As per Note 24 of AFK company's financial statements and disclosure notes for the year ended December 31, 2013(Other financial assets?), the balance of investments accounted for at Fair Value through Profit and Loss (FVPL) was $951 million (including Cash secured? portion). This amount of $951 million is consolidated in the total of $1,031 million under other short-term financial assets? headings in the balance sheet.
As per Note 24 (Other financial assets?), 4.10.5 (Financial assets, cash and cash equivalents?), 4.23(Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations?), and in the balance sheet of AFK company for the year ended December 31, 2013 out of $951 million, $931 million was classified as current and $20 million was classified as noncurrent.
As per Note 34.3 (Market value of financial instruments?), the entire balance was stated at its fair value, this because the notes for marketable securities, investments, and other securities states that The market value of securities is determined based mainly on the market price or the prices available on other similar securities.? In practice the investments accounted for FVPL are reported at its fair value in the balance sheet.
As per Note 34.4 (Valuation methods for financial assets and liabilities at their fair value?), out of $951 million $31 million was estimated using level 1 inputs and balance $920 million was estimated using level 2 inputs. Even though level 2 fair value estimates are less reliable than level 1, but market-based inputs are better. Still this fair value estimate is less reliable in comparison to level 1 in the fair value hierarchy.
As per Note 24 of the disclosure notes of AFK company for the year ended December 31, 2013 (Other financial assets?), the balance of investments accounted for as available for sale was $1,135 million (including Shares secured? portion). This balance of $1,135 million is consolidated in the total of $1,963 million and reported as other financial assets? in the balance sheet.
As per Note 24 and the balance sheet the investment accounted for as available-for-sale, affiliate marketing and facebook ads the entire balance of $1,135 million was classified as noncurrent.
As per Note 34.3 (Market value of financial instruments?), the entire balance is reported at its fair value in the balance sheet, since the note states, Assets available for sale are recorded at their stock market value.? Besides it a common practice that investments accounted for as available-for-sale are reported at its fair value in the balance sheet.
As per Note 34.4 (Valuation methods for financial assets and liabilities at their fair value?), out of $1,135 million, $1,100 million was estimated using level 1 inputs while the balance $35 million was estimated using level 2 inputs. Since level 1 inputs fair value estimation is most reliable, this fair value estimate must be very reliable.
When the AFK Company could exercise significant influence over the investee, the company uses the equity method to account for the investment. When AFK Company could own more than 20% of the voting rights of the investee, the company could exercise significant influence.
When AFK Company exercises joint control over an investee, the company uses equity method to account for the joint ventures.
As per Note 22 (Equity affiliates?) and the balance sheet, the carrying value of the equity-method investment of AFK Company in its balance sheet for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $177 million.
As per Note 22 and the income statement, the net income from continuing operations of AFK Company for the year 2013 was reduced by 211 million by the equity-method investments.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
New Sabah Times
I Synergy International and Affiliate Junction launches MyKad Smart Shopper campaign
KOTA KINABALU: I Synergy International (M) Sdn Bhd (ISI), Malaysia's premiere affiliate marketing solution provider, and Affiliate Junction (AJ), the leading affiliate marketing platform in Malaysia, is launching MyKad Smart Shopper Campaign at Suria Sabah Shopping Mall to coincide with its GSC Suria Sabah cinema advertisement campaign that begins on 7th January 2016 and ends on 17th February 2016.
MyKad Smart Shopper is an affiliate loyalty program that is designed to leverage on affiliate marketing account executive the Malaysian national identity smart card in promoting the local retail industry.
Using MyKad as the program ID, registered MyKad holders who have been referred by AJ's affiliates can enjoy retail privileges at participating merchants' outlets for all their purchases through authentication of their registered MyKad.
The referral affiliates will then be incentivised through the program's system for their effective marketing initiatives, thus creating a mutually rewarding retail ecosystem where all parties-merchants, affiliates and consumers-gain benefits from the program. MSS is officially endorsed and recognised as MyKad's 50th flagship application by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and National ICT Initiative (MSC).
Recognising the potential of MSS in building a shopping community that is both commercially advantageous and geared towards smart consumerism, Suria Sabah Shopping Mall's management supports the MyKad Smart Shopper Campaign by providing a site for AJ's affiliates for six weeks where they will able to conduct promotional activities to enhance awareness about the program to the shopping mall's patrons and make them become MSS members by registering their MyKad for free.
Now, you can also channel your complaints or grievances to Actionline through our E-Mail
KOTA KINABALU: I Synergy International (M) Sdn Bhd (ISI), Malaysia's premiere affiliate marketing solution provider, and Affiliate Junction (AJ), the leading affiliate marketing platform in Malaysia, is launching MyKad Smart Shopper Campaign at Suria Sabah Shopping Mall to coincide with its GSC Suria Sabah cinema advertisement campaign that begins on 7th January 2016 and ends on 17th February 2016.
MyKad Smart Shopper is an affiliate loyalty program that is designed to leverage on affiliate marketing account executive the Malaysian national identity smart card in promoting the local retail industry.
Using MyKad as the program ID, registered MyKad holders who have been referred by AJ's affiliates can enjoy retail privileges at participating merchants' outlets for all their purchases through authentication of their registered MyKad.
The referral affiliates will then be incentivised through the program's system for their effective marketing initiatives, thus creating a mutually rewarding retail ecosystem where all parties-merchants, affiliates and consumers-gain benefits from the program. MSS is officially endorsed and recognised as MyKad's 50th flagship application by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and National ICT Initiative (MSC).
Recognising the potential of MSS in building a shopping community that is both commercially advantageous and geared towards smart consumerism, Suria Sabah Shopping Mall's management supports the MyKad Smart Shopper Campaign by providing a site for AJ's affiliates for six weeks where they will able to conduct promotional activities to enhance awareness about the program to the shopping mall's patrons and make them become MSS members by registering their MyKad for free.
Now, you can also channel your complaints or grievances to Actionline through our E-Mail
Who Uses Affiliate Marketing
Editorial and news sites are prime candidates for affiliate marketing. They cover a wide range of topics from product releases to opinion pieces and industry overviews, have a large readership and attract a lot of traffic. While other marketing formats like native ads and banners may be the main breadwinners for these publishers, affiliate marketing offers a strong and sustainable additional source of income. Plus, it fits right within the content in a way that doesn't disrupt the user experience!
Bloggers dedicate a lot of time to narrating their experiences, reviewing merchants, and curating their favourite products - all of which is ideal content for monetisation. Because affiliate marketing is centered around merchants rewarding publishers for the sales they generate through their content, affiliate technologies allow bloggers to earn money for their role in consumers' purchase journey without changing their editorial practices.
Affiliate marketing doesn't just work for web based applications, it's also ideally suited to mobile apps. Whether it's through Link APIs (you can find out more about ours here ) or shortened, affiliated URLs, there are plenty of ways for app developers to monetise their content through affiliate marketing!
Online studies have shown that nearly 60% of purchase decisions for products such as consumer electronics are influenced by peer review. Forums, with their dedicated communities of users posting opinions on products and services, are ideally suited to affiliate marketing. By using affiliate technologies, they can easily monetise content posted on their platform without having to rely on sponsorships or banner ads.
It was recently reported that 65% of consumers use social media to find the perfect gift. This is just one example of social networks' massive influence when it comes to consumers' purchase journey. As the owner of a social network, you can capitalise on these merchant and product links to earn money in a way that doesn't impact the user experience. Just don't forget to disclose so as not to anger your users! Most people are very understanding of sites monetising their content, as long as it's done in a non-intrusive and transparent manner.
By using affiliate marketing, these sites have the unique opportunity to earn commissions every time people make a purchase using their featured promotions and codes. Though some merchants are very particular about what coupon sites (if any) they work with, most value their influence in driving purchases and are happy to reward them for referrals, as long as they comply with the IAB guidelines.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn a little money on the side and for those willing to commit to it, generate strong, sustainable revenues. Are there any other sites you think can benefit from affiliate marketing?
Content creators and editors from over 1.5 million editorial & news sites, blogs, forums, affiliate marketing apa itu content networks & mobile apps work with Skimlinks already. Join the party!
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Advantages Of Affiliate Marketing
Some of these involve monitoring your efficiency in the affiliate marketing program.
The working of the world wide web marketing program needs you to monitor the efficiency right away.
All of your net affiliate network and marketing methods might not function. In these situations, you ought to evaluate the affiliate marketing aanbiedingen difficulty and do the job out a resolution. You can do this via helpful net style, improvement method and also flash ads.
Bear in mind that finding ranked is also important. The Search engine optimization or search engine optimization techniques are the perfect approaches for marketing your solution or services. Of program, a single can do this via keyword optimization and other connected modes.
To produce a much better affiliate network use your e-mail. A good deal of men and women underestimate the impact of e mail marketing. Don't forget a simple and catchy e-mail is adored by users and they don't head forwarding it also. Then there are also affiliate programs that have emerged successful. Right here the manufactured goods or services dominate the marketing area of interest. These advertisements flash, or pop-up, on their screens and are a menace for most internet customers.
Nonetheless, mastering about a solution or service through a report leads to a good deal of reliability aspect. You can attempt remedies like on the internet press releases since most internet users' really like studying and surfing. Also, these days running a blog is a rage and you can persuade several new customers to join and advertise your affiliate group.
The working of the world wide web marketing program needs you to monitor the efficiency right away.
All of your net affiliate network and marketing methods might not function. In these situations, you ought to evaluate the affiliate marketing aanbiedingen difficulty and do the job out a resolution. You can do this via helpful net style, improvement method and also flash ads.
Bear in mind that finding ranked is also important. The Search engine optimization or search engine optimization techniques are the perfect approaches for marketing your solution or services. Of program, a single can do this via keyword optimization and other connected modes.
To produce a much better affiliate network use your e-mail. A good deal of men and women underestimate the impact of e mail marketing. Don't forget a simple and catchy e-mail is adored by users and they don't head forwarding it also. Then there are also affiliate programs that have emerged successful. Right here the manufactured goods or services dominate the marketing area of interest. These advertisements flash, or pop-up, on their screens and are a menace for most internet customers.
Nonetheless, mastering about a solution or service through a report leads to a good deal of reliability aspect. You can attempt remedies like on the internet press releases since most internet users' really like studying and surfing. Also, these days running a blog is a rage and you can persuade several new customers to join and advertise your affiliate group.
About Affiliate Links In MailChimp
When an email that contains an affiliate link is marked as spam, internet service providers (ISPs) investigate the URL for malicious activity and may blacklist the domain. Blacklisted URLs in a campaign negatively affect delivery for the sender and everyone who uses the same email service provider (ESP).MailChimp has an obligation to maintain high delivery rates for our customers, so our system automatically scans for problematic links each time you send a campaign.
We treat affiliate marketing and affiliate links differently. Affiliate marketing is prohibited under our Terms of Use , but affiliate links are usually fine to use in MailChimp.
Affiliate marketers are typically rewarded by a third party for recruiting customers. The reason we don't permit this activity is that there's no real obligation to care about subscriber satisfaction or to maintain a healthy e-commerce relationship with them. MailChimp isn't meant for this type of marketing.
Affiliate links encourage subscribers to click through to a third-party product or service, and are used by a wide variety of marketers and e-commerce businesses, often in the context of a partnerships. For example, if you're a blogger, you might link to or promote the website of one of your sponsors. These types of links are fine to use in MailChimp, as long as the URLs you link to haven't been blacklisted.
MailChimp doesn't always stop campaigns that contain affiliate links, but we do stop campaigns that contain blacklisted URLs. If you send an email that links to a blacklisted URL, regardless of whether it's an affiliate or direct link, spam filters may block your message completely. This hurts our reputation as an ESP and negatively impacts delivery for all our users.
Even if you include a link to a blacklisted URL by accident, we have to suspend the account while we review it. We understand that these things happen even to legitimate marketers, so we always do our best to work quickly with our users on these issues. If we're not able to resolve the issue or we determine a user has intentionally violated our Terms of Use, we may be forced to close the account permanently.
We expect you might, at some point, inadvertently send a campaign that contains a blacklisted affiliate link, but there are some things you can do to help prevent this from happening.
Several factors can help you determine if an affiliate link might cause issues in your campaign.
Here are some guidelines to help assess if a link is safe to use in MailChimp.
Advertisements for another company in your campaign should appear under your branding, in your voice, and be presented as a special offer from that company to your subscribers. An unrelated advertisement from another company that appears under their branding and isn't specific to your subscribers could look like spam, and isn't okay to use in your campaign.
It's usually fine to recommend and link to products or services in your campaign. bt affiliate marketing However, some products and services are prohibited under our Terms of Use.
You can't send emails about, or include advertisements for, any content that's prohibited under our Acceptable Use Policy. For example, it's not okay to include links promoting "Get Rich Quick"?opportunities. This type of content is prohibited because it tends to generate a high number of abuse complaints.
At this time, we are unable to reply to any responses, but we'll use this information to keep the site up-to-date.
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How To Start An Affiliate Marketing Business
For example, if you're an expert at interior decorating, it makes more sense to sell comforter sets than it does to sell automotive parts. You'll do a much better job with your individual marketing efforts if you stick to selling what you know.
Start a website relevant to your niche. Before becoming an affiliate, many companies will want to know the URL of the website that you'll use to sell their products. They do this because they want to ensure that the content on the website won't hurt the company's reputation.
Be sure to add content to your website that isn't "salesy." You want your site to come across as an authority in your niche. 3
Research affliate programs Find an affiliate program that offers products or services in your niche.
Amazon sells just about everything, so it's likely that your niche includes products sold on Amazon. That's a good place to start if you're looking to get into affiliate marketing. 4
Commission Junction is another great option because it allows you to become an affiliate for countless companies that you already know about (e.g., Overstock, Office Depot, Boscov's, and many others). 5
Clickbank is yet another option that many affiliate marketers like. That's because the commissions from companies on that site can be very lucrative. 6
Join an affiliate program. It's almost always free of charge to join an affiliate program.
In fact, if you're being asked for a credit card number just to become an affiliate, you might be getting scammed. Most reputable companies that offer affiliate programs allow people to become affiliates free of charge.
You will, however, be asked for bank account or PayPal information. Keep in mind, that's not so that the company can take money away from you, but so that it can pay you the commission you earned with successful sales.
You will be asked for the URL of your website in some cases. Just provide the URL of the website that you created above.
Add affiliate links in your content. One great way to get paid a commission without appearing to sell anything is add affiliate links within your content. That way, when people click on the link, they're taken to the company site and, if they buy, you'll earn a commission.
For example, if you're writing about decor that includes purple comforters, make the phrase "purple comforters" a link to Amazon's site that shows people only comforters that are offered in purple. Your readers can browse through Amazon's offerings and maybe purchase an item that they like.
Good news: Companies make it very easy to get links to their site. The way that you get those links varies from company to company, but it's usually very easy to find a link to the product or products that you're looking for.
Include visual ads in your sidebar. Your website, like most websites, probably has a sidebar. That's a great place to include visual ads for products relevant to your niche.
Once again, you'll find that companies with affiliate programs make it very easy for you to obtain the images and links you need to get your visitors back to their sites. It's almost always just as easy as copying and pasting code into your sidebar.
Continue producing content relevant to your niche. You want to keep people coming back to your website, don't you? If so, then you need to keep on producing original content that's of value to your visitors. That's called "content marketing" by digital marketers. 7
Good content keeps visitors coming back. That means that they might eventually click on your affiliate links and purchase something.
You can also use your content to include affiliate links as mentioned above. The more content you produce, the more affiliate links you have. The law of averages eventually kicks in and you'll start selling.
Use analytics to measure your success. You can think of analytics as information about what you're selling, how you sold it, and to whom you sold it. 8 Fortunately, most affiliate marketing sites offer helpful analytics so you can get an idea about what's working well for you.
If you find that one type of product sells well on your site, produce content that gives you the opportunity to market it even more.
Use Google Analytics to gain an understanding of the demographics of your visitors. Tailor your content marketing efforts to people in that demographic.
Pay attention to your posts that get the most visitors. If you find that some posts are getting significantly more hits than the others, consider adding additional affiliate links to them.
Focus on what works, eliminate what doesn't. The analytics provided by your company will tell you which types of ads are working and which ones aren't. Use more of the ads that are working and eliminate the ones that aren't.
Prepare for taxes. If you make money via affiliate marketing, you can be sure that you're going to have to pay taxes on that income. At the beginning of each year, your partner companies should send you a 1099 tax form. If they don't, you're still required to report the income to the IRS.
If you're running your affiliate marketing business as a sole proprietor or LLC, you'll report 1099 income on Schedule C - Profit or Loss from Business. 9
If you're running your business as an S or C corporation, you'll report the income on Schedule K-1. 10
Expand your business. Your business is likely to do one of two things: expand or contract. That's why you should always be striving for growth, otherwise your business will shrink and provide you with diminishing returns.
Look for new products that you think you can market online. Browse through various affiliate sites. Look for new businesses that have recently welcomed affiliates and, if they're offering something you think you can market well, partner up with them.
Promote your business constantly online. Use social media, email, and other channels to promote your business so that people keep coming back and looking for great deals on the products and services that you're marketing.
Delegate routine tasks. Once your business takes off, it's time for you to focus on how to grow your business while delegating routine tasks to others. It will cost you some money in labor expense, but the investment is worth it if it allows you to come up with new ways to promote your affiliate marketing business and build it even further.
Automate what you can. There are plenty of digital marketing tools available. 11 Again, some of them will require you to make an investment, but if it gives you more free time to build your business, then the return on investment should be positive.
Focus on creating a long-term strategy for your business while your tools and employees handle routine, day-to-day tasks. That way, you can handle "big picture" responsibilities to ensure that your business continues to grow.
Yes! You can as there are plenty of tools available in the market. Or else, you can move on to some social signal like Facebook or Twitter. You could also participate in e-commerce stores.
Not always. A lot of affiliate programs will pay through bank transfers and to any country of your choice.
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Is PPC A Good Affiliate Marketing Traffic Strategy
In today's Traffic Tactic, I'll be discussing a method that's become a dirty term for me, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. It is also an old, maybe even antiquated method of generating targeted traffic. There continues to be merits to PPC because it still exists which begs the question, is PPC a good Affiliate Marketing Traffic Strategy?
If you haven't realized this by now, as an affiliate marketer, one of the most important focal points is generating leads (potential customers) for your business. However, it is more than just driving large numbers of traffic to an offer, it is finding quality traffic interested in what you have to offer and developing a relationship.
And there are a number of ways (more now than ever) to do it. Pay-per-click is just one of them, and has fallen out of favor with most small time marketers, especially affiliates, for good reason.
The largest PPC provider is Google AdWords. In the past Google was a good option for PPC ads. NOT ANY LONGER. Google now has much more restrictive policies and has become a lot more expensive which has pushed out most small businesses and especially affiliate marketers whom Google tends to dislike!
Case in point (my story). When I first become involved with PPC back in 2010, I ran a series of PPC ads on Google AdWords. The niche at the time was for a make money online program in which I ran over 100 search terms (keywords) that cost around 5 to 20 cents per click.
Within 7 days those same keywords jumped to over 2 dollars per click! It quickly became expensive and I paid nearly 300 dollars before realizing what happened and stopping that campaign. In return, I had only gained just 16 sign-ups to my list (a cost of $18.75 per sign-up) and NO SALES.
Even after running a 25 email series to that list, I only made two sales that brought in a meager 14 dollars! In essence, I spent 300 dollars to make 14 dollars (which is a $286 loss), not good.
Fast forward to this past December (2013). Again I decided to run a specific PPC campaign using Google AdWords. I had accumulated $220 in credits for my one account and decided it was time to cash-in on those credits.
The main reason for it was because I was competing for an additional $1,000 prize if I was the top earner for an affiliate program promotion that I participated in at that time. I ended up losing big time in two ways!
Sadly, I ended up placing 7th from a list of dozens of affiliates and missed the mark significantly from the top earner. Even if my PPC campaign ad had run successfully, it most likely would not have generated enough sales to win the competition.
However, what was even worse was that Google permanently banned my AdWords account associated with that campaign for my site (and that was lucky). I never even got to run that PPC ad campaign in the first place!
They penalized me for directing my link to the affiliate opt-in page which is a big no-no with Google now (been in effect for last several years), and I also lost my $220 in credits along with it. Ouch!
Even after I made a series of formal protests, Google stood by their suspension. So as a result, I ended up dumping that site and domain since then.
I was fortunate in two ways. Google could have permanently suspended all my AdWords accounts. And also black listed all of those domains associated with those accounts (which is a kiss of death).
Sadly, however, once Google saw that I was an affiliate, I was no longer their friend. I could have easily gotten all of my sites permanently banned from AdWords! That includes any site associated with my name or my company's name now and in the future. And Google could have black listed (don't know why they didn't) my current sites I have set-up with AdWords as well.
Nice story Mike, but what does it have to do with using PPC as a traffic tactic?
I am glad you asked. As I see it if you are an affiliate, Google AdWords is out of the question. Google doesn't like affiliate marketers, especially those affiliate marketing assistant job description who promote what Google considers to be make money schemes. Even their search engine algorithms punishes those affiliate sites in the rankings.
But even if your campaign was approved by Google AdWords, the keyword competition would be stiff enough that your PPC campaign would be extremely expensive. And unless you were selling a hot, high ticket item, your chances to recover those costs would be astronomical.
So if AdWords is out of the question, what you are saying is PPC is not a good affiliate marketing traffic strategy option, right? Wrong!
There is more than one player in the game of PPC. Too many people focus on the top dog, Google and miss out on other opportunities in which I am ready to reveal to you right now?
There exists what is referred to as a secondary level (or market) of third party PPC services. Not only can these generate quality traffic for you, but the cost to run a campaign are much lower that bring good results.
Companies like 7-Search who offer affordable PPC alternatives that deliver high ROIs for your online business. They offer free campaign assistance with their team of specialists to help you design winning campaigns to tap into quality PPC traffic.
Instead of paying dollars per click like AdWords, your cost will be pennies per click and still tap into the same markets available online. What that means for you is low priced qualified leads that can turn into more income for you! (and you don't have to kiss Google's behind)
The last item (and caution). If considering PPC as a traffic tactic, don't bother if you are only promoting low priced offers. That's because you won't get your investment back. The conversion ratio isn't very high so you will spend more money than you will make.
If you intend on building a list to increase your customer base, then you also need to weigh the cost for each sign-up you get and the sales results you can expect from that list. The idea is always to make sure that you will generate more from sales than the cost to get them! ??
As always, I encourage you to leave a comment or question below as I value your input.
Michel has actively been online as an Internet and affiliate marketer since 2009. He has experience with many systems and programs that he has used throughout those years, finding some to be great and many not so good. He's learned what works, and what doesn't work and is willing to share it with you. And it is always changing!
I have used PPC for other businesses in the past and had some reasonable to good results when selling physical products. But, I had never even considered PPC for my IM efforts.
I also understand that Google regards our industry as a breed of vermin that would be best swept under the nearest rock, rather than a new wave of entrepreneurs who are actually finding ways to make a living and teaching others to do the same.
But if I wanted to sell products that promote violence and sexually explicit content, then that seems to be OK?. Please excuse my cynicism, rant over! ??
It clearly had a detrimental effect on your ability to cash in your prize and as you explained, it could have been a lot worse and actually dragged your other sites. So I wonder then, why is it that some offer PPC as prizes or incentives for affiliate programmes in the first place?
If you haven't realized this by now, as an affiliate marketer, one of the most important focal points is generating leads (potential customers) for your business. However, it is more than just driving large numbers of traffic to an offer, it is finding quality traffic interested in what you have to offer and developing a relationship.
And there are a number of ways (more now than ever) to do it. Pay-per-click is just one of them, and has fallen out of favor with most small time marketers, especially affiliates, for good reason.
The largest PPC provider is Google AdWords. In the past Google was a good option for PPC ads. NOT ANY LONGER. Google now has much more restrictive policies and has become a lot more expensive which has pushed out most small businesses and especially affiliate marketers whom Google tends to dislike!
Case in point (my story). When I first become involved with PPC back in 2010, I ran a series of PPC ads on Google AdWords. The niche at the time was for a make money online program in which I ran over 100 search terms (keywords) that cost around 5 to 20 cents per click.
Within 7 days those same keywords jumped to over 2 dollars per click! It quickly became expensive and I paid nearly 300 dollars before realizing what happened and stopping that campaign. In return, I had only gained just 16 sign-ups to my list (a cost of $18.75 per sign-up) and NO SALES.
Even after running a 25 email series to that list, I only made two sales that brought in a meager 14 dollars! In essence, I spent 300 dollars to make 14 dollars (which is a $286 loss), not good.
Fast forward to this past December (2013). Again I decided to run a specific PPC campaign using Google AdWords. I had accumulated $220 in credits for my one account and decided it was time to cash-in on those credits.
The main reason for it was because I was competing for an additional $1,000 prize if I was the top earner for an affiliate program promotion that I participated in at that time. I ended up losing big time in two ways!
Sadly, I ended up placing 7th from a list of dozens of affiliates and missed the mark significantly from the top earner. Even if my PPC campaign ad had run successfully, it most likely would not have generated enough sales to win the competition.
However, what was even worse was that Google permanently banned my AdWords account associated with that campaign for my site (and that was lucky). I never even got to run that PPC ad campaign in the first place!
They penalized me for directing my link to the affiliate opt-in page which is a big no-no with Google now (been in effect for last several years), and I also lost my $220 in credits along with it. Ouch!
Even after I made a series of formal protests, Google stood by their suspension. So as a result, I ended up dumping that site and domain since then.
I was fortunate in two ways. Google could have permanently suspended all my AdWords accounts. And also black listed all of those domains associated with those accounts (which is a kiss of death).
Sadly, however, once Google saw that I was an affiliate, I was no longer their friend. I could have easily gotten all of my sites permanently banned from AdWords! That includes any site associated with my name or my company's name now and in the future. And Google could have black listed (don't know why they didn't) my current sites I have set-up with AdWords as well.
Nice story Mike, but what does it have to do with using PPC as a traffic tactic?
I am glad you asked. As I see it if you are an affiliate, Google AdWords is out of the question. Google doesn't like affiliate marketers, especially those affiliate marketing assistant job description who promote what Google considers to be make money schemes. Even their search engine algorithms punishes those affiliate sites in the rankings.
But even if your campaign was approved by Google AdWords, the keyword competition would be stiff enough that your PPC campaign would be extremely expensive. And unless you were selling a hot, high ticket item, your chances to recover those costs would be astronomical.
So if AdWords is out of the question, what you are saying is PPC is not a good affiliate marketing traffic strategy option, right? Wrong!
There is more than one player in the game of PPC. Too many people focus on the top dog, Google and miss out on other opportunities in which I am ready to reveal to you right now?
There exists what is referred to as a secondary level (or market) of third party PPC services. Not only can these generate quality traffic for you, but the cost to run a campaign are much lower that bring good results.
Companies like 7-Search who offer affordable PPC alternatives that deliver high ROIs for your online business. They offer free campaign assistance with their team of specialists to help you design winning campaigns to tap into quality PPC traffic.
Instead of paying dollars per click like AdWords, your cost will be pennies per click and still tap into the same markets available online. What that means for you is low priced qualified leads that can turn into more income for you! (and you don't have to kiss Google's behind)
The last item (and caution). If considering PPC as a traffic tactic, don't bother if you are only promoting low priced offers. That's because you won't get your investment back. The conversion ratio isn't very high so you will spend more money than you will make.
If you intend on building a list to increase your customer base, then you also need to weigh the cost for each sign-up you get and the sales results you can expect from that list. The idea is always to make sure that you will generate more from sales than the cost to get them! ??
As always, I encourage you to leave a comment or question below as I value your input.
Michel has actively been online as an Internet and affiliate marketer since 2009. He has experience with many systems and programs that he has used throughout those years, finding some to be great and many not so good. He's learned what works, and what doesn't work and is willing to share it with you. And it is always changing!
I have used PPC for other businesses in the past and had some reasonable to good results when selling physical products. But, I had never even considered PPC for my IM efforts.
I also understand that Google regards our industry as a breed of vermin that would be best swept under the nearest rock, rather than a new wave of entrepreneurs who are actually finding ways to make a living and teaching others to do the same.
But if I wanted to sell products that promote violence and sexually explicit content, then that seems to be OK?. Please excuse my cynicism, rant over! ??
It clearly had a detrimental effect on your ability to cash in your prize and as you explained, it could have been a lot worse and actually dragged your other sites. So I wonder then, why is it that some offer PPC as prizes or incentives for affiliate programmes in the first place?
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