I’ve been promoting affiliate programs with Adwords for almost 3 years. And if there is a reoccurring phrase that I say over and over to those I coach, it is that this is a numbers game.
If you do enough research and launch enough campaigns and ad groups, you will find clicks and sales. I see people ask in public and private forums, “Can money be made with Adwords?” And the answer to that question is straightforward and simple. “Yes.”
Unfortunately like all things in business and advertising, it takes work and testing to find that money. And Adwords is not an easy game to play. It is a complex game to play. There are a lot of variables involved and a lot of different features and options that Google gives you to find that profit or to help you improve your Return on Investment.
Generally there are two roads that an individual or company will take with Adwords. They will 1) use it to promote their own products and services or 2) use it to promote other merchants products and services (affiliate marketing). There’s shades of these, but those are the general roads that a marketer or business will take with Google Adwords.
I believe there is probably some confusion online because these are two very, very different roads. Someone that is asking if you can make money with Adwords that is promoting their own product or service is probably getting answers from individuals that are doing affiliate marketing and vice versa.
I personally promote both. I’m an affiliate marketer and have my own products and websites I promote with Adwords. And I know numbers well as I have launched and tested 100s of campaigns over that last few years.
Here is something important to understand about advertising using Google Adwords. Not every product will sell or be profitable using this method of advertising. No matter how good you are and what methods you use, there is a better chance then not that you will fail.
I know that may sound shocking and that isn’t something you will hear to often, but it’s very true.
Here’s why I know that and why someone that only plans on promoting their one product or service will stand a better chance of not finding success with Adwords then finding success. Being that I am an affiliate marketer I am able to test an affiliate program and if it doesn’t work, dump it and move to the next. I have zero time in development and the only money I risk is through advertising.
My numbers are the following. Roughly I see that 1 in 10 merchants I promote (products and services) will find profit. Using the methods I use, it’s not a problem because I quickly test those 10 merchants and markets and spend only a few dollars in the process. If a merchant and market combination doesn’t sell, I simply delete the campaign and move on.
Now with that in mind, can you clearly see how difficult it might be for a merchant with a limited market to find success with Adwords. And this isn’t taking into account the importance of the methods you use. And it also isn’t taking into account how much money you’ll make when you do find a winning campaign. Markets are only so big.
If only 1 in 10 products will even find profit, that means every person or business that tries to promote their products or services with Adwords will most likely fail. In fact, with the experience factor (lack of) the numbers are probably more like 1 in 20 or more.
As an affiliate marketer I understand this going in. I understand I will fail more often then I will find success with a merchant and market. So knowing that, I accept the risk and simply look for the next winner which I will keep and make more profitable over time.
This is something that needs to be understood. There are only so many markets out there and so many niches to fill. If you can’t compete or find clicks and if it’s your one and only product, you aren’t going to make money.
The affiliate marketer on the other hand, who can try 100s and 1000s of products and services in just as many markets, has nothing to worry about. It’s a numbers game and they will keep putting up the campaigns until they find profit.
