Pay Per Click Advertising is One of the
Quickest
and Most Effective Ways of
Promoting Your Business Online.
Pay Per Click Advertising - Effective Trackable Advertising
Some call it keyword auctioning,
and if people are bidding high prices to get on the major search engines
and other top web properties, then you know it's a profitable place to
be.
Many potential advertisers make the mistake of thinking that since they "just
ignore the PPC ads" themselves, that others do too. However, as Google's
recent record profits show, many people do see the ads and click on them
- and advertisers keep coming back for more!
 While some advertisers have difficulty converting click-throughs to
sales, many others do. For them, PPC advertising is a blessing. It is
possible to get a paying customer at your web site for 5 cents. While
it's nice to have high
organic search engine rankings, those rankings
may not be achievable for some time even with the help of an SEO
company.
PPC ads can be live and on the first page of search engine results in
a matter of minutes.
Today, the major pay per click advertising programs are offered by Google
and Yahoo. Google's program called AdWords delivers targeted pay per
click ads via its own search engines and a host of partner sites. Yahoo
Search Marketing (formerly Overture) has a selection of specialized PPC
advertising programs. These PPC advertising programs offer the best quality
traffic for most website marketing campaigns.
Planning and Writing Skill is Needed
To produce effective PPC ads you must bid on the right selected keyword
phrases, write persuasive, moving ad copy and have a well-written page
to have them click through to. The bid price on some keyword phrases
is mind bogglingly high, so good judgment is necessary now. If you know
how to attract the prospect and deliver them seamlessly to a solution
they need, you'll be rewarded with a good sales rate. This writing skill
can be used for other text type advertising placements on websites other
than Google, MSN. and Yahoo.
Tip: A custom prepared PPC campaign by an SEO
professional is still the best approach to pay per click advertising.
Self Managed PPC Campaigns
Are self-managed PPC advertising campaigns a wise decision? Well, if
you have some writing skills, understand consumer psychology and have
lots of time, you may save some money. In our experience, clients tend
not to be efficient enough to do it themselves, although their knowledge
of the customer and the products features and benefits are helpful. Some
SEO consultants have good experience in this field and have learned the
time and money wasting lessons. They also have a system of filtering
out the poor performing ads and enhancing the good ads.
PPC advertising is all about relevance, particularly with Google AdWords.
If your ads don't get clicked on enough, they will be removed.
If your advertising needs are high and you have to find click-throughs
cheaper than $5, it may be wiser to use the services of an SEO consultant.
Pay Per Click Marketing
- How
Does PPC Advertising Work?
- Good
Targeting and Timing
- Finding
the Right Keywords
- Writing
Your PPC Ads
- Writing
Your Ad Titles
How Does PPC Advertising Work?
Basically, you the advertiser pay a rate you specify for every visitor
who clicks through from the search engine site (or their affiliates)
to your website. It's simple and quick. Each unique keyword phrase (e.g.,
Orlando insurance agent) has its own bid price. You set the budget. With
a credit card and a website readied, you're on your way to advertising
on the web's top sites in no time.
Yahoo Search Marketing offers numerous PPC subprograms. Yahoo has
renamed its products many times which has made it confusing for some
advertisers and thus discouraged new advertisers. Google as well, has
created some special capabilities in AdWords that are worth using. Both
have introduced tracking and return on cost (ROI) statistical features
which can be very beneficial to those who don't have their own e-commerce
team.
Return
Good Targeting and Timing
As you know, search engines return a list of websites relevant to a
person's keyword search. High rankings in the free (organic) search results
is an exceptionally valuable achievement. However, with tens of thousands
of websites all competing for a keyword phrase ranking, it is difficult
to rank highly for multiple keyword phrases.
PPC advertising on the other hand, allows you to get your website listed
on the results pages of an almost limitless number of keyword phrases.
That kind of reach is incredibly powerful.
For most of the PPC engines, the advertising rules and listing procedures
are straightforward. The highest bidder for a phrase gets top spot. Both
programs have relevance requirements. That means you have to target the
right type of searcher or consumer with the right keywords. Your ad must
get clicked on regularly enough or it will be removed.
Generally speaking, before launching your PPC campaign you should take
an inventory of the product and services categories you're interested
in, along with the specific products and services you have to offer.
Make sure these products and what you're going to say about them, is
substantiated by your website content otherwise your ad won't be allowed.
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Finding the Right Keywords and Phrases
Your search engine optimization consultant should help you target the
right keywords. There are keyword suggestion tools you can use such as
those provided by Yahoo, Google, and Wordtracker. Through
experience you'll see these keyword services can lack accuracy. Good
keyword selection goes deeper than this because you must still filter
out those ads that don't bring real paying customers.
Tip: Avoid bidding wars by searching for more specific
multiword, targeted keyword phrases.
That means you'll have to find lesser-used, two or three-word phrases,
many of which aren't suggested in the keyword suggestion tools. It takes
skill and experience to cull out the good keyword phrases. Keywords can
also be found in your web site transfer log files however, they will
only show those keyword phases your site is already ranking high on.
Both AdWords and Yahoo have keyword rules and they may not allow you
to bid on keywords that aren't used very often, even if those keywords
are highly productive in terms of profit.
Tip: Pause your campaign during those times when your
top prospects aren't normally searching for your service or products.
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Writing Your PPC Ads
The wording of your ad listing is a tricky matter because of the limited
space you're given and the restriction on the wording you can use. Believe
me, these restrictions do pose a problem and you'll be anguishing a little
as you try to write an that works. You'll want to use natural promotional
language in your ads, but you may not be allowed.
Not being able to use direct marketing type copy is an extra challenge
as one Yahoo client said to me, "Yahoo is very picky and has a
policy that doesn't allow me to implement my keywords, which is very
baffling."
Below is an example for the fictitious business, www.somebusiness.com.
Notice there is no use of superlatives such as lowest and best. And you
can't use promo punctuation such as ! and $ and, forget about excessive
capitalization. Try and get you direct mail copywriter to conform to
these rules!
New Automobile Price Quotes - Free all the Time. Save money at www.somebusiness.com.
www.somebusiness.com
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Writing Your Ad Titles
The title (first line of your ad) is treated differently by different
PPC programs, however, having your keywords placed in the title is a
good decision usually. That's the golden rule of search engine marketing,
use your customer's words to grab their attention. When you test different
ad wordings, you'll discover which are effective. You have to learn quickly
however, because you may not be allowed to bid on that phrase again,
if your ads performance was particularly poor. Some of your competitors
will be making offers to customers that you'd think would wipe all chance
of profit, and their ad may make your well written masterpiece invisible
in comparison. It is competitive, and you must be prepared to deal with
the challenges that you'll face from your competitors.
Of course the words free, instant, and bonus, are attention getters.
Call now, or get yours here, are calls to action to encourage readers
to click through to your site. Each program has guidelines that you'll
have to read. If you make mistakes, you'll be warned (disapproved) once,
then ignored. They have no interest in your web master's problems or
your manager's concern with legality of terms.
Your domain name listed below the title can influence the reader's perception
of the quality and relevance of your ad. If your current domain name
sounds unrelated or too promotional sounding, you might consider getting
a new domain with a name that sounds a little more serious. An important
thing to remember is how your value proposition to the customer
can be conveyed in a few select words.
Having a search engine copywriter do this for you makes sense because
they are familiar with the psychology involved, keyword choices, and
the rules and regulations of the PPC programs. They also know what copy
content is needed in your pages. Generally speaking, before launching
your PPC campaign you should take an inventory of the product and services
categories you're interested in, along with the specific products and
services you have to offer.
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