Pay-per-click (PPC) is another way of attracting people to your site through the search engines. It allows you to bid for certain words or phrases. The size of your bid affects your ranking in the sponsored section of the pages. In Google, for example, the PPC ads are those down the right margin and above the natural listings.
The great thing about PPC is that you only pay for the people who visit your site, not for people seeing an advertisement. And you can set a limit to the amount you’re prepared to spend.
The important thing to get right with PPC is your return on investment (ROI) analysis. You need to measure your conversion rate – the number of people who click on your ad divided by the number who buy. You then calculate the cost per sale – provided the cost is lower than the value of the sale, you’re in gross profit.
Small increases in conversion rates can have a dramatic increase in profits. That’s a subject for another time but conversion strategies are key to online profits.
PPC can be an excellent way of giving a short term boost to your search engine rankings. It shouldn’t replace the positions you achieve through optimisation but supplement them.
To learn more about how to use PPC profitably I highly recommend this FREE e-book. You can download it from http://www.payperclickexplained.com/freebook/
You can hire people like ourselves to organise a PPC campaign for you or do it yourself. We identify the most cost-effective words and phrases to bid for, write the advertisements, place them and monitor the results. Call me on 44(0)1453 873638 or mail paullock@incisecomms.co.uk.
Or you can deal with the search engines yourself – the main PPC engines are www.overture.co.uk and www.google.co.uk/adwords. But they’re not the only ones and certainly not the cheapest. You’ll get lots of traffic with both but you’ll pay top dollar. See www.payperclicksearchengines.com for details of cheaper and geographically focused engines.
The first step with Google Adwords is to identify a large number (preferably 300 or more) of low-cost but highly targeted keywords/ keyword phrases. Here are some free tools you can use to generate keywords and key phrases:
Good Keywords
Misspelled Keywords
WordTracker (Free trial version)
Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions tool
7Search.com's Keyword Suggestion Tool
Use the 'Keyword Matching' option to better target your ads. Unlike conventional pay-per-click models, AdWords ads are ranked based, roughly, on a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) X Click-Through Rate (CTR) formula.
Keyword matching helps you achieve a higher Click-Through-Rate (CTR) for your ads and therefore, a higher ad ranking, without increasing the Cost-Per-Click (CPC) of your campaign.
For example, a phrase match keyword like "website designer" will show up for the search query "best website designer" but will not display for the search query "design a website".
So, using the 'Phrase Match' option will minimize 'untargeted' impressions and result in Click-Through-Rate (CTR) improvements.
The two most important factors of a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign are the ads themselves and the amount you bid per click.
Writing Your Ads for Google AdWords
Writing good ad copy is part art, part science. You need to express a benefit that gets people to click on the ad. If your ad is the same as everyone else's, it won’t do well. To determine your best ads, you need to test different approaches.
Start by identifying your target market and keyword selections. If your company focuses on a
specific market niche, target your ads to that niche.
The ads you write should include your main keywords in the title or near the start of the text. Get attention by using phrases and words that get people excited and curious like "Save on holidays," "Get cars cheaper," or "Join now for 15% discount,". But be truthful. If you
advertise something that you don't offer, Google will ban your ad.
Now start writing different ads – say three more. Test them and compare with the performance of the first ad. Over time you’ll learn which ones pull and CONVERT best. It’s essential to monitor both response and conversion to ensure you’re attracting the right audience.
Getting your bids right with AdWords
When you enter your maximum cost-per-click (CPC), Google will show the estimated average position for each keyword.
However, with Google there’s no way to see what the competition is paying so you won’t know how much to pay to get a good top three position. It’s probably best to start with a max CPC slightly higher than you would like to pay. This should ensure a higher ranking for your ad and improve your chances of getting clicks. If your ad does well, your rank will increase. Once you’ve got a good click through rate (CTR), you can reduce your max CPC to get the position you want.
How to get targeted traffic to your site NOW - To learn more about this author, visit Paul Lock's Website.
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Paul Lock
(Visit Paul's Website)
Brought up in London and been in marketing
since the days of Johnny Rotten - yes,
that long. Corporations may be slow moving
and full of political windbags but
they're a great way to get your training.
After 20 years 'training' I went into
the agency world and set up my own company
three years ago. We help small businesses
make the most of their web marketing
investment, from design and planning to
search engine optimisations and analytics.
If you can't measure it, don't waste
your money - are you a business person or
a gambler? Over the years I've made more
mistakes than you could shake a stick at
and, on the basis that an investment in
knowledge pays the best returns, I offer a
few morsels which might help you make
fewer mistakes than me. I hope my articles
help and feel free to visit my web site.
Best of luck,
Paul
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