Web Site Promotion | About | Contact | Web Design News |

 

Search Engine expert ChicagoAnimation's top of the line services:

Web Site Promotion - We Guarantee you #1 listing in Yahoo and Google.

Flash Template customize service - We invented a way for small business owners to be able to afford a high end Flash site.

Pay Per Click management service - We help your small business to manage and bid on valuable keywords that can help produce profits for your business.

Press Release service - We help you launch your press release to news sources (reporters) through out the United States and all over the world.


Pay-Per-Click Marketing: How to Waste Your Advertising Budget

 

Search Engine Specialist

search engine expert Free Internet Marketing consultings from ChicagoAnimation.
To use this free service please fill out the form below and we will call you to offer you free tips.

* First Name: * Last Name:
* Email Address: * Phone Number:
Street Address: City:
ZipCode: Your State (2 Letters):
URL (if available): Your Cell Phone #:
Company Name:
How long has your website been live?
What services or packages can we help you with?

How may we help you?
My current budget is. . .



A well-oiled pay-per-click search engine campaign can land hundreds of highly targeted visitors on practically any website within a matter of days. That isn't new information. Most experienced online business owners already know it.

But pay-per-click advertising is also one of the quickest ways to lose money, if it isn't done right. At the surface level, the process appears to be as simple as writing an advertisement, bidding for keywords, and waiting for traffic and sales to come rolling in. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in the midst of today's heated competition for top keywords.

So, for a few minutes, let us play the role of devil's advocate, as we explore some of the common downfalls encountered by hopeful but inexperienced pay-per-click advertisers.

1. - Making Advertising Decisions Based on Emotion

The excitement of tapping into a new market, and the much anticipated thrill of watching click counters working overtime, can and often does lead to a hasty decision making process. Add to this a pressing need for a cash infusion, plus a bit of the gambler spirit, and a framework for failure will emerge.

2. - Overly Generalized Keyword Selection

Keywords that are too broad in scope can inevitably lead to an excess of non-profitable clicks, driving an otherwise profitable campaign into the red.

For example, a website selling athletic shoes should omit the simple term "shoes" from the keyword list. That term alone may generate a massive number of click-throughs. However, a good portion of the resulting traffic will likely be looking for sandals,dress shoes, or some type of shoe other than athletic designs.

3. - Poorly Worded Advertisements

Pay-per-click ads are notorious for restrictions on allowed word count. While the headline and ad body should contain as many prime keywords as possible, every single word in the ad should be weighed and measured for effect. A vague or loosely related advertisement may pull throngs of curious visitors, but the ultimate value of each of those visitors must also be considered. The point of a great ad is to attract only those who have a purchase already in mind.

4. - Failure to Calculate Bid Value

An untested ad leaves much of this process to theory, but even a theoretical profit model is better than none at all. Otherwise, the urge to bid simply for top positioning may ultimately spell an overall loss of profit.

Three critical points to consider are:

- product pricing
- an acceptable profit margin per sale
- a realistic clicks to sales ratio (CSR)

Let's say a modest CSR of 1% may be expected, meaning one out of each one-hundred visitors will order immediately. The product is priced at $69 and a 50% profit margin per sale is acceptable. Given these factors, up to 50% of the product price ($34.50) can be spent to achieve the sale and deliver the product.

For the sake of this example, consider that delivery costs are nil. Therefore, $34.50 divided by 100 clicks = $0.345 as an absolute maximum bid per click. There are only three ways to increase the bid above $0.345 while maintaining the integrity of the campaign:

- raise the product price above $69
- increase the CSR above 1%
- accept a lower profit margin per sale

5. - Failure to Track Results and Manage the Campaign

Once the advertising campaign is set in motion, results should be tracked and analyzed on a daily basis. Many pay-per-click search engines now provide in-depth analysis and reporting tools that greatly simplify this process. In addition, specialized pay-per-click tracking software is widely available, and in the absence of a workable alternative, will prove to be a wise investment.

However, based on this writer's own experience, no two selling days are alike, even on the Internet. We suggest that no fundamental changes be made to the campaign until at least five-hundred click-throughs have been gathered, or until the campaign has been live for several days.

Those suggestions are, of course, only rules of thumb. Any campaign found to be creating a cash hemorrhage should be discontinued immediately and thoroughly reevaluated.

6. - Failure to Enable Follow-up Marketing

An inexperienced pay-per-click advertiser might expect to begin turning a profit immediately after the ad goes live online. However sweet a dream that may be, it is often not the case.

Without follow-up capability, the profit potential of any pay-per-click campaign is severely reduced. A majority of prospects will not buy on their first visit, and may not return to buy later. As a result, the entire campaign may register a net loss on the initial run.

However, even a money-losing initial campaign can be turned into a winner over time, if the campaign is focused not only toward making immediate sales, but also toward producing a mailing list of interested prospects for later follow-up.

The mechanics of the follow-up tactic are beyond the scope of this writing. We invite the reader to visit the link below and investigate a series of articles on follow-up email marketing and the effective use of autoresponder systems.

Dan B. Cauthron is a 30 year direct marketing veteran and has been successful on the Net since 2000.

Subscribe to his 100% original content *Revenew Quick Tips* NEWSLetter and receive Dan's Hand Picked eMarketing Success Library free of charge - http://DanBCauthron.com/autoresponders.html; http://DanBCauthron.com

 

MORE RESOURCES:

Search Engine Strategies (SES) Training Provides Intensive SEO ...
MarketWatch - Dec 1, 2008
The SEM/SEO training immediately follows the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago conference, running December 8-11, 2008, also at the Hilton. ...


15 on-page optimization tips: The foreground of SEO optimization ...
Promotion World (press release), CA - 1 hour ago
by Joanna Gadel We all know that SEO optimization is not an easy task and we do not have any particular guideline for SEO optimization. ...
Keys for higher rank in search engine results Cherry Hill Courier Post
New Open Mobile Search Engine Optimization Standard Unveiled TMCnet
all 3 news articles


Are cheap SEO firms and best SEO firms two different things?
Promotion World (press release), CA - 1 hour ago
In today's world, it is possible that cheap SEO firms and best SEO firms be the same company! If you have gone for a search engine optimization services ...


Video SEO Tutorial - Using SWFObject 2.1 to Provide Alternative ...
ReelSEO Online Video News, CA - 17 hours ago
In Part 1 of this series, I introduced Video SEO, Flash Video, and the importance of using SWFObject to provide alternative content for accessibility and ...
Video SEO Tip - Using SWFObject 2.1 to Provide Alternative HTML ... ReelSEO Online Video News
all 2 news articles


Web Analytics: The Future, SEO, Tools, and Mistakes
WebProNews, KY - 18 hours ago
Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz lists web analytics as one of the top seven reasons that companies are investing in SEO during the economic downturn. ...
The Great Google Adsense Side Effect WebProNews
all 2 news articles


Cheap SEO – Possible?
BigNews.biz (press release), MA - 11 hours ago
And yes, cheap SEO is possible. Of all the hundreds of search engine optimization services websites on the internet, there are a few that have been started ...


SEO & The CMO: Why Analytics & Communication Is Crucial To Success
Search Engine Land, CT - 17 hours ago
Rankings are certainly one tangible way to measure SEO’s success, but at Agency.com we are working to move clients away from focusing on rankings and ...


Search Copywriter/SEO/PPC
Bizcommunity.com, South Africa - 4 hours ago
Ideally you will have worked on a variety of clients with both SEO and PPC copywriting experience, including PR or article writing. ...
Search Manager/SEO Manager Bizcommunity.com
SEO Assistant/Search Executive Bizcommunity.com
Search Engine Optimisation Consultant Bizcommunity.com
all 4 news articles


Local.com(R) Announces 2008 "Best of Local" Winners
MarketWatch - 16 hours ago
... icon displayed on their business listing, their business listed on the official "Best of Local" winners page and enhanced SEO for their business listing.


SEO Bookmarklets Collection: On-Page SEO and Domain Stats
Search Engine Journal - 22 hours ago
This time I am looking at some more helpful browser bookmarklets that can come in handy for on-page SEO research and a quick view at essential site stats ...

SEO - Google News

ChicagoAnimation's Acquisitions: Market Polls - 1pennyStock.com
Sponsors: Paving | VTL's | Religious Statues