Although some would suggest that direct linking doesn’t work with PPC any longer, there is definitely still a place for it in testing your campaigns. If you’re just getting a feeling for a niche to see how it converts, then using a direct merchant link across a fairly broad set of keywords isn’t a bad way to survey the competitive landscape.

The worst thing that can happen on the search front is that you have to share impressions with another affiliate that’s doing it as well, and you’ll likely get enough traffic to figure out whether there’s any point in going further.

On the Content Network this works pretty well too, as the breadth of placement opportunities means you’re less likely to butt into another affiliate with the same direct link. If you cast your net wide enough and things look good, then building out your own domain and mini-site should be up next.

If you’re going to be promoting a product or niche of products for the long haul, worry less about what landing pages the vendor has and more about setting up a flexible site on your own domain that allows you to taste or sample new products and offers in that general niche.

Google scours the content on your domain and decides early on how much latitude they’ll give you in promoting related products on that domain.  If you make your domain a bit broader in it’s category to begin with, you’ll likely have more room to maneuver different products in the same general vertical.

For instance, if you have a general ’software’-related domain, you can swap out promoting any number of products without starting with a new site, vs. having a ’security software’ domain that would seem irrelevant for use in promoting DVD-to-iPod converter programs.  You can always use domain-aliasing later on to micro-target more specific software verticals as time goes on.

When it comes to building out your own site, a RevenueWire affiliate manager can provide you with honest feedback on what you’re building and the product graphics etc., to get it looking its best.