PPC for Noobs – The absolute first lessons you’ll need to know before you start anything
I’ve been doing PPC (pay per click) affiliate marketing for a while now and I’ve learned some really valuable, yet expensive lessons. I’m going to share this generally obvious knowlege with you today. I don’t run campaigns for customers nor do I run campaigns to break even. I want 100% ROI (return on investment) or better with each campaign. Some higher volume AMs can get away with mad profits on a 20% ROI, I can’t. They have thousands of dollars each week to invest and that’s the leverage it takes to profit on the lower percentage returns. (This is not an all inclusive list. I stand by the detail in it’s entirety because the goal is to get you started off on the right foot, and that means avoiding common pitfalls.)
Here are some basic rules of PPC for those just starting:
You need funds, lots and lots of funds. Cash card, credit card, free credit coupons, whatever. There is nothing worse than running a successful campaign that’s profitable, then running out of money to keep it going.
Efficiency. You need the desktop client for Adwords and Adcenter, and a gold account at Yahoo Search Marketing. (Though YSM will upload a campaign data file for you before you hit gold status, it’s costing you time. You must spend $1500 in 3 months to qualify for Gold. Call your account rep for more info.)
Keyword Research/Automation. You cannot rely on the Google keyword tool for all your keywords. You need to geotarget, dig deep and wide for keywords, and ultimately, put your ad in front of the folks who are ready and/or willing to buy, not the tire kickers. Using automated tools and scripts that allow you to not only view your competition, but find underserved keywords is what separates the folks who profit and the folks who break-even.
Patience. You need to let ads run for a period of time before making decisions to optimize. Just because you get 10 conversions the first 10 hours doesn’t mean you change things up. Let data aggregate, then analyze.
Networking. Make friends in the right groups. Either on Sphinn, Wickedfire.com, or wherever you can find folks who you trust… It’s not about what you know so much as WHO you know. Lots of good strategies and tips are shared, get yours!
Business sense. It’s a business, treat it as such. Understand risk analysis, cost/benefit analysis, and for goodness sakes, set some goals. Putting $1000 on RED at the roulette table is a better use of your cash than spending $1000 on a campaign with no direction.
If you don’t have these fundamentals down, learn them now. You’re wasting time and leaving money on the table if you don’t.
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