Update: to get a discount code for PPV Playbook, click here: PPV Playbook discount code (Limited quantities).

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This is the first in a series of posts for a PPV/CPV (pay per view/cost per view) case study that I’m doing. You’re welcome to follow along and launch your own campaigns too.

With PPC networks increasingly bringing the hammer down on affiliate marketers marketing offers with thin affiliate sites, the past couple of months have seen affiliates jump from PPC to PPV and media buy campaigns. Particularly for newbie affiliates, it could be a case of jumping out of the pan and into the fire. Here’s a tip: it’s not the new traffic source that sucks, it’s probably your marketing strategy.

Compared to running ads on a search engine results (which can be considered a form of “permission marketing” because the user is specifically looking for information or products), ppv is considered a form of interruptive marketing. Unless your ad is a heckuva lot more interesting than whatever site or keyword they were headed to, they’re likely to skip or close down your window and go to wherever they were headed to.

PPV: Pathway to the Golden Land?

Do a search for “PPV Marketing” and you’ll find that PPV is discussed at newbie internet marketing forum, the Warrior Forum. Sounds like a mixed bag of results, with some of the forum members spending $100 and not seeing a single conversion, while other newbies have spent $10 and got some conversions. Still others have posted that they have spent $200 and are convinced that PPV “doesn’t work”.

Just because someone said that PPV is “easier” than PPC doesn’t mean everyone can expect a commission bonanza. Just like everything else, it’s the guys who’re running tests, tracking results, optimizing that are getting good results from this form of traffic. I know of marketers who’re using the TrafficVance network, which is considered by many to provide among the highest quality of leads totally bomb with their campaigns, so sometimes it’s the human, not the network that’s at fault.

What’s PPV?

Pay-Per-View (also known as Cost-Per-View) is advertising delivered primarily via pop-up (pops over the target website), interstitial pages (which appear in between the user’s original page and their destination/intended webpage), or pop-under (which are similar to pop-ups, except they appear under the intended webpage).

The ad pricing is based on a “per view” basis, meaning each time the ad is displayed (or “popped”), you’re charged the amount you bid, which can range from $0.005 to upwards of a dollar or more. The destination URL typically doesn’t appear in the popped window, so the user doesn’t know which website he’s seeing the ad from. Also, if you use low grade webhosting, and the server can’t serve up the ad fast enough (particularly if it’s a high traffic website you’re popping traffic over), the user might see a blank white page also known as a “white screen of death”, or even worse, an error message saying that your cheap webhosting account has exceeded it’s quota of server resources.

Which is the “best” form of pop-up to use?

Newbie PPV marketers should consider pop-ups if they’re getting into the game, as the best balance of marketing effectiveness and pricing. Interstitials may be more expensive, while pop-unders being cheaper will give poorer results unless you know what you’re doing.

Direct link or landing page?

If you’re starting out, you might like to go for low hanging fruit, and direct link to offer with landing pages that convert well. Go ask your affiliate manager (if they’re experienced) for tips, or check with other affiliates.

Even though direct linking might be arbitrage-based and not be as good as collecting an opt-in and building a long term asset, I feel that it’s a good starting point for new PPVers.

Direct linking works best with simple lead gen (CPA) offers. If you’ve a pay-per-sale product, using PPV will likely fail, particularly if you’re using a long form sales letter (as I’ve seen some merchants try to do with PPV traffic…) unless it’s something the lead is very interested in. Hosting your own landing pages are necessary to pre-sell some types of CPA offers, but we’ll kick off the study with direct linking.

Campaign Budgeting

Even though the minimum cost per view might be $0.005 at some networks, assuming you’re going to be rich beyond your wildest dreams on a budget of $10 is unrealistic. I’d suggest a budget of at least $100, so you can get your feet wet (be mentally ready to burn it all away while testing the system and getting used to campaigns).

A number of PPV marketers who’re generating 4- to 5-figure net profit days now burned through thousands of dollars when they were learning the ropes.

I’ll show a couple of techniques so you can control your cash outflow/expenditure and last a little longer in the game.

Offer Selection:

Although some would suggest starting with zip/email submit offers as a first campaign, I’d suggest you do your due diligence. Some of these regpath offers have a requirement to fill in page 4 or page 5, so don’t make the noob assumption you will automatically get paid on the page 1 completion. Some advertisers are known to scrub their submit leads pretty brutally, so if you know your affiliate manager pretty well, you can check with them.

I’m planning to go with the dating niche with this case study and use direct linking.

What do I need?

If you want to get started, here’s a list of resources I’ll be using:

• PPV network: Direct CPV (use code BR25 to get a free $25 ad credit) – Direct CPV is a newer CPV/PPV network and I met affiliate manager Brett Rothenberg at the Affiliate Summit West 2010. He’s knowledgeable about affiliate marketing and traffic, and is available via IM to advise you as you’re setting up your campaigns. Direct CPV has CPV rates starting as low as $0.004 per impression.
• PPV training material: PPV Playbook – David Ford is an experienced PPC/CPA marketer who’s branched into PPV. He’s also author of the popular PPV Playbook blog. What I liked about his PPV Playbook course is how he’s incorporated both a manual and a video tutorial series that I went through in an hour and gave me a number of ideas to position my campaign differently from the majority of affiliates out there.
• PPV landing page templates: LP Designer Jan 2010 PPV template pack – Designer/affiliate Thien comes out with attractive and high converting landing page templates. At $20 for 16 PPV templates, complete with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, these will be useful in the second phase of the case study.
• Demographic targeting techniques: Internet Marketing Cookbook Feb 2010 update (link valid till 28th Feb 2010)- This is a report series that I author and this month’s topic is focused on demographic and behavioral targeting which will be useful in enhancing your campaigns whether you’re a PPC, PPV, social media or media buying affiliate/product owner.
• PPV tracking script: Prosper 202 – open source and free. This is a winner.
• CPA offer networks: Affiliate Network recommendations – Since I already work closely with these networks and have existing relationships with the affiliate managers, it makes sense to promote their offers.

I’ll continue to publish updates as the case study proceeds (one update, possibly two per week).

UPDATE: Check out the next post in the series – CPA Offer/PPV campaign setup and launch

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Update: to get a discount code for PPV Playbook, click here: PPV Playbook discount code (Limited quantities).