Hi, i was just wondering how many of you, pay for PPC advertising and link directly to the publisher's page (becuase you can hide you aff link on google) also, what are the pro's and cons of this method.. thanks!¬
Wait for Google Shadow (www.djkshadow.com) There's going to be something really interesting about direct-linking with Adwords.
I've never had any joy with direct linking. Even when I've managed to get any sort of conversion rate I've been able to beat it by dumping the traffic on a custom landing page. The only time I would even contemplate direct linking anymore is when testing new very cheap keywords.
I am not completely sure if this is the advice that you are seeking; however, I would advise against direct linking with PPC. .info domains are $.99, and you can use keywords from your campaign directly in your domain name. Create a landing page using that domain, optimize the page with SEO for that keyword. It's easier to kill 2 birds with one stone. Get your PPC running and optimize for some organic traffic as well.
Direct linking is not a great way to go. Some have had some good success with it but I suspect not many.
I've had about the same results. I've used this technique to test new niches, but I haven't been able to build anything sustainable and it only works if the keywords are cheap. It's not even ideal for testing, because if the publisher also uses PPC, your ads probably won't even display for the best terms. Sadly, I think a lander is mandatory even for testing.