I am posting all of Kevin Lee’s Article about PPC Affiliates posted on ClickZ this morning. I think one of the most compelling lines for using PPC affiliates is form Kevin’s line: “pertains to internal budgeting policies” I see advertisers wanting to get into the PPC “game” but getting them to budget an amount large enough to get significant progress is difficult. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence to buy significantly, they still must go through a budgetary approval process to get it approved. What does that mean: lost sales and leads. PPC affiliates work in the inefficiencies of the market: advertiser with a small budget, advertiser with a short list of keywords, advertiser with poorly executed search ads, and on and on.
Affiliates are not stealing as I have heard said twice in the last two weeks.
Many times they are simply more motivated and freer with the spends than the advertiser. Why penalize affiliates when in many cases they are more proficient than you the advertiser. And I represent advertisers and I will continue to tell them to work with and not hinder affiliates.
The Affiliate PPC Search Controversy Continues
By Kevin Lee | February 2, 2007
Merchants are growing increasingly concerned that affiliates engaging in direct-link PPC (define) search and even buying clicks to their own sites are inflating overall CPCs (define) within the Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft search marketplaces.
Affiliates, on the other hand, love finding keywords that allow for arbitrage of the CPC against the commission paid by merchants or lead-gen partners. Unlike a few years ago, the intersection between affiliate PPC search arbitrage and the marketers’ direct PPC search activity is looking less like the Wild West and more like a set of ongoing experiments for which give and take will ultimately create a sustainable business model.
In the early days of PPC search and affiliate marketing, managing this problem was like herding cats. I’m not sure if things have gotten any easier for merchants, yet. The level of policing required is significant. I’ll discuss why opening the door even a crack may encourage creative cheaters.
For the entire article, click here.
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