PPV Advertising: Bidding on Domains

We've previously written about pay-per-view (PPV) advertising and how it is an excellent opportunity for affiliate marketers to get exposure without breaking the bank. PPV ads are much cheaper than pay-per-click (PPC) ads while still providing a ton of value when used right.

Now what we'd like to talk about is one aspect of PPV that is very important, and that is to realize that with PPV, you are bidding on domains, actual URLs, whereas in PPC advertising you are bidding on keywords.

This is a difference with impactful implications that you must consider as you implement and refine your PPV affiliate marketing campaigns.

Building a List of URLs to Target

The first thing that you need to do, if you're new to PPV, is to generate a list of possible URLs that would indicate the presence of an Internet surfer who might want to see your affiliate marketing offer.

You don't want to just take the obvious URLs because those will be more expensive and in many cases less targeted. For example, www.yahoo.com would be a more expensive and less targeted PPV ad than, say, www.yahoo.com/autos, if your affiliate partner was an auto dealership.

In order to get a really good list of choices, you need to do a lot of personal investigation and recording of results. For example, you should Google the top 10 keywords for your niche, and then make a spreadsheet with all the URLs of the Google search results page.

You can also use software tools that build a list of targeted URLs for you. We have found that the PPV networks themselves often have the best data about possible URLs. For instance, PPV network DirectCPV has an excellent tool for finding profitable sub-domains.

Direct Linking vs. Separate Landing Page

Another thing that you need to think about as you explore the world of PPV advertising is whether or not you want to direct link from your ad to your affiliate partner, or whether you want to "warm up" your prospect with a customized landing page.

Unlike most PPC ads, remember, it is acceptable in PPV advertising for you to simply input your affiliate link into the PPV ad and then send the potential customer directly to your affiliate partner.

However, creating a landing page on your own site can be a great idea too, especially if you can do a landing page that is more convincing and appealing than the sales page of your affiliate partner. One can never underestimate the value of a "more personal touch."

As the case may be, the point here is that as you're buying PPV ads on various domains, you need to constantly think about where your ads are sending your visitors.

Eliminating Low-Performing URLs

What happens all too often with affiliate marketing PPV advertising is that affiliates will forget to cull the list of URLs so as to eliminate domains that are not generating any profit. In reality this process of taking domains off your list is as important as building the list itself.

A huge part of the appeal of PPV advertising is that it's cheaper. You can get ads in front of eyeballs for a fraction of what Google AdWords would cost you.

However, if you are running PPV ads over hundreds of domain names and 98 percent of them are yielding no results in terms of commissions, you're wasting money month after month.

You gotta cull that list, dude!

Again and luckily, a proper PPV network like DirectCPV or Media Traffic will give you enough data to see which URLs are producing commissions and which aren't. Still, it's up to you to go through and hit the "remove" button for that non-performing percentage.

If you both build and narrow down your list of PPV domain names faithfully over a number of months, you can eventually end up in the powerful position of paying 10 cents per click for clicks that you know (because you have proof) produce, on average, 75 cents per click.

That's good math and it's available when you're bidding on PPV URLs.