PPC And The Game Of Monopoly

April 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Scott Lindsay posted:

The role of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising does have a history that is worth sharing. In the beginning it was relatively inexpensive to have laser-focused advertising in a PPC model that not only delivered potential customers to your site, but could be had for a relatively small amount of capital. Affordability was a hallmark of the early days of PPC advertising and many site owners viewed the method as a goldmine in positive advertising.

PPC advertising that could be purchased for less than a quarter a click can now cost at least ten times that much.

Add to this scenario a significant amount of click fraud (a scenario where individuals intentionally click on PPC advertising to drain the advertising budget for a competing business – these individuals have no intention of making a purchase from any PPC advertising they click) and you have a situation where there are becoming fewer methods that are actually working to make PPC a desirable method of online advertising.

If your business is already doing well through solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) methods then the use of PPC can simply be a way to show your results in the search engine first in many keyword specific categories through the use of ‘sponsored links’ advertising.

Essentially what has happened is those who have the deepest pockets have bid beyond the ability of most start up online business owners. By doing so they ensure that the startup has a hard time developing their business through PPC advertising. This has the rippling effect of making it much harder for competition to enter the world of ecommerce. Some may call this a monopoly while others may view it as simple business sense.

This is one of the primary reasons I stress the use of keyword rich knowledge-based content for your website – not to the exclusion of all else, but as a primary component to solid SEO strategy.

While PPC advertising can help you with results right now they will not promise long-term results because they are only sending targeted advertising at your expense. Once you can no longer afford PPC they will no longer send people your direction.

However, these same directories and search engines will rank your site well if you have backlinks and a well-rounded Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy in place. That strategy is based on both networking and a solid understanding of keyword placement for optimum website exposure.

Many people don’t look at keyword SEO strategies because they believe it limits their web design creativity. In the end, however, business owners must ask themselves how important a beautiful site is if there are no visitors to enjoy it.

In my opinion PPC advertising is not the salvation of online business, but it was a good idea that has degenerated to a monopoly of the highest bidder. This isn’t a bad scenario if you have a cushion of advertising dollars you have no other use for, but if you don’t – think, rethink and think again about keyword rich content and SEO.

A Revolution in Marketing

5 Things You Need to Know About PPC Search Engines

April 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Marcus Anderson posted:

 

The pay-per-click (PPC) search engines have formed a new way for websites to promote and boost traffic to their sites and it is very inexpensive. There are a variety of things on search engines PPC, you must know so read the following suggestions and educate you on PPC advertising. Once you know how pay-per-click advertising works, you’ll be able to use this tool affordable advertising to increase your website traffic.

Tip # 1 – Search Engines PPC

Also known as pay per click, these networks allows websites to place ads on their search pages targeting a keyword or phrase. The site owner does not have to pay for advertising unless a visitor clicks on the ad and is regarded as their web page. As a result, these search engines and advertisements are known as pay-per-click because you pay only when someone clicks on the ad.

Tip # 2 – bidding for ads

In general, when it comes to advertising PPC, you submit your maximum bid for advertising based on keywords you are interested in advertising. You will then be listed on the search page when your keyword or keywords are searched. However, when you rank in the bidding process will depend on whether you were the highest bidder, the second highest bidder, and so forth. For this type of campaign it is important that you are close to the page, at least in the first four, so keep this in mind when bidding.

Council No. 3 – Choosing a PPC Search Engine

Many search engines offer PPC advertising, but to get the most exposure obviously you want to advertise with the largest and most popular. You can search online to find out who are the best and then present your candidacy for the keywords you are interested in buying advertising. Remember that the bidding process is more competitive with the biggest search engines, to keep that spirit.

Council No. 4 – Click fraud

Since you pay per click with this type of advertising, you can run into a situation known as click fraud. This happens when your competitors click on your ad as many times as possible in order to manage your account dry. This eats your advertising budget and does not allow you to reach people who are really interested in what you sell. If you think this is the case, inform the PPC search engine immediately, because there are things that can be done to help.

Council No. 5 – Keywords

So you know the keywords that are most used to search for your product, but they are very popular and you find yourself entering a bidding war on a small budget. Don’t do. Instead, switch to a cheaper keyword. You will always receive a lot of success and you will not drain your budget.

A Revolution in Marketing

Taking Your PPC Campaigns To The Next Level With Speed PPC

April 19, 2009 | 1 Comment

Alan Largo posted:

Most likely, you already have a solid idea of what Pay Per Click or PPC is. You know that it is a method of advertising your business and targeting the right market. You also know how important this method is to your success and you are looking for PPC management tools to help you make the most of your advertisements.

The good news is that PPC management tools can actually make your life easier. Depending on which tool you choose to use and there are many to choose from, you can enjoy a full range of benefits. What is more, using the right tools can actually help you save a great deal of both time and money. What could be better?

Now, you may be wondering what can PPC management do to help you save time and money? This is a great question and one that has an even better answer. Before we get into the benefits of these tools, think about how to work your PPC campaigns now.

In other words, how much time does it take you? Well if you think about it, the answer is too much! You have to research the right keywords, figure out your budget, find the keywords that work within the budget, and so much more. It can become quite a cumbersome process.

This is very time consuming and what is even more, if you are choosing the wrong keywords, you could be losing money at the same time. The right PPC management tools will help you in all of these areas, cutting the time in half you spend focusing on your campaigns in a lot of cases. These are extremely helpful if you have more than one campaign which can take a great deal of your time trying to manage and organize all of your campaigns.

There are many benefits to such tools as these. For example, you can set your budget for advertisements and the right tool will focus on this budget when making bids. They can also help you with your rate of conversion, managing your accounts and profit margins, as well as work with many different search engines at the same time.

The right PPC management tools can also help you get the right traffic you are looking for, identify the most appropriate keywords and change the strategy used dependent upon the search engine used. Without these tools, your PPC campaigns could be suffering. Your business could be suffering, which means much less profit for you and less sales altogether.

A Revolution in Marketing

Pay Per Click (PPC) – A Permanent Addition To Your Marketing Mix?

April 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Karra Maxim posted:

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is the hottest and perhaps most effective way for many Internet advertisers to reach their intended audiences. It is a marketing device that should be included in the tool box of any company which has or plans to have a presence on the net. The keys to pay per click are deciding what type of clicks to use and how to make sure that each click targets the audience a company wants to reach.

PPC advertising falls into two categories: Pay per click search engines and ads that potential customers can click on (so called clickable ads). Search engines based on the PPC model charge an advertiser a fee for the ranking it receives when a particular term (keyword) is searched. The more popular a keyword is the higher the price for an advertiser’s website to appear on the returned search list. Advertisers who pay the most will have their products and services appear at the head of the list given back to the person who initiated the search. Clickable ads appear on websites which have content similar to that of the ads. A customer perusing the website will see advertisements of interest and perhaps click on them. The advertiser pays only when a potential client clicks on that advertiser’s ad. Some PPC advertising companies are also experimenting with clickable ads where the advertiser pays only if a customer clicks on the ad and makes a purchase as well. Both of these styles of PPC advertising have advantages. An astute Internet advertiser will examine each type to determine which is best for its business. It is often possible that a combination of the two models will give a company the most bang for its advertising buck.

How can a company go about comparing the many pay per click advertising platforms and deciding which one is best suited to its needs? A company must first research the PPC search engines and clickable ad programs available; then it is wise to make a small investment to test those programs which seem viable. When choosing a program, biggest may not always be best. Some companies will benefit from casting a wide net with a large company. Other businesses may be better served by working with smaller advertising entities that specialize in niche markets. Remember too that a company doesn’t have to pay the highest price to be placed on a PPC search engine return page. Companies are placed on the page in descending order from the highest to the lowest bidder. Holding a place on the first or second search page may produce significant return at a lower cost.

Once an advertiser has decided to use a pay per click search engine or to place a series of clickable ads, a test run is advisable. Like all advertising companies, PPC advertising is based on a set budget. A company establishes an account and each time a potential client clicks on the keyword or the ad, an amount is deducted from the advertiser’s account until it is depleted. A company should set up small accounts with several PPC companies which seem appropriate for its needs. After setting up the accounts the advertiser then needs to devise something on its website to track how many visitors it receives from each company. PPC companies themselves will offer the advertiser a list of visitors who clicked through on their advertising but these lists may not provide a company with sufficient information for making an informed decision about the success of its advertising. A company wants to know not just that it received visitors but that the visitors were actual potential customers, not just idle surfers.

All in all, PPC advertising represents a viable and cost effective form of advertising. Most businesses will discover that either PPC search engines or clickable ads or a savvy combination of the two will increase traffic to their sites. So resolve today to make a small investment of time and money to find the PPC solution that will enable your company to enhance its Internet presence.

A Revolution in Marketing

PPC Advertising: How to Make your Business Click

April 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Jackson Bleu posted:

PPC stands for Pay Per Click – a popular advertising technique on the Internet. Found on websites, advertising networks, and especially on search engines, PPC advertising involves sponsored links that are typically in the form of text ads. These are usually placed close to search results, where an advertiser pays a particular amount to visitors who click on these links or banners and land on the advertiser’s web page.

In essence, PPC advertising is all about bidding for the top or leading position on search engine results and listings. Advertisers do this by buying or bidding on keyword phrases that are relevant to their products or services – the higher the bid, the higher the spot on the search results, the more the people will find the ad (and click on it) to go to their websites (this is why some people call it “keyword auctioning”). Advertisers would then pay the bidding price every time a visitor clicks through the website.

PPC advertising is also known under the following names/variations:

· Pay per placement

· Pay per performance

· Pay per ranking

· Pay per position

· Cost per click (CPC)

PPC advertising is usually done with the following standard procedures:

1. Setting up an account and/or deposit funds.

2. Creating a keyword list.

3. Choosing (and setting up) an account with a PPC search engine.

4. Bidding on the ad placement, including the search result words or phrases.

5. Writing out an ad copy.

6. Setting up the ‘landing pages’ for your ads.

7. Placing the advertisement in the search engine.

There are many benefits to Pay Per Click advertising, making it an effective way of promoting a business ‘online’. Some of them are listed below:

· Get launched immediately. PPC advertisements are implemented very quickly – they can go ‘online’ within an hour after winning the bid and paying for it.

· Obtain specific, pre-qualified, and quality traffic. PPC provides you with a quality or a well-targeted traffic. Visitors are narrowed down into ‘qualified’ people who are actually looking for specific products and/or services that you offer – those who are more likely to become a ‘lead’ (a convert) and complete a transaction (either by buying your product or subscribing to the service that you are offering.

· Widen your reach. PPC advertising provides additional traffic to your site, aside from the natural or “organic” search engines.

· Track your investment. PPC advertising makes use of a tracking system that will determine exactly who comes to the website and what they do once they arrive – the length of their stay on the site and the number of pages (including the actual pages) that they view. These are valuable tools in determining statistics such as return on investment (ROI), acquisition cost-per-visitor, and conversion rates (the percentage of visitors who are converted into customers or leads).

Below are some important things to consider when planning on a pay per click campaign:

1. Know your product. Take an inventory of the product and/or services that you have to offer (before anything else).

2. Stay within the budget. Determine your daily or monthly budget; and stay with it. This means keeping your budget in mind, avoiding bidding wars if possible.

3. Bid just right. Know how to bid right – a bid that is too high can exhaust all of your money, while a bid that is too low can make you lose that spot.

4. Watch the bottom line. Measure your profit margin against your spending or expenses. Know when to stop and terminate your PPC program – if you spend more on advertising but have little or no sales at all.

5. Find the right keywords. Decide which keyword phrases to opt and bid for. Do some keyword research, either by actually looking at existing search terms or with the use of online keyword suggestion tools, to know which terms are mostly used when searching for items that are related to your business. Focus on specific keywords, not on general ones.

6. Write effective ads. A good PPC ad is that which can persuade and move a searcher. There are several approaches to this:

· Discount offers

· Testimonials

· Celebrity/famous endorsers

· Money-back guarantees

· Free trials or sample offers

· Freebies

· Reverse psychology

· Major benefits (“Lose weight”)

· Direct instructions (“Click here”)

7. Maintain a professional-looking site. Your web content should be regularly updated and checked for spelling and grammatical errors. There should be no broken links or images. The website should be simple – designed in such a way that it will be easy for visitors to navigate and load. Include contact details to create a good impression among potential customers.

Done properly, PPC advertising can be an effective marketing tool that will maximize the return on your investment.

A Revolution in Marketing

Just Pay With a Click – PPC Advertising

April 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Jeff Spires posted:

Just Pay with a Click – PPC Advertising

Pay Per Click or PPC is an advertising technique that has gained tremendous populareity on the Internet. Websites and advertising networks on the web are sponsored links that typically appear as text ads and are usually place near the search results. Advertisers will pay a pre-set amount for each visitor that clicks on the ad, at which time the visitor is then taken to the advertiser’s website.

It all about trying to get to the top positions in search enginelisting. Advertisers will buy or bid (keyword auctioning) on keywords and keyword phrasings. The highest bid earns the higher placement on search results and the more viewers (and possible clicks). The advertiser pay the bidding price for each click to their website.

Other terms for PPC advertising:

- Pay per placement

- Pay per performance

- Pay per ranking

- Pay per position

- Cost per click (CPC)

The standard procedures for PPC advertising:

1. Set up an account. Deposit any needed funds.

2. Establish a list of keywords.

3. Find a PPC search engine and set up an account with them.

4. Complete the bidding process.

5. Write some ad copy.

6. Set up a ‘landing page’ for the ad.

7. Place advertisements in the search engine.

PPC advertising offer many benefits:

- The ad is uploaded immediately. In most cases within approximately an hour.

- PPC is a great way to attract pre-qualified targeted traffic. Visitors actually want to see your products and learn more about your services.

- Your marketing demographic is widen with the additional highly targeted traffic.

- Your can track your investment. With PPC advertising you can track visits to your website, know what is they are doing when they are there and, how long they stay. These are valuable statistics that can be used in determining ROI.

When you are planning your PPC advertising campaign consider the following:

1. Know Your Product. A thorough knowledge of the goods being offered is essential.

2. Establish a Budget and Don’t Overspend. Try to avoid a bidding war, where you will soon loose track of budget constraints and allow emotions to take over.

3. Know How to Bid Right – a bid that is too high will only serve in depleting your budget and a bid too low can cause you to lose the spot.

4. Monitor Your Profit Margin. Measure your profit margin against your spending or expenses. You have to know when to stop the PPC program.

5. Research the Right Keywords. When researching keywords, look at existing search terms or with the use online keyword suggestion tools, to find terms that most often used for searches and are related to your type of business. Definitely don’t use any terms that are general in nature.

6. Write Effective Ads. A good PPC ad persuades the searcher to click. There are several approaches to this:

- Offer Discounts

- Use Testimonials

- Get a Celebrity/Well-Known Endorser

- Offer Money-Back Guarantees

- Give Free Trials or Samples

- Use Reverse Psychology

- List Major Benefits

- Or Just Say “Click Here”

7. Always be Professional. Make sure your web content is regularly updated and spell checked. Avoid broken links or images. Simplicity is the key and always include contact information.

Good planning can reap success in or PPC advertising.

For even more info on this, please visit my website www.ebookscomputer.com.

Good Luck! :-)

Jeff Spires

A Revolution in Marketing