Chad Hamzehs

Traffic BlackBook
PPV Traffic Strategies and How they Relate to Media Buying
Today’s Agenda
- Very quick introduction on PPV marketing

- Discuss PPV traffic & bidding strategies and how they can
relate to direct to site media buys
- Show how I build PPV campaigns

- Show my favourite PPV network, and an overlooked

area of it
- Discuss PPV landing pages and how we can translate
these into banners
So what is PPV
marketing?
So what is PPV?
- PPV stands for ‘pay per view’ also known as CPV
which is ‘cost per view’ (which is actually the correct term)
- Ads are typically shown as pop-up or pop-under
- Visitors must have an app installed on their computers
This can be in the form of a tool bar install, game
software, and screensaver software. A.K.A Adware.
- You can bid on URLs and keywords, I personally use
URLs mostly
- You pay per pop essentially. So, it is similar to CPM
based systems since you pay regardless of someone
clicking your ad or not
So what is PPV?
- In CPA networks this traffic is known usually as
contextual, downloadable software, and pop-up. Know
your offer terms
Advantages of PPV Traffic
- Traffic typically starts at $0.005 - $0.015 per pop, so once a
campaign is converting high and optimized, you could be
receiving very cheap traffic
- A great way to hijack specific sites if not allowed to advertise
- Ad approvals are typically easier than the major PPC engines
and Facebook
- Most networks have very good support
- You will usually be assigned a rep who can help greatly in getting
profitable (on that note, have your thresholds in place)
- Users can be sent directly to your landing page, this is very
valuable if you have a good pocket of converting traffic
Disadvantages of PPV Traffic
- Although $0.005 to $0.015 per pop sounds cheap, you pay
regardless, so that is essentially a $5-15 CPM!

- Bidding wars can be vicious. Many automate.

- Longer learning curve than PPC or Facebook. Longer learning

curve than banner buys in my opinion
- The most obvious targets are very saturated, but don’t be so
obvious

- Even though traffic can start at $0.005 on some networks, you

will typically be paying more if others are bidding on that target
Let’s talk PPV
Networks
My Favourite Network
• Experienced reps
• Good quality traffic
• Large amount of US inventory (40+M)
• Expanding into the UK
• Pixel tracking provided
• 800 x 600 pop up
• Also provides Text Link
Advertisements
• $1,500 deposit last I checked

http://www.trafficvance.com/
This really is my favourite PPV network. The initial deposit might be a lot for some but
keeps the competition down. Good balance of quality and volume.
Other Suggested Networks

• Only $25 minimum deposit

• Good quality traffic
• Volume can be a bit limited
• Get used to managing several campaigns

• Haven’t used this one personally but other marketers

have said good things about its quality
• Very low minimums
So, you know where to buy, but how
to buy is more important
 As with PPC, there are a few different methods with
which you can approach PPV campaigns.

You can go wide then deep starting with literally hundreds

+ of URL targets, you can start very targeted, you can find
the offer first or the traffic first, and you can bid on
keywords, urls, or both.

To avoid confusion and information overload, I will explain

how I build my PPV campaigns, and you should be able to
improvise from there.

I build mine like this as I can confirm demographic info

this way and test multiple offers.
- I like to bid on URLs. Though I will also bid on keywords if I have a
high converting PPC keyword or a Hot Trend.

- With PPV I like to find the traffic first then fit an offer to the
traffic. Not based on trends, but based on the top traffic targets per
my account rep.

- I will rotate 3-5 of the highest converting/EPC offers I can find

that match that target URLs demographics and/or interests, unless
my trusted AM can tell me offers converting exceptionally well on
PPV/that demographic.

- I will also customize my creatives to look like my target

site if I have time.

- Typically I will run short form first page offers such as credit
repair, educational offers, insurance offers, debt offers. E-mail/Zip
Submits can work well but I Iike higher payouts.
TrafficVance Top Targets
Pop-Ups
farmville.com job twilight
pogo.com schools classesusa.com
ebay.com bank verizon.net
amazon.com wellsfargo.com eharmony.com
farmville education myxer.com
craigslist.org bestbuy.com nfl.com
addictinggames.com careerbuilder.com slots
verizonwireless.com nfl expedia.com
walmart.com shine.yahoo.com turbotax
netflix.com imvu.com careers
pch.com gamehouse.com games.com
bankofamerica.com jcpenney.com zoosk.com
miniclip.com foxnews.com phoenix.edu
godaddy.com disney college
dictionary.reference.com netflix job.com
att.net phoenix bizrate.com
officialiqquiz.com crowdstar.com mapquest.com
love.com dell.com imvu
match.com walmart overstock.com
chase.com addthis.com online
omg.yahoo.com ign.com zynga.com
.facebook brightcove.com entrust.net
reply.com hulu.com sports.yahoo.com
target.com skype.com myspace
pets stubhub.com shareware
yoville.com recipes googlevideo.com
singlesnet.com ticketmaster.com evony.com
att.com ebay toysrus.com
apple.com autotrader.com wachovia.com
king.com facebook.farmville.com amazon
mycricket.com cartoonnetwork.com .phoenix.edu
jobs finance amazon.com/gp
adobe.com capitalone.com
classmates.com ringtonematcher.com
TrafficVance Top Targets
Keep this in mind. Those are only the top 100 TrafficVance
targets.Your rep will give you the top 1000.

So you have tons of URLs you could test. If this seems daunting,
you can go the route of asking your affiliate manager which offers
are working on PPV traffic, get the demographics for those
offers, then ask your PPV network rep for the highest traffic
targets within those demographics.

I simply like to find a high traffic target with similar

demographics. This gives me lots of options. I will also take this a
step further and look at the “interests” of the site. So, similar to
Facebook, demographic AND interests. It can be expensive to test
since there can be more competition on these sites, but when
you find a winner it’s very lucrative.
Why This Strategy?
- This strategy is great for beginners & experienced
marketers alike. Helps manage your budget better.
- Since I go after top targets, I can get volume while
still having very targeted ads

- I can customize my ads to make them very relevant

to the site or even page, and their visitors
- Make visitors feel special and willing to follow your
path. What were they just doing? Where are they going?
- List management is easier if going that route (separate
list segment or list for each site audience)
A Common Mistake
People look at the URLs and base their offer selection
off only the main topic of the URL. So, for a top target like
www.toysrus.com, they will only try offers related to toys.

Or they will target a dating site with dating offers. Surprise

surprise, tons of people are doing this already.

In rare cases this can work, but it is too literal and pigeon holes
you. When targeting ‘interests’ think in ‘related interests’ similar to
Facebook

So let’s go ahead and go step by step on how I might want to

attack Toys r’ Us using TrafficVance.

This is how I usually find success in PPV if I am URL bidding. I

will explain my keyword bidding in a bit.
Step by Step
Step 1: Find demographics for Toys r’ Us
Step by Step
Step 1: Find demographics for Toys r’ Us

- Female dominant traffic

Step by Step
Step 1: Find demographics for Toys r’ Us

- Female dominant traffic

- Ages 25-34 and 35-49
Step by Step
Step 1: Find demographics for Toys r’ Us

- Female dominant traffic

- Ages 25-34 and 35-49
- Have children (obvious)
Step by Step
Step 2: Match demographics to good offers
After I speak with my AM at C2M, in addition to my own intuition,
I come up with a master list of high converters related to the
ToysRUs.com demographic with US traffic accepted:

• Acai Slim Maxx • Degree USA Medical

• Scholarships4Moms • Scholarships for Working Adults
• Dermitage Anti Aging • Compare Health Plan US
• MyWebFace - US • Dermitage Cellulite Removal
• Your Home Biz Now • Rachel Ray Cookware Set
Step by Step
Step 3: Check demographics of recommended offers
I will then check the demographics of the recommended offers
via Offervault.com as before. I will also look to cross reference
with MSN Ad Labs and Alexa where available.
Scholarships for Working Adults
Gender Matches
ToysRUs.com

Dermitage Cellulite Removal

Step by Step
Step 3: Check demographics of recommended offers
I will then check the demographics of the recommended offers
via Offervault.com as before. I will also look to cross reference
with MSN Ad Labs and Alexa where available.
Scholarships for Working Adults
Age Looks Good
ToysRUs.com

Dermitage Cellulite Removal

Step by Step
Step 3: Check demographics of recommended offers
I will then check the demographics of the recommended offers
via Offervault.com as before. I will also look to cross reference
with MSN Ad Labs and Alexa where available.
Scholarships for Working Adults
Has Kids 0-17
ToysRUs.com

Dermitage Cellulite Removal

Toys R Us is probably visited by parents

and grand parents, so I don’t mind the
variances here. Worth a test.
Step by Step
Step 4: Build target specific landing pages
With PPV networks you are allowed to direct link in most cases
if your offer network allows it. However, I like to build a target
specific lander: Note: Some PPV networks will not allow logos.
Change wording as required.

Even if I can’t use logos I like to use similar colors and

fonts as the target URL
Step by Step
Step 4: Build target specific landing pages
With PPV networks you are allowed to direct link in most cases
if your offer network allows it. However, I like to build a target
specific lander:

You can get even more targeted by

finding converting offers that are
very relevant to the URL target
you’re bidding on.

Use your creativity with matching

up targets to offers, sometimes
connecting the dots in PPV is very
simple.
Step by Step
Step 5: Setup the Campaign (screenshots from TrafficVance)
I like to use the rotator
creative option. Prosper202 allows
you to rotate directly to the offer.
I simply use a landing page rotating
script someone made for me on
rentacoder.com ($20)

This allows me to test

3-5 offers with an unlimited
number of pop-up landers if I
choose. Great for split testing.

I will then setup each pop-up lander

as it’s own landing page in
Prosper202 so I can track CTR to
the offer.

I will also enable TrafficVance

pixel tracking on the offers.
Step by Step
Step 5: Setup the Campaign (screenshots from TrafficVance)
Since I am putting all my creatives
in one rotator, I will leave the
creative budget set to UNLIMITED,
I’ll leave Max Visitors per day at it’s
default, but I will put a daily spend
limit in place.

Typically, I will spend no more than

2-3x the offer payout per offer.

With PPV though you need to

watch closely as the traffic and
spend comes much quicker than
PPC typically, remember you are
paying regardless, so real time
tracking via Prosper is what I like to
do, and watch the spend per lander
and offer.

If budget is an issue, try testing only

1 high converting offer that tightly
matches demographics AND
interests, that are very relevant to
the target URL if possible.
Step by Step
Step 5: Setup the Campaign

Next step is to add your targets,

whether they be URLs or
Keywords. In this example, I would
select only the top level target
toysrus.com.

If you want to control spending

even more and target even tighter,
you can grab a specific page url
from the target site and hit that. If
doing so, take advantage of it and
make your ads extremely relevant.
Step by Step
Step 6: Bidding Now comes bidding. Bidding on
PPV campaigns can be extremely
competitive. There is really no CTR
to affect your cost. everything
comes down to who bids more.
Here, I use a brute force style
strategy combined with bidding on
odd numbers again as we did with
POF.

So in this example, the highest bid

per pop is $0.016. I would probably
bid in this case around $0.019, just
so I can get data quickly and work
from there.

If my campaign is running well and I

am maintaining my top spot getting
a good amount of volume and
conversions, I will look to pull my
bids down by odd numbers again, as
long as I can maintain good
position.

Often times you will be engaged in

a bidding war. Meaning, you will bid
high, and in real time you can see
others knock you out of the top
spot simply by refreshing. It can be
annoying.
Step by Step In terms of “winning” a bidding war, there are
a few strategies you can try:

1) Collect e-mails. I like the opt-in approach

assuming I can get a good opt-in rate so that I
Step 6: Bidding have several chances to market to someone.
This allows me to pay more per pop beating
out others, and still have a bigger lifetime
customer value.

2) Try focusing on specific internal pages of

the site rather than the root domain. There
will be less competition here and you should
be able to bid less for what could be more
targeted traffic. Just takes more management
this way. Still bid more than the highest bid on
the root domain though, just don’t actually bid
on the root.

3) Try a different PPV network with the same

target. Sometimes other networks will have
more/less advertisers going after particular
targets, resulting in different costs.

4) I got this one from a blog post on PPV and

it works well, but some will say it’s unethical.

Install the adware/toolbar for that particular

PPV network. For Traffic Vance it is the
GameVance app. Then, visit the target URL
you are going after. Basically, you are spying on
your competitors. When you get the pop-ups,
grab the competitors landing page url, affiliate
link, and tracking url if possible. Add these
URLs to your targets. This way you can
essentially intercept much of their traffic. It
may not convert for you but it will pretty
much get them to spend too much without a
good return. Be creative here.Yes I know, it’s a
dirty trick.
The Scraping Campaign
Strategy
The Scraping Campaign Strategy
- I will briefly touch on this as it’s the most popular
strategy, though I don’t do it much myself.
- It is similar to the Google Content Network strategy
in that you have hundreds of targets and begin to chop
what is not working and keep what is working.
- You will usually require a scraper that will pull tons of
URLs from SERPs based on the keywords you input.
- The best source of paid tools I have seen for this are
Affportal.com and their partners PPVplaybook.com.
They have scrapers, PPV lander generators, and much
more.
But here is a free method of scraping....
The Scraping Campaign Strategy
- Step 1:You will need FireFox browser
- Step 2: Google search “grease monkey”
- Step 3: First result should be the Firefox grease monkey add
on. Install it.
- Step 4: Restart Firefox
- Step 5: Go here... http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/42998
- Step 6: Enable grease monkey and go to google.com
- Step 7: You should now notice an extra button in google.com
that says “Harvest URLs”.
- Step 8: Enter your relevant keywords and click “Harvest URLs”

You will then be presented with lots of potential URL targets for
your campaigns. I actually like this method of getting keyword
based targets for Google Content Network placement campaigns.
The Scraping Campaign Strategy
If using these results for PPV, you will then paste all those URL
targets in your PPV network panel.

When using this strategy, it is extremely important that you delete

all targets which are bleeding money without conversions. Since
your creatives might be more generic here, your conversion rate
could be lower.

Often times, your highest traffic target might be the lowest

converting, so watch your ROI and kill it if needed.
One more strategy....
As you can see, the ability to target ANY url you want can be very
powerful. I’m sure if you’re creative you can come up with lots of
crazy ideas here.

The most obvious while still being effective, is to spy on different

url targets and see the ads which are being shown most often, get
an idea of what’s working and what isn’t. Then, target the actual
offer url or checkout page with your own offer url or checkout
page.

This strategy is pretty self explanatory. If you’re going after sites

with huge amounts of generic traffic, target very specific pages
with a very specific offer.
Let’s talk about PPV Landing Pages
Understand... People Hate Pop-Ups
- Do you like pop-ups? I don’t, and I’m sure most people don’t. This is truly
interruption marketing.

- You can go direct to the offer, but I rather do my own landing page and make it
either as impacting but relevant as possible, or blended in so it looks trust
worthy.

- Scary images, provocative images, our normal CTR tricks from before,
animations, auto play audio and video if the PPV network allows you. Just
anything to make the visitor not close your window!

- Load time. No one is going to wait for your lovely PPV ad to load, make it
lightweight and fast.

- Utilize the title tag. This way, while it is loading, they can see the title tag of the
screen of the page. Make this something that really grabs their attention.
Landing Page Styles
Ridiculous comparisons attract
The Ugly Banner Style
attention and skepticism

Hopefully this next slide doesn’t offend anyone....

Landing Page Styles
Shock and Awe

Yes, some of these can be over the top and

insulting. Often times they do get the click
though.

Please note: Traffic Vance doesn’t really approve

ads like these anymore, sadly. But I have run them
on other PPV networks. Get a good rep =)
Landing Page Styles
In terms of other landing page styles, typically they all have some kind of
ugly, shocking, or sticky element to them.

As I showed before, I will often create an ad similar to the style and colours of
the url I’m targeting. Typically when I do this, I will go the opt-in route and mail
the visitor offers relevant to what that site could be mailing out.

So, for a gaming target like Miniclip.com, I will make a pop-up that says
something to the effect of: “Hi there! We are looking for game fans to test our
upcoming games. Enter your information below, and if you qualify, you will get
first crack at our newest games with the link sent directly to your inbox! Only
a select few will get this chance long before the general public... blah blah”

Here is the one that has worked well for me.... be careful as this is borderline
incentivizing an offer.
 Landing Page Styles

Same font
as MiniClip

Compensation
for them signing
up.

In terms of the “first access to all our newest games”, you will obviously mail them high converting
gaming offers. The “bonuses” can really be anything when you think of it. Could definitely be discounts
to other offers, etc.
The “Other” Side of
Traffic Vance
The “Other” Side of TrafficVance
Text Link Ads
I love these for a few reasons:

1) Low minimum bids and CPC

setup. (start at 15 cents)

2) They also have a 300 x 250

text link ads, high CTR!

3) Not nearly as competitive

4) Supports dynamic keyword

insertion for tracking or ad text
Do You Want Some {KeyWord:Crackers}?

5) Competitive keywords like credit report

and education are still within $2 CPC range.
The “Other” Side of TrafficVance
Text Link Ads
If you’re going to use these, remember that
these will look very much like normal links to
the person browsing the site.

So, the visitor is in browsing mode, not actively

searching for something. Keep that in mind
when deciding where you will link them to.

I have had best results with an article or blog

style lander for higher payouts, and review or
testimonial landers as well. Something that
allows the person to read more about the
subject they were interested in.
Top Text Link Targets
application applying communications
internet degrees weight loss
apply trucks scholarships
training ringtones career opportunities
registration careers mastercard
students hotels teaching
education enrollment employer
truck singles undergraduate
schools coupons financial
resume dating investigation
vehicles management tuition
career nursing recruiting
register cell phone foreclosure
classes scholarship mailing list
college human resources loan
vehicle cruise debt
employment certification free games
learning ringtone airlines
credit toyota engineering
earn itunes healthcare
jobs salary download
credit card association job openings
university diet employment opportunities
communication browser job search
insurance personals grants
tires associates masters
credits eating slots
courses marketing arts
applications graduate broadband
phones financial aid health care
degree mattress work
campus admissions earning
art vacation finance
financing money curriculum
admission wire transfer verizon
 A Quick Note About
Scaling PPV Campaigns
 A Quick Note About
Scaling PPV Campaigns
 A Quick Note About
Scaling PPV Campaigns
Here are my recommendations to scale successful PPV
campaigns:

- If you have used the scraping method with large amounts of urls, make sure you quickly eliminate
targets which are bleeding money. Same as GCN.

- Probably the easiest way is to take your winning creatives over to other PPV networks. Outside of
Traffic Vance I recommend AdOn Network and I’ve heard good things about Lead Impact.

- If your campaign is Google friendly, modify the size of your creatives and target the winning URLs
with a Google Content placement only campaign

- If a winning URL is not available in the Google Content Network to test, approach the webmaster
directly and look to negotiate a private buy
My Final Thoughts on PPV
My Final Thoughts on PPV
- PPV can be an extremely powerful traffic source, but
it usually isn’t the easiest route to go for beginner and intermediate
marketers
- It’s a hot topic, so that means there is a great deal of competition

- If looked at from a CPM bidding perspective, it is actually rather

expensive starting at $5 CPM. The advantage is people are being
overtaken by your ad or lander. This can be great for branding (or
horrible if you do it the wrong way)

- Due to the nature of bidding wars and traffic costs on PPV, very
small payout offers such as $1-1.50 can be difficult to turn a profit
with, unless very targeted on a low competition target
My Final Thoughts on PPV
- The fact that you can target any URL you want is what makes
PPV so powerful. Targeting offer pages and checkout pages hits
people the furthest down the funnel as possible really. It’s your
best chance at intercepting

- I personally like being very targeted to my urls, but many have

found success scraping

- If you’re on Traffic Vance, test out their text link ads =)

- I’ve never tried this, but hijacking guru launch pages to get people
to buy their products through your link with your bonuses could
make a lot (high commission rates).You could even get your link to
their opt-in to pop-up. My only question is how many potential
internet marketers have the ad ware installed. Warrants a test.