Putting pay-per-click (PPC) Campaign to work
Now that you have your average visitor value, you can begin to look at the different keywords on which you might bid. Before you do, however, you need to look at a few more things. One of the top mistakes made with PPC programs is that users don’t take the time to clarify what it is they hope to gain from using a PPC service. It’s not enough for your PPC program just to have a goal of increasing your ROI (return on investment). You need something more quantifiable than just the desire to increase
profit. How much would you like to increase your profit? How many visitors will it take to reach the desired increase?
Let’s say that right now each visit to your site is worth $.50, using our simplified example, and your average monthly profit is $5,000. That means that your site receives 10,000 visits per month. Now you need to decide how much you’d like to increase your profit. For this example, let’s say that you want to increase it to $7,500. To do that, if each visitor is worth $.50, you would need to increase the number of visits to your site to 15,000 per month. So, the goal for your PPC program should be “To increase profit $2,500 by driving an additional 5,000 visits per month.” This gives you a concrete, quantifiable measurement by which you can track your PPC campaigns.
Once you know what you want to spend, and what your goals are, you can begin to look at the dif- ferent
types of PPC programs that might work for you. Although keywords are the main PPC element associated with PPC marketing, there are other types of PPC programs to consider as well.
Pay-per-Click Categories
Pay-per-click programs are not all created equal. When you think of PPC programs, you probably think of keyword marketing-bidding on a keyword to determine where your site will be placed in search results. And that’s an accurate description of PPC marketing programs as they apply to keywords. However, there are two other types of PPC programs, as well. And you may find that targeting a different category of PPC marketing is more effective than simply targeting keyword PPC programs.
Keyword pay-per-click programs
Keyword PPC programs are the most common type of PPC programs. They are also the type this book focuses on most often. By now, you know that keyword PPC programs are about bidding on keywords associated with your site. The amount that you’re willing to bid determines the placement of your site in search engine results.
Did you know that Google and Yahoo! have $100 caps on their keyword bids? They do. Imagine paying $100 per click for a keyword. Those are the kinds of keywords that will likely cost you far more money than they will generate for you. It’s best if you stick with keywords and phrases that are more targeted and less expensive.
The major search engines are usually the ones you think of when you think keyword PPC programs, and that’s fairly accurate. Search PPC marketing programs such as those offered by vendors like Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN are some of the most well-known PPC programs.
