Hmmm, I was about to rip into you, Jess... then I realised who you are :)
As far as the whole PPC / affiliates thing goes, it is a fine line to walk for anyone. Obviously, self-management is an option, and works well for small campaigns, or for really large corporations that can afford to invest in a full time member of staff to manage the campaign, but in general it's not a route I would recommend if PPC is a serious part of the marketing mix
Affiliates do represent a good opportunity to outsource all the management and risk, going to a purely pay-for-performance model. I happen to know many of the super-affiliates, and most of them are at least adequate PPC managers. Some of them are amongst the most talented PPC managers in the world (but trust me, you can't afford to hire them directly). However, if you choose to rely heavily on affiliates, remember not to hack them off. Far too many merchants see the affiliate channel as a "fire and forget" thing, just provide a data feed, sign up some "technology affiliates" (otherwise known as "parasiteware" affiliates), and reverse as many payments as you think you can get away with. This is NOT a good long term strategy.
Media buying agencies - I wouldn't touch them for PPC work. What they do, they do very well, but they see PPC space as just another ad inventory, and it isn't, not even close.
Specialist SEM agencies - In many cases, this would represent the best choice. SEM / PPC agencies have good relationships with the PPC engines, lots of experience in keyword selection and bid management, and will spot click fraud more quickly than most other channels, and have more success having it fixed (ie clicks refunded), and should be able to advise you on how to protect yourself against it.
I'd also like to address some of Jess' points
>> I allow affiliates to do PPC but not on our name or trade mark.. If you do take this route, you need to give your affiliates clear instructions as to what they can and cant do.
I personally think that if you are going to have affiliates, you should allow them as much freedom as possible. I do understand that disallowing PPC bids on trademarks could be necessary to protect brand values etc, but you should NOT go as far as Interflora for instance who seem to have all but forbidden their affiliates from mentioning "Interflora" or "flowers" in their online activities, including PPC campaigns AND their own (the affiliates) websites.
I think that Jess' policy represents a good stab at finding a happy medium. I don't entirely agree with her stance, but I'm hard put to come up with a better idea
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Ashley , 29 Feb 11:25 As the costs of clicks drifts upwards for PPC and the resource time (i.e. cost) of managing increasingly complex PPC campaigns, with increasing numbers of more refined search phras ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Julie Brown, 1 Mar 06:08 SEM and organic SEO ?????
Do remember there are folk on the first or second
rung of the e-commerce ladder ! Julie,,, The Winchester Diet ...
RE: Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Ashley , 1 Mar 06:26 Hi Julie
SEM = Search Engine Marketing and SEO = Search Engine Optimisation. It's all about how you use search engines to help drive relevant traffic to your site. As with anyth ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, johnm, 2 Mar 09:20 Hi Julie
For a. I hope - let me know, expalntion of the more popular areas of SEM SEO & PPC please have a look at our website(not that I am advertising)
www.websitemarketing-uk ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Jess, 3 Mar 16:31 For what it is worth, I allow affiliates to do PPC but not on our name or trade mark.. If you do take this route, you need to give your affiliates clear instructions as to what the ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, TallTroll, 5 Mar 12:32 Hmmm, I was about to rip into you, Jess... then I realised who you are :)
As far as the whole PPC / affiliates thing goes, it is a fine line to walk for anyone. Obviously, self- ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Jess, 5 Mar 14:46 Lol, infamy!
I think I need to state that my beliefs can be compromised when it comes to these kind of issues. First of all, I have to follow the guidelines as set by my employe ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, GogoPertov, 5 Mar 21:51 Try http://www.click-share.com
I am working with them from 6 mounts and have very good results with very high CPC.
They also provide text and products ads. ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Loz, 10 Mar 17:16 Hi Cost-Per-Click isn't a good thing ;)
L
On 21:51:48 5 March 2006 GogoPertov wrote:
Try http://www.click-share.com
I am working with them from 6 mounts and have very ...
Pay per click (PPC) and affiliates, Ashley 
, 29 Feb 11:25
