PPL, PPS, PPC, and PPI: Affiliate Compensation Models and Their Benefits

by | Feb 25, 2015 | Advertising

The acronyms PPL, PPS, PPC, and PPI, affiliate marketing, and advertising compensation method, are probably familiar to most online marketers. Each compensation method pays differently and has a different earning potential. Which one is right for you?

Each has its benefits, its drawbacks, and its applications. Generally speaking, certain types of compensation pay more than others, but it should be noted that these rates can vary greatly, especially when it comes to highly competitive industries. 

Pay-Per-Lead (PPL)

Most companies place a high value on leads and offer pay-per-lead (PPL) – often considered a type of pay-per-action (PPA) – compensation methods. As with most affiliate networks and compensation methods, the rate can vary greatly from advertiser to advertiser and from industry to industry. Lead-generation programs offered through affiliate networks can pay anywhere from $2 to $20 or more.

Subscription-based services, such as internet service providers and cell phone networks, as well as other service-based vendors, tend to use this model.

Pay-Per-Sale (PPS)

Pay-per-sale (PPS) requires payment in the form of a commission each time a product is sold. This commission is almost always a percentage of the total cost of the product. As with the other compensation models, the exact rate can vary greatly. But, in general, this rate has the potential to be as high, if not higher, than the others.

Some sales, such as a $2.99 ebook with a 6% commission, doesn’t have a lot of monetization potential, given the low commission rate as well as the low conversion rate for purchases. A camera, however, that generates the same commission on a $1,500 sale would have the potential to be much more lucrative.

This compensation model is very common in affiliate marketing and can earn marketers a great deal of income, but it is also highly competitive and quite time-consuming.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one of the most ubiquitous, common terms in the online advertising world. With this compensation method, marketers earn money each time a person clicks on an advertisement. Anyone who wishes to monetize an app or a website, for instance, can insert PPC ads as a way to generate an online income stream.

In general, PPC ads don’t earn very much revenue – often less than a few cents. Highly competitive niche markets, however, can pay much more. Logically speaking, then, the more traffic you have and the more you engage them, the more money you will earn.

Pay-Per-Impression (PPI)

Pay-per-impression (PPI) ads are another common compensation model for display ads and text ads. They generate revenue based on the number of times people view the ads. From the advertiser’s perspective, this compensation method is typically called cost-per-mille (CPM), which means cost-per-thousand impressions.

As with PPC, the pay tends to be low relative for this compensation model, and often requires large amounts of traffic in order to gain a significant income.

Which Compensation Model is Best for Marketers?

After reading the above descriptions, it may seem that PPL and PPS are the better way to go. After all, they earn you much more money, so why wouldn’t you?

It’s true, but there are other factors that you should take into consideration.

PPL and PPS take more time to implement. Adding ads to your website, software program, or browser extension is usually a matter of inserting the proper code. And if you have enough traffic to your site or users engaged with your app, you’ll be able to generate decent revenue.

On the other hand, it can be harder to convince someone to spend money on a product or service. You have to put time and effort into contextualizing the offer, creating good content to pitch the sale, and earning people’s trust. This type of marketing can often be a part-time or even full-time job.

Affiliate marketing is highly competitive. Generally, when people use the term “affiliate marketing,” they are referring to PPL, PPA, and PPS compensation methods. Because this type of marketing can be so lucrative, it is also highly competitive. The niches have all become saturated with talented, tech-savvy marketers who make it very difficult to squeeze in. And, as time goes on, these fields will only become more competitive.

Certain types of content are more suited to certain types of marketing. PPC and PPI ads are ideal for certain types of content, but not as ideal for others. They can be excellent for monetizing software, apps, or browser extensions, for instance. Since PPS and PPL marketing often relies heavily on context and content, it can be more of a creative and logistical challenge to use these types of marketing to monetize anything code-based.

 

While there is no one right way to monetize anything, there are two general things to consider: what type of content you’re trying to monetize and how much time you have to put into your online marketing efforts. For those who want to put less time into marketing and more time into content creation, PPC and PPI ads are probably the way to go. But for those who want to focus on the marketing side of things, context-driven sales, and so forth, PPL and PPS compensation methods will probably work well.  

Pay Per Play vs. Pay Per Impression vs. Pay Per Click – What’s Better?

by | Feb 24, 2015 | Advertising

Pay per play, pay per impression, and pay per click are all compensation methods used in online advertising. If you’re a developer who wants to monetize an app, if you’re a blogger who wants to test out monetization methods, or if you’re simply curious, you may want to learn more about them.

Keep reading to learn which compensation method pays more and which you should use in your advertising campaigns.

Pay-Per-Play

Pay-per-play (PPP) gets less play than other compensation method acronyms (pun intended). This is certainly because it refers to a relatively uncommon method of advertising: audio advertising.

It’s not that audio ads themselves are uncommon, but they are uncommon online. The web is a medium composed predominantly of written content and visual images. Though audio ad networks are available, they are relatively uncommon.

Anecdotal evidence from around the web suggests that they just don’t generate that much revenue. The Nielsen Norman Group – leaders and experts in the usability field – suggested that audio ads have a negative impact. They are ranked right up there with the “dreaded pop-up ads.”

Pay-Per-Impression

Pay-per-impression (PPI) is a compensation method that pays based on the number of impressions, or views, that an ad receives. From the advertiser’s perspective, this is abbreviated CPM, which stands for cost-per-mille, or cost-per-thousand-impressions.

This type of compensation model is used predominantly with display ads, text ads, video ads, interactive ads, and so forth. The pay rate varies, but is more widely known than the PPP compensation model, simply because there are so many more ads that use PPI than PPP as a payment setup.

As you may be able to guess, the advertiser pays out the ad network and the publisher each time an ad is viewed 1,000 times.

The rate varies based on the specific type of ad and the industry. Video ads can be over $20, while other types of display ads average at a few dollars per thousand impressions. At the low end, you’ll be receiving a few cents; at the high end, you’ll be receiving a few dollars, but the rates never quite compare to the rates for video ads.

Pay-Per-Click

Pay-per-click (PPC) rates are often much less per click, with small click-through rates that average around 0.3%. This means that if you receive 10 cents per click and get a 0.3% conversion rate, you will need more than 300 visitors to get a single click. That means you will need more than 3000 visitors to get a dollar.

Now, this is just extrapolation based on a hypothetical scenario with a hypothetical web page. But it gives you one clear idea: you need lots of traffic to earn money from these ads.

This is true whether you are using PPC ads on your website or in your app, though bear in mind that people tend to use apps for much longer periods of time than they do websites. The more engaged a user is with an app, the more they’ll be exposed to ads and the more likely they are to convert.

Which One Works Best?

It’s a toss-up between the PPC and the PPI. In either case, whether you’re designing for a website or an app or a software program, you’ll need significant amounts of traffic to generate a decent income from the ads.

To figure out the best option for you, put the ads in context with your particular marketing campaign and your content. If you already have an app or a website, it should be a simple matter to test out each advertising method and see which one works better.

Let’s compare the math above to potential earnings for a PPI ad: if you receive 10 cents per thousand views, then it would take 3,000 views to reach 30 cents. Not quite the same as 3,000 views for one dollar, is it?

Of course, this “10 cents” metric is arbitrary. As mentioned, the rates vary greatly based on your industry and how high profile your app or website is.

The highest paying industries, regardless of the compensation method, are business, technology, family and parenting, home and architecture, and web design. The lowest-paying industries are gaming, weddings, and beauty.

Do a little research to find out the average payments for your industry, then rough out some calculations to find out how much traffic you would need to reach a certain dollar amount.

From the above data, it’s clear that the PPP compensation method, i.e., audio ads, just isn’t feasible unless you run a radio show or podcast. And between the other two methods, PPC ads look like they have better results, but always do your advertising research, check your traffic and conversion numbers, and test. In some cases, the conversion rates and payout rates don’t equal the industry averages. 

5 Ways to Boost Your Software Downloads – Tried and Tested

by | Jul 17, 2014 | Advertising, Distribution, Software

Developing your own software can create significant revenue potential for your company. With the right product, you could become the next Microsoft.

OK, so may you’re not going to become the next Microsoft, but you could definitely create a successful product that will help bolster your business or create a whole new niche for your business. The right development and marketing plan is essential to your success. Here are a few tips for how to increase software downloads to make any new business venture a success:

Create a Great Product

When you create a great product that provides value for your users, it will almost sell itself. Almost. If you want to get a ton of software downloads, you need to create an excellent software package that provides real solutions for your target audience. Test and re-test the software to make sure that it works smoothly and doesn’t have any glitches.

Conduct focus groups to find out ways to strengthen the software and add features you may have overlooked. The more you do to perfect your software, the better it will perform when you put it on the market, and the more downloads you will get.

Conduct Targeted Marketing

The secret to increasing software downloads is the same as it is for selling any product: Create targeted marketing.

You can’t just write content or create ads that talk about how great your software is; you have to write with a specific audience in mind. The more specific you are about who that audience is, the more specific (and successful) your marketing can be. It helps to define not just your audience, but also a specific persona for your audience.

For example, you might decide that you aren’t just targeting female entrepreneurs, but are trying to sell to female entrepreneurs who run a mid-size company and earn a certain amount of revenue each year. By defining the specifics of who your target audience is, you can create more targeted marketing that gets results.

Run PPC Ads

Pay per click advertising (commonly known as PPC advertising) can be very effective advertising since you only pay for ads that users act on, increasing your chances of getting conversions.

You also set the budget for your PPC campaigns in advance, so you can spend only what you want. When most people think of PPC advertising, they think of Google AdWords. While it’s certainly the biggest fish in the sea, it’s not your only option. You can also buy PPC ads for other search engines, like Bing, as well as special platforms, such as browser extensions.

By exploring all your options, you can increase your exposure and increase your software downloads.

Use a Smart Installer

The speed of your software’s download can have a big impact on your conversion rate. If the download takes too long to complete, users will cancel it and move on. In order to increase the number of software downloads, you need to increase the speed of the download.

One way to make the download process more efficient is to use a smart installer. This tool helps downloads go more quickly; at the same time, it gives you the opportunity to monetize your software.

You can display special offers or related products to your users while they are downloading your software. The right smart installer will help you increase your software downloads while also increasing your revenue stream (through both sales and advertising profits).

Bundle the Software

Creating a partnership with another business has long been a promotional strategy for all types of products. Using this strategy is a great way to increase downloads of your software, too. You can bundle your software with a related product to create a special deal that will encourage sales.

By creating a software bundle, you benefit from the established reputation of the company with whom you choose to partner. You reach their customer base, and you benefit from the marketing they do for the software on their own channels. In addition, the software bundle provides two great tools for your customers at one low price, which will help to drive sales.

Make sure you choose the right company to partner with and the right software to bundle to ensure that this strategy is a success. Creating the right marketing plan is essential when you are trying to increase downloads of your software.

While traditional marketing efforts like content marketing and PPC advertising will get you some results, you should also consider alternative strategies such as using a smart installer and creating a software bundle.

You’ll reach far more of your target audience and start meeting your sales goals more quickly. Your next goal: To create more software and continue building the suite of tools to help your customers and grow your brand. You may not become the next Microsoft, but you can still be something great.

What is Software Bundling and Why it Can Boost Your Sales

by | Jul 7, 2014 | Advertising, Development, Distribution, Installs, Monetization, Software

Creating your own software can be one of the most beneficial things you do for your business. Instead of recommending useful software and other technological tools to help your clients meet their business goals or make their work more efficient, you can create software that is specifically designed to meet their needs. If anyone knows what your clients need, it’s you. In fact, you’re are an expert on what they need, so you’re in a good position to create a powerful tool that delivers the solutions to help their business grow.

Just like with any product, you have to design an effective strategy for marketing your software and getting it in front of your target audience. You may know that it will innovate the way your clients do business, but they don’t know that until they try it. The key to your success is getting them to try it in the first place.

Software bundling can help you get your software in front of more people and meet your marketing goals. The way that software bundling works is that you identify another company with a recognized brand name or an innovative (but not competing) software product, and create a partnership. When clients download that company’s software, they also get yours – or vice versa. In the process, they get a great deal on two products.

Here’s how software bundling benefits you, as well as your clients:

More Downloads

By linking your brand to another brand that already has an established client base, you can help drive downloads of your software through bundling. The other company will be conducting its own marketing campaign to promote its software, which you will benefit from by being linked to the software. You’ll automatically get more downloads thanks to the joint efforts of the other company in promoting the bundle.

You’ll also get more downloads because your clients will feel incentivized to purchase thanks to the bundle pricing. In most cases, the bundle will offer the software package at a lower price than if the two were sold separately. If not, then additional features can be offered. Either way, the promotion encouraged clients to download since they will be getting something they wouldn’t if they limited themselves to individual purchases.

More Exposure

Even though you won’t convince every single client to download your software, creating a bundle will get you more exposure with every person who sees it. Partnering with the other company ensures that you maximize your exposure by getting the software in front of a whole new client base. Your software will go out to the other brand’s email marketing list, social media channels, blogs and maybe even their direct mail list. That’s a significant number of new clients you could be reaching with the partnership.

And the benefits don’t end here. You will also reach a wider general audience with software bundling. The excitement behind the bundle will help you to reach more people, who can all become potential clients. Even if the exposure doesn’t translate into immediate sales, it does create top-of-mind awareness that can make it easier to close a sale when you reach out to those same people in the future.

More Sales

Obviously, more downloads translates to more sales of your software. In addition, the increased downloads and increased exposure that you get from software bundling can also lead to more overall sales for your company. Hopefully, those who download will now have a favorable view of your products and your company, and will feel more encouraged to check out your other offerings and buy from you again. They may buy your other software, or they may give your other products and services a try.

Those who become aware of your company through exposure to the bundle deal will be more likely to buy from you in the future. The more often a person sees your brand, the more likely he is to trust your company or see it as an authority (assuming that what the person sees isn’t negative). That means that person is more likely to do business with you in the future. Future sales might include the software you are trying to promote or your other products and services. Either way, it’s a win for you.

Software bundling may not be the first thing you think of when you plan your marketing strategy. However, it can be far more effective than traditional means of advertising. You get more results, which means that you can spend less while getting a greater return on your investment. Software bundling doesn’t just translate to immediate downloads and sales. It also creates a partnership that can lead to more exposure now and in your future endeavors, all of which creates more authority for your brand and helps you generate more sales long into the future.

 

 

Learn How to Improve Your Revenue With Website Traffic Software

by | Jul 2, 2014 | Advertising

Let’s get one thing straight: Website traffic software isn’t some kind of magic genie that funnels traffic to your site. You can’t just make a wish or press a button and see your site go viral (though imagine how cool it would be if you could!).

It is, however, a great way of increasing exposure and traffic for your site through advertising or special partnerships. For example, getting your site included on a browser extension can gain you prominent visibility among users.No matter which options you choose, website traffic software can help your business. To find out how, continue reading.

Increased Traffic

With a name like “website traffic software,” you’d expect one of the main benefits to be increased traffic to your site – and that’s precisely what you get. A smart installer channels traffic to your site whenever users download an app or software package. A search feed sends users to your site after they’ve searched for information related to your business.

The key to maximizing the traffic you get from these pieces of software is to only advertise with relevant publishers. Get your message in front of the people who actually care about it, not just anyone with a pair of eyes. You’ll get a bigger return on your investment, and you’ll help your business grow faster.

More Exposure for Your Brand

By putting your name in front of more people, website traffic software helps you gain more exposure for your brand. Even if the people who see your brand in the software never click through to your site, they’ll be aware of your company. After seeing your name enough times, they’ll start to remember your brand without having to visit your site or see your ads. It’s called “top of mind awareness,” and it’s essential to the success of any marketing plan.

The more top of mind awareness you create for your brand, the more effective your advertising and other marketing efforts will be. Your target audience will already have some experience with your brand, and the name recognition will make them more likely to act.

Higher Page Rank

The more traffic you get for your site, the higher your page rank will be. That means your site will appear higher in search results and will get more organic traffic long into the future. You won’t have to spend as much on advertising or other marketing efforts going forward because your site will get more traffic from users who are just searching for brand-specific information.

Greater Efficiency

Website traffic software allows you to work smarter, not harder. You don’t have to spend hours and hours doing keyword research, creating PPC campaigns, tinkering with budgets, and performing A/B testing. Instead, you can get the same results by using software that’s already designed to meet your target audience where they are. This could be in a browser extension when they’re already surfing the net, or a smart installer when they’re actively downloading an application.

Using the software will make your work more efficient, freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of business development. 

Monetize Your Site

One key benefit of website traffic software is that it helps you monetize your site. You have a wide range of options to choose from, so there’s potential to generate significant income from your site. But choose wisely! Stick to tools that are relevant to your target audience as this will surely help maximize your results. For example, you should only partner with a smart installer that sells products that are similar to your own or that appeal to the same audience.

The more tools you use, the more money you stand to earn. Just make sure that you don’t overpopulate your site with ads or software that resembles ads. Doing so can make your site look spammy and alienate potential clients.

You may need to do some testing to strike the right balance between profitability and customer satisfaction. Online advertising technology has grown significantly in the past few years, and website traffic software can help you meet your marketing goals and grow your site quickly. Other benefits of the software include improving your efficiency, getting more exposure for your brand, and creating opportunities for you to monetize your site.

Make sure that you research all your options carefully so you find the right tools for your site and you work with providers that have a good reputation for performance and customer satisfaction. You’ll get a much larger return on your investment and have a much more pleasant experience in the process.

Simplify Your Software Distribution with These 4 Tips

by | Jun 17, 2014 | Advertising, Installs, Marketing, Monetization, Monetization News, Pay Per Install, Software

Developing software that your business clients can use is one of the best ways to provide value for them and to establish yourself as a valuable resource or authority in your industry. The software doesn’t have to be a huge, comprehensive suite. It just needs to provide a specific solution to a specific problem in order to be successful.

Developing your software is just stage one of the process. You also need to develop a marketing and distribution plan to drive sales and ensure your success. Here are a few tips for how to make software distribution easier and help meet your sales goals:

Use an Installer

Downloading software can be a laborious process – more so the larger the software package is. Clients may lose their patience with the process if the download takes too long or uses up too many resources on their computers. This can lead to a bad reputation for your software, which can hurt sales and hurt your overall business.

Using an installer can help you make the process easier and speed up the pace of the download. In doing so, the installer will increase the completion rates for your downloads. Tools like InstallFuel provide these benefits and also allow you to monetize your software.

You can display special offers during the installation process, either for your other products or for products and services from advertisers. The installer is customizable so you can get the look you want for it and can make it display what you like during the download process.

Sign Up for a Browser Extension

Browser extensions can be powerful advertising tools. People download them to make searching the Internet a bit easier while they are online.

However, they can also display special offers during the installation process or during regular use. If you sign up as an advertiser, you can get more exposure for your software. If your software can be downloaded online, the browser extension can also encourage more downloads.

Explore the available options to sign up with a browser extension that will reach your target clients.

Signing up for the right extension can make all the difference to your success. Research thoroughly and read reviews from other businesses.

Check the stats on users and their demographic information.

Create a Bundle Deal

A great way to increase downloads of your software is to bundle it with other programs or apps. You can do this by creating a partnership with another company. It’s best not to approach your direct competitors for this partnership. Instead, focus on those that offer complementary services.

For example, if your software helps businesses handle project management, you might approach a company who offers software for record keeping or payroll (if that’s not included already in your software package).

By partnering with another company, you get more traffic and customers thanks to the exposure and reputation that the company already gets.

By creating the bundle, you also encourage more downloads by making the software available at a discount. Just be sure that you’re using an installer to make the download process fast and efficient.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to increase software distribution. By offering affiliates a commission for software sales, you gain access to a large network of promoters. The better the commission you offer, the more advertisers will agree to promote your product.

Find the sweet spot where you can offer the largest commission while also retaining the margin you need to stay profitable.

Sign up for large affiliate marketing sites to gain access to the largest number of advertisers.

Create professional marketing materials for those advertisers to create brand consistency and to make it easier for them to get the results you need.

Make sure your site is optimized for sales so that you can convert the traffic that is sent your way. The better the affiliate marketing program you create, the more downloads you will get and the more successful you will be.

Software development and distribution can be a successful branch of your business.

With the right software, you can raise your business profile and generate significant revenue.

Creating the right marketing strategy is essential if you want to maximize the potential for your software. In addition to the usual methods – such as content marketing, e-mail campaigns, search engine optimization and social media marketing – you can take advantage of these tools to drive downloads and make the distribution process a little easier.

An installer can help speed the download process and increase completion rates, and browser extensions, bundle deals and affiliate marketing programs can help you increase download rates. Don’t limit your efforts to only one of these.

Take advantage of all the tools available to you to create a multi-pronged strategy and maximize your results.