As the free search engines become increasingly competitive,
not to mention complex, pay-per-click ("PPC") advertising
can be ideal for the small business operating in a niche
market.
Study the workings of the PPC search engines and you'll be
on a fast-track to success. Conversely, poor knowledge can
put your business on the slippery slope to ruin. Listen to
me carefully now! Learn how to operate PPC search engines
and you will have a great advantage over your competition.
If you've ever attended an auction to bid for a piece of
furniture or artwork you'll have some idea of how to
advertise on the PPC search engines. In this case you're
bidding for high ranked spots on the keywords you've
identified for your business. Visitors will arrive at your
site by clicking on your search engine advert, and each time
that happens you'll pay the search engine the value of your
bid. A bid can be as low as 5 cents, but some highly
competitive keywords can cost several dollars.
Now I'd like to discuss some advantages and disadvantages of
advertising with PPC search engines. Advantages first :-
1. Only when someone clicks on you advert are you required
to pay.
2. This can be an inexpensive way to generate targeted
traffic for your website.
3. Absolutely anyone can attain the top ranking advertising
spot if they are prepared to outbid their competitors.
4. Some PPC search engines enable a campaign to be up and
away in minutes. Not very long after you could be taking
orders.
5. Adverts can be cancelled immediately if they are not
successful.
6. Campaigns can be tested and refined very quickly and very
easily.
Unfortunately there are some disadvantages we have to discuss too -
1. You could be paying for junk clicks. i.e. people who click on your advert for
the sheer hell of it. Probably your competition.
2. The cost per click can escalate if you and your competition become
involved in a bidding war over that top spot.
3. Your advert may be subject to a strict review prior to approval. This can
delay the start of the campaign considerably, and you may not like the final
advert they approve.
4. A poorly worded or, even worse, misleading advert could generate traffic but
not make sales. Unless you've placed a restriction on your advertising budget,
your business could quickly be on the road to insolvency.
So how do you tip your toe in the water with PPC advertising? Before you do
anything else research the keywords that your target market are searching on.
You wouldn't want to bid for traffic on an irrelevant keyword would you? The
methods for carrying out this research are a fully fledged topic in their own
right, which I'll cover in a future article.
Another essential piece of knowledge you require before entering the bidding
fray, is the monetary worth of a visitor to your website. By this I mean the
average revenue generated by each visitor. This will be your guide to how far
you can push it in the bidding process.
It may be the case that your site is new and you have no visitor experience, but
want to use PPC advertising to test your sales copy. Then be careful and track
your costs and sales copy closely. Initially set yourself a daily budget - an
amount you can afford to lose if the traffic fails to convert to sales. If your
copy is attracting customers like crazy then increase your budget accordingly.
You're almost ready to get going. What I've provided here is an overview of PPC
advertising. Use this as the first building block in your quest to master the
PPC search engines.
Wishing you success online with PPC advertising.
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About the author:
Mark Vandorone provides a simple, easy-to-use, and powerful
traffic resource through his website
Five Marketing.
Squeeze every last penny of value you can from your
advertising campaigns - and at no risk. Please Pay Mark a
visit at http://www.fivemarketing.com |
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