If you're new to affiliate marketing, you may or may not have heard of direct linking. Put simply, it is a method where you send pay per click traffic directly from your PPC ad to the merchant's web site. It is one of the fastest ways to ramp up an affiliate business as you are not concerned with constructing your own websites or landing pages.

Direct Linking is a bit of an enigma, there is a great deal of mis-information regarding the practical use of it as a strategy. Furthermore, there is the perception in some circles that it is frowned upon by the major search networks. This isn't entirely true, but Google in particular has made direct linking practices more restrictive than they used to be.

If you're looking for a bit of insight into this marketing angle, read on. I'll give a brief example of how it works and then provide some pros and cons.

The Basics:

You construct your ad with the following elements:

* Headline (Contains destination URL)

* 2 Lines of Ad Copy (where you are selling the product/service to the customer)

* Display URL

The Headline is generic text related to your ad but also contains the destination URL as an embedded link. This URL could be one of a number of formats. For simplicity, it's usually a special link that includes the page address where the customer will end up, combined with your affiliate information. They sometimes look something like this:

http://affiliate_info.merchant_info.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=keyword

This is so the merchant can track where the customer was referred from, and pay a commission if there is a sale. Destination URLs can be quite lengthy as they usually contain a lot of information. The limit in most search engines is usually 1024 characters. There are other options like masked domains and cloaked links, but to explain them is beyond the scope of this article.

The display URL must be the primary domain where the customer will ultimately end up. For example, if you are direct linking to the page

www.awesomeshoes.com/nike

your display URL must be

www.awesomeshoes.com

or even

www.awesomshoes.com/nike

The latter is acceptable as you can show sub domains.

Be mindful of character limits with display URLs in search network ads.

Pros of Direct linking:

1. Speed

The most obvious advantage of directly linking your ads to the merchant site is that you don't have to construct any kind of website or landing page. You can literally have a campaign up and running in a matter of hours.

2. Build Credibility

If you link to a Merchant that has at least some kind of business presence on the web, the customer will see the display URL and will automatically associate your ad with the Merchant. It goes a long way to overcoming the confidence gap customers will feel towards an unknown new business.

3. Great Training

Direct Linking is great for testing Merchant offers to see if they are profitable BEFORE you invest too much capital into your campaign. Pay Per click marketing involves a learning curve, and direct linking lets you get your hands dirty and learn the ropes before you commit to a site of your own.

4. Most Direct Path for the Customer

This is especially important when you are trying to sell retail or brand names online. In many instances people know exactly what they want, and they don't want to jump through too many hoops to get to it. If the customer has to click through too many pages to get to the point where they can purchase the item, they may give up, go back to the search page and click on your competitor's ad.

5. Landing Page Quality Score

Quality score is a complex beast, but put simply, the search engines penalize or reward you for how relevant the landing page is, in relation to your ad and keywords. If you are landing on an established business's web page and providing your ad is well constructed, your quality score should be healthy.

Cons of Direct linking:

1. Not all merchants allow direct linking

Some merchants don't allow their affiliates to run direct linking campaigns to their web pages. They feel it offers value that is marginal and creates unnecessary competition. Some Merchants on the other hand love it, as it brings in extra business. Always check your Merchants terms of service. And remember that the Merchant can change their policies anytime they like. Not good if you have a mega successful direct linking campaign you suddenly have to suspend.

2. Competition for keywords and display URLs

This is probably the greatest challenge facing affiliates who direct link. As there may be many affiliates using the single merchant display URL, competition for high converting keywords may be an issue. When you are new, you may get pushed out by affiliates with more bidding power and better quality score due to a solid account history. This is also known as the "one URL" rule. For Example, if there are 10 affiliates bidding on the keyword "ringtones" and all are direct linking to the single merchant, only 1 of those affiliates ads will show up. This will depend on who has the best quality score and highest bid price.

3. You get more control with your own site.

With your own site and landing page, you get the chance to pre-sell to the customer. There are many examples of affiliate sites which take on a "review" format where you can evaluate various products and recommend the best. Many people are looking for review sites to get a third party opinion before they buy.

To quickly summarize. If you are new to affiliate marketing or would like to test a new niche, consider direct linking as a fast strategy where you can try things out before over committing yourself. If you are more experienced and you know that you are in a profitable niche, your own site and landing page will be a great long term investment.