Getting an ROI through your PPC campaigns

Yesterday was Day 1 of the PPCIQ Affiliate Test.  I spent most of the day considering the different affiliate programs. 

The main questions I thought about were, "Who will buy this product?", "How long will the market be strong?", "Is the payout decent?", "Will the affiliate company be around for more than 6 months?".

There were 2 programs that fit all of the criteria.  I have decided on using one of these, it is in the consumer discretionary field.  The other I will probably be using on a personal campaign.  The reason I selected one over the other is because I knew that this one would be around for a long time.  The other I doubt will last very long.  However, the market is young so things could turn around.

I haven't decided how much I want to spend with this test, nor have I decided how long it will last.  I'll figure out those two details when I begin selecting keywords and finding out how much I'm going to have to pay per click.

I had a few people email me and post comments about this test.  I appreciate all of the comments and emails.  All of the comments were very nice and helpful.  Someone even offered to let me take a look at a few sample landing pages he had used in the past.  At this point I'll take all the help I can get!

My Elance post asking for landing page has received 7 bids, from $35 to $250.  I also PM'ed a few people at DigitalPoint who offered graphic services to see how much they would charge.  So far the lowest bid at DP is $15.  The guy seems really nice and said he already started on the job without me even agreeing to work with him.  Oh, and I told him my paypal account was empty and I had already initiated a transfer and he would have to wait 3-5 days for money.  He was OK with that as well.

At this point I have a few different possibilities with the landing page including the free offer through email, Elance, DP and building my own.  I'm confident that one of these will be successful.  I might end up buying two landing pages so I can test them both and see which has a better conversion rate.

I'll post more info as I get it. 

Anything other ideas for the first few days?

Looking for more information? Read about MSN adCenter, PriceGrabber and Affiliate Marketing.