RGallowitz]

Originally Posted by Derek S

they don't allow more than 1 person to direct link

Yes that is the limit. There are ways around this (blackhat off course).

I still do landing pages every time though. I can bump up my quality score way better.


Regards,
Reinhardt

[A. Green]

Thanks for this post. I've been wondering about this. I recently created a product (my first serious, full-length one), finished the salespage and added a blog, but haven't been sure which (sales page or blog) to link to in PPC or for article marketing.

I'd also heard the "direct linking is dead" thing, but it seemed like if I just linked to the blog it would really reduce the likelihood of anyone even noticing I have a product for sale. I've mostly done affiliate review sites, but I can't very well review my own product to pre-sell it.

Glad to hear someone's having luck with direct linking.

[ben565]

give it a few days in you will get slapped by google

[ppcpimp]

we have been running several direct link campaigns for months.

[Mormuno01]

Is this Beginners Luck????

UPDATE: I am up to $323.40 on my freakin' FIRST DAY!!! This is with $46.44 Spent on Adwords (Still haven't paid anything cause I got a $50 credit through Hostgator) I have a 3.32% CTR with an average CPC of .27.

Because I believe in the warrior forum I will tell you how I did it...

• I found a Free Trial CPA offer with a $30 payout for a $1.95 Free Trial to the customer.

• I bought a .info domain for $0.48 on Go Daddy that pretty much replicates the main product keyword.

• I used Go Daddys Domain Forwarding feature and forwarded my new domain to my CPA Affiliate Link

• I copied an add that I liked from someone else's ad using my new .info domain as BOTH THE DESTINATION AND DISPLAY URL

• I used the Google Keyword Tool to come up with keywords and added all of them no matter what.

• I loaded up all of my keywords, set a $100/Day budget, and a .05 CPC.

• My Quality Score for most keywords was 7/10 for some odd reason

• I clicked "Add Keywords", and just kept adding the keywords that Google told me to add.

• I raised my Max CPC to .50, and let er rip!!!

Next Problem: I ONLY HAD A $100 AD BUDGET CAUSE I AM A FREAKIN' BEGINNER NOW I HAVE TO WAIT TIL I GET PAID TO REINVEST IT!!!

[timpears]

My understanding was that Google PPC would not allow you to use an affiliate URL to send the traffic to. So in order to direct link, you need to get a domain and forward it. I don't do PPC but this was what I did for some articles at EZA, and from what I understand they have the same policy. So what I did was get a domain and mask it.

If I am wrong about this, I would appreciate anyone correcting me. This is my understanding from what I have read elsewhere in this forum though.

[Mormuno01]

You are Completely Correct. At first I was using my Straight Affiliate Link but it kept telling me "Innaccurate Display URL", then I bought a .info domain and forwarded it, and PRESTO!

[onyxgem]

No that's not true. I do direct linking all the time.

Let's say I am promoting an ebook from a website named "getyourmannow.com" and my affiliate link is "getyourman.com/00234567"... the display URL would be "http://getyourmannow.com" and the destination URL would be 'http://getyourman.com/00234567".

The destination URL could have your affiliate link if you so choose.

Now, how long you can run a profitable campaign using direct linking is debatable, but that's another story.

Originally Posted by timpears

My understanding was that Google PPC would not allow you to use an affiliate URL to send the traffic to. So in order to direct link, you need to get a domain and forward it. I don't do PPC but this was what I did for some articles at EZA, and from what I understand they have the same policy. So what I did was get a domain and mask it.

If I am wrong about this, I would appreciate anyone correcting me. This is my understanding from what I have read elsewhere in this forum though.

[mikeyman120]

Originally Posted by Mormuno01

At first I was using my Straight Affiliate Link but it kept telling me "Innaccurate Display URL", then I bought a .info domain and forwarded it, and PRESTO!

Originally Posted by onyxgem

No that's not true. I do direct linking all the time.

Let's say I am promoting an ebook from a website named "getyourmannow.com" and my affiliate link is "getyourman.com/00234567"... the display URL would be "http://getyourmannow.com" and the destination URL would be 'http://getyourman.com/00234567".

The destination URL could have your affiliate link if you so choose.

Great now were back to square one. Which is it? can you direct link with an affiliate link or not?

Mike

[Jill Carpenter]

Originally Posted by Mormuno01

Is this Beginners Luck????

UPDATE: I am up to $323.40 on my freakin' FIRST DAY!!! This is with $46.44 Spent on Adwords (Still haven't paid anything cause I got a $50 credit through Hostgator) I have a 3.32% CTR with an average CPC of .27.

Because I believe in the warrior forum I will tell you how I did it...



Next Problem: I ONLY HAD A $100 AD BUDGET CAUSE I AM A FREAKIN' BEGINNER NOW I HAVE TO WAIT TIL I GET PAID TO REINVEST IT!!!

Ha Ha! Same thing happened to me when I started out. I made some big bucks, but you really need a back up plan here and let me help you out.

When you get paid, Get yourself some hosting and get a landing page!

Get some AWEBER!

I'm going to tell you now - if you are paying for traffic that is converting, chances are you can get this traffic to make more money for you!

Eventually you will get slapped if you continue to do the direct linking thing.

[timpears]

Originally Posted by onyxgem

No that's not true. I do direct linking all the time.

Then I would like to know where all of the bad information on this has come from. I have read on this forum, more than once, that you can't direct link with an affiliate link.

I appreciate you setting me right.

[Jerry Mcvictor]

Originally Posted by avenuegirl

Eventually you will get slapped if you continue to do the direct linking thing.

From what I've read he's not direct linking.

He uses a redirect on his own domain.

[-prodigy-]

UPDATE: I am up to $323.40 on my freakin' FIRST DAY!!! This is with $46.44 Spent on Adwords (Still haven't paid anything cause I got a $50 credit through Hostgator)

Next Problem: I ONLY HAD A $100 AD BUDGET CAUSE I AM A FREAKIN' BEGINNER NOW I HAVE TO WAIT TIL I GET PAID TO REINVEST IT!!!

You haven't spent any of your money because you had the $50 Adwords credit from HostGator.... so you should still have your $100 to keep the campaign running... right?

Looking forward to more updates!

(johan makes a good point, this is technically not direct linking?)

[Rebtl]

not to hijack the thread but I have a question:

If I want to try some pay per click to amazon products,

If I use a domain and forward the traffic (such as the OP is doing) is this permissible in the Amazon Affiliate agreement?

[RebeccaL]

You'll get away with it until they take a closer look and kill your quality score. Thats when you'll need a landing page.

[trapp120]

Yep! Not too mention (but I will), the direct link is reserved for the company you're promoting. Be ethical and build a new site around the content and promote it that way, it's one extra step in the purchase process but if you do it right it can seem like a continuation of the process, not a bridge.

Originally Posted by ben565

give it a few days in you will get slapped by google

[P.Sharma]

atleast this course got you started. Information teaches you much less than real experience

[Jag82]

This is not a long term sustainable strategy.

Direct linking is good only because...
- it's fast
- and it allows you to get results for testing quickly

Now that you know it converts well, go out to create a
landing page and opt in form.

Because once you get the details, you can now promote
multiple offers of the various products in your niche
to this same group of subscribers.

Direct linking = Good for testing what works and save you time
for creating landing pages on products that don't convert.

But it's profit once, and no more.

Landing page + list building = Profit long term.

You decide.

Best,
Jag

[Black Hat Cat]

Originally Posted by trapp120

Yep! Not too mention (but I will), the direct link is reserved for the company you're promoting.

Where did you dig up that nonsense?

[Versus]

I do this a bit.. and tend to only let the campaign run for 3-5 days. Ideally, you leverage it, eg:

You've found a niche that works. build a landing page, continue to PPC.
Move on to the next trial offer. If it works, build a landing page, continue to ppc.

x30. if 30 of them are averaging $150/day.. well.. you do the math.

[P.Sharma]

I've done some direct linking but for me landing page with an optin form works best. It really depends on the price of product that I am promoting. I have noticed that higher priced products need a presell so I build landing pages. On the other hand if there is a keyword that I can get quick traffic for and I know that it converts well then I use direct linking. Its just testing different things

[Loloy Diango]

Alright, is this okay for me to do:

Display URL: product sales URL
Destination URL: my domain name (that reflects the product I'm promoting) which redirects to my affiliate link

or

Display URL: my domain name (that reflects the product I'm promoting)
Destination URL: my affiliate link

[RGallowitz]

Originally Posted by Jag82

This is not a long term sustainable strategy.

Direct linking is good only because...
- it's fast
- and it allows you to get results for testing quickly

Those are true words.

Direct linking should only be done to test products and markets because there might be chance that Google will slap you a few weeks into your direct linking campaigns.

HEY, that doesn't stop me from doing direct linking with MSN though hehe. And they have some of the best consumer traffic around. CPA heaven baby!


Cheers
Reinhardt

[zankee]

Yup not many people know how to direct link the correct way but i'll let everyone in on a little secret. Google doesn't read past the "?"

[zankee]

Originally Posted by Razorblade

Alright, is this okay for me to do:

Display URL: product sales URL
Destination URL: my domain name (that reflects the product I'm promoting) which redirects to my affiliate link

or

Display URL: my domain name (that reflects the product I'm promoting)
Destination URL: my affiliate link

Hi

saw you post and thought you may need help.

lets say you wanna promote yoursite.com that is your display url

in your destination go to clickbank get link and post as destination url eg

yoursite.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SAA11com/

see google will allow you to any advertiser to test different pages, the ?tid=saa11 is only a tracking link and allowed by google. Your ad might not show up in the there if a similar ad with a higher bid promoting the same product, give it time and it will show up.

you could also do whats called a framed redirect. (remember this goes against googles accepted t&c's so don't do it long term only do it to "test" a market once its profitable set up your own landing page.

here is the code for a framed dedirect, make sure you have a blank html page in your favourite editor. copy code below (change the url) install a subdirectory on website using your keyword and upload the page as an "index" page in your subdirectory.


<html>
<head>
<meta name="description"
CONTENT="http://www.asmoothgolfswing.com">
<meta name="keywords" CONTENT="">
</head>

<FRAMESET border=0 rows="100%,*"
frameborder="no"
marginleft=0 margintop=0 marginright=0
marginbottom=0>
<frame src="http://zankee4u.swingbook.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=GOLFSWING"
scrolling=auto frameborder="no" border=0 noresize>
<frame topmargin="0" marginwidth=0 scrolling=no
marginheight=0 frameborder="no" border=0 noresize>
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>

[mill123]

they're some good stats man.

[lazfin]

Originally Posted by Mormuno01

• I bought a .info domain for $0.48 on Go Daddy that pretty much replicates the main product keyword.

• I used Go Daddys Domain Forwarding feature and forwarded my new domain to my CPA Affiliate Link

• I copied an add that I liked from someone else's ad using my new .info domain as BOTH THE DESTINATION AND DISPLAY URL

I spent an afternoon setting this up and it didn't work. G returned the "Inaccurate Display URL" error even though destination and display were the same. I checked and Godaddy domain forwarding was working fine.

So as a test I changed my display url to the vendors domain (my affliliate link). The annoying "Inaccurate display URL" disappeared and the ad ran. Interestingly though, G gives every keyword a quality 1 due to "poor landing page", even though the vendor's page and site are perfectly fine. So I wonder if there's a penalty for the redirect.

So to summarize:

DESTINATION: mydomain.info
DISPLAY: mydomain.info
DIDN'T WORK!

DESTINATION: mydomain.info
DISPLAY: vendordomain.com
WORKED with poor landing page quality.

Some people say this is working, and I believe them, I can only tell you it didn't work for me. So it makes me wonder if G is handling some accounts differently than others.

I am bummed because I don't have time to set up a whole site just to test a product's conversion. And using the vendor domain risks trademark problems.

Have any of you more experienced Warriors encountered and conquered this problem? If so, we'd love to hear of your exploits!

[KristieDean]

Congratulations! I know it must be a thrill!

[Mr Money Maker]

Way to go...............keep on trucking

[lazfin]

Hey just a thought, when you set up forwarding on Godaddy, do you also have to set up masking?

[VinnyBock]

Originally Posted by Jag82

This is not a long term sustainable strategy.

Direct linking is good only because...
- it's fast
- and it allows you to get results for testing quickly

Now that you know it converts well, go out to create a
landing page and opt in form.

Because once you get the details, you can now promote
multiple offers of the various products in your niche
to this same group of subscribers.

Direct linking = Good for testing what works and save you time
for creating landing pages on products that don't convert.

But it's profit once, and no more.

Landing page + list building = Profit long term.

You decide.

Best,
Jag

This is not what everyone wants to hear, but it's the best advice in this thread. It's working well now, and if it continues to do well then of course you shouldnt change it, but direct linking will never "build" your business, who ever doesnt buy is now gone for ever, where if they where on your list you can try, try again.

Congrats though, I hope it continues to do well for you...

[lazfin]

Update: I've done some testing. Domain forwarding is now caught by G, even if it's masked, at least for new ads. You have to use the vendor's domain as the display URL or else set up a landing page.

[Ideefixe]

How did you get into Copeac?

[gulftrotter]

Originally Posted by Ideefixe

How did you get into Copeac?

How I Got Approved by Neverblue, Copeac, and Max Bounty in 3 Days without any CPA Experience