This week’s tutorial follows lesson one on PPC advertising and offers guidance on bidding strategies and creating successful landing pages.

Bidding Strategies

Most search engines will encourage you to bid for the top spot; however that is usually not a good idea. This is for two reasons: firstly, it can be unbelievably expensive and, secondly, listings in the top spot often don’t convert as well as spots lower down.

The reason for the latter is searchers who are in a hurry or less intelligent often click on the top link without bothering to read the copy. They scan the page that appears, realise it is not suitable to their needs, and click back again – and you’ve lost your 70 cents or whatever. Mark J. Welch calls it the “idiot click” problem in his helpful article about PPC bidding strategies!

A good position to often aim for is 4-6, because searches will have scanned the listings higher than yours and specifically picked out your advert for relevance. At the same time, you are not paying the absurdly-high click amounts that the top spots often command.

Many PPC providers such as Microsoft adCenter have demographic, regional and other targeting capabilities and it can be a good idea to tailor your bids depending on how likely searchers are to make you money.

Also, you should pay more per click for search engines that convert well (such as Google) than those that send a lot of dud traffic (such as MIVA).

Landing Pages

A few years back both Google and merchants were happy for PPC affiliates to send traffic straight to the merchants’ websites and make money without having to bother creating their own web pages.

However, Google became unhappy with affiliate ads flooding PPC listings which did not add anything unique and often detracted searchers from finding what they were really looking for. Merchants too imposed restrictions on paid search advertising.

Rule changes over the last few years mean that PPC advertising is now most effective when the affiliate builds small websites, otherwise known as minisites. The affiliate attracts surfers from Google and other search engines to his/her site and then directs them on to the merchant’s website.

If a landing page has a good Quality Score, an advertiser can be listed higher than a rival paying a higher bid amount. What is Quality Score? Here’s Google’s definition: “Quality Score is the basis for measuring the quality and relevance of your ads and determining your minimum CPC bid for Google and the search network. This score is determined by your keyword's click-through rate (CTR) on Google and the relevance of your ad text, keyword and landing page.”

Before we go on to provide specific advice on what a landing page should contain to develop a good Quality Score, we will look at the Google Adwords Editorial Guidelines:

“We allow affiliates to use AdWords advertising. Please note that we will only display one ad for affiliates and parent companies sharing the same Display URL per search query. We also monitor and do not allow the following:

Redirect URLs: Ads that contain Display URLs that automatically redirect to the parent company.

Bridge Pages: Ads for webpages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company.

Framing: Ads for webpages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site.”

You should also carefully study the guidelines for landing pages here. The key part is the section on providing “relevant and substantial content”.

So what does Google consider to be “relevant and substantial content”? You should write your own original copy, not just reproduce it from the advertiser’s site.

If Google and other PPC search engines decides that the aim of a page is just to funnel traffic to another website, then you will be penalised. So your landing page should ideally link to the following pages:

• About Us
• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• More information about products/services

“There is no magic formula and the landing page doesn’t have to be that complex. It simply must contain original content and be of value to the visitor. So a landing page with recommended add-ons that is presented within a full site of other original content will withstand the Google AdWords algorithm. Not only that, but you will have actually built a decent quality website that you can maintain and build up with content for years to come. You never know, it could even end up being indexed well with the natural serps so you don’t even have to rely on AdWords for traffic!” Kieron Donoghue, Pay Per Click Advertising Specialist Kieron’s Blog

 

In terms of creating an effective landing page which drives the consumer through the sales funnel, here is some advice:

Create a simple, uncluttered page which features the specific product or service you are advertising in your Adwords copy. Don’t distract the surfer with other ads or unrelated links. A big no no is to send the surfer to your home page and expect him to look around for what he is seeking.

Advertise a coupon code and/or time limited offer to incentivise the surfer to progress through the sales funnel. At the Linkshare Summit in London last month, super affiliate Michael Yack disclosed how prominently advertised coupon codes lead to incredible conversion rates for his landing pages. You can see one of his successful web pages here:

Add testimonials, certificates and guarantees to the landing page as they help reassure people that they will not be let down.

Use quality images to sell your product or service. Use pictures of the product and/or satisfied customers. Look how the photos on Michael Yack’s page attract one’s attention.

Have a strong call to action describing what you are trying to sell and then feature unambigious requests for the surfer to take the next step.

Experienced marketers test different versions of their landing pages and carefully analyse their conversion rates. Make sure you test, test and test again.

Even though we are talking about creating web pages for PPC, you should SEO all your landing and related pages. Making an effort in that department could mean you can get prominently ranked in the organic listings of search engines and enjoy free traffic.

The coming Weekly Qs will feature a two-part interview with affiliate podcaster Fraser Edwards, but the week following that will include the first lesson on that trickiest of all sciences, search engine optimisation. Stay tuned!
 

GUEST ARTICLE Jessica Luthi is one of pioneers of affiliate marketing, having worked in the industry since 1999 for companies such as Affiliate Window, DGM and ASOS.com. Now a highly respected consultant, Jess writes the popular Affiliate Program Advice blog and is one of the organisers of the inaugural Affiliate Summit in London.

 

The Weekly Q welcomes guest contributions and in this week’s newsletter we are delighted to publish the first of two opinion pieces by Jessica Luthi. The renowned affiliate marketing consultant asks what the role of the network should be when things awry. She writes about a recent case in which an affiliate was not paid for generating leads via PPC for a program even though the merchant did not have guidelines restricting paid search marketing activity. In next week’s Q, Jessica explains why blue chip companies face challenges when entering affiliate marketing.

The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of PrimeQ.

Interesting thread over on ABestWeb and here too on MooseOnTheLoose.

These have prompted me to ask again: what is the role of an affiliate network with regards to terms and conditions and enforcing them? Should networks have to police affiliates and merchants? Networks have been and probably will come under the spotlight in terms of who they are in favor of more, the merchant or the affiliate? Perhaps the suspicion from some affiliates is that they are in quantity and disposable and therefore networks will favor the merchant when things go awry.

The ABestWeb thread highlights the plight of the network and where they sit, but when evidence is stacked in favor of the affiliate, do the networks have the guts to throw the book at offending merchants when it comes to the crunch?

"There can be little doubt that affiliate marketing in general has a big element of trust thrown into the mix of daily business practices. That trust element leaves a hole that can be abused by any party, be they a merchant, an affiliate or even a network. "

 
There can be little doubt that affiliate marketing in general has a big element of trust thrown into the mix of daily business practices. That trust element leaves a hole that can be abused by any party, be they a merchant, an affiliate or even a network. All are interdependent on each other. So when conflict arises between an affiliate and a merchant what should networks do? What is their role?

Terms and conditions are created to a) protect all parties b) they are rules c) they are the written law that all parties have to abide by. So, in theory, if there are clear written terms and conditions in place, conflict need never arise or at the very least conflict is reduced.

But, what happens when conflict does arise? All parties should go back and look at the terms and conditions, this has to be the first point of reference. If terms and conditions have been breached then the course of action is pretty much sorted, no debating the matter “it is as it is!” As Loxly suggests and I agree, "If a merchant changes their terms, they should pay the commissions due up to the point of the terms being changed and the affiliates being notified".

The problem of conflict can be exasperated by the sheer lack of forethought that has gone into putting ts and cs together from a merchant, from the off. Some ts and cs range from the vague and obscure and woefully lacking to the extremes of several pages of lawyers language that falls short of preventing the affiliate from even having a website let alone even hints at promoting the merchant. But, I’m not sure that it is fair to expect merchants to all be able to put ts and cs together if they are just entering this space. Some will probably be on a learning curve and know very little. Also, affiliate programs and the internet are not static and changes can occur, from the subtle to the extreme and ts and cs written yesterday are possibly not applicable today. By way of an example, as merchants become more educated, not just in terms of affiliate marketing but in terms of their own businesses, their own marketing strategies and internet skills develop.

One thing we all agree on is that merchants’ ts and cs should be clear, transparent and binding, but why bother if no one takes any notice?

One solution could be that, upon signing up to a network, a ts and cs account manager at the network helps put the merchants ts and cs in place. After all, that point of contact at the network should already have some ideas about how the merchant operates. In the same way we all login to look at our stats on a network, perhaps there should be an area that asks merchants, do you need to update your ts and cs, as was suggested by Chris AMWSO and Jorge JRami. This in turn can be displayed to affiliates.

Whilst CJ have attempted to address changes in ts and cs, from personal experience we lost a whole bunch of affiliates as they did not and were not aware of the new changes, and commissions could not be allocated to them unless they logged in and accepted the changes (not our idea by the way, it was enforced by the new gaming laws re: US bingo). Messy in a word, but… I don’t think they are too far off the mark, they just need to rethink the processes.

My role is to sit in between the affiliate, network and merchant. Where potential conflicts may arise, I see my role as primarily a negotiator, try to settle things before they get out of hand. If there is no settlement that can be reached and the merchant is clearly wrong and just is shooting themselves and their program in the foot, we are not shy at severing that relationship; it’s in no one’s interests then to continue. Yes… means loss of earnings, but if you know something is wrong and the evidence supports this, then it’s quite clear what the course of action is. If we lose a client, this is a clear signal to affiliates that something is not right in the way the client perceives affiliate marketing and continuing will just give rise to more conflict. Having a code of conduct and sticking to it, sets us apart in other words; we are not scared we are confident in our own minds that best practice works for everyone.

I feel the role of the affiliate network should be the same. If the evidence is stacked in favor of the affiliate, regardless if the merchant are a big high street brand or jims jams small business, rules are rules and, if negotiation fails, go back to the terms and conditions and take appropriate action. The bottom line is, if the networks don’t want to police or enforce them, who else is going to?

If you would like to contribute to one of the most widely read newsletters in online marketing, write to the Weekly Q’s Editor, Nadeem Azam at nazam AT primeq.co.uk

The affiliate marketing community has often complained about the lack of events ‘up norf’ and so PrimeQ has organised an affiliate get2gether in Leeds next Thursday, 5 July.

It will take place at Firefly which has been called “one of the most stylish and sophisticated venues in Leeds” (Clubzone.com). The trendy city centre lounge/bar/restaurant, with stunning interior schemes, is on the fringes of the financial quarter.  

We have booked a large room and it will be an ideal opportunity for people in the industry to get together in an informal atmosphere, chat and enjoy drinks. Appetizers will be provided by PrimeQ and there will be live jazz.

Vincent Montero, PrimeQ's Director of UK Operations, will be on hand to answer any questions about the network's exciting new affiliate platform or anything else PQ related.

Everybody is welcome to turn up: affiliates, agencies, merchants, network staff – you can even bring along your mother if you like!
If you are planning to attend, please fire off a quick email to nazam AT primeq.co.uk or post a message on the Event’s wall on Facebook just so we can get an idea of the numbers and who to expect.

	Venue: Firefly
	Location: 21-22 Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5JF (click here for map)
	Transport Links: The venue is only a few minutes walk from Leeds train station and close to numerous bus routes
	Date/time: Thursday, 5 July, 2007. 5:30pm onwards
	Enquiries: If you would like further information, you are welcome to call PrimeQ’s Public Relations Manager, Nadeem Azam, on 07944 963 963

 

Texas ISP Redmoon Lambasted for Hijacking Webpages with Own Ads

Texas based ISP Redmoon has been condemned for implementing technology that hijacks pages being visited by their customers with Redmoon’s own advertisements.

The software is provided by NebuAD, which boasts that ISP delivered ads are an untapped source of revenue.

NebuAD’s controversial technology places the ads on all .com websites; whether a site is running ads or not makes no difference. The ads are not pop-ups, but served as if they were part of the webpage. The banners are served by Fair Eagle, the company being a division of NebuAd, Inc.

Benjamin Anderson, a developer in Texas, reveals: “I’ve noticed something recently; there has been an overwhelming number of Fair Eagle ads showing up all over the place.  This occurs on my Mac and my PC and after investigating the issue further I’ve found that the ads are being appended to all .com domain HTML requests.”

Redmoon’s implementation of the technology, which could be replicated by other ISPs, has caused uproar in the online marketing community. One poster writes on TechCrunch.com, “it is like the USPS opening your daily newspaper before delivering and inserting their ads” and another comments: “I liken this to a video rental company removing previews and replacing them with their own advertisements.”

 

YouTube to Overtake BBC in UK Visitors

YouTube is set to surpass BBC.co.uk in the entertainment category in the share of UK visits within the next few weeks, according to a Hitwise chart. The BBC website has been the top-ranked Entertainment website in the UK for the past two years.

Among all categories of websites, BBC.co.uk ranked 14th with 0.82 percent of UK Internet visits last week, compared with YouTube's 0.81 percent and number 25 ranking, but that gap is closing quickly.

BBC had a mere 1.6 percent lead on YouTube in share of UK visits last week, down from 37 percent three months ago and 131 percent six months ago.

Although UK visits to BBC.co.uk are still growing - up 13 percent from May 2006 to May 2007 - YouTube's share of traffic* increased 669 percent in the same period according to Hitwise.

In the meantime, last month the Entertainment category itself overtook the Shopping and Classifieds category in shares of weekly UK Internet visits for the first time in two years.

*Hitwise excludes off-network traffic. The traffic reported refers to direct visits to YouTube.com, rather than content served by YouTube, such as videos embedded on other sites.

 

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“Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow; don't walk behind me, I may not lead; walk beside me and be my friend.” Albert Camus, author and philosopher (1913-1960)

Would you like to write for the Weekly Q? PrimeQ is seeking to employ a talented, reliable writer who is knowledgeable about online advertising and willing to contribute on a regular basis. Contact Nadeem Azam on nazam@primeq.co.uk with detailed information about yourself, including a couple of samples of your writing of at least 500 words long each.

 

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