Affiliate Marketing vs Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click (PPC) is becoming less cost effective since prices of keywords are rising. This is occurring because of increased competition for keywords in the marketplace. As a result, some marketers are turning to affiliate programs as an additional revenue source, according to an iMedia Connection article.

Affiliate marketing can be more cost effective than PPC because the advertiser is only charged after a sale is made, rather than just when someone clicks on the link. This switch could help reduce click fraud as well. There are a number of reasons people click on a link, such as browsing or perhaps by accident not realizing the link was an ad.

It is important that affiliate sites are content driven, instead of ad centered. These sites generate more qualified viewers. It also creates a positive relationship with affiliates, and treats them as strategic partners.

Many affiliates will have PPC campaigns of their own, so it's better to combine forces than to compete. This synergy allows everyone to win, marketers get increased sales, and the affiliate gets a commission for referring them to you. What marketers have to realize is that opening up their business is not always a threat, sometimes it's an opportunity to improve upon the way they do business.

Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization

Are PPC and SEO equally important? I guess that depends on your strategy.

Time
PPC often gives you instantaneous results where as SEO takes time. If you are looking to get information out around the Superbowl, PPC would be your best bet seeing how the Superbowl is this Sunday. With PPC you are in control and can make changes immediately where as with SEO patience is key since sometimes it may take months to see results based on your efforts. Also keep in mind that optimization is also an ongoing effort, thanks to the dynamic nature of search engines.

Cost
Cost may play a crucial role in deciding whether to choose a PPC strategy or SEO strategy. SEO is expensive however the returns are often worth the investment since SEO can lead to free traffic where as with PPC you’re buying traffic continuously to see your site show up in the search engines keeping in mind that you're bidding on keywords that may be extremely competitive and therefore costly. Imagine typing in a keyword in Google and having your site come up number one, that’s huge exposure and traffic can be through the roof. You may pay a large investment up front however once you get to the top, you’re getting free traffic and exposure.

Maintenance
Both efforts take time however it’s the constant maintenance that proves its success. SEO is ongoing where with PPC it may take only a few hours to set up, however you still need to manage the campaign to get the traffic you want. Now that you’ve seen the pros and cons of both, is it choosing one or the other or choosing both to aid in your strategy, that's for you to decide.