Posted by Justin Dupre on Dec 8, 2008
Breaking into the world of affiliate and internet marketing is a challenge for those new to it. What was most difficult for myself was actually finding an offer to push. I was stuck looking through offers on a few different networks, and the multitude and range of all them kind of got my head spinning. With all these different offers, how was I supposed to really know which one would be really become profitable for my first search engine marketing attempts?
It eventually comes down to finding an offer you think will do well, doing a decent amount of keyword research, knocking out irrelevant keywords, adding negatives, and constantly split testing everything from the search ad copy down to the outbound link structures on your landing pages. There are thousands of offers available that will bring you positive ROI, and there are always a few different niches that people will always be searching for.
Seasonal Offers
Seasonal offers are always profitable for the smart internet marketing pros. About a month or two before any big holiday starts, its always a good idea to check your ad networks for offers that have a holiday theme or message in them. New Years, Chinese New Years, St. Patricks Day, Easter, and Halloween are all holidays that usually have some kind of offers available for them. And now, especially more than ever, Christmas offers should be lighting up your bank accounts through the 25th.
Money, Money, Money
People will always be greedy and hungry for more cash in their pockets. It doesn’t matter what kind of state the economy is currently in (I believe America is preparing itself for the next great depression as I type), people will always want an easy way to get money in their pockets or a fast track out of some kind of debt they might have. Credit cards, payday loans, auto loans, debt consolidation, and credit report offers will always be some of the most commonly searched terms in Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Be careful with click prices in the money niche. We all know it takes money to make money in PPC, but Jon, owner of the loved (read as “hated”) Wickedfire internet marketing forum, saw click prices of $39 for the term debt consolidation.
Want to Know the Secret To Losing Weight Fast?
Any affiliate marketer would tell another affiliate marketer that it takes some exercise and a proper, nutritious diet. That same marketer would probably tell your middle-aged female friend that the secret lies in this awesome weight loss story they found online where they only paid 5 dollars S/H for a free trial sample of the best weight loss product ever to be created. The truth of the matter is people will never be satisfied with how they look. Almost any weight loss product can be profitable.
Now, its the Acai + Colon Cleansing duel offer blogs making some internet marketers up to and over $30,000 in revenue a day. I’ve tested the offer and found it to work especially well if you can find the right keywords and click costs. Even last years fads, Hoodia and green tea, bring in modest profits to my pocket.
The niche is expensive, with some clicks costing upwards of 3 dollars in Google AdWords. If you can raise your CTR and Quality Score, though, you can dramatically reduce these costs. Combine these with SEO efforts, and you’ve got a sure winner.
Single and Lonely?
I made about $30,000 dollars on that single ad headline back when Facebook didn’t suck. The ROI on dating is so small now on Facebook, though, that it doesn’t really pay to even try it unless you are able to spend $10,000 on it in one day. Dating and “How to Get a Date/Laid/Women/Men” ebooks still do really well in other different areas of advertising. People will always be sad and lonely shmucks, and even those that are already married are searching for ways to hold secret affairs online. There is a never ending amount of people you can market to here, and if you aren’t you certainly should.
Once again, as its a very competitive niche, you’ve got to be selective in your keyword choice. Most people recommend a highly optimized review style landing page with geotargeting on, dynamic location insertion in the landing page copy, and paying for a large group of long-tail keywords rather than short term keywords that have the volume but are extremely expensive. I’d recommend leveraging an SEO campaign with cheap PPC traffic, a tactic that gives me decent ROI on the money and time I spend updating the site everyday.
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Hey Justin, exactly go with where the traffic is.. Great new blog and domain :)