04.29.08
MSN now charges a fee to sign up!
Tony,
I don’t know if you are aware or not, but I went to sign up with MSN and they charge a fee. Do you think it is worth paying a fee on AdCenter as opposed to just sticking with Google?
Leigh
American Market?
Hello,
I think after months of trying and adapting to the US affiliate market I am convinced that the issue is not with PPC or choice of affiliate program. The issue is that we are FULL. Affiliates programs are everywhere. I can start my own CJ in ten minutes, it is out of control. I am looking into other countries that are what the US was in 1999. I think that is a wise choice. What do you think?
04.28.08
Budget Increase?
Tony,
I am advertising on Google and have set a daily budget and CPC based on your recommendations and my comfort level. Google has suggested that since I am using up my daily budget quickly, I should increase it. So far I have not converted any of the clicks so I am not sure if I should increase my daily budget to their recommendation. It would prove to be very costly for me if I still didn’t get conversions.
Do you suggest I try it for a day or two and see how it goes?
Leigh
04.25.08
Tracking Codes & Destination URLs
Tony,
I thoroughly enjoyed your book! I’m about to launch my first campaign on GoogleAdwords and I’m having an issue with the tracking code vs. destination URL. The destination URL that the affilliate program wants me to use with their supplied tracking code is not ideal for the campaign that I want to run (to many options on the page) so I would like to change the destination URL while also allowing them to track me. Is this possible? If so then how do I enable the affilliate program to track me if I want to use a different destination URL than the one that’s linked to their tracking code?
I reviewed your book again and didn’t see this covered so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
T
04.22.08
Beginner Woes
Well like many others Tony has inspired me and I have posted my first campaign last week accumulating 200 clicks in 3 days as well as spending about 100.00 only bringing in 10.00! I’m putting someone through college!! 
Oh well, i am learning and i guess that’s the cost of doing business however….what’s the trick? How do you pick a program that pays…i think my ad was killer…it prompted a great response and ran # one or two the entire time it was up (quality index was high too).
In reading the book I see that costs per click were very low…not like the average $0.69 I paid for my campaign on yahoo. At these rates and 5% commission I can’t ever foresee a time where this could be profitable. Tony, Is this cost significantly different than it was a year ago? Has this market place changed or is it simply the product line i was promoting not worthwhile and just not that hot a commodity? ANY insight to how to choose a profitable advertiser would be appreciated though I understand that this is the crux of the business and well…..i wouldn’t want to give that out either.
Thanks for the book, i’m still inspired albeit subued and a little frustrated.
Brian
04.20.08
Budget for beginners
I am just starting out with Search Marketing and haven’t made revenue as of yet. What is a good monthly budget to start and still get optimmal clicks/conversions?
04.17.08
Advertiser’s terms and conditions not clear.
First off, your book is fantastic! I’m anxious to get started, but hesitant about breaking any rules with advertiser. Don’t want to pay for clicks only to have comms held back.
The advertiser I selected for my first campaign has approved me for search engine marketing so now it’s time to place the ad. The only information I found concerning the advertisers rules about Display URL is the following “Search terms are open, display URL and trademark terms are available”. In your opinion, does this mean I can use their domain in the Display URL? Should I ask the advertiser directly? Thanks.
04.16.08
EPC not a good metric?
Hi Tony,
I just finished reading your book and I’m looking for my first campaign. There is one point in your book which just I can’t get past. On page 77, referring to EPC, you mention ”there is no way of knowing how much these clicks cost to generate“. I’m having trouble understanding this because, as I understand it, I can specify my bid price per click when signing up with search engines like Google.
Example: If I bid 5 cents per click, 7 day EPC is $20.00, and my add gets 200 clicks in one week. I would think my cost is $10 (200 clicks * .05 per click), gross earnings would be $40 (EPC = $20 per 100 clicks), and profit for that week would be $40 - $10 = $30
I would appreciate if you could explain this a bit further. By the way, your book is great! I read it a few times and I’m very excited to begin my first campaign. Thank you, Tom.
04.15.08
Figuring out Where My Amazon Sales are Coming From
I’m in the following quandary. I have Google ads that direct customers straight to Amazon but I also have an Amazon A-store as well as Amazon ads on my web site. My question is how do I figure out when I get an Amazon sale, whence the sale came? I’d like to be able to tell whether my Google ads are doing the trick or whether it’s folks that got to my web site for some other reason and then clicked on my Amazon banners.
I’ve looked at the Amazon stats and don’t see the answer. Any ideas?
The Frustration of Advertisers not Converting Sales
Sorry to say, I’m still not in the black on this endeavor and one of my current frustrations is that from my point of view, my chosen advertisers (and these are not fly by night companies) are simply not converting the sale.
I’ve been directing traffic to my web site and I’ve been tracking on CJ, which ads (I use banners, which seem to be reasonably effective) get clicked on. Despite multiple clicks per day, these vendors don’t seem to offer a good enough value proposition to close the darn sale.
What’s got me a bit steamed is I can only do so much. Once I deliver my customer to the advertisers’ web site, it’s up to them to close the deal and they just don’t seem to be doing it.
Is anyone else encountering this frustration? Is it simply a product of the economy we’re in?
04.13.08
Mr. Borelli, I have a joint venture idea I hope you’ll not refuse…
Mr. Borelli,
Hi I’m Jerry Smith and have recently purchased your book and am very satisified despite the market changes since. My proposition for you is simply this. I’m hoping you will consider teaching me personally how to be successful as you have been with affiliate search marketing. In return I am willing to pay you half of my net profits for one full year. I’ll do all the work, make myself available to you at your leisure and have a legally binding contract drawn up guarenteeing your half for a full year in return for your personal coaching. Of course, we can work out the exact details. Please consider my offer, I have my heart set on being able to earn good mobile income from an internet business and have many reasons for needing to do so. I’d be happy to discuss this with you futher at anytime. Please contact me at jerryallensmithemail@hotmail.com if we can so. Thank you for your consideration
04.11.08
Most impressed with your dedication to your readers…
Hi Tony,
My hat’s off to you, for in spite of industry challenges, you have continued to service your readers, consistently. I have been in business for many years and it is rare to find such commitment to one’s customers. On behalf of your readers, thank you for that.
After spending about a month reading your book and a couple others, scouring the websites and blogs, about 1 yr. PPC with my “other” business website, I’m ready to get started.
My question is this. With a website already set-up and aimed at a particular industry, ranking on the second page of yahoo for relevant keywords (no PPC for a while), would it be most profitable to use that site as a set of target landing pages in many other categories or to set up other websites, each aimed at those specific categories?
For example, my other business is real estate. The website has specific pages for Home and Garden, Money and Finance, Pet Care, Fabric Cleaning Care, Home Repair & DIY Projects.
Would my immediate (right away) ROI have greater potential by building specific sites or optimizing this one?
Thank you for your help,
Angela
04.05.08
Why does Google disable keywords even when there is no competition?
Hi Tony,
I have read your excellent book and I am quite excited about the idea. Thanks for showing us this side of E-commerce.
I have recently started running campaigns and have already seen it working! My first order came through today!!!!
My question is: Why does Google Adword disable some keywords when apparently nobody is competing for them.
E.g. I am bidding for a word ‘abc’. My default bid is 10 cents. Google disables the word and says I should raise the bid to 20 cents.
To understand the competition, I do a search on Google for word ‘abc’. It shows several sites in Organic search and NONE in paid search.
Still Google has disabled the term. Why?
