Conversion Tracking Basics for PPC Affiliates

Ever wondered which keywords in your Google Adwords campaign were making the most sales?

Do you know how to track your conversions? No? Then read this article!

In response to the “Q and A: Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing” article, Carol asked a VERY good question…

“How can you determine the conversions when you are promoting affiliate products where the actual sale occurs on someone else’s site? I’ve noticed that you can obtain code from Google to place on your “thank you for the order” page…. but is the sale occurs elsewhere, you obviously can’t do that. Once they have left your site to go to the vendor’s site, then you lose the ability to see what happens there.”

I’ll admit that conversion tracking for affiliate marketers who use PPC search engines to drive traffic is tough, but it IS possible.

In rare cases, a merchant will allow an affiliate (usually only Super Affiliates) to have the Google conversion tracking javascript installed on their thank-you page – where the sale is finalized.

But because most affiliates aren’t able to place code on the merchant’s thank you page, they have to do a little more work to find out which keywords are converting in their PPC campaigns.

Many networks allow affiliates to track sales by specifiying a variable in the affiliate URL. Commission Junction uses the SID parameter and Clickbank uses TID, short for ‘tracking ID.

Here is an example of an ecrypted CJ link with an SID that links to Single Parents Mingle.

http://www.dpbolvw.net/i7117p-85-7NPTVUWPTNPOTQWPSS?sid=138

To make the SID’s work for you, you need to first place Google Analytics on your landing pages and then assign unique tracking numbers or codes to each one of your keywords. This is simple enough to do if you build out your keyword lists using a spreadsheet. Here’s the SID/keyword portion of a sample spreadsheet:

136 single parent dating
137 single parents
138 single parents dating
139 single dads
140 single moms

Next, the Destination URL’s in your Google Adwords campaign must correspond to your SID’s and is most effective when you are direct linking from Google Adwords to the merchant. It can work however if you create multiple landing pages. Here is an example of a link that you might use to direct traffic to a Single Parents Mingle review page on a dating site.

http://101date.com/single-parents-mingle-site-review/?keyword=138

You’ll notice that 138 links to the keyword phrase ‘single parents dating’.

When each of your keywords has a tracking ID and a landing page with a corresponding affiliate URL, you’ll be able to see exactly which keywords are making the most sales when you run your commission reports.

Yes, it’s hugely tedious to link and match all your keywords, Destination URL’s and affiliate links this way, but it is worth your time and effort.

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