Affiliate Strategies: Few vs. Many
Generally, stuffing as many keywords as possible into each ad group and campaign is thought to be the best practice. This is the exact reason we have such pervasive terms as 'keyword trimming' and the like. Essentially, you start with, say, 50,000 keywords and you run them for about a week. After a week, you start trimming (hopefully using one of the methods described here) and you end up with fewer non-converting keywords using up your money. You repeat this cycle until (hopefully) you are only spending the majority of your money on keywords that convert directly into sales.
This might work for some, but for those of us who want to DOMINATE a specific market, it just doesn't work. We're talking thousands per day here, not hundreds. So what's an affiliate marketer to do? Well, instead of using a machine gun, use a sniper rifle.
That is to say, instead of using tons of keywords that might garner a few weak hits, try using a few high-traffic keywords. My first thought when reading the previous sentence is "but that's going to cost a ton." But then I answer myself by saying "experience has taught me otherwise."
I've tried high-traffic keywords in the past and we'll just say, I've been dragged through the mud. So a warning to all those who dare to tread on dangerous ground, you CAN get burned and get slapped with thousands of dollars that you have to figure out how to pay back. Now that I've scared you, let me give you the good news. If you find high traffic keywords in areas that aren't as highly competitive as, for example, "make money online", "web host reviews" or "christmas gifts", you just might find a few winning keywords.
So my advice here is to stay away from the already crazy-saturated markets and find those with tons of daily searches but less competition. Note: there will ALWAYS be competition no matter what you try. At some point, someone else will have your idea and it's usually before you. That's no reason to step out of the race though. There are literally millions of dollars to be made.
So your next step is finding those keywords that are high traffic and for some of them, you just might be surprised. To find our prize winning keywords, we head over to Google Trends (of course) and start doing searches that revolve around our target niche. For instance, let's assume we want to sell Teddy Bears, we'd want to find out what searches there are on keywords like Teddy, Teddy Bear and perhaps, Stuffed Bear. So we'd do our search like so: Teddy vs. Teddy Bear vs. Stuffed Bear. What you'll notice right away about the search is that 'Teddy' dominates over all, while 'Stuffed Bear' is definitely something we can toss to the wayside.
What we'll want to focus on is keywords that are more like 'Teddy' and less like 'Stuffed Bear.' Now the keyword 'Teddy Bear' is right in the middle, so you'll just have to see how it converts.
The next step is tweaking. I like to think of it as turning the adjustment knobs to get everything running just right. You'll have to come up with multiple ads for each keyword. What I do to guarantee that I focus on specific keywords is literally make ONE keyword per ad group. That way, I know each ad is tailored to that keyword and quality score will be less likely to flounder. Trust me, you want to keep your quality score up and that means reading Google's quality score guidelines in detail. Make sure you don't screw this part up. "Why's that?" you might ask.
Well, imagine having a campaign that does $5,000.00 one day and gets Google-slapped, as it were, and suddenly your beautiful $0.25/click bid goes up to a $10.00 minimum bid. How do you get yourself out of that pickle? It's a terribly discouraging feeling that I've had on multiple occasions and I wouldn't wish it on any of you. The truth is, all you can do is do your best to make sure your landing page meets all of the quality score guidelines and that your ads get as many clicks as possible (high CTR = good). You have to do all this, of course, while making sure you're in profit. It's a tightrope walk, no doubt about it.
But the pay-off is great. You'll have multiple-hundred and thousand-dollar days going for you every day, as long as Google likes you and your offer stays in tact. Make no mistake -- there is no auto-pilot about it. If you want to make this kind of money, you have to constantly monitor your campaigns or you will be killed. It's a cut-throat industry, so stay on top of it and you should be fine.
On a lighter note, you'll be working hard but hopefully, in much nicer clothes, a nicer car and a nicer house. That's the dream, isn't it? Good luck to you.
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