Simply append your keyword to the affiliate url. (Can work for either direct linking or using a landing page.)

In adwords
———–
“mobile phone” ** http://www.YOURAFFILIATEURL.com/?s1=mobiles_phones

“order phone” ** http://www.YOURAFFILIATEURL.com/?s1=order_phone

Then, if a visitor searches for “order phone”, clicks through and places an order, you can see in your account (by viewing the subid/optional info report) that the keyword “order phone” lead to a conversion. You can then scrub keywords that do not convert. (Works best with exact match in google.)

Hope that helps.

Is it really possible to track affiliate direct-linking sales? I have found most affiliate programs to be less than helpful in allowing pixels.

-Scott

You’re best bet is to focus on niche categories; ideally with high volumes of traffic. Promoting campaigns in a niche category, will prevent you from having to compete against the big PPC affiliates paying $2/$3+ / click promoting products such as Teeth Whitening and Acai supplements!!

Before running a campaign, check the average search volume with Google’s keyword tools. Ideally aim for keywords with 10,000+ search results / month; that’s not to say keywords with low volume traffic won’t convert.

Set a budget you can afford and ALWAYS track clicks/conversions by keywords. This will allow you to drop those keywords that do not convert to sales along the line; increasing your profits.

Always test using 2 or 3 landing pages to find the one with the highest CTR. Hope that helps!

I’ve only tried a few PPC campaigns but there never get many clicks so I never really know if they are working or not or learn much from it. Anyone know of any good guides for the beginner?