Archive for the 'PPC Advertising' Category

Killer Pay Per Click Advertising in Five Easy Steps

Monday, November 10th, 2008

Google, MSN, and Yahoo have created amazing advertising opportunities with their pay per click advertising models. Their simple systems have encouraged thousands of businesses to dump countless millions of dollars into their online advertising campaigns. The only trouble is that far too many people don’t know how to effectively create powerful PPC campaigns that convert into leads or sales.

Creating effective PPC campaigns can be simple. Below are five tricks you can use to be well on your way towards powerful and effective pay per click advertising campaigns.

5. Display URL. Once upon a time, Google allowed advertisers to put whatever they wanted into their display URL, the website address visible on the PPC advertisement. Now, your ad needs a real URL that everyone will land on when they click on your ad. You can’t even use a URL that redirects to a different website. For this reason, your display URL is even more important. Make sure you capitalize the first letter of each keyword in your display website name. For example, my website URL is www.creative-emarketingsolutions.com. When I use that URL in my PPC campaigns, I set the display URL as www.Creative-eMarketingSolutions.com. This capitalizing helps your business URL stand out from the pack.

4. Use keywords in your first ad line. When you only get four lines in your ad, and one of those lines is your display URL, the first line of your ad is very important. It has to grab the reader’s attention and announce to him or her that you’ve got exactly what they are wanting, and your product or service is superior to all the others.

3. Features vs. Benefits. The next line of your ad should display an important benefit of your products and services. The third line- the last one before the display URL- should explain a feature of your products or services. What’s the difference? A feature is why a customer should purchase your services or products, and a benefit explains how your customer’s needs will be met because of what you are selling.

2. Keywords. Take the time to use Google’s Keyword tool to find keywords that are searched for often, but for which little competition exists. The right keywords will determine the prices you pay for your clicks.

1. Run at least two ads at the same time. Too many people don’t take advantage of this little trick. When you create your PPC campaign, don’t settle for writing just one ad. Create at least two different ads. Then make sure you have Google rotate your ads evenly instead of letting Google decide which ad is the best performing one and running that one all the time.

You never know what might make a difference in your CTR or click through rate. Sometimes just switching the text in your second and third lines increases your CTR. Different titles convert differently. Different display URL’s convert at varying rates. You’ll never know until you run a couple ads in competition against each other. Then, when you’ve generated enough clicks, you can decide which ad works best, drop the losing ad, and create a new ad.

These tricks will help increase your return on investment in the tough world of PPC advertising. If you’re ever in need of help in creating your own pay per click campaign, please don’t hesitate to ask our professional staff at www.Creative-eMarketingSolutions.com. We’ve helped dozens of businesses realize their online marketing goals now for years, and we’d love to help you!

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Choosing Your PPC Keywords

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Good keywords can be compared to a good tagline. They are both equally important for the success of your advertising campaign. Your keywords are in effect the base of your PPC advertising campaign. If you choose weak keywords they will cause your campaign to fail, however strong ones can make your campaign soar.

Do your keyword researches to ensure you have the best keywords for your campaign. You will need to explore all niches in your market and examine every keyword in detail. In this way you can select the most effective ones.

Here is an example to clarify the concept of keywords. “Real Estate” can be used as the base keyword.

Now, you must be aware that real estate is a very competitive keyword on the net. This is due to the fact that the commissions are very high.

Your initial step will be to compile a list. Think of the many keywords your potential customers might use, when they think about the base keyword. Take our example “Real Estate,” searchers can use alternatives such as; investment property, real property etc. These keywords are just the tip of the iceberg as they are quite similar to the base word. This means that you should search a little more.

Next you will need to enlarge your search into different niches or types of real estate. Some examples include; boarding houses, commercial real estate etc. After this you will be able to mix your new keywords with your initial ones and get some completely new keywords.

You can also create an ad group that will focus entirely on real estate company names. You can also add a .com to the name or your own country extension. It would not matter if such a domain does not exist, sometimes people type similar things into the search engine giving you an opportunity to get your product some low cost clients.

It is unwise to use broad based keywords, instead try to use niche keywords that target your chosen market. Try to imagine that you are your potential client and think of the keywords they would use to search for your product.

Here are some points to note:

- Attach .net and .com to keywords.

- Domain names and company names can also draw customers.

- Try adding superlatives to your base word like best, cheap etc.

- Check your web logs to find out the keywords your visitors used to find you.

- Your competitors sales copy is worth checking out.

A good tactic is to make different lists for different categories of keywords, plurals in one, typos in another. If you do this you will be able to pinpoint your potential customers better.

You can make considerable lists of keywords from the information you have found in this article. When you choose winning keywords nothing will impede your progress. When you arm yourself with effective keywords you will make an outstanding campaign. Good luck!

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Common PPC Advertising Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Because it allows you to target prospects specifically by interest and location, pay per click advertising, or PPC, is one of the best options available. You can measure results precisely, and control ad spending, too. It’s also more affordable for small business owners than many other options, including billboards, television and radio.

Of course PPC has its negatives, what doesn’t. Most of the problems people encounter with pay per click is when they go in headfirst without devising a plan. Their first ad campaign often results in hundreds or thousands of dollars wasted. There are books out there that can help and an ocean of helpful articles on the web.

Getting things off the ground is quite easy, provided you don’t follow in the footsteps of others who have made these simple mistakes. The upside is that simple issues are easily fixed with pay per click, so if you do start out with a mistake you can turn it around very fast and start seeing results.

Mistake 1. Using your home page as a landing page isn’t an effective way to convert clicks to sales. No matter what search engine you’re using, the landing page is the key to making the sale. Deciding where customers are directed, instead of just showing everyone your home page when they click on an ad, is the fastest and best route for the customer. Start sending them to other links and places and they will get lost and return back to the search page, probably to click on one of your competitors ads.

When people click on your ad , they are looking for a very specific thing that you’ve been advertising. Landing pages can be specific to ads, so that the person is taken directly to what it is you are advertising. This way, the customer gets exactly what they are looking for. Landing pages should be focused on keywords or phrases used in the advertisement and don’t clutter it up with other links or distractions.

2. Improper customization of landing pages. Ideally, your PPC campaign should work by presenting a potential customer with an ad closely targeted to their keyword. The landing page they arrive at should be closely geared towards that keyword, to present no confusion as to what the page is about. Your customer should never have trouble finding what he or she is looking for! Put each product or service on its own landing page, to avoid confusion.

3. Use of generic ad copy. You don’t have a lot of space to work with when it comes to PPC ads. That means that you can’t use phrases without meaning, such as “quality service”. Even if these statements are true, they don’t help bring in your prospects. Write your ad including specific keywords that potential customers will enter to find you. Use the main keyword in a captivating headline, and follow it up with the biggest benefit you can give your customers. Line three should include special features of the product or service, or an offer/discount. Specific keywords mean more clicks, and more effective clicks.

4. Low bid placement. All search engines use their own methods for determining where to put your ad. Yahoo and Google use a combination of the relevancy of your ad, and your bid price. One big mistake that many people make is not tightly targeting keywords enough to get top placement. As much as eighty-five percent of all PPC clicks happen on ads in one of the top three positions. If you can’t focus your ads tightly enough to get that top spot, you’re missing out on a lot of traffic.

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Your Road Map to Success For Your Pay Per Click Campaign

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

As time has gone by pay per click advertising has undergone certain changes. With Google’s changing rules, advertisers must now do more for their campaigns than just insert large numbers of keywords. The old methods are no longer valid.

If you practice these types of methods today you will find your keyword costs will rise and your keywords will become deactivated. Basic keywords now cost far more than they did, which means you have to select them more carefully.

It does not take much to do the small adjustments needed to make a successful pay per click advertising campaign. Just study the reasons that Google has to make its rules by. Then remember to make the right choices for keywords and you will create a successful campaign.

Advertising is what makes the money for Google. The ads must be appealing to readers so that they will click through and Google will profit. This is why Google is very strict about what ads will be shown.

Quality is number one with Google. They will ruthlessly get rid of worthless sites, spam and false information. Sad to say a lot of PPC are guilty of these problems, so be very sure to get on the good side of Google and make your site and ads as high in quality as you can.

What should you do to achieve this? To get a higher quality score, as well as lower costs, start by adding to your site. A few extra pages telling about your site will help you in Google’s eyes.

Firstly introduce an “About Us” page, list of terms and conditions, and a separate privacy page. These additions will do a lot to raise your quality score. Google also considers a contact page to be very important.

Although these changes are relatively small they will make a big impact on your PPC campaign and search engine rankings. When you add an XML sitemap this will also help to improve your quality score.

So what is an XML sitemap? It is a directory of all the content on your site. This enables Google to see exactly what your site is all about and judge it accordingly. This addition may need a small investment but you will save up to 35% on your bids.

Impressing Google with your site and obeying their rules will do a lot to help your campaign. In fact you can test your keywords yourself by doing a search for them.

Another thing you can do is to review your competitors Meta tags and content. Always remember not to copy and paste from anyone’s website. You can get good ideas for improving your own website. When you add new content to your website your Google quality rank will increase and your PPC campaign costs will decrease.

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Tactics For Advertising Without Adwords

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

With the immense popularity of Google Adwords and Google Adsense, the other advertising methods have been overlooked. Mesmerized by the appeal of these types of marketing entrepreneurs are forgetting there are other cost effective ways to advertising.

Adwords is a type of pay per click advertising. Basically it works like this; every time someone clicks through on an advertisers ad the advertiser is charged a small fee. This is quite a small amount, less than a dollar usually, but it does build up. This can happen when you use keywords that are popular, because they will attract a lot of traffic but few sales. This type of advertising is not always predicable so can cost you a considerable amount of money.

The good news is that Adwords is not your only option for online advertising. Contrary to popular belief it is not the most widely used advertising method. Savvy marketers will recognize the fact that there are many options available for them. When they think beyond Adwords the advertiser will discover more profitable and cost effective methods of advertising.

One of the best ways to advertise without Adwords is social marketing. Blogs and forums are 2 of the most powerful forms of marketing using this media. Both these forms of social marketing offer immense exposure, as they attract visitors to discuss topics of their unique interests. When you post blogs about a product, with links back to your website, you can increase traffic for free.

You can also try placing ads on other websites. You will need to be cautious before you do this. One thing to consider is the nature of your market and just whom you are trying to reach. To understand your market you must do some analysis on your potential clients. There are 3 different types of advertising available to you when placing ads on different websites. You can use text or banner ads and either pay for each click through, like pay-per-click advertising, or pay a flat fee to the webmaster for the duration of your ad.

The next 2 methods hinge on website content. This is a very effective way to advertise on a partner’s website. Businesses will hire writers to provide them with content for their site. Trust and traffic will be increased by this means. If you are a smart advertiser, you can fulfill this need and get free exposure. They can offer their own articles, with bio to these companies for their website content. Back links will be created by this means.

The success of this promotion depends on the visitor completing the article and using the link in the bio for more information. Unfortunately the chances are slim that they will do this, as the attention span of most readers is short. As an alternative links back to your website can be sprinkled throughout the article. If while reading a person wants more details or better understanding of some points they can follow these links back to your website. This is termed hosted content. If you put in links into your article you may have to pay a commission, because the links will encourage visitors to leave the site.

When using these methods online promoters are able to make more profits. At the same time they will avoid the risks involved with Adwords. In fact with these methods they will not have the humiliation of losing money.

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How Google has Changed Keyword Research Forever with a Free Tool

Sunday, August 10th, 2008
by Dave Joa

Google has just upgraded the Adwords External Keyword Tool so that it now also shows Search Volumes for the Keywords it returns during keyword research. As Google is the biggest source of keyword search phrases, due to the fact that it is the dominant search engine used by web surfers, this news is extremely significant.

Until now most internet and affiliate marketers will have used paid keyword research tools such as Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, Wordze and Keyword Elite to find the keyword phrases that internet users are searching for. However these tools only gather information on a very small fraction of the actual searches performed. Google on the other hand has direct access to a massive number of real searches in comparison.

These paid keyword research services try and predict the total searches for each keyword by extrapolating their data, but the numbers returned cannot be considered accurate in any way at all. But because these tools were the only way to get any significant data they were relied on by many if not most internet marketers.

Now Google has changed everything and the new external keyword tool for Adwords displays much more accurate search volumes for real keyword phrases that have actually been searched for in Google by users of their popular search engine. So now if you want to do keyword research you can get everything you want from Google and the search volume data you get will be so much more accurate then the paid keyword tools.

The most amazing fact about this tool is that you can use it for free to do your keyword research. The tool was originally constructed for use by affiliate marketers to help them set up their pay-per-click campaigns with Adwords. Now however all you need to do is type the URL link into your browser and you can use the tools as often as you like and it is all free.

Many top internet marketers in the industry are claiming this as the biggest thing that has happened to internet marketing for a very long time. For once it seems that Google is giving something back. Of course there are also many cynics out there who question why Google has done this and there are others who question the accuracy of the search data Google has revealed. Early checks have shown that in may cases the data is fairly accurate, but only time will tell as more analysis on these new results is completed.

The other fact that is important to remember is that there is also a free version of this for each geographic country location, such as the UK or Australia, so keyword search volumes are now also available for country specific keyword research. So for UK keyword research, the Google external Adwords keyword tool is now the best keyword research software currently available.

This is extremely useful as the paid keyword research tools are not good at providing this localized information and remember again that it is free!

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Why You Should Use One of the Top PPC Services

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
by Maxine Stirling

If you’re looking to start a PPC campaign for the first time, then you’ve probably noticed that there are many different options. There are only a few that you should seriously consider, though, because of their volume of customers.

The biggest names in the PPC game are Google and Yahoo. Google’s service, AdWords, is the undisputed champion of the PPC landscape. Either service, though, offers a host of quality benefits and features, and they match up fairly similarly. If you’re trying to choose between the two, think about the size of your campaign. If you’re going to a very widespread campaign that needs to target the highest number of prospects possible, then Google is your best bet. Why? Google does a higher volume of PPC each month than the other services combined.

That’s not to say Yahoo’s service is not a smart option for an online advertising campaign. Yahoo can be a great choice, especially for a campaign that is a little bit smaller in scope and is not as dependent upon mass quantity. Or, some campaigns utilize a combination of both services. This can be a good way to create a campaign that has even further reach into your target demographic.

Of course, while Google and Yahoo are two of the top PPC services in the industry, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t other services out there that deserve consideration. A few that are one step down from Yahoo and Google and Ask.com and MSN. Both of these services offer similar features, just on a smaller scale. It is actually possible to run a more efficient campaign using a smaller service because the keywords can be less saturated sometimes. This only works with a campaign that is small in scope, because these services simply can’t generate the numbers that Google and Yahoo can.

When it comes right down to it, the majority of the PPC services out there offer a very similar host of features. In fact, the PPC method has become fairly standard across the board. Google and Yahoo, due to their financial prominence, have developed extremely fluid and powerful user back-ends. But any of these services can be used for your campaign. If you are looking to conduct a widespread campaign that targets the most people possible, you should probably use one of the top PPC services - Yahoo or Google. But, if you are simply looking to conduct a low-key, smaller campaign, one of the other services can be considered as an option, though Google and Yahoo are both equally good for smaller campaigns.

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Pay Per Lead vs. Pay Per Click

Sunday, July 27th, 2008
by Josh Prizer

Tired of watered down, poor quality leads from your lead generation company? The last several years, we have been noticing a trend being discussed by our clients. They are telling us that the quality of leads that used to come in from their lead generation services have dropped off the map. At the same time, they’ve noticed that the quality of leads coming from pay per click has remained superb and even gotten better.

Many lead gen firms use pay per click (PPC) search to attract their leads. Once they have a lead, they will ship it out to a variety of vendors, charging each the same fee. If you are seeing your leads get more saturated, it might be time for you to go right to the source instead of letting the middle men do that for you.

Jumping into Pay Per Click isn’t just a matter of setting up a website and contact information. You can certainly get results doing that — we see it all the time. But to truly compete and drive your cost per lead down, you need some sophistication.

One thing we continually preach to clients is the importance of fine tuning every aspect of your online lead pipeline.

Let’s start with your PPC ad copy. You can certainly just place an ad and let it ride, but with the PPC algorithms placing more and more importance on Quality Scores, you need to pay close attention to your ads. If you can’t conduct daily split testing on your ads because of the time and effort, then try outsourcing to a PPC management company. A good firm should be able to double or triple your click through rates.

Maybe that doesn’t sound important, but it is. Doubling and tripling your quality traffic can do the same for your number of leads. And, it can lower your costs per click in the process.

But as I mentioned, everything in your pipeline can be optimized. Let’s take a look at where you are sending these people who click on ads. Do you have a contact form or just an email address? Is your phone number visible or in your footer? Are you offering an incentive for people to take action? There’s a lot to tweak and test.

Optimizing your site’s landing pages reduces the dollars you spend on each lead. You might be surprised, but even tiny changes can cut your costs per lead in half. We’ve seen it. So put in the effort or invest more funds in these mission critical spots.

If jumping into the paid search engines sounds like a lot of work, it is. You can roll up your sleeves and make it pay off over time, or you can hire a turnkey PPC management company. A good PPC expert will develop expansive keyword lists, mine keywords from your competitors, conduct daily split tests on your ads, and advise you on your landing pages.

So, consider getting rid of the saturated lead gen services and heading for the source. The results can be dramatic.

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AdWords Management Strategies - Four Simple Tips

Friday, July 18th, 2008
by Maxine Stirling

As PPC advertising has become much more mainstream in the world of online advertising, it can seem that more and more keywords are becoming saturated. This can be true at times, but there has never been a better time to run an effective Google AdWords campaign. All you need to know is a few tips. Here are four that you won’t want to forget when you start up your next AdWords campaign.

The first thing you should do is carefully consider your keyword strategy. Just because a PPC service offers a relevant keyword generation feature doesn’t mean you have to use it. Be very selective and precise with your keywords, and do your homework. Make sure that your keyword doesn’t have a double meaning or overlap with another industry. The last thing you need is people clicking up your ads who have no intention of buying your product or service.

The second thing you should consider is the position of your bid. Many inexperienced PPC campaign mangers think that it is better to bid for the top spot. However, this is rarely the case. Unless you are the undisputed leader of your industry, this is not a good idea. The top spot is a very wasteful place to be. You will get many clicks that have no chance of resulting in sales. Instead, try to bid for the first page, but not the first spot. Use your text ad to sell yourself, not your positional ranking. A higher ranking will mean more clicks, but a lower conversion rating on the backend.

The third strategy for running an effective AdWords campaign is to test, test, and then test some more. Don’t leave your campaign unmonitored and just everything is going to plan just because it did the week before. Your profitability of your keywords will likely be in a constant state of flux. As such, you need to continually monitor and test their effectiveness. PPC advertising is an open marketplace, and so ebbs and flows are to be expected on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis.

The final AdWords management strategy you may want to consider is placing ads on relevant websites instead of just on SERPs. These bids can be priced by the click or as gross impressions. Paying by the impression is a great way to get bargain deals on ad listings. And since users are already browsing for products or services relevant to your own, they will still be targeted customers.

Try using these four simple strategies the next time you manage a PPC campaign. Doing so can increase efficiency and profitability.

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Learn This - Don’t Pay For Google Ads EVER!

Thursday, July 17th, 2008
by Joi Matthews

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!

Several years ago, a gentleman from New England discovered a so-called “oversight” that most marketers don’t tap into. He gets what would normally be “paid” advertising for free from Google and other search engines, too.

And no, nothing about his “secret” is illegal - nor does it require that you know someone on the “inside” at Google, Yahoo, MSN, Overture and others.

No, this was discovered by this fellow just before 2000 when the search engines were the newest craze. He began to do small tests but began to expand on what he found once he knew what he was doing.

He has since gone on to begin and operate 16 separate online companies, in which he sells everything from toys and games, books, DVDs, pet food, and so on, but he sells his own manufactured products and is also an affiliate for other Web businesses. This is while he applies the secret he discovered.

This New England citizen has garnered $87 million worth of advertising that he’s never had to pay for. Most of this has come from Google’s pay-per-clicks and other forms of search engine paid advertising. Remember, again, he’s gotten everything for free.

In fact, his secret is powerful enough that he can find any niche online, and eventually find a way to monopolize it. He always gets the top spots, premium space, above the usual listings of pages you get with most search engines.

His secret is so powerful that he can monopolize any niche online and can always get the top premium spots he wants in search engine listings, above the usual listing results with search engines.

He still has to set up accounts with each search engine, but he doesn’t have to pay for any other costs involved once he does that, because he gets his advertising for free.

This “secret’s” discoverer also let us know that in the nearly eight years since he discovered this secret, his sales revenues have topped $300 million and he has a very diverse line of products. Most recently, in the last two years, he has gained a net profit of nearly $166 million, once he really “buckled down” and took his secret to its limits.

As for you, would you like to make this kind of fortune, too? If so, the “secret holder” is releasing it so that you, too, can gain an unlimited number of pay-per-click ads for free. However, he’s not telling us how long he’s going to do this for.

One famous public web guru pointed out that although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret “he’s already so amazingly rich that whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it’s still available could prove disastrous for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this.

This secret is presented in an easy-to-read format that anyone with a fourth grade reading level can understand and master.

And while you’re there, go ahead and scroll on down to see for yourself what others have to say about this secret and success are having with. And it’s now freely available to you, if you want to take advantage of it — for perhaps a limited time, so get it now.

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