Hello, Have you ever noticed that for most of the Hosting Company Names in Goolge CJ Publishers have placed their ad in top position. So it means that its working for them. Even they are showing those ads all over the world not just in USA. So what do you think? Should I give a try by bidding higher.... But I those keywords are expensive... and it may cost upto $10 or more per click so how can one afford that? It means inorder to recover the cost one out of 10 people must purchase the product. Give your opinions please....
I'm pretty sure the top hosting companies are not paying $10+/click. I bid around $6 for a keyword in a market that the google keyword tool says would cost $20+. If you do everything right, 1/10 conversion is possible. I get close to that from time to time. If you're just starting out in ppc, I wouldn't try bidding in the $10+ range just yet. Try finding a less competitive niche where you can bid $1 or less. Then learn everything you can about adwords ppc, adcopy, landing pagings, and keywords. The more you learn before starting, the more you will learn while executing your plan. And that's the key, don't get too bogged down with learning that you never take action. Develop a plan of action, with metrics that you can test and measure your success. Decide how much you are willing to invest, learn from your mistakes, and try not to spend it all in one place. Good luck!
No am not new to PPC am experienced but not much.. I never used my own money for PPC.. I used Coupons whenever I tried PPC.... and for me the best was with adCenter its conversion rate was good for some loans... I never tried Web Hosting...
Here's a quick tip... Before starting the campaign, make sure that your landing page quality score is as high as you can. A good landing page can determine your minimum required bid. A good place to start reading on this would be in this thread
The problem from hosting companies is that they normally extend 100% from their commission and you only will know your ROI about 60 days after you begin the campaign. Also most of the hackers that use theft credit cards, uses google to explore new hosting companies victims - so most of your conversions will be reversed as you will send trash traffic there - I'm 100% that if you bid $10, you will lose thousands of dollars depending of the company you promote. I suggest that you begin slow.
Yes I also agree with you Micromag. Any way I will just try to use free PPC Credits to see if it works or not.
Sounds like you may be the victim of Google Slap - and yup, it's real. God, oops Google is getting really anal these days. You have to be very clever as an affiliate to avoid the Google slap or have your ads denied because google has decided your landing page sucks or is considered a bridge page. Or has flagged the landing page of the program (product) you are promoting as LOW quality (the most likely). Lets say you make an ad that links directly to your affiliate landing page (not yours) and Google has determined they don't like it (maybe through past affiliates or ?).... They come back to you in your Google admin panel and tell you that the minimum bid is $6, $12 etc (depending on keywords). Well you could be thinking 'holy cow, what a popular group of keywords' and of course, I can't afford that. This is the Google Slap - they make the cost high enough that you will most likely drop the ads. However, I have had this happen several times and simply changed the display URL and aff Link to a similar CB program with a low popularity rating and guess what... I was able to get the bids down to 15 cents (average) on the SAME keywords. So what I am learning is this (lots more but here is a bit) Pick your affiliate programs carefully, old popular ones seem to get hit hard by Google but I can't say this will happen with all of them (maybe Google likes some of them) Google only displays one URL in the search results for the same landing page - if you are competing with other affiliates this could get expensive and who knows what kind of stuff Google will do if several affiliates are going after the same program and direct landing page. If you get Google hitting you with an average cost of $1.20 or more, it is probably a slap, try a new campaign with the same keywords but new similar and less known aff program and see if there is a difference in kw costs Find the latest online info on dealing with Google and affiliate programs not dated before May 2007 or it is probably useless - Google is making changes every week and many in the last 3 months that effect the old style affiliate linking in a big way. Oh, forget any of your own landing pages that promotes only one product and links to only that one product - Google will nail it within a week or two and send you a polite email saying you are violating their terms. But on the brighter side, God, umm Google, will forgives you for a few of these violations and allows your to correct your sins, but only if you bow 3 times...;-) Bottom Line - Google wants ads to be as high a quality as their search results and they are applying the same criteria to landing pages and sites that ads link to as would be expected in Organic Search. So affiliates may have a tough time with Google in the next couple of years.