Newbe trying to set up a PPC campaign

[Denis1]

Hi everyone,

I just got the Google Cash Detective 2 and am trying to clone an ad that seems to be doing very well.

I am a complete newbie, so I need help. I was trying to do the direct linking but couldn't figure that out so decided to get my own domain name and do a redirect.
I got the domain name through GoDaddy.com and my host is Hostgator. How in the world do I set that up so my display URL redirects to the page that I need to go to.
Does anyone have any ideas where I can find information for this or can maybe someone help me out. I looked at the video in Affilorama but it didn't tell me how I can do a domain forwarding or masking in Hostgator.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Denis

[davetish]

Denis,

You don't do forwarding or masking in Hostgator, you do it at Go Daddy. Just select the domain you want to forward or mask and click on "Forward" at the top of the page. That will take you to a page where the process is pretty self-explanatory. You just enter the url that you want your domain to forward to and hit the button. It takes an hour or so to take effect.

[Denis1]

Hi Davetish,

Thanks for the quick reply. This forum is great.

I actually did that but it didn't seem to forward. So I thought I needed to do it in Hostgator. In Adwords Editor I click on my "title" this is what it is telling me. "The target url was invalid. Please contact the publisher to get it fixed."

I will go back into Godaddy and see if I can see what I did wrong.

Am I correct in thinking that my hoplink will be the Destination URL? Can I also attach a landing page to the end of my hoplink?

Denis

[davetish]

What you need to do at GoDaddy is point your domain's nameservers to Hostgator. If you haven't done that, nothing will work. If you have done it, be aware that it can take up to 72 hours to take effect. Once your domain has propagated across the Internet, in other words, once it has "taken effect," you can forward your domain. I assume you want to forward it to your ClickBank hoplink. That makes it a direct link from your AdWords ad to the merchant's sales page. If you want to use a landing page, then do not forward your domain. Instead, build a landing page with your domain name as the url, hosted at Hostgator. And on your landing page include the ClickBank hoplink. That way, anyone who clicks on your AdWords ad will be taken to your landing page, where they can click on your hoplink to be taken to the merchant's sales page. Make sense?

Tish

[Denis1]

Tish,

It does make sense. After my last post I went to GoDaddy to see what I screwed up on and I did forget to do the DNS servers. I hope I did it right thou. It gave me 3 options.

1) Parked nameservers (Park my domains here.)
2) Hosting nameservers (Host my domains here.)
3) Custom nameservers (I host my domains elsewhere.)

I clicked on #3 and it gave me 2 servers. I guess it knows that I have Hostgator because of my website that I have.
I then clicked on "OK" and it said it was updating my request.
I guess I will see tomorrow if it is working.

Tish, thank you very much for your help.

Denis

[davetish]

Denis,

Unless GoDaddy has changed things, the Hostgator nameservers would not automatically be in those two boxes you saw -- you have to enter them. They would look something like this:

ns1439.hostgator.com
ns1440.hostgator.com

You should have received that information in the welcome letter you got from Hostgator. In any case, you might go to GoDaddy and double check to make sure you've got the right info in the nameserver boxes.

Tish

[Denis1]

Tish,

I think I got it now. I contacted Hostgator and I needed to change the nameservers to point to Hostgator. Nobody said I had to be smart doing this.
All has been changed so I guess I need to wait 72 hours for everything to work.

You are awesome Tish....thank you.

Denis

[davetish]

No problem. Best of luck!

[Fanatic]

I have about 60 direct linking campaigns up now
(my assistant helped me out with the dirty work
though) but haven't made any sales yet.

I'm ranking well though, and it's only been 2 days;
I'm not new to the PPC game but am excited to
see how this works out.

Denis, keep us updated about how you do!

[Denis1]

Hey Fanatic,

Just got back from a trip to Scottsdale visiting relatives. No time to work on my campaign. Found out that I got the Google Slap. I want to do a direct link but still not sure how to do it.

I got a domain name and put that as my "display" URL and also the "destination" URL. I then went into GoDaddy and did a forward and mask. I put my hoplink in the for the forward. Is this right????
Google disapproved my ad because of the display URL.
What did I do wrong? Do I have to have a landing page?

So many questions and so little time.

Thanks, Denis

[Denis1]

Update...Update.....Update

I have 4 campaigns up now on Adwords. Only one is even going. The others are sitting there with "0". No impressions and no clicks. I made a landing page and it is doing nothing. I mean "zero" anything.
I ain't giving up, I will figure this out come hell or high water.

[jonpastorizo]

Denis,

If you have done the domain forwarding and masking through godaddy correctly, you should have no problem with your ads in google. This is the method I do when I test campaigns when I feel the product is going to do well. I just go buy a domain from godaddy for less than $10 for a .com and less than $13 for a .net. I figured it's worth testing the product with that initial spend. The main reason why I do this method instead of direct linking is to avoid the double serving rule which basically hurts your campaign during the test period because you are not getting the most impressions that you should. If you are only doing 1 adgroup for all your keys then it's easy to see the keys if their corresponding ads are showing or not. However, if you do it like I do having 1 keyword per adgroup for all 3 match times (most of the time I avoid "Broad"), then you will have a heck of a time checking each adgroup for the keywords' ads if they are showing on search or not. It is always best to start and complete a test accurately because it will determine how you will approach the campaign. If you launched a direct linking campaign and you have a competing affiliate who is also direct linking then you may run into the double serving rule. And if you are not getting all the impressions that you should then your just wasting time and money conducting an inaccurate test.

Whenever I get a problem when google says my ads were disapproved because of inaccurate display url, I just call their customer service. They check it out and I get my ads approved.



Hope this helps,
Renato

[Denis1]

Hey Jon,

Thanks for the reply.

Do you do "forwarding" for your own landing page? I did get a domain name for the landing page. I get disapproved for the display URL. I have the display URL as my domain name. I then have the destination URL the same. Is that the way it should be???

Is it OK if I PM you, I hate to look like an idiot on this forum.

Denis

[jonpastorizo]

Hey Denis,

It's ok to PM me, no problem. Don't be shy if you are asking questions that you think may seem simple. The reason why you're asking is because you want to know. And that is why a forum is always good.

You are correct. The domain name should be the display URL and the destination URL. The hoplink is the one you put in your domain forwarding information so that anyone visiting your domain will be forwarded to your clickbank hoplink. Since it is masked the visitor will see your domain instead of the merchant domain name. Try calling Google's customer service and ask them kindly. Most people there are trained well and provides good customer service. Here is their number: 1-866-246-6453.

Hope this helps. PM me anytime you have any questions. I will do my best to answer your questions.



Renato

[Denis1]

Renato,

Great, I will be calling them first thing Monday.

Thanks for the help

Denis