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Having been on the Internet for close to ten years the affiliate market has changed dramatically. It wasn't that long ago that several large online sites held command of the affiliate universe. Even today they still have the largest number of affiliate memberships. What has changed is that just about anyone can have an affiliate program due to the emergence of sites like ClickBank and Azoogle. The affiliate member has the opportunity to share in the profits by as much as 70%! Azoogle's business model is different in that you either display html ads on your web site or you can get html to paste into an opt-in email campaign. With Azoogle you get paid for the amount of information the individual, the person who clicks on the ad, provides. This could be just a zip code or an email address. The pay-off is commensurate with the amount of information.
This of course is just for placing a link on a website or sending an email with a link to a landing page. (If you don't know what a landing page is…read on.) The reason that just about anyone can be an affiliate today is because PPC or Pay Per Click advertising has changed the landscape quite considerably. Google and Overture (These two account for about 90% of all PPC traffic) have changed the affiliate marketplace because if you are smart enough you have figured out that you can buy keyword advertising from Google or Overture and advertise someone else's product, provided you are an affiliate for that product. You don't need a website because when the individual clicks on the PPC ad it is directed to the affiliates web page or landing page. You collect the commission if that person buys the product or service. Sounds easy, it is, but as with all good things there are some catches.
You can get caught up in the bidding that takes place for top keywords. Example: say for instance you find a product on Clickbank that you would like to be an affiliate for. You sign up for a Google account, it's free, and you construct your PPC ad for the Clickbank affiliate you have opted to become. nowClickBank's sign up is free as well. Back to Google. Google Adwords requests that you provide them with a list of keywords for your product. You think of about ten keywords that are associated with your product. You list each of them within your Google ad. Google then asks you what's the maximum price per click you'll pay. Being an astute business person, you decide that you can afford $.10 per click with a maximum of $25.00 per day. This would give you 250 clicks on your ad per day. That doesn't mean that 250 people will buy, it just means that 250 people have looked at the "landing page." How many of the 250 will buy? Good question. I knew you were paying attention. The answer is: your guess is as good as mine. It could be 10% of the 250 clickers or 1% of the clickers or .1%.
Now comes the fun part. Remember that I said you decided to put your maximum per click price at $.10 per click. (See the previous paragraph) and your maximum daily amount at $25.00? Let's say that one of your top, top keywords. the one that you really felt was going to bring in the big clicks, was not available because your maximum per click was only $.10 and the going rate was over $2.00 per click! (Google will not divulge the top price but only indicate if your maximum is too low.) $2.00 per click you say I can't afford that! Well that's how it works. This type of thing happens everyday. Should you quit the PPC game? Absolutely not! Then how does one on a limited budget play in the PPC market? There are a number of ways to break in without depleting your bank account.
You can test your way in by utilizing alternate PPC networks. There are several. You can also find niche markets for keywords that are far less expensive than the more obvious ones. There are alternatives but you must get grounded first and then proceed.
Rick Carbone is owner and publisher of the Home Business Research website. He has over 30 years of marketing and sales experience that he brings to the Internet. HBR has been online since 1998 and has helped countless individuals in starting up home based businesses.
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