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1. Adam,

   Your first question begs a few questions from me. First, just how BIG is a big difference? If you seem to be missing dozens of clicks or more, I’d check yur destination links very carefully to make sure not just that all your ads work, but also that they are each using the tracking code with YOUR CJ ID number. Second, you don’t say if you are getting fewer, or more clicks reported on CJ than AdWords, or if it changes each day? Typically, they may be reporting daily clicks based on different time zones, in which case some of your clicks each day are not going to be reported as part of the same day on each system.

   As for using all bracketed keywords (Google’s Keyword Insertion tool), this is a “Long Tail” strategy employed by lots of people who write extremely general ads, using the keyword insertion tool include the search term in the ad in the hope of making it appear more relevant. They then copy as much of the dictionary as they can into their keyword list, set their cpc very low (if they are smart) and try to generate lots of clicks cheaply, usually for a company with the broadest possible product line, like eBay (when they still allowed direct search) or Amazon. There are two problems with this strategy. One, your ad cannot possibly be well tailored enough to outperform ads more specifically designed for each individual search, and so you wind up missing out on all the most valauble keywords. Two, Inevitably, your poorly targeted ad will capture some clicks from people who cannot find what they are looking for at the site you are advertising. i.e. The keywords ‘glass’ and ‘ceiling’ (both randomly included in a dictionary sized keyword list) might show your ad to a college student researching the ‘glass ceiling’ theory, and seeing the keywords together in bold in your ad, he or she might click on your ad without reading it carefully, assuming it will be the informational page they are looking for. The obvious result of that is you have wasted the money you paid for that click. It is possible some people are making a little money this way, but most will lose quite a bit. The keyword insertion tool is great if you have a small to medium sized group of keywords that all work VERY well with the same ad text, but in many cases you will not be able to write a better ad than the competition unless you tailor your ads to smaller groups of keywords. And you will sometimes be unable to use your keywords in your ad text, due to size or trademark restrictions.

   As for position preference, I do not feel I have used it enough to intelligently comment on it, but intuitively it is hard for me to see a benefit to it, except perhaps in some very unique circumstances. I have made my millions without it, so it certainly is not essential to your success.

   Click volume is not something you aim to increase (at least not beyond your need for statistically significant amounts on which to calculate your EPC) until you are certain you are making more per click than you are spending. At that point, you will probably seek higher click volume, but your goal will be the highest possible Maximum Return, which almost certainly will not be found at the highest possible volume (at which you would have to be bidding your highest) but rather at a level in which your bid returns a large number of clicks at a cost which still leaves you with wide margins. You can re-read chapter 9 of Affiliate Millions for a better, more in-depth explanation.

   As for how many keywords are too many? Basically what you want to focus on is how RELEVANT the keywords are to your ad. For some campaigns, thousands of keywords may be appropriate, for others, just a few. There is no number, just focus on relevancy.

   When I wrote Affiliate Millions, Google did not show these so-called CPC Mimimums, and so they could not be addressed, but I recommend ignoring them. The so-called minimum bid Google shows you is really just a figure below which your volume will be much lower. It makes no sense, though, to increase your cpc to hit some volume trigger when (as many of you will probably have already noticed) the amount often seems well above the actual Earnings per Click. Do not be fooled into thinking that their are people out their making much more per click than you are when by bidding higher. This is not how it works, though I’ve had many people tell me that’s how they thought it must work. Here is what is really happening. That minimum bid is based in large part on the performance of your own ad. I have seen my so-called minimum bid on the same keyword as high as $10 per click with one ad, and 1 cent per click with another, better performing ad. If the minimum bid is too high for you too make a profit, write a better ad. Even if it says your keyword is “inactive” google will still run your ad a little bit to test its performance. You can raise your bids to get info faster if you want, but long term, higher bids should only be made in response to even higher EPCs.

   Ad variations are a good idea, and essential to the ad tuning process, but you needn’t write 50. Two to six is the range I usually find myself in.

   Whew…. I hope this helps.

   Go ahead and hit me with the rest of your questions now, if you like.

   Tony

   Comment by Administrator — December 19, 2007 #

2. Tony,

   Thanks so much for your quick and exhausting reply.

   The clicks not matching was just lack of waiting on my part. The very next day the numbers began to rise on CJ.com.

   You mentioned a well written ad. What are some keys, or useful tips to having a well written ad? I feel my ads are well written, but I still see CPCs at 5-10$ minimums even when I feel they are relevant and vital to my ads performance. Can this tie in with the ad variations? If you see an ad has overpriced CPCs do you redo that one, or just add a variation?

   When I first wrote you I was just using CJ.com, and adwords. Now I have bumped up to using Amazon, and oh boy I am glad I did. I am having no luck with CJ yet, I really need to revamp my approach there. But being such an experienced amazon shopper I have found great strategies, and I couldn’t believe the response. Not quite a millionaire yet….not even a thousandaire, but my motivation has improved for sure.

   OK, so mostly what I got from your response was to focus more on the ad’s quality now, and less on the keywords. I will try that out, and appreciate your help.

   Comment by Adam — December 19, 2007 #

3. You are very welcome.

   Keep in mind, too, that when you write a good ad, it may take a while for those so-called minimums to come down, but if they don’t, or if they go up, then you definitely need a better ad. This doesn’t mean your ad was bad, it just means a lot of people are writing a lot of ads, and some of them are still just better. I always look at the competition’s ad (do a search on your higher volume keywords) and try to identify the best features of my competition’s ads, and some areas where I think I can make improvements.

   Once you write an ad you hope is better, give it some time to perform, but whether it does better or worse than the old ad, you should keep trying to write even better ads.

   Comment by Administrator — December 19, 2007 #

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