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Paid search has come a long way from the penny-a-click days of the late ’90s. What’s ahead? To start, think of vertical, personalized and geocentric technologies.
It was the summer of 1998 when GoTo.com launched its pay-per-click (PPC) program in a fairly straightforward way. Back then, there were few competitors and the bids were low. Often a top slot could be had for a penny a click, and the reporting was bare bones.
It was morning in paid search country.
Six years later, the paid search engine landscape has gotten a lot more crowded. According to PayPerClickSearchEngines.com, there are now about 600 PPC engines. It has also gotten a lot more expensive, with the minimum of a dime per click at Overture. And all that has made things a lot more complicated.
If you want to know what the future holds for the fusion of paid search and affiliate marketing, strap in and hold on tight.
The typical affiliate program is heavy on affiliates utilizing either natural optimization or paid placement. A third of all affiliates promote their links on PPCs, according to a survey in the AffStat 2004 Report. Additionally 16 percent cite data feeds as their preferred method for promoting an affiliate program.