As a PPC Manager I come across affiliate marketers on a day to day basis. I have yet to make an informed decision as to the validity of using affiliates from a business point of view. I agree that this type of marketing can have a good effect on ROI for some advertisers and done properly at the right cost be very successful. However using both PPC campaigns and affiliates for the same purpose can have an adverse effect and drive marketing costs through the roof.
Let me give you an example…..
I have been working for some months now on a PPC campaign where affiliates are also involved in the process. From the very start of the campaign I noticed that there were affiliates advertising through PPC on my clients brand name and using their site URL.
So what I hear you say……Well point 1 my client had stipulated that at any time no affiliate can use their identity so this was my first cause for concern and secondly a vast majority of my clients business was driven by their Brand which the affiliate was also utilizing within their Keyword list, after my client had also stipulated that no brand term bidding was allowed.
After nearly 2 months of running their PPC campaign for them we finally managed to get the affiliates who were Brand Bidding and using the clients URL removed from the program. No longer were there 4 advertisers bidding for the same goal, and the results were astonishing.
Firstly the CPC of our PPC campaign was reduced by almost 35% and secondly the conversions rose by 150% the following month.
In summary of the activities above my client was paying affiliates to raise his own CPC within his PPC campaign whilst also paying for leads from the affiliate program coming through an ad that was using his identity. This in turn reduced the visibility of his own PPC ad and returned few conversions as they were using the same URL’s.
In this case my client has now seen what these guys can do if not watched closely and do not adhere to the specific requirements stated in the contract. The affiliates in this case are still in use, but on the original terms of the contract.This form of marketing does work for my client. However the program now states even more clearly that only third party URL’s and generic bidding terms are allowed.
Everybody is now happy…………but im still to make a decision.
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