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Open Ads - Open Source Ad Inventory Management
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Secret To Get On The First Page Of Google

One reader asked me what I am doing after I got the boot from AdSense a couple of months ago. Being kicked out of AdSense is actually a good thing for me. I miss the nice revenue stream but looking back (as they say, hindsight is always 20/20) I was focusing too much on one stream of income while ignoring things like building defensible traffic and improving the quality and authority of my sites. I lost focus on the essentials of building a lasting business.

If you’re still earning from AdSense, ask yourself this question NOW:

What if your earnings from AdSense goes to ZERO tomorrow?

What would you do? The problem with depending too much or solely on AdSense is that you are not in control. Google is. At any time, they can change the rules and decide that you’re in violation of the rules. Or they could decide that you’re too small of a player and kick you out of their program. Let’s face it, you’re not the New York Times or CNN with a massive stream of traffic coming through your site(s).

I am now refocusing and looking through the inventory of my sites to decide which ones to grow and which ones to drop. Also, I’m restructuring all my PPC campaigns. I’m monitoring conversions, doing more research etc. Trying to find ways that will lessen my dependence on Google. The tide is starting to turn against Google. Many SEOs like Aaron Wall and GrayWolf are starting to dislike Google’s way of doing business. (Dislike is to put it mildly). But that’s a whole other topic.

Here are a couple of questions that I want to answer more specifically.

Should you promote Clickbank products using PPC?

Yes, you should. Having said that, you have to do your homework. The popular markets like “how to make money from home” is EXTREMELY competitive but there IS money to be made there. If you’re not experienced, you could get burned doing PPC for Clickbank products. Another word of caution is to carefully evaluate the product before you promote it as there is a LOT of junk e-books out there.

Promote junky products and you’ll get a very high refund rate.

I would try a niche like health (how to solve various health problems) if you’re starting out.

Don’t limit yourself to Clickbank. There are plenty of other opportunities out there. There’s CJ, Shareasale, AzoogleAds, etc. What works for me might not work for you and vice versa. You’ve got to test the offers on your own sites or build your own PPC campaigns.

Do your research

Before you jump into a particular market, look around at what or how other people are promoting. Pick a topic and do some Google searches. Look at the ads that are on the first page and see what the landing page looks like. Take note of elements of the landing page that you like.

Here’s a list of things that people implement:

1. Subscription box. This lets you collect email addresses to build a mailing list so that you can keep in touch with your site visitors in the future. It takes up only a little real estate on your page but the value is incredible if used right.

2. Guarantees. Use graphics to emphasize any guarantees. It could be a 100% satisfaction or money back type of guarantee.

3. Better Business Bureau (BBB) logos, spyware free, virus free, adware free logos. These help build trust.

4. Photos. Use of attractive human faces can draw the users eyes to the location on the page where you want the user action to take place.

5. Bonuses. You can add your own bonuses to sweeten the offer. Make sure that it’s something useful to your site visitor. It could be a short report or a quick-start guide. Be creative.

6. About us & privacy policy pages. These help build trust as well and Google seems to like them.

How do you deal with Google’s quality score?

Look at the above mentioned list, especially point #6. You also want to make sure that your landing page has enough content related to the keywords you’re bidding on. Include related terms - crack open that thesaurus or use the MSN tools I mentioned in my previous post.

Building a history in your AdWords account is also important. If you have a history of good CTRs for your keywords, in the long run you’ll gain better positions with lower bids. When starting out, it’s okay to lose some money. You need to get some clicks in order to increase your CTR. You can’t get clicks if your ad is tucked away on page 5. So bite the bullet and spend a little more in the beginning so that you can build some history.

Hope you guys enjoy this post. I’d love to hear some feedback.

Technorati Tags: AdSense, AdWords strategies, Clickbank, PPC, landing pages

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