Does it pay to go with paid search?
It is generally frowned upon when overly ambitious upstarters pay their way (in whatever shape or form) to succeed in the rat race. Thankfully, you will suffer no such moral backlash when you pay your way to the top of Google and Yahoo7! with Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
PPC lets you pay for a spot on the Sponsored Links area (located on the right hand side of search results) of search engines under certain keywords or phrases. You only incur a cost when a user enters your website from one of your PPC ads.
You’re in the driver’s seat
While search engine optimisation (SEO) should be your long-term strategy, PPC can deliver immediate results while you wait for your SEO efforts to bear fruit.
- It’s quick. Your PPC campaign can be up and running within days or even hours.
- It’s cost-effective and affordable. You only pay each time a customer enters your website. Plus you can set a daily budget as little as $1 or $100,000.
- You’re in control. Choose what time of day to run your campaign, the geographic market (Sydney, US, global) to target or the language (English, Italian, German) to use. Pause or re-start your campaign as you wish. Change your keywords or phrases and up or lower your advertising spend at any time.
- You know what’s working and what’s not (and you can do something about it). Unlike other forms of marketing, PPC is highly measurable. You know what keywords generate more traffic, which ads attract the right customers and how much each keyword or ad costs you. This takes the guesswork out of marketing and gives you the confidence to make the right business decisions.
Reap short-term wins
PPC is ideal for:
- Newly launched or re-designed websites that need to get an immediate hit from search engines
- Websites that are waiting for SEO efforts to take effect (which can take up to three months)
- Geographically targeted campaigns eg users who search for florists in Melbourne
- Specific campaigns targeting a hit list of keyword searches
- Specific promotions such as new product launches, limited time offers, special deals and seasonal offers
- Testing the effectiveness of less popular or obscure keywords
Tips for the novice
Firstly, it would not be wise to handover your PPC campaign to a novice or run a DIY project. There is a lot more to grasp about PPC before you can kick back your heels and let whatever weird science drive PPC through its course on the Internet. Don’t allow sheer inexperience, wildly optimistic targets or misinformed judgment calls to thwart the potential of your campaign. Know your metrics, understand your click-thru rate (CTR) and what it means, do your maths and measure, measure, measure. Better yet, employ a professional.
What’s the deal with click-thru rates?
CTR refers to the number of times Internet users arrive at your website by clicking on your ad or weblink on the search engines. It is the first PPC campaign benchmark to look at. Generally, a higher CTR is great news because it means that users are interested in your ad. You have solved one puzzle that eludes many Internet marketers: how to write the most compelling but brief ad copy in the world.
But be aware that CTR metrics can be deceiving if tainted by click fraud. Click fraud is the poison of PPC and advertising networks do take measures to prevent it. Still, it can be exasperating to wonder which sly competitor gleefully clicks on your search engine ad all day long to inflate what you will owe Yahoo or Google by the end of the week.
On something more actionable, consider that CTR rates vary across markets. For some health sites CTR rates of 20% or more are quite possible, while 1% is something to crow about in thin, high-technology markets. One reason for the latter, as market research might reveal, is that technology decision-makers are averse to advertising. They tend to be loyal to the pricey brands they already own because the cost of conversion is stressful. Hence, it takes other channels (direct selling, for instance) to break down their inertia even to perfectly-targeted keywords.
Aim for high traffic and higher profits
Do the math. How much visitor traffic did you obtain? How well did the website convert them – either as a lead through a dedicated 1300 number, an online form, newsletter sign-up, downloads or an online purchase in the case of ecommerce. What was revenue and margin per customer? Generated profit may be the most important because high CTR and tons of traffic count for nothing in the face of low registrations, sales or whatever acid test of new customer relationships matter to your business.
Cost efficiency
When you already know how much you earned from the campaign, the next thing to consider is the cost. It does make a difference if you spend $100 and earn $1,000 and if you spend $100 and earn $110. And we have not even factored in cost of goods. A money-losing campaign is a strong signal to stop, and re-evaluate your choice of keywords and media.
Wrong keywords or wrong media?
If you are running multiple campaigns on the same keywords and these campaigns perform differently, then it is obvious that the problem lies with the media mix. The solution is simple – quit the weakest medium and concentrate on the more profitable ones.
However, if your PPC campaign is not working on most of the media you are using, then the problem is most likely poor keyword selection. You can try other keywords, trusting that this time you will be luckier.
Like a jigsaw puzzle, the success of PPC depends on the clicking together of separate considerations and factors such as the above. If you lose any piece of the puzzle, you are unlikely to reap the rewards that PPC promises.
Need help?
Talk to a Melbourne IT e-Business Consultant on 1300 132 838 or book a FREE Consultation.
Useful links
- Up your Google popularity
- How to pick the right words for SEO
- Search engine listing: natural vs paid
- Why doesn’t my website rank in Google
- Blogging ups your web ranking
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Pay-Per-Click
- Link submission
- Email marketing
February 27th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hi,
I’m quite impressed. Most people writing on such topics ignore the area of click fraud.
Well done for being upfront and mentioning it. Your example was even quite humorous.
Thank you,
Kelvin