[Adwords Bidding] Should I Always Be in the #1 Position?

Let’s talk bidding strategies..

There are PPC Pundits out there that will tell you that first position is everything. That is THE goal. Forget it if you aren’t first page, at the top, in Google’s results.

That’s fine in some cases, but look, it’s not quite that simple. How you approach Adwords Bidding depends greatly on ‘what’ you are doing and how much ‘control’ you have over your campaign and landing pages.

Here are two instances you’ll run into problems:

Adwords Bidding for Direct to Merchant Campaigns

Yes, some people still do have ‘Direct to Merchant’ campaigns running. Sometimes it’s the best option for a given keyword phrase. There’s no reason to make buying traffic go through another step to buy; and Google will reflect that in the Quality Score. I have campaigns that are direct where my Quality Score is 10 and no matter what I do my landing pages are always 7 or below.

But if you are going Direct, you have less control. You still can control click through rates, write better ads, choose better keywords, target better, exclude, use negatives etc.. but beyond that, you won’t (in most cases) have any control over what happens on the landing page.

LANDING PAGES are sometimes where it needs to happen and where you can separate yourself from the pack. You can capture e-mails, follow up or use other techniques to increase your conversions. But if you have no control, you will find it hard to compete with other affiliates that do or the actual merchant’s campaigns.

Competition is Embedded… And Very, Very Good.

Yes, it would seem some individuals talk like they can kick anyone’s butt. But I guarantee for every person that says that, there are advertisers that are better than them in some market somewhere. Some of the best players in some markets don’t sell info products or run blogs related to PPC.

You’re simply going to find yourself in situations where a person can out bid you all day long because they have the budget too. They may defend a space even if they aren’t profitable. Or they are very, very well established and have such an incredible sales funnel where it’d take you years replicating it. If you can ever.

Face it.. you can’t be the best in every market. You can find markets you can be; but it’s not always possible. Be realistic.

Bidding Strategies are Diverse Depending…

See, yes, in one person’s world, their market, they can say things matter-a-factly. But the reality is, that’s maybe true in their market, but not in every market and situation. So don’t let them pull your leg.

Some people that teach Adwords aren’t doing Affiliate Marketing, have narrow experience or have flawed advice if they don’t know what YOU are doing specifically. Not knocking a lot of the coaches and teachers out there, just driving home the fact that it’s not always cut and dried.

I explain this in the Blast Guide. I highlight the fact that if they seek advice from others online and with Blasting that they get that advice in the Context of Blasting or run it by us who are Blasting. Because what we are doing is different than most.

Blasting is a great method.. but it is different than anything else out there in many respects. And although someone’s advice may seem logical (and they have an authority status), it’s only logical with the methods they themselves are using. Not necessarily in what ‘We’ or ‘You’ are doing.

The better strategy is to do the best you can with your given campaign and using the tools you have at your disposal and following the advice and guidance of those you learned the methods from primarily.

Test different positions etc, and use tactics like capturing e-mails if you can, but don’t be in “I suck at this” mode just because you can’t rank #1.. Sometimes, it’s ok to just be #2, 3 or 4.. if you are making a profit, who cares right? Just do that best *you* can, keep learning and improving.

-Matt Levenhagen