Using Google AdWords for Affiliate Marketing
When you advertise on Google, you are asked to provide two separate URLs. One is
the Display URL and the other is the Destination URL. The Display URL is what the
web surfer sees on your ad. The Destination URL is the actual URl that the web surfer
goes to when they click on your ad.
Google reviews these URLs and compares them with the competition’s URL’s for each
keyword in the keyword list. If Google finds a competitor with the same URL using the
same keyword, it will not display your ad.
Google will override and replace the competition’s ad only if your text ad is better.
Google uses what they call the Quality Score to determine whose ad is better. If your
Quality Score is better, your ad will always be shown.
Here are two ways to always have your ad displayed:
1. Make your own landing page. By doing this, your URL will be original, and your
ad will always be shown.
2. Make your ad better so that its Quality Score is better than your competitors.
Starting a Google AdWords Account
Go to www.google.com. Towards the bottom of the page, you will see a link entitled
“Advertising Programs.” After clicking on this link, you will be taken to the following
page: http://www.google.com/ads/
When you get there, click on the “Google AdWords” link. (Bookmark this page or add it
to your favorites, because you will use it often.) Click on “Sign up now.” This will take
you to a couple of pages that will ask how you want to set up your ad group with
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Google. We will go over the intricacies of this later. For now, just set up a simple
campaign.
After you click on “Sign up now,” you will be taken to a page asking what type of
AdWords account you want to set up. Choose the “Standard Edition” and click
“Continue.”
Now, you will see a section that asks you to Target Customers by Language. Simply
select which language you want to advertise in. Remember that this should be the same
language that the webpage is in that you are advertising for.
In Target Customers by Location, select where you want to advertise. There are three
sections to choose from. For now, choose Countries and Territories.
In Countries & Territories, you will advertise in particular countries or territories.
In Regions & Cities, you will advertise in particular regions or cities. This works best if
you are advertising for local products or products located in many cities. For example, if
the business was located in California, you could advertise in the major cities there.
In the Customized section, you can customize and be very specific about the areas
where you want to advertise.
Next, you will have to be more specific about the area in which you would like to
advertise. You will need to choose one city, country or region for the simple campaign
we are beginning with. For example, if you live in the United States, choose “United
States.”
Click on the “Continue” button, and you will then be prompted to make your
advertisement. Since you can edit this later, just make up a quick, simple ad. You won’t
even use this ad, Google just wants something here before you can continue.
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Click on “Continue”, and you will be asked to enter keywords. Again, you can edit this
later, so just type in one keyword that is related to your website and hit “Continue.”
The next page will ask you to select the currency you want Google to use to bill you. Be
sure you choose the correct currency, because you cannot change this later. You
will then see a section that asks What is the most you would like to spend, on
average, per day? This is your Max Daily Budget.
For now, just set it to somewhere around $10, and go to the next section. (You won’t be
billed this amount.) In What is the maximum you are willing to pay each time
someone clicks on your ad? This is the Maximum Cost Per Click. Just enter about 5
cents here, and click “Continue.”
Click the “Continue” button, and a page will appear which shows you all of the settings
you currently have in your Advertisement Group. Check them over, and click on
“Continue to Sign Up.”
This next page will ask if you have a Google Account. If so, just enter your email
address and password and click on “Create AdWords Account.” If you don’t have an
account, look for the link “Create a new Google Account to be your login to AdWords.”
Here, you can create a new Google Account.
If you don’t have a Google Account, it will ask you to put in your email address and a
password. Be sure this information is right, because Google will send you an email right
after you set up your account. After you put all this information in, click “Create
AdWords Account.”
Google will now email you a link to click on to activate your account. Just click on the
URL and follow the instructions. You can now log into Google AdWords. Simply use
your email address as your User Name and the password that you created earlier.
When you are in your account, you will have to set up a credit card for Google to use to
bill you. Here’s how:
1. Click on “My Account.”
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2. Click on “Billing Preferences.” This will take you to the place to enter your credit
card information.
You will be charged $5 as an activation fee. (Most other search engines charge more
than this.) After you enter your credit card and other personal information, your account
will be activated.

Chapter 3
Your New Account
Pausing your “dummy” campaign
You will want to pause the simple campaign that we set up earlier, so you won’t receive
any traffic to it. Just click on “Campaign Management.” In the “Current Status” section,
change the status from “Active” to “Paused.” Simply check the box next the campaign
you want to change the status on, and click the “Pause” button at the top of the page.
Your campaign is now paused.
Background Information with Your Account
Now, you will learn basic AdWords Account information like definitions and meanings of
keywords, campaigns, and AdGroups.
Keywords – These are what people search for in Google. A keyword is whatever the
person types into the search box. Basically, a search is a keyword. When you have a
keyword that matches someone’s search request, your ad will be shown. The more
keywords you have, the better the chance that someone is going to see your ad, hence
the importance of keyword lists.
Text Advertisement – These are self-explanatory. They are ads you use on PPC
search engines. Just remember that text ads are only text, so you can only use text.
AdGroup – This is where you put your keyword lists and text ads in your Google
account. The keyword list can contain up to 2,000 keywords, and you should have at
least four different text ads in each AdGroup.
Campaign – This is where you put your AdGroups. If you are selling dolls, name your
campaign “dolls”. You can also edit your daily budget and what countries you advertise
in from here.
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Google Billing
Once every 30 days, Google will bill you for all the clicks you received. Depending on
your Google Credit Limit, they may bill you sooner. The credit limit depends on your
account’s history. It can be from to $50 to $500.
Google also has a feature that allows you to set up more than one credit card just in
case the credit card you have on file will not pay the bill for your ads.
AdWords Layout
Here’s the layout of an AdWords Account:
Campaign
AdGroup
2-4 Text Ads
Many keywords
Basically, AdWords accounts contain campaigns that consist of AdGroups containing
keywords and text ads.
Chapter 4
Some Background on Google AdWords
Google changed its advertising policy back in July or August, 2006, causing many
advertisers to drastically increase their bids or leave Google AdWords altogether.
Some time in July, 2006, a lot of advertisers notice that nearly all of their keywords were
inactive for search in their campaigns. Before the policy change, advertisers were above
to raise their bids three cents or more to re-activate their keywords.
However, instead of Google sending them a note to raise their bids a few cents, it told
them they would have to set their keyword’s bid to extravagant amounts to activate the
keyword.
People negatively affected by the change think that Google changed their policy just to
make more money. This is not true. It changed the policy to get rid of most of the
undesirable paid search results from Google’s Search Network.
Google changed its display and some of its policy in October, 2008. Instead of making
keywords with low quality scores inactive for search, it keeps the status as active but
requires the advertiser to raise the bid in order to get on the first page of search results.
Also, they changed the display of the quality score. They now show it as a fraction
between 1/10 (being poor) to 10/10 (being perfect).
There are a couple of things to remember before you start your account that can hurt
beginner advertisers severely.
1. Obey Google’s Rules. Their policies are very strict. They will notify you by email
or by message in your account when something is wrong with your account or
your ads. If you don’t fix it, you may get banned from Google. If Google bans
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your account, they will not accept any payments from any credit card. If you ever
do get banned, you will have to call Google to get it straightened out.
2. Never completely change your target URL (Destination URL). Sometimes, the
website you are advertising for will go down temporarily. The worst thing you can
do is to change your Text Ad’s Destination URL to another website that sells the
same or similar product.
Even though this would prevent you from having to pause your account, it will
cause your quality Score to go to 0.0. Your quality score is used by Google to
decide what you pay for each keyword, keeps your keywords activated, ranks
your ads, and determines how often your text ad is shown in Google searches. It
is similar to your Credit Score in life.
The better it is, the more money you save. If you change your URL, you will reset
your quality score which will cause your traffic to dramatically decrease. If a URL
change is inevitable, pause the campaign and create a new one. Then, use
Google AdWords Editor to copy all of your keywords to the new campaign. This
will save your quality score. Also, you can later reactivate the old campaign to get
the same amount of traffic as before.
You should only change your Destination URL when you have created a brand
new campaign or AdGroup and/or you are testing new merchants and advertising
new products.
Chapter 5
Intro to Quality Score
Google is all about accuracy and relevancy. If it brought up inaccurate results, it
wouldn’t be nearly as popular. When Google first began, AdWords ads didn’t have to be
very relevant, because you were paying to display your text ads.
However, since Yahoo and Microsoft improved their search engines, Google saw this as
a potential threat and decided to dramatically increase the relevancy rules of AdWords
ads and created the “Quality Score” system.
The Quality Score determines the similarity of your ad to the web surfer’s search
request. If your ad is totally different from the surfer’s search request, you will get a
“Poor” Quality Score which will cause you to have to pay more money to have your ad
shown. However, if your ad is extremely relevant to the surfer’s search request, you will
get a “Great” Quality Score, and you will have to pay less to have your ads displayed.
Here are some advantages of the Quality Score system:
1. The higher the score, the better placement of your ads.
2. The higher the score, the less you pay per click.
3. Google automatically adjusts your Max Cost Per Click and ranking based on your
Quality Score.
4. The higher the score, the more impressions you will receive which lead to more
clicks and more sales.
5. Your ad’s position will be increased.
Other than the disadvantage of changing your URL, you could also spend your Max
CPC for each click if you don’t know what you’re doing. So, following the Quality Score
guidelines correctly is the difference between success and failure with Google.
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How to Get a High Quality Score
1. Make your ads as similar to the search request as possible.
2. Be sure the website you are advertising is similar to the search request and the
text ad you created.
Things That Hurt Your Quality Score
1. Websites that have several AdSense ads (text ads that say “Ads by Google”)
2. A website that’s main purpose is collect email addresses
3. Advertisement-filled websites
4. Websites with an unclear purpose
5. Websites that are confusing
6. Websites that are inaccurate
7. Creating ads unrelated to the search results
8. Using keywords that don’t accurately describe the website or product you’re
advertising
Chapter 6
Finding a Perfect Website to Promote
The more problems you find within a website, the better the chances are that the
website will not be profitable. Below is a list of things you should look for in a website
that you want to promote.
Ignore the Impossible Websites
This is a website that is nearly impossible to make money online with. Here’s a list of
impossible websites that you should not promote:
• Paid Surveys
• Download Unlimited Music, Games, Videos, Movies
• Auction Websites
• Dieting Websites
You should also avoid very popular websites. This is because the more popular the
website or product, the more advertising competition you will receive.
Start out small and work your way up.
Avoid Poor Websites
Choose websites that look safe to the customer and the search engines.
Avoid websites that do the following:
Have AdSense ads on them
Are already being heavily advertised
Have duplicate content on each page
Force you to sign up for something
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Don’t have a privacy policy
Are confusing or tricky
Have pop-up windows
Have something that you wouldn’t buy
Have low commission rates
Have misspelled words
Have pictures that won’t come up
Find a Well-Designed Website
Well-built websites have the following in common:
Have a “Contact Us” page
Offer website security
Offer a money back guarantee
Have a privacy policy or terms of service
Now, it’s time to find a profitable website. To do this, simply choose four professionallooking
websites. Write down the title or address to the website, the type of product they
sell, and their current gravity level. (Don’t choose four websites that sell the same
product.)
To choose the websites in Clickbank, just follow these instructions:
1. Go to Clickbank’s Marketplace through their website or this link:
http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm.
2. Go to “List of Categories”, and select a category that interests you.
3. The category page will display the first ten website results for that category. Each
one is a different product that you can promote.
4. Look at all the different websites, until you find one that you want to promote.
5. Write down the information on each website that you would like to promote.
6. Do this until you have chosen four websites. Don’t forget to look in different
categories.
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To choose websites in PayDotCom, follow these instructions:
1. Go to PayDotCom’s Marketplace through their website or this link:
http://paydotcom.com/marketplace.php.
2. Click on a category that interests you.
3. Ten different website results will be displayed for each category you choose.
Each one has a different product to sell.
4. Look at all the different websites, until you find one that you want to promote.
5. Write down the information on each website that you would like to promote.
6. Do this until you have chosen four websites. Don’t forget to look in different
categories.
Because Commission Junction has a higher standard of accepted websites, it is much
easier to browse their websites and choose your four. Most of their products are usually
high traffic and good quality.
Choosing Websites That Get Visitors
Now that you have your four, let’s narrow that down to the perfect website. You just
have to find out which website receives the most traffic. Regularly searched sites will
generate sales every day.
The best way to check for traffic on a website is to use Google’s Traffic Estimator.
Simply go to Google’s Keyword Tool and enter the main theme for the website’s
product. For example, if the website sold Bass Fishing Tips, you would search for “Bass
Fishing.”
Look at the “Approx Avg Search Volume” column to see the amount of traffic Google
receives on this topic, on average, per month.
There is another way to check for traffic on a website. However, you shouldn’t use this if
you are already using Google’s Keyword Tool to find traffic.
You can go to WordTracker’s Keyword Tool and enter the main theme of the website’s
product. On the next screen, there will be a list of keywords with a number beside
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them. That is the daily number. Multiply that number by 30 to get the monthly performance number.
Once you’ve determined the traffic that each of your four websites gets per month, it’s
time to decide which one to use. If your website receives less than 8,500 hits per month,
it’s not popular enough. If it receives 40,000 to 150,000, it’s probably too popular.
If it gets more than 150,000 hits per month, you probably need to be a little more
specific in your search. The perfect product receives at least 8,500 searches per month
but not more than 150,000.
That’s it! You’re done choosing a website!
Chapter 7
Affiliate URL
Now it’s time to get your own URL for the website, so you can get paid for the sales you
make.
With Clickbank
In Clickbank, once you’ve found the company you want to advertise for, just click on
“Create Hoplink”. A new window will open where you will enter your Clickbank name
and hit “Submit.” A new page will open.
This new page will have the hoplink on it that you will use to advertise your chosen
website. It will look something like this: http://xxx.xxx.hop.clickbank.net/. You will need
to save this somewhere, or write it down. You should always test the link to make sure it
goes to the website you are promoting. The first set of x’s should be your Clickbank
nickname. The second set should be the website’s merchant name. You will see this in
your sales data every time you make a sale for them.
The next steps are to create a keyword list and advertise it on Google AdWords. If you
follow the instructions in the remaining chapters carefully, you can make a fortune
online.
With PayDotCom
In PayDotCom, once you’ve found the company you want to advertise for, click on
“Promote” for the website you’re planning to promote. A new page will open with various
ways to promote your chosen site. Most importantly, your affiliate link is also on this
page. Be sure to save the link or write it down. Don’t forget to test the link by putting it in
your web browser to make sure it goes to the correct site.
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With Commission Junction
Commission Junction generally prefers that people advertise their merchant’s websites
through a personal website by using banner ads, text links and pop-up windows.
However, some merchants offer “keyword links” to use in Search Engine Marketing.
Go to your Commission Junction account, click on “Account” then “Web site Settings.”
Next, click on the “Edit” button, and a new window will pop up. Select “Search Engine
Marketing,” and click “Save.”
Now, you can start advertising your website. In your Commission Junction account, go
to the “Get Links” section, and click on “General Categories” or “Advertiser List.” Then,
click on “Additional Search Options.” In the “Link Type” drop-down menu, select
“Keyword Link”, and click the “Find” button. Commission Junction will then display all of
the websites that offer “Keyword Links” or advertising on search engines.
As soon as you find a website that you would like to advertise for, click on “View Links”,
and review their links until you find “Keyword Link.” Click on this, and you will see their
keyword rules. To get your affiliate link, click on “Get HTML.” The page will change, and
you will a section called “Code”. This is your affiliate URL. This is the one that you will
use in your advertisements.
Please note that you must be accepted the be merchant before you can advertise for
them.
Destination & Display Affiliate URLs
There are two different types of URLs for text ads: Destination and Display.
Your display URL will be the address that your destination URL takes you to. For
example, if your destination URL is www.1234abcd.com, but it takes you to
www.sesamestreet.com, then your display URL will be www.sesamestreet.com.
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The destination URL and the display URL can be completely different. However, make
sure that your display URL is the same as, or a shortened version of, the website that
your destination URL takes you to.
Chapter 8
Keywords
The best way to be certain that every single person who is the slightest bit interested in
your chosen website sees your ad is to create thousands of keywords.
Before creating your keyword list, be sure you have chosen the website that you are
going to promote and be certain that you have the main website address (URL) of your
chosen website. This is not the destination URL or affiliate URL.
To begin your keyword list, click on the following link to go to Google’s Keyword Tool:
adwords.google.com/select/keywordtoolexternal. When you get there, select the
box next to “Website Content”.
In the text area, type in the website address for the site you’ve chosen, and click “Get
Keyword Ideas.”
Be sure to group your keywords together. This is not only important for Google, it also
improves click-through rates and conversions. Every keyword group will eventually
become its own AdGroup, so you can have specific text ads.
After clicking on “Get Keyword Ideas,” Google will change the page to list several
keywords when it is finished searching the site. Near the top of the page, you will see
“Showing keywords grouped by these terms.” Beside each keyword group is a number.
This number represents the number of keywords in that particular group.
Review each of the keyword groups that Google created for your keywords. Make a
note about the most relevant keywords groups, because these will be your first
AdGroups.
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Don’t forget that the most relevant keyword groups are the ones that best describe the
product you want to sell. You can choose the most relevant keyword group for your site
by comparing the number of keywords that each group has.
Now, you can look at each of the keywords within the group that you’ve just chosen.
Review each keyword, and “Add” every keyword that best describes your product or
website. Every time you “Add” a keyword, it is added to the keyword list on the right side
of the page.
After selecting all the keywords relevant to your product or site, you will need to
download the keyword list to your computer. Just click on “text” where it says “Download
these keywords.” Don’t forget where you save your keyword list.
Chapter 9
AdWords Campaigns that are Keyword Targeted

Google AdWords is the type of advertising you see most often on Google. These ads
are shown on the top and/or right of each Google search page.
To create a campaign, the first thing you’re going to do is login to your Google account.
Next, click “New Online Campaign” and select “Start with Keywords.”
You will be asked to name your campaign. This is what will be displayed on the first
screen when you log into your Google AdWords account, so you want to be sure to
name it something unique – something that tells you what that campaign is advertising.
Next, you will name your AdGroup. You should give it the same name as the keyword
group you chose. For example, if the keyword group “rainforest” had the most keywords
and is the group you chose, name your AdGroup “rainforest.” That way, you will know
exactly what types of keywords are in the AdGroup.
Now, you will choose the language that your ads will be written in. They will also be
displayed in this language.
Choose how you want your ads to be displayed. You can display them in: Countries and
Territories, Regions and Cities, or Customized. Remember that we said Countries and
Territories brings the most traffic. However, if your product is available only in a small
area, choose Regions and Cities or the Customized option.
When finished, click “Continue.”
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If you chose “Countries and Territories” in the previous section, you will now choose the
countries you want to advertise in. Remember that you should only advertise in the
countries where your product is available.
Also, never advertise in a country that doesn’t speak the same language that the
website is written in. Here are some countries to use for the English language:
Australia Guam South Africa Zimbabwe
Bahamas Ireland United Kingdom Virgin Islands (US)
Bermuda New Zealand United States Virgin Islands (British)
Canada Singapore United States Minor Outlaying Islands
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Chapter 10
Writing Text Ads
Text ads contain four different parts:
Title/Headline: The first line of the text ad whose job is to draw attention to the
ad.
Description: The second and third lines of the text ad that should convince the
user to click on your ad to visit the Web site you’re advertising.
Display URL: The fourth line of the text ad contains the Web address that
visitors will see. Keep it simple and easy to remember. Do not enter strange
characters: this Web site address is for display only. Visitors will be directed to
the actual site, not to the display URL, don’t enter an affiliate hoplink here.
Destination URL: This is the web address that surfers will go to when they click
on your ad, and is where you enter your affiliate hotlink.
Relevancy is extremely important in text ads. Your ad text should be similar to the Web
site you’re advertising, as well as the keywords you use.
Successful text ads:
1. Have titles that get right to the point.
2. Grab the reader’s attention.
3. Assure readers that the product or service will meet their needs.
4. Are clear, well-written, specific, and compelling.
Google Ad facts you need to know:
1. You don’t need to enter “http:” or “www” in the display URL.
2. You cannot use all caps in your ad, but you should capitalize the first letter
of every important word except articles and prepositions.
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3. After accessing your Web site, the visitor must be able to return to the
Google search page with one click on the “Back” button.
4. Do not use a Web site that is identical to another other Web sites (e.g., the
same graphics and text) but with a different Web site addresses.
5. Do not use a website that requires additional software to load (for instance,
a link that opens a PDF document rather than a Web page).
6. Google does not allow you to advertise a site which has pop-up or popunder
ads. You can, however, use dynamic ads—ads that hover over the
Web page and disappears when you close the page.
Text Ad Guidelines
1. Be respectful of readers by not insulting them. They certainly won’t click on
your ad if you insult them or make them angry!
2. Tell viewers just enough to tempt them, but make them click for more
information. For example, if you’re selling an item for $70.00 that a
competitor is advertising for $65.00, don’t put your price in your ad.
3. Do not repeat yourself in your ad. You need to pack as much unique
information as possible into a small space.
4. Google only allows one exclamation point in an ad, so use it to emphasize
the most important word or sentence.
5. Do not use Web page or business names in your ads. The only exception: if
the Web site or company is well-known, the reader will be more likely to
click the ad.
6. Without violating any of the previous guidelines and tips, do what is
necessary to make the viewer interested in your ad.
7. Try to reproduce the parts of other advertisers’ ads that you like.
8. Capitalize the first letter of every word in your text ad’s title (except articles
and prepositions.
9. Ask viewers a question or tell them what you have to offer that other
advertisers don’t have.
10. Use a Call to Action phrase such as: Free Demo of Our Video Training.
11. Make sure your text is specific, well written, clear, and compelling.
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