It’s a good idea to sign
up with a number of CPA Networks. That
way, if one fails you in some way, there are others to pick up the slack.
Keep the number of
networks nicely diverse, but don’t go overboard at first, until you’ve got the
hang of running your campaigns. You can always add more as you go along.
A good rule of thumb is to
concentrate on picking the right offers for your target market, for the
websites you do have.
Do check out as many as
you can. You may come across an offer that’s so good, it gives you an exciting
idea for building a site around it. (But do your homework – your keyword
research and offer comparison – before you accept it.)
Here is a list of proven
CPA Networks. There are hundreds more,
and many of these are also solid companies – but this list is more than enough
to get you started, for now.
Each one
has its own rules, guidelines and application process instructions, so be sure
to check them out carefully before deciding whether or not each is right for
you.
CPA
Website Techniques
We’ve already discussed picking a
domain name, and getting a basic blog set up. We’ve also spoken about the 10
token articles you’re going to populate this blog with (or slightly more than
10.)
Content
One thing to note that will make a
huge difference: If you do treat your
blog posts as “token articles”, your site will fall flat, with low conversion
or click-through rates. You really do need to be offering visitors valuable
content they can really use.
That means specific information. “Car insurance is a good thing” is not a
sentence likely to grab your reader’s attention. “Here’s a handy checklist of
features your insurance should have” promises specific information the reader
is going to be able to use, to help himself get superior insurance that really
meets his needs.
It really is worth digging round a
little in your research, to come up with juicy facts that no other site offers
– ones suggested by the keyword phrase your reader is searching with.
We’ve spoken about some popular
categories, like debt relief and credit card scores. Anti-aging skin care is
another highly converting category.
What I’ve found has worked well for
me with these: adding a personal anecdote the reader can identify with.
This doesn’t mean pages of personal
history – just a one or two paragraph anecdote, talking about one specific
aspect, before continuing smoothly with specific facts showing the reader how I
solved this problem. (Example: Trying
coconut oil products, and being really pleased with the results – but not
realizing how this oil absolutely doesn’t let your skin “breathe”, and can
actually cause serious problems – not to mention the worst acne breakout I’ve
had since my teenage years! I actually
got a lot of comments – and a lot of click throughs on my related CPA insertions
– with that particular blog post!)
The other great thing about the Skin
Care/Anti-Ageing category: There are often CPA offers for samples of a free
product in exchange for contact information. These offers work really well for
this category!
To get back to our general methods of
content creation, you can write the blog posts yourself, use PLR or have them
ghostwritten specifically for you.
Since you’re just starting out, free
PLR may even be your only option at the moment.
However, if you do use PLR, don’t drop the posts in “as is”. Not only is
PLR deliberately generic and bland, but you may find your site shunned by
Google, who will read it as “duplicate content.”
You couldn’t do anything worse for
your marketing efforts than have that happen!
PLR is meant to give you a “skeleton”
structure, cutting out most of the Research phase that usually goes into
writing good blog posts. Make sure you
totally re-word the articles. Re-write
every sentence. Mix them up. Cut out sections. Add new sections in. Beef up statements by adding specific facts
that will interest your reader.
But never, never, ever leave PLR
posts in their original form.
Ads And Website Colors
One trick used successfully by top
marketers: Pick colors for your site that blend
with your ads. Contrary to popular belief, ads that “leap out” and assault
your eyeballs do not result
in good click through rates.
(Avoid flashing or moving ads –
testing shows that they annoy more readers than they entice!)
Everything on your page should subtly
draw attention to your ads – there should be no sumptuous graphics to distract
from them.
On the other hand, make sure your
pages are visually interesting and not crammed with hard-to-read text. People like to scan, looking for high points,
when they’re checking out an article. Lots of “white space” helps with this, as
do bullet points and subheads in your articles.
Types Of Ads You Display
There are a variety of ads you’ll be
offered for each product. Select the one
you feel works best with your website, and is the least obtrusive.
Types of ads usually fall into these
categories:
Ø Banners
Ø Email
Ø Newsletter
Ø Pay Per Click (PPC
Ø Popups
Ø Search Engine Optimization
(SEO)
Ø Text Links
With banners, text links and PPC, you
have the option of starting out by just merely inserting them in relevant
content on a web page. However, the more
you do to encourage people to click on them, the better. This does not mean asking people to click
on the ads! In fact, whatever you do, don’t allow friends and relatives to
repeatedly click on your ads – it will be noticed, and you will be penalized.
The best way to encourage click
through is to make clicking on your ads seem like a natural step when your interested reader explores your page.
That’s where those targeted blog posts come in and highly relevant offers come
in.
