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Google Adwords is the premier pay-per-click advertising service on the Internet and it has the most reach due to the size of Google’s network.  Therefore, it is no surprise that many successful affiliate marketers use Google Adwords to advertise.

That being said, unless you know what you’re doing, Adwords can quickly eat up your advertising budget and leave you with no sales for your trouble.  You can avoid making costly Adwords mistakes by following the tips I am about to share with you.

Get Your Own Domain

Google Adwords has a rule that allows only one advertisement to be displayed per domain, per keyword. What this means is that if you are using your affiliate link and the standard keywords for your niche, you are competing with all of the other affiliates and the merchant himself for the same keyword. Since keywords are “auctioned off,”  the highest bidder will have his ad shown. This can drive up the cost of a keyword or keyword phrase through the roof. I’ve seen some keywords go for upwards of $10 per click in some instances.

For this reason, you need your own domain and hosting.  By using a simple re-direct code, you can send your potential customers from your domain to your affiliate sales page seamlessly. This will allow you to compete for the same keyword phrases other affiliates are using at a much lower cost.

Another tactic is to build a content site around your niche and include links to your affiliate sales pages from within your content site.  This can sometimes work better since Google is very fond of content rich sites, which will bring your quality score up, which reduces your minimum bid, and therefore, reduces your advertising costs.

Choose Long-Tail Keywords

A long-tail keyword is a keyword phrase with more than two terms. Long-tail keywords are often much more specific than shorter keyword phrases.  An example of long-tail keyword phrase would be “red tennis shoes” rather than “tennis shoes,”  or “make extra money online” rather than “make money.”

The primary reason to use long-tail keywords as opposed to their shorter and more general counterparts is that there is less competition for these terms and it is therefore easier and cheaper to rank higher in the Adwords listings than for the more general terms.

In addition,  it is a well-studied fact that people who input long-tail keywords into Google are much farther ahead the buying cycle than those who are using the shorter and more general search terms.  This means that long-tail keyword users are much more likely to buy once they’ve found what they’re looking for,  than those using more general terms.

Know When To Quit

A mistake a lot of new affiliates make is letting non-performing or under-performing Adwords campaigns run too long.  Doing this can cost you hundreds of dollars without any sales in return.

To avoid doing this,  take your commission amount and divide that by your average minimum bid for keywords. This number is your break even point and you don’t want to go above that, otherwise you are losing money. If you aren’t making any sales and you reach this break-even number of clicks, stop the campaign and try a different one.

It can sometimes take a number of tries to build a winning Adwords campaign,  and keeping a sharp watch on how much you are spending is key to avoiding taking a bath in advertising costs.

Google Adwords is an effective advertising tool, but only if it is used wisely.  Best of luck to you in your future Adwords campaigns!