Do I even need to do SEO?

Ronnie55

Ronnie55

New member
Mar 12, 2013
219
2
0
I apologize in advance for the n00b question.. I'm sort of coming from the SEO side of things. I have some sites generating PPC revenue, I rank well in search engines and get organic traffic, etc.

I want to do affiliate marketing for some new sites without doing much SEO, or without any SEO. Is any SEO necessary? I don't see why I don't just throw up a great looking site with a good call to action, excellent landing page, and pay for a adwords ad campaign to get targeted traffic, hopefully convert it once I find a campaign that works well, and cash in on whatever affiliate product I'm promoting.

All my traffic would come from ppc ads that I'd have to pay for. It wouldn't last forever but it'd be quick to get up and running, relatively cheap to test, etc.

Am I missing something here? Is this what you guys do? Is any SEO necessary or can you just do what I described and convert paid traffic into affiliate sales without bothering to rank in google or write longass articles, etc.

I know this question is kind of lame/simple, and I'm sure I'll get sarcastic responses, but any help is appreciated.
 


There are far more successful affiliates that use PPC as a traffic source than organic traffic, in my experience.

If you develop a successful PPC campaign that A) converts, and B) is profitable, then there is no reason to build organic traffic.

For instance, I've had a successful PPC campaign for almost 3 years. It has never crossed my mind to drive organic traffic because scaling is so straightforward.

If you find a campaign that converts and is profitable than you are way ahead of 95% of aspiring internet marketers.
 
nutshell version:

SEO = traffic source
PPC = traffic source

find which one provides a better ROI and spend your time and money there.
 
shawnhag said:
There are far more successful affiliates that use PPC as a traffic source than organic traffic, in my experience.

If you develop a successful PPC campaign that A) converts, and B) is profitable, then there is no reason to build organic traffic.

For instance, I've had a successful PPC campaign for almost 3 years. It has never crossed my mind to drive organic traffic because scaling is so straightforward.

If you find a campaign that converts and is profitable than you are way ahead of 95% of aspiring internet marketers.
Click to expand...

Can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not.

If you have that kind of data, ie. which PPC keywords are converting best for you, then you should definitely invest some of your profits into building high quality SEO sites for those keywords. PPC costs can fluctuate wildly throughout the year based on new advertisers coming in, changes to quality score algorithm, etc.

Of course SEO rankings can fluctuate as well, but if you spend your time building a quality site the rankings can be quite stable and you can see high quality, free traffic coming in for years. The ROI on SEO will always be far greater than PPC, and if done correctly, can be a hands-off, passive source of traffic.
 
Paper_Chase said:
Can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not.

If you have that kind of data, ie. which PPC keywords are converting best for you, then you should definitely invest some of your profits into building high quality SEO sites for those keywords. PPC costs can fluctuate wildly throughout the year based on new advertisers coming in, changes to quality score algorithm, etc.

Of course SEO rankings can fluctuate as well, but if you spend your time building a quality site the rankings can be quite stable and you can see high quality, free traffic coming in for years. The ROI on SEO will always be far greater than PPC, and if done correctly, can be a hands-off, passive source of traffic.
Click to expand...

Nope totally serious.

You know, I was expecting some people to disagree with a few of the things I've said, but I would have never expected to hear:

The ROI on SEO will always be far greater than PPC, and if done correctly, can be a hands-off, passive source of traffic.
Click to expand...

wow, I just find that to be insane.

I've just never really had a positive affiliate experience with SEO traffic. It's always gotten fucked up some how. I lost a 100k profit campaign 2 times in the last 3 years. Both of them were something that I put my life into and ended up getting fucked both times.

I've also found PPC to be far more predictable and CONTROLLABLE.

It's your opinion and you are entitled to it, if anything it gives me some food for thought.
 
shawnhag said:
wow, I just find that to be insane.
Click to expand...

It's tough to make broad sweeping statements about SEO or PPC. Everyone's experience is different.

In a niche I am in right now my CPA on PPC traffic is around $30 a lead. That lead is worth around $70 to me. After getting data on which keywords were converting, I spent around $2k building and ranking a site, with a monthly commitment of around $200 for ongoing content and link building. That site brings in 10 leads per day. At this point my effective CPA for each lead is $0. If my math is correct, the ROI would be infinity.

This all depends on your skill as an SEO. I would say its much easier to master PPC than SEO. So you have to put your efforts into where you skills are.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. Very informative. As someone above mentioned, I do like that paid traffic is more PREDICTABLE.

Obviously I'll have to examine whether it's more profitable, but I do like being able to control it and not being at the mercy of Google's algorithm updates, etc.
 
I would also consider my own work hours as an investment. So SEO-only is far from free in my opinion. Each scenario is unique, but yes, pure PPC can be very effective if you find a good niche, and can leave it on (more or less) autopilot.

PPC may be more predictable, but competitors may also pop up there. Some kind of SEO is helpful in that area too - landing pages should be in line with your keywords and ad copy, to achieve good quality score, and therefore lower bid costs.

If you do PPC, also collect leads on your page. Sales from newsletters can generate a lot of sales, and be a stable source of income.

In the end, it's better to rely on more than one thing. I think it's always good to experiment with new ways of generating income.
 
sweetsour said:
I would also consider my own work hours as an investment. So SEO-only is far from free in my opinion. Each scenario is unique, but yes, pure PPC can be very effective if you find a good niche, and can leave it on (more or less) autopilot.

PPC may be more predictable, but competitors may also pop up there. Some kind of SEO is helpful in that area too - landing pages should be in line with your keywords and ad copy, to achieve good quality score, and therefore lower bid costs.

If you do PPC, also collect leads on your page. Sales from newsletters can generate a lot of sales, and be a stable source of income.

In the end, it's better to rely on more than one thing. I think it's always good to experiment with new ways of generating income.
Click to expand...

Great idea about collecting leads on my landing page so I have a targeted list to market to even if they don't buy that day. This could be as simple as a form to enter your email address to receive a free newsletter/ebook or something, right?
 
Well, depends on where you buy your clicks.

For instance, Google is sensitive about this. Search the web for "Google Information harvesting". In short, I think "newsletter subscription" is good, but "give me your address for a free gift" can result in a ban from their PPC program.

My guess is it's also a better idea to put the newsletter signup somewhere on the big site, not the website you use as a landing page with PPC ads.
If you were planning to do a 1-page site, which is a sell-page, Google and I think many other networks might not be happy with that. They like real sites.

As for the technical side, there are many installable apps for managing subscriptions. A free simple one could be Dada Mail for instance.
 
Paper_Chase said:
At this point my effective CPA for each lead is $0. If my math is correct, the ROI would be infinity.
Click to expand...

36g5hl.jpg
 
Why is this an either/or question?

Your profit comes from traffic. In order to maximize your profit, maximize your traffic. Use every profitable traffic source you can for a niche.

Isn't that what any professional would do?
 
Generating income in sites

I think it's always good to experiment with new ways of generating income. I can always buy the toy letters "SEO" and "do" them but I don't think the results will be pretty.
I think many other networks might not be happy with that. They like real sites.
 
You can alway do SEO with rank'n'tank strategy. If you know which keywords convert, make 4-5 sites and pump them with links, one after another, till they rank. When Google destroys the 1st, you start pushing 2nd, when G. tanks the 2nd you start working on third. At lease, automating site building is easy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom