Affiliate/salesman copywriting versus "smart pricing" copywriting

Anyone smart enough to be able to articulate the difference(s)?

[Webwork]

Affiliate model: Build a succession of affirmations and agreements - leading to the ultimate "yes click": BUY NOW!

SmartPricihng copywriting: Tightly targeted, product benefit focused copy that is hopefully "smart matched" to on topic ads.

How else would you distinguish "a webpage that is a friend to smart pricing" from a webpage that is a friend to a pay-per-acquistion/affiliate program?

What is different about the copy? The format? The layout?

Have you even taken a page and tweaked the same content so one page serves a dual purpose: Affiliate links/ads plus AdSense?

Or, take the same page, tweak its content and make 2 pages: One for AdSense and one for an affiliate program?

Is there an art to getting the 2 programs - AdSense and affiliate - to play nicely on the same page? Any pointers you would be kind enough to share?

[Jenstar]

The problem is that publishers do not know how their site is doing with smart pricing... my page of highly crafted well researched content could convert far lower than a scraper site on the same topic. So you can't really write to get the highest smart pricing benefit, unless Google gives more information about what sites are converting higher than others. And I am pretty sure they won't release that data ;)

[Webwork]

So you can't really write to get the highest smart pricing benefit, unless Google gives more information about what sites are converting higher than others.

Agreed that greater transparency about what works would be a + for participants. Without giving away any trade secrets Google ought to be able to present 99.44% of what works best. (AdSense School?)

IF 80% of the ROI/SmartPricing variance between sites hindged on an undisclosed .66% of the content/website differentiating factors ("the secret sauce") I could see Google holding this information close to their vest - as this might allow Google to target sites for solicitation, etc. Google could also translate the specifics into more general guidance, to deliver an educational benefit.

Perhaps they're playing it close to the vest because, sometime in the near future, we might see a version of Google Content Creation & Syndication. Google creating their own version of Wikis and populating that with Ads? So they might be holding onto the secret sauce forumla for their own benefit? One never knows.

Still . . . as we labor in the dark . . aren't we laboring to discover, by studying our own ROI, [i]exactly what those "differentiating factors" are? Of course we are. ;)

My short list of "pure conjecture" SmartPricing variables, that need addressed during site build, are these:

• Prequalified Traffic: Webpage and website SEO designed to filter and/or prequalify traffic, not simply draw the most traffic
  
• Per EFV: Copywriting crafted to help the visitor decide how to best spend their money, i.e., further prequalifying the clicks for a "ready to buy" or "I'm actively shopping" mentality
  
• Copy that excites "the buy" Emotional? Factual?
  
• Relevant ads Doh! Proactively filter out ads that presumably off topic to your filtered traffic.
  
• Content delivery based upon IP filtering/cloaking Might be the future of effective PPC. Filter presentation for demographic variables associated with the home of the website visitor. Corresponds to the localization of ads delivered. Interesting how this could play out.
  
• Better demographic data For any website, a better understanding of its own visitor trends can only help.
  

All speculation, unfortunately.

Still, the question remains "What are the differentiating factors between a site that converts PPC clicks versus converts affiliate clicks"?

Looks to be a lot of overlap but still . . . BUYNOW . . is what drives affiliate profits.

Filtering and prequalifying? High on the list in both cases.

BUYNOW? Emotion and building the agreement. Right pricing too: $29, $49.

AdSense versus Affiliate on the same page? Does it work "by coincidence" or "by design"?

[roycerus]

Firstly I think that there isn’t very big difference in what an affiliate ad or a ppc ad is trying to do – an advertiser is trying to sell a product or an advertiser is trying to buy traffic so that he can gain a subscription or sell products in the future [hoping for repeat visitors through bookmarks or newsletters]

Now with the introduction of CPM ads adsense has kind of become a bit of a problem for some types of pages – as I recall incredibill was getting very annoyed with the CPM ads. His pages are probably more suited [and gains more revenue] through a PPC model – so I would guess incredibill’s website is probably directed towards an industry and not any particular brand or category of products [like small business and not small business hosting].

“What are the differentiating factors between a site that converts PPC clicks versus converts affiliate clicks?"

I think it’s mainly the extent you describe the product. I think a PPC model is more suited for contextual advertising – where you are writing about a sport or an industry in general. And an affiliate model is more suited towards copy that has been written specifically about a product or a category of product – for example digital cameras.

AdSense versus Affiliate on the same page? Does it work "by coincidence" or "by design"?

An affiliate placed at the right page would probably out perform adsense so I would have to say it’s “by design” I remember reading one of brett’s comments where he was pointing towards the fact that it’s important to find your high traffic pages and then writing some more like them and then finding and adding the right products on those pages.