One of the most commonly misunderstood sources of traffic among web marketers is the Google Content Network. It’s true that working with the content network is different than working with PPC, but when used correctly the content network can deliver streams of targeted traffic to your website, almost overnight.
How do you get started with the content network?
==> Start by Compiling Groups of Keywords
Unlike AdWords that allows you to bid on keywords individually, the content network works by keyword “groups.”
Brainstorm a few different groups of related keywords. For example, if you were selling used watches, you might go for a keyword group like:
* Used watches
* Preowned watches
* Watch valuation
* Buy a used watch
* Real used watches
The idea is to find keywords that people are likely to have in their pages and group them together. Unlike search PPC, where you’re targeting words that people type in, this time you’re targeting keywords that’ll cause your ads to show up on the right kinds of websites.
==> Use Placement Targeting for Instant Results
Don’t want to have to wait for Google to find websites for you? You can do it yourself instead.
Google’s placement targeting tool allows you to look for the website(s) that you think will work best for your offer and target those sites specifically to have your ads display on.
Go to Google’s Placement Targeting tools to look through a list of sites. You can browse by keyword or by topic. Be sure to look at what kinds of ads they accept. If you’re targeting a highly trafficked website, it may pay to design a graphic banner ad just for their site.
==> Content Network Traffic Behavior
Content network traffic behaves differently than PPC or SEO traffic.
For whatever reason, marketers have typically not been able to sell high-ticket, mid-ticket or often even low-ticket items to content network traffic.
What does work, however, is converting content network traffic into email list subscribers. Once they’re a subscriber, it’s not that difficult to get them to become a buyer a few weeks down the road.
Why does content network traffic behave differently? Nobody really knows. Some believe it’s because the traffic is less targeted, because they’re not actively searching for you in the search engines. Others believe there’s just less credibility in clicking an AdSense ad.
Whatever the reason, the secret to success to know how your traffic
source works and adapt to it.
That’s how you set up content network traffic, both through keywords and through placements. Remember that content network traffic works far, far better as a “long-term sell” than a one-time sale. Remember to keep testing different traffic sources, eliminate the sites that aren’t converting and keep the rest.
