The Super Affiliate’s Guide to PPC Marketing on Bing AdCenter

In my first “Super Affiliate’s Guide to PPC Marketing“, I went through the process of setting up your ppc campaign using Google Adwords. Today I will show you how to do the same, using Microsoft AdCenter. If you are already advertising on Google Adwords and just relying on them for your traffic, you shouldn’t be. In addition to Google, you should be adding Yahoo and/or MSN to your arsenal. The fact of the matter is, Yahoo and MSN traffic almost always performs better with ppc campaigns… and I’ve heard this from many of the biggest ppc marketers in the industry. Not only will you see better results, but your ppc and acquisition price will probably be much lower, as you are competing against less advertisers than on Google. So Let’s get started!

Step 1: Signup to Microsoft AdCenter
If you are not currently an advertiser with Microsoft Adcenter, simply click here for their quick signup. You will also receive $50 in FREE CLICKS by signing up through this blog. Once you are signed up, we can walk through the process below on how to setup you campaign and have it running.

Step 2: Find Your Offer and Setup a URL Redirect
Your ppc campaign will only be a strong as the actual offer you promote. For this super affiliate guide, I will setup a ppc campaign for the 123InkJets campaign which is currently on NeverBlueAds and pays around $15 per sale. This offer is one of the most consistent performers on many networks and has a brand name for itself as it’s been around for many years now, not to mention everyone needs ink. When choosing an offer to promote, make sure it’s one that performs well with general audiences, then move into niche areas as you gain more experience. (Click here for my step by step process on how to setup your own url redirect)

Now that you have selected an offer, you can make your own landing page to promote the offer, use your affiliate tracking url… or better yet, setup a url redirect. When starting my own campaigns to test performance, I like to setup url redirect. To do this, I simply register a cheap .com address through GoDaddy, then go into my domain settings have the the domain name auto forward to my affiliate url. For this campaign, I purchased SuperCheapInkJets.com, which now redirects to my NeverBlueAds affiliate url. I went through the MSN AdCenter process below as if I was setting up a real campaign for pushing the 123InkJets offer.

Step 3: Setting up Your PPC Campaign
A: Create Campaign:
Once you are logged into your Microsoft AdCenter account, you’ll see a been green button that says “Create Campaign”, click it.

B: Campaign & Ad Group
On the next page you will be asked to fill in a few fields on your campaign you’d like to setup. The main fields are Name and Time Zones. You can set these up accordingly, as they reflect your time and the type of campaign you will be promoting. The campaign name should be the offer name, then the Ad Group name should be named after the landing page or keywords you will use to promote the offer.

C: Creating Your Ads
After setting up your campaign name, you’ll need to create the actual ad copy that will be used to promote your offer. The Ad title is the most important field, as it’s what users will see first. Your Ad Text description should be short, targetted and to the point, while keeping the customer interested. The Display URL is what the customer will see your we site address as, and Destination URL is your actual web site url.

As you fill in your campaign information, to the right of the form fields it will show you what your campaign ad will actually look like. From the information filled in above, this actual ad would look like the following.

GOLDEN TIP: Display & Destination URL
Take a look at the two ad previews below. If you were a customer searching to buy ink jets somewhere, which would you choose. The majority of people would much prefer to click the first as it has a much more appealing web site url, not to mention it says what the actual product is. The ad on the right is simply displaying the affiliate url from NeverBlueAds. You will see MUCH better click amounts and conversions if you play around with the Display URL and use redirects through GoDaddy. (Click here and use coupon code OYH3, to Save $3 off any $6.95 any .com) The small few dollars you spend on a redirect url are nothing compared to the swing in conversions you may see.

D: Choosing Keywords
The next part in setting up your campaign, is to select your keywords. When you first access the keywords page, they show you the form area to the left to enter your own keywords. If you look to the right and click the down arrow button next to “Keyword research tools”, this will open up a new area to help you select more keywords. Using this tool, you can pull keywords based on words or phrases, by searching web sites or by destination urls. After you selected your method for research, click “Find Keywords”, then your suggested keywords will be shown below, which includes estimated impressions by month. Select your desired keywords, then add them to your list using the “Actions” tabs.

E: Set Pricing
The last process of setting up your ad campaign, is to determine your pricing and budget. Based on your keywords selected, MSN AdCenter will give you a “Estimated Spend” number, which is how much you would expect to spend promoting your campaign for a month. This number is usually very high and based on getting your campaign in the top listings. First set your campaign budget amount. More than anything else, this is to make sure you don’t blow your spending dollars if the campaign doesn’t convert as well as you expected, you can also change this figure at any time. The most important field in this area is the “Default bid”, which is the maximum amount you are willing to pay per click. The great feature about this is that every time you put in a different amount, the monthly estimates below will update with new figures. The minimum bid is .05 per click, but I would start a little higher (depending on the offer) when testing a new campaign, then gradually move up or down if it does not convert for you.

F: Review Your Campaign
The final page in the process is simply reviewing everything you have setup. Simply click “Submit” once you have verified all of your campaign settings and landing pages/urls are working. Your campaign will then go live.

GOLDEN TIP: Track Your Campaign!
Now that your campaign is live, you should be tracking it’s performance. MSN AdCenter does not include tracking pixels in your campaign setup, but here is how to set it up. First, when you are at the main MSN AdCenter admin page, click on your campaign name and it will send your to campaign adgroups and settings. Near the top of the page it will show the campaign information section (shown below), click the [Edit] button.

After clicking the edit button you should be sent to the “Change Campaign Setting” page. The second area of this page will say “Track Conversion”, click the boxed area and it will then open up a new area, which will provide you with your tracking pixel. (shown below) Once you have this information, you can go back to your NeverBlueAds contact and have them place the pixel for you. You will then be able to track leads based on keywords and see which ones are costing you money vs. making money.

You should now be setup to run your own ppc campaign through MSN AdCenter. Replicate the process with several different offers and see which work, then focus on them and continually repeat the process. Find just 10 campaigns that make only $10 a day profit, you’d be surprised how fast you can be earning up to $3000 a month profit using this system. For more “Golden Tips” and how to start your own ppc campaign on Google Adwords, please refer to my “Super Affiliate Guide to PPC Marketing“.

If you haven’t already, sign up now to Microsoft AdCenter and get $50 in Free clicks. You can open an account for as little as $5. (Use coupon code shown on signup page)

DISCLAIMER: As much as I would like for everyone who reads this to make money, I’m sure it isn’t possible. This is a disclaimer to state that I have no affiliation with Google Adsense, Yahoo, MSN AdCenter, NeverBlueAds, AffiliateFuel or AzoogleAds, beyond the aspect of being an affiliate and or advertiser. Zac Johnson and ZacJohnson.com are in no way responsible for your actions, gains or losses from ppc marketing after reading this guide. Please feel free to ask or comment with any questions or comments you may have.