Are Paid Ads Worth It for Affiliate Marketing?

Running an affiliate marketing business is not any different from all other businesses. It is more than writing content and promoting products because you’ll make several decisions, including whether using paid ads for affiliate marketing will bring you results faster. It doesn’t matter if you joined the best affiliate program. You still need to develop multiple marketing strategies to promote your affiliate site.

Affiliate marketing has a lot of trial and error, with affiliates using different strategies and techniques to stay ahead of the competition. Those with the means usually opt for paid ads, but whether they are worthwhile depends on the return on investment. Keep reading to learn more about paid ads in affiliate marketing, and determine if you should invest in them.

What Are Paid Ads in Affiliate Marketing?

Paid advertising is one of the techniques that affiliate marketers use to get leads and higher conversions. Many affiliates fail to use paid ads because they don’t have the resources to invest in them, especially when the effects are unknown. However, before paying for the best ads in affiliate marketing, you need to understand what they are and how they work. 

Paid ads take different forms, and it is up to you to decide if it works for you. For example, if you are in the Luca's Gift affiliate program, you should decide which ads will bring you favorable results. 

Paid ads for affiliate marketing take the following forms.

Depending on your marketing strategy and budget, you can use one or all of these ad options for affiliate marketing. Wealthy affiliates tend to have greater freedom and resources to invest heavily in ads. Some affiliate marketers have credited their success to paid ads. 

How to Sell Affiliate Products with Paid Ads

Many successful affiliates make money using paid traffic for affiliate marketing, so you can try this to grow your affiliate business faster, and increase your conversions and income. However, you should learn how to do it right because a poor strategy will be costly, both in time and money. 

Before we explore paid ads in detail, I would like to point out that paid ads are a lead-generation tool. It shouldn’t define your affiliate business. 

For example, a common thought process for affiliates is, “I’ll pay for ads so that I can make more money back”. While this is basically what paid ads do, this is not a business model. Paid ads undergo several changes, including algorithm adjustments, and you should be prepared for them. Instead of focusing on the ads, you should see them as a means to an end. Building a steady and loyal audience should be the end game. 

Now, let’s look at some of the paid ads to consider, including their pros and cons.

1. PPC Ads

Microsoft Ads and Google Ads are major platforms that affiliates use for pay-per-click ads. You will bid on keywords, preferably long-tail keywords, that people use when searching topics related to your affiliate products. Once you identify the keywords, you will create appealing text ads. The idea is to make it so catchy that those who see the ad can't help but click on it. As the name suggests, you only pay for clicks. 

2. Social Media Ads

Social media ads reach billions of people globally, so they are the best paid ads for affiliate marketing. The 2024 statistics show that Facebook has 3.07 billion active users, YouTube has 2.5 billion users, and Instagram has two billion users. Social media offers detailed and targeted analytics, making it easier for affiliates to optimize their affiliate campaigns. 

3. Display Ads

As mentioned earlier, display ads appear on third-party websites. You will use ad networks, like Google Display Network, to target people browsing content similar to your affiliate products. You can use images, videos, or text ads in your banner ads, native ads, or other ad formats available. 

The display network has multiple targeting options to ensure your ads reach the right audience at the right time. For example, you may use the recommended smart bidding techniques, based on your affiliate marketing goals.  

You have two options when handling display ads, pay-per-click ads or pay-for-conversion. If you opt for the pay-for-conversion, you’ll use the target CPA (cost per action) bidding strategy, an automated bidding system that facilitates as many conversions as possible. 

Google Ads usually uses target CPA to determine the bid based on the likelihood of ad conversion. Once you set your target CPA, to say $10, if you get 20 conversions, you will be billed $200. Target CPA doesn’t charge you for impressions or clicks and is a popular option among affiliates because you need not worry about unprofitable clicks. 

Best Practices for Paid Ads in Affiliate Marketing

Paid ads, even when in the best affiliate program, can be a challenge. There are no guarantees that your paid-per-click ads will result in conversions. Additionally, you need a strategy for what you will do with the leads you generate. Many affiliates miss conversion opportunities because they don’t have plans beyond the paid adverts. 

Here are key pointers on how to be successful in paid ads for affiliate programs. 

• Use multiple media for paid ads: Instead of depending solely on social media ads, you should also invest in PPC and display ads. 
• Concise and readable text ads: They should have a hook that draws the attention of someone mindlessly scrolling through a website or social media. 
• Be creative: There is no limit to what you can do with paid ads for affiliate marketing. Ensure the ad is relatable and eye-catching.  
• Keep testing different ads: Paid ads don’t always work, but when they do, the return on investment makes it worthwhile. Don’t leave the same ads running for an extended period, especially when you are not getting any clicks or conversions. Be as creative as you wish, even when you don’t think the ads will work. You may be surprised that ads you don’t expect to perform well have higher conversions.
• Call-to-action: Your ads should not leave the audience with questions on what to do next for them to get the affiliate products. Insert the URL redirecting people to the next phase after clicking on the ad. 

How to Track Conversions in Paid Ads

The aim of getting the best paid ads for affiliate marketing is to get better conversions. You should track the returns on the ad spend, and the true returns from the conversions you make from each ad against your affiliate link. This information will also help you determine which keywords and ads to optimize for a more profitable ad campaign.

Most ad platforms allow you to set up a URL that tracks conversions and any other action you wish to take with the ads. 

Tips for Paid Ads Success in Affiliate Marketing

Paid Ads can be expensive, especially when your affiliate marketing advertising budget has unfavorable returns. One of the tasks you need to perform as an affiliate is to confirm if you’re getting value for money. You can do this by focusing on the cost per acquisition (CPA). 

Total Ad Spend / total conversions = CPA

For example, if you spent $2,000 on ads and had 500 conversions, the CPA is 4. This means you spend $4 in ads to attract a customer. The lower the CPA the more profitable the paid ads. Here are some tips on how you can achieve this.

• Regularly improve the ad copies and landing pages.
• Experiment with different target audiences until you find the perfect fit for your affiliate products. 
• Regularly analyze your data and focus more on the highest-performing ads.
• Analyze data on your existing customers and then tweak your ads targeting an audience in similar age groups and interests. 
• Retarget past visitors who expressed interest in the affiliate products, but have yet to convert into a sale. You can create custom audiences in the ad platform, reminding them that they once expressed interest in the products. Maybe they were not ready to purchase the products then and may need a nudge to do it now. 

Paid ads can be worthwhile if you know how to optimize them and when you use the right media. If you’re in the best affiliate program, you will have an easier time making conversions with paid ads, but you still need to put in the work. If you’re worried about losing money, you should go for pay-per-conversion ads over pay-per-click.