How To Click With Online Advertising
Clicking With Online Adverts
If your business is small and operating in a niche market,
you need an alternative to the free search engines that are
becoming even more competitive and complex. Pay-Per-Click
(“PPC”) advertising can be that solution.
Study the workings of the PPC search engines and you’ll bo
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.
Advertising on the PPC search engines can be a bit like
attending an auction where you can bid for the top ranked
positions on the keywords of your choosing. Every time a
visitor reaches your website by clicking on your advert at
that search engine you pay the value of your bid. Bid
values typically start at five cents but can be several
dollars for certain highly-competitive keywords.
Let’s consider the advantages and disadvantages of PPC
advertising. First some advantages –
1. You don’t pay unless someone clicks on your advert.
2. Can be an inexpensive method of attracting targeted
traffic to your site.
3. Anyone can get the top advertising spot if they outbid
the competition.
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. Adverts can be tested and amended very quickly and very
simply.
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. Competition over that top spot can result in a bidding
war, driving up the cost per click.
3. Some of the PPC search engines have rigorous approval
processes for adverts. You don’t always end up with an
advert to your liking, or it could take a long time to get
the advert agreed.
4. A misleading or poorly crafted ad can result in traffic
that doesn’t convert to sales. If you haven’t restricted
the advertising budget to something you can afford – then
in these circumstances you could be on that fast track to
bankruptcy.
Having considered both the upsides and the downsides, how
do you get started with PPC advertising? First and foremost
you should carry out some research into the keywords that
your target customers are using to search for your type of
product or service. Techniques for conducting this research
are numerous, but lack of time and space here prevent me
elaborating further. I will cover this topic further 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.
If you want to use PPC advertising to test your sales copy
on a new site with no visitor knowledge, then monitor your
costs versus sales closely. A daily budget is advisable at
the outset. Limit your spending to something you can afford
to lose if the worst occurs and you don’t make any sales.
Raise this as appropriate once you can see the sales
conversion rate.
You’re just about ready to dip your toe in the water. I’ve
simply given you an outline here and this is only my
interpretation of PPC advertising, which I suggest you use
as a stepping stone to finding out more for yourself.
Here’s to your online success with PPC advertising.