Top Five Tips for Pay Per Click Success

Top Five Tips for Pay Per Click Success

By: Dave Carlson, Atlas OnePoint

(This article is reprinted from the PayPerClickAnalyst.com February 2002 Newsletter)

Ever get frustrated with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising? Too hard to set-up? Too hard to manage? Too hard to get the results you want? If you've never been annoyed, confused or discouraged by working through the details of a PPC marketing campaign, you don't need to read the following five tips and you can immediately proceed to the comic section of the New York Times at: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/cartoons/index.html.

For the rest of us, here are five tips that can easily relieve the aggravation and likely contribute handsomely to future PPC campaign success:

1) Have a Plan

If you don't have a plan you will waste time and money and probably fail (perhaps without even knowing). Have a plan before you start. If you are already using PPC advertising, then grab a cup of coffee, lock the door for 17 minutes and let's make sure you have the following in order.

For starters, you need to know what your current metrics are on a daily, weekly and monthly basis as follows:

PPC Budget:
PPC Listing Impressions:
Click-Through-Rate:
PPC Generated Visitors:
Average Cost-Per-Click:
Conversion Rate (Close Ratio):
Average Cost-Per-Acquisition:
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS):

If you know these, great. If not, then get the data to calculate them. In order to get some of this info, you may need to start using a ROI tracking and/or click stream analysis package.

If you don't have the metric results at hand, then develop the numbers you need to be successful. As a foundation, you should have your current stats with established goals for where you need to go. After that you need to create a detailed plan on how to get to your new objective. More on that in a future article.

2) The More Terms the Merrier

Use the keyword phrase suggestion tools offered by the leading search engines and consider utilizing the services of companies specialized in keyword generation. The more terms you have the better. Many related terms will cost a fraction of the primary term or phrase in consideration. For example, there are only 73 searches per month for the related term and no one else is bidding on it ... so why bother you say? Our research has shown that the click through rate for these listings is higher and they tend to convert at a much higher rate. These click-throughs and conversions can dramatically improve your ROI. So at five cents per phrase, what do you have to lose other than sales?

3) Follow the ROI

More competitive keywords are more expensive. It's that simple. So make sure you carefully track all activity related to those keywords. Make sure your ROI tracking system is tracking your site activity per keyword phrase, per position and per search engine along with the dollar value of each sale or acquisition. Your tracking system should be able to report back to you the metrics you need to make decisions about how your overall campaign is performing but, more importantly, it should show you what your keyword phrases are really worth. Back off on the pricey words that are not converting and perhaps take an even more aggressive position on the keywords that are bringing in the sales.

4) Add More Engines

For effective PPC campaigns you have to drive targeted traffic that converts. So you have to start with what I call the 'must haves' of the PPC search engines. The top 3 are Overture, Google and FindWhat. They must be a part of your mix at the beginning of a campaign. For even better coverage you should add Sprinks, Kanoodle and ah-ha domestically and then seriously consider Espotting and Overture's international offerings if your service or product applies to those marketplaces.

There are numerous other small but very good PPC engines but start with these top six and you will be well on your way. Once you have added your keywords to these engines, you must track your results as noted above. One phrase may convert well on Overture but not on Google and vice-versa. Manage your campaign per search phrase, per position, per search engine. This is important to do as the distribution partners per PPC search engine attract widely varied demographics.

5) Manage Your Campaign

You have a plan, you've expanded your terms from 250 to 2000, you are tracking results and you have added three more PPC search engines. You are moving in the right direction! Now be sure to manage your PPC campaigns to the metrics outlined in tip number one.

If this seems like a lot of work, it is. However, the rewards are worth it. You may want to consider a bid management or ROI tracking service to help ease the load and supply the necessary information to make the right decisions for your campaigns.

Congratulations! By following these five tips you have greatly improved your odds of success!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dave Carlson is with Atlas OnePoint. Atlas OnePoint.com (formerly GOToast.com) provides hosted solutions for Online Marketing Management including Bid Management, ROI Tracking & Analysis, PPC Campaign Management and Centralized Keyword Management.