Affiliate 101: Starting the Affiliate Game

[aeroguy]

Wondering if the affliate gurus could help a newbie out. Got a couple of questions?

1) Do you primarily use PPC for your ads or rely on organic / black hat ?
2) Is it as simple as finding the most specific keyword that costs the less?
3) Where do you go about researching keywords?
4) On average only a small number of clicker will convert, how do you do monetize with the exit users?
5) Any examples or urls of what layout works best (shopping cart...review type site...etc)?
6) I have a starting budget of $200 what should I know?

Thanks

[Cutter]

1) PPC
2) No, I'll take an expensive keyword that turns a profit over a cheap on that doesn't.
3) Lots of different places, overture, adwords, searchfeed, wordtracker, are all good starts
4) Can't really do this since Google doesn't allow pop-ups
5) totally depends on your variables -- product, target market, ad copy, and keywords. General rule of thumb: keep it simple & to the point.
6) If you are starting out on a low budget and want to learn you have to look at a niche that isn't going to drain you in one day. Average CPCs should be in the 15 to 20 cent range. The problem is if you are doing $1+ campaigns your money will be gone before you knew what happened.

[aeroguy]

thanks cutter, quick question how many clicks does it take to know if a niche is successful? Also is there a rule of hand as how much you should spend with repect tothe gross profit?

[Todd W]

Keep an eye on your keywords in AdWords google will "QUALITY PRICE" you in AdWords for duplicate content, unrelated ads, and a # of other things.

I had it happen recently when I was getting 8-10% CTR on the keywords... damn duplicate content for affiliate stuff. They jacked my keyword up to $5 it wasmaking me 3x+ what I was investing very pissed aboutit.

[Cutter]

Clicks.. depends on the profit. If you are looking at a big commision, say $30 and up you might want to run 500 clicks through first. If its something like $5 or $10, you should now by 100.

Profit margins -- should return at least $1.25 for every $1.00 spent, however sometimes you could be looking at $5.00+ for every dollar spent.