PPC url question

[johncash]

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Hi,

Apologies if this a super noob question... although I have been doing SEO for years, and affiliate stuff a wee while - I have never done PPC/affiliate stuff.

My question is:

Can I use PPC to send people straight to the affiliate site (using the url that does this, given in CJ for example),

and if yes,

What do I show the URL as in Google Adwords? Would I list the destination URL as the website that the visitor will end up on... eg Nike.com - By this I mean the URL that is displayed at the bottom of the Adwords ad.

or do I list one of my own websites - despite the fact the link doesnt take them there.


Common sense would suggest I list their website, eg Nike.com - but this raises the question will Google be upset that it might seem like the company in question is double serving ads?

Thanks Guys
Colin

[Shane]

"Can I use PPC to send people straight to the affiliate site (using the url that does this, given in CJ for example)" ..
yes if the merchant allows this.

and if yes,

"What do I show the URL as in Google Adwords? Would I list the destination URL as the website that the visitor will end up on... eg Nike.com - By this I mean the URL that is displayed at the bottom of the Adwords ad." ..
Yes .. Ad display URL must match destination URL

or do I list one of my own websites - despite the fact the link doesnt take them there.
..NO you can't do it.. display url must match destination url.. so if your site url is in the ad then that's where the user should end up

"Common sense would suggest I list their website, eg Nike.com - but this raises the question will Google be upset that it might seem like the company in question is double serving ads?" ..
it won't be upset as it won't happen .. google will only show one instance of an advert with the core display URL in it.... i.e the "nike.com" bit.. doesn't matter if you subdomain it like "deals.nike.com" or folder name it like "nike.com/deals".. only one nike.com ad will ever be shown .. and which ad being shown depends on which advert google feels will make it the most money.. so bid high to get your ad to even show, then concentrate on getting a good quality score, use phrase and exact matchs, plus negative keywords to get a good CTR

I would be very careful if you have to fight it out to get your ads showing though on competitive merchants, unless you know what you are doing you could bin some big cash in a short space of time

[johncash]

Shane, thankyou kindly for your reply. I had been getting super paranoid about it - and its really good to have someone tell me how it is.

Good advice also - really I appreciate it.

If theres any SEO advice or a blogpost/link I can give you in return get in touch.

Colin

[Silver]

Hi,

Apologies if this a super noob question... although I have been doing SEO for years, and affiliate stuff a wee while - I have never done PPC/affiliate stuff.

My question is:

Can I use PPC to send people straight to the affiliate site (using the url that does this, given in CJ for example),

and if yes,

What do I show the URL as in Google Adwords? Would I list the destination URL as the website that the visitor will end up on... eg Nike.com - By this I mean the URL that is displayed at the bottom of the Adwords ad.

or do I list one of my own websites - despite the fact the link doesnt take them there.


Common sense would suggest I list their website, eg Nike.com - but this raises the question will Google be upset that it might seem like the company in question is double serving ads?

Thanks Guys
Colin

If you are direct linking without knowing what you are doing, like Shane said you can get badly burnt!

If you are going down that road, some affiliates would buy a similar domain (if available) possibly a different domain extension if you can find one and then simply redirect the user as soon as they hit your site to your merchants site?

But again, you need to know what you are doing in this instance (PPC wise) because will often clamp down sooner or later with heavy min bids - or rather now a high CPC to appear on front page. It is by no means a long term money making strategy in my eyes.

Better off going down the route of landing pages and pre selling the user before sending them on their way.

If you need any specific advice on anything PPC wise, feel free to PM me (or anyone else in this forum, they all know what they are doing here!)

Cheers

[johncash]

Silver, sincerely thankyou for your advice.

I'm sure I could hone what I am doing to be better - but I guess I figured that the merchants site (in this case) seemed to be pretty good at converting... whereas my site considerably less so... due to perhaps too many things to click on... that could take someone away from where I sent them and want them to go...

Perhaps like you said I am better off with a streamlined landing page / distraction free...

Cheers

[tijan]

Its not even advisable to direct to a merchant site even if the merchant have permitted you to link directly to them. in most cases you are likely to be directing to a competitive url which drives your bid higher in the first few days. i call it the survival of the fittest. Thats the price to pay for not creating your own landing page. It doesnt cost you anything to do a test campaign to the merchant site to verify this, you may even be surprise the competition we are talking about is not even there and you hit a bingo.

Creating your own landing page has a lot of values
- Your landing page is not subject to competition and your keyword would not be subject to landing page competition.
- While pre-selling to your customers, you can also compare the merchant youre trying to sell with other merchants in the same industry.
- You can give them an alternative merchant in case they dont fancy one merchant.
-Convince them in less than 7 seconds, say what you think your merchant should be saying to sell their products.
- You can even add a complemetary products for your customers. E.g if your main merchant is selling Toothpaste, you can also look around for a merchant that sells toothbrush and give them a little mention on your landing page without loosing focus.
- Less distractions.
-CPC is likely to be far less than when directing to merchant.


Mind you, in a few cases, its always advisable to direct straight to merchant, you may want to try first before you think of creating a landing page if you are actually not interested in creating one. Few months ago, i use a direct to merchant and spent less than £70 in a week to make near or over £700 for real.

Tijan Penpee