As a publisher, is it possible to direct link your adword campaign toward your advertiser's pages? If yes, do you actually recommend it... may be for testing purposes?
To see if an advertiser permits direct linking, click on the Keyword link on the advertiser's Detail page. That's where they disclose their PPC and keyword policies.
Thanks, the one I'am checking does not mention anything about it, I can't even click on that link. I guess there is nothing to worry about...
You can't access the links/banners of an advertiser until you apply and are accepted into the advertiser's programme. Once you're accepted, follow the instructions above to view the advertiser's PPC policy. Unless it says that direct linking is not permitted, you can do it. Just don't bid on any protected keywords, and make sure to not outbid the advertiser on the non-compete keywords.
another question as well: on CJ, is this kind of way well tracked as when I take the link from the advertiser, I have to choose which website I'm going to put the link on?
Do I like direct linking? Is that what you mean? Sometimes direct linking can work very well. However, I stopped doing it because all day, every day, I had to compete with other affiliates for display URLs. One minute my ad would be showing, the next minute it would not. Sometimes, I would jump straight into profit, but the campaign would be stolen within a few days. It's best, therefore, to set up landing pages for your campaigns, (a) so you can have more control over sales, (b) so you can have more control over your adspend (due to quality score) and (c) so you don't have to compete for display URLs, which can be very stressful.
CJ tracks everything very well - although their reports can sometimes be delayed. To better track your marketing endeavours, make sure to use tracking IDs (SIDs). You can learn exactly what SIDs are in CJ's Help resource.
Thanks a lot Masterful ; I'm now more confident about dealing with that kind of advertising. I'll only try this way for testing and see if a campaign deserves a landing page.