Making money with Commission Junction and Adwords

Posted by 7r - October 2, 2009

I was browsing through various forums and Websites and was surprised at the amount of people clueless on this subject. So I decided to write this brief beginner’s tutorial on how to make money with Commission Junction and Google Adwords. Though I can’t promise you’ll be able to quit your dead end job right away (some have and are living nicely as well), you should be able to make a little more than even at the least. Note that I said beginner’s tutorial, if you know a lot of about CJ and Adwords already, this won’t be of any benefit for you.

(I’m currently working on an advanced tutorial, highlighting some strategies and tips)

If you haven’t yet, sign up to be a publisher with CJ and make a Google Adwords account now. You will need a functional Website to be accepted with Commission Junction.

Step 1 – Get Familiar

If you aren’t familiar with how Adwords works, don’t read any further as you will be even more confused than you are now. Read up on some guides, strategies and tutorials and learn what the different terms mean. Google’s Adwords Beginner Guide is a great place to start (or if you’re a visual learner: Learning Center).

Step 2 – Dig, Dig & Dig

After you have both accounts ready, the search for the right advertiser(s) begin. Login to CJ, click on Get Links and sort through either General Categories or Advertiser List. I prefer to sort through categories as I usually have a market or niche in mind.

The goal here is to find an attractive advertiser (a positive EPC, I believe in 7 Day $25+) that offers a lenient SEM policy. Most big name companies (Toshiba, Dell, HP, etc) will prohibit the use of their trademark names as the display URL and only allow you to use your own Website (which is a whole other way to make money not described here). Your goal is to find an advertiser that will allow you to use their official URL as the display URL and allow direct linking. Click on an advertiser and a window should popup with general information. Scroll all the way down and you’ll find their SEM policy (if it exists) or you can click on All Links and click their Keyword Link. Here are some examples you should look for:

Search Campaigns – SEM Display URL Content – Publishers may use our official URL as the display URL to promote our products.
Search Campaigns – Direct Linking – Yes

Each advertiser’s SEM policy will differ, but you will need those two qualifications to even begin thinking about promoting their products with just Adwords.

Step 3 – Get Approved

Now that you’ve found an advertiser you want to experiment with, you’re thinking that you should apply for their program. But STOP. Before you do that, do research on that market. Don’t just look at the competitors – look at YOUR advertiser themselves. So goto their website, look at their prices, compare with competitors, look for reviews of their products, etc. There were so many occasions where I put money into an advertiser to later find out that there were cheaper places you buy the same products or people were wondering if they were scams. If you feel they are a trustworthy company go ahead and apply for their program.

Some advertisers will approve publishers automatically, but some will require manual approval and make you wait.

Step 4 – How Competitive?

This is where your Adwords skills come into play. If you aren’t confident in your ability to analyze the competition, stop right here and learn more about Adwords and how to select the right keywords. Start producing lists and lists of keywords you can use. Don’t be too analytical in determining if they will work – that comes later. If you find the market/product to be too competitive for your budget, start back at Step 2.

Step 5 – Research and Start Your Campaigns

Once you’ve done all that, begin making your campaign. Keep researching keywords, keywords and more keywords until you hit a block. You will not know which keywords convert – so its best to just lay them out all out in the beginning with a comfortable Max CPC, obtain data and then reduce the amount of keywords to increase your CTR. Use a reasonable budget for your first CJ + Adwords campaign as there will be a lot of tweaking involved. Make sure you add plenty of negative keywords that obviously will not do well. For instance, if you’re trying to sell iPods, use “reviews, forums, downloads, etc” as negative keywords.

Do NOT expect to make money in the beginning. Think of the beginning stages (week or two) as experiments to fine tune your campaign where you will eventually have a high CTR with low CPC.

Conclusion

Commission Junction with Google Adwords is definitely profitable, but small mistakes and lack of research can easily leave you with money down the loser drain. Like everything else in life: start small and work your way up. Affiliate marketing is not and never will be an overnight money-maker. Feel free to leave comments with any questions or suggestions you may have.

A new start for an old blogger

Posted by 7r - September 30, 2009

It’s been years since I’ve been serious about blogging. Making websites since ’98 (I feel old now), I’ve gotten to experience the incredible technological changes this world has gone through. From the viral dot com boom to the exponential growth of Twitter, the Internet has transformed from a minor convenience for some people to an everyday necessity for almost everyone.

From businesses thriving on online markets to children with cellphones relying on mobile technologies to keep up-to-date with their friends on Facebook or Twitter, there has got to be a point where this growth will cease to grow. The other day I saw a 12-year-old checking her Facebook on her phone. Now you may be thinking, “Oh, it’s pretty common now. My little cousin checks his Facebook on his phone all the time.” And I agree. But if we stepped back as little as five years and saw the same thing, we’d be astonished and I would probably be a little jealous because I wouldn’t have such a thing.

Five years…

But lets change subjects. This blog, yes.. This blog, not necessarily attached to a niche in particular, will offer hopefully helpful reviews of a wide variety of products and random articles and ideas that decide to come out of my brain from time-to-time.