Adwords on Google’s Content Network… The Debate Continues…

If you’re buying PPC advertising from Google via their Adwords program, you have two different options for where the ads will be displayed.  You can get those sponsored listings that show up alongside search results, or you can place your ads on the “content network”–all of those sites who are displaying Adsense ads.

Everyone knows that getting the search engine results listings is the best way to drive maximum quality traffic to your site.  However, there is an ongoing debate about the value of the content network.  While some argue that the content network can provide you with traffic of adequate quality at a cut rate, others maintain that the visitors don’t convert and that the network is a hotbed of click fraud.

Here’s the scoop.  Both sides are right.  

You can get things done with the content network.  Even people who’ve experienced the dark side of the content network will tell you that it can be a valuable tool.  Recent experiments by even some of the most noted brands in the world have shown that one can use the content network to hit specific niches with laser-like precision (and profitable results).

At the same time, the content network does put you at heightened risk of click fraud.  There’s no way around it.  It really happens and it’s ugly when it does.  It’s also true that, in most cases, the quality of traffic will not measure up to what you’ll get from ads alongside the search results.  That’s why people who use the content network should keep a very close eye on whether or not their efforts are really paying off while simultaneoulsy being mindful of the rip-off potential that exists from click fraud.

Should you be using the content network for your PPC efforts?  There’s no easy answer to that one.  It’s going to depend upon your skill level, your niche, your product and your ability to monitor and maintain your account.  The important thing to remember is that advertising on the content network isn’t an automatic winner or an inevitable disaster.  As with so many things, it all depends on the specifics.

Writing the Best Possible PPC Ad - Focus on Benefits

If you want to get the highest possible CTR from your pay per click ads (and who doesn’t?), you should be applying a lesson that copywriters use in virtually every other field.  They write ads that focus on benefits.

There’s a distinction between benefits and features.  Features are aspects of the product you’re selling.  A feature of a cordless screwdriver, for instance, may be the fact that it can hold a charge for up to three solid hours.  That’s a great fact about the product, but it isn’t the kind of thing you should be writing about.  Instead, you want to look for the benefits of owning that screwdriver–what it could really mean for potential customers.  Instead of extolling the virtues of it’s long battery life, you’d want to hammer home the fact that it makes household repairs and assembly fast, fun and easy.  Instead of talking about the fact that it can use either straight or Phillips heads (another feature), you should be talking about the way it saves the user from bloody knuckles, offering a comfortable solution.

Focusing on benefits has been a hallmark of successful marketing for as long as people have been putting pen to paper.  However, many in the SEM world aren’t necessarily experienced copywriters.  Thus, they apply a sort of logical approach to ad writing.  They emphasize, naturally, what the product has instead of painting a picture of how its use will positively change the life of the buyer.  That’s a mistake.

Are your PPC ads focusing on benefits?  If they aren’t (or if you’re not sure), it’s time to revisit them.  Adjust them to fall into line with this time-tested approach to successful copywriting.  You’ll undoubtedly start to see a differenece as your CTR increases.

Are You Paying Enough Attention to Your PPC Landing Page?

Most of the tips you’ll find for successful pay per click advertising will focus on things related to keyword selection.  If you’re targeting the right keywords in the right way, they say, you’ll start getting the kind of results you want from your PPC efforts.  Some will give you a few recommendations about the actual writing of your ads, too.  A prperly written ad can, after all, improve your CTR and resutls.

One thing that’s often overlooked, however, may be the most critical aspect of effective PPC campaign management.  And has nothing to do with adjustments you can make within your Adwords account.  It’s not about how you’re getting traffic, it’s about where you’re sending it.

If you aren’t thinking about your landing page as much as you’re thinking about your keyword selection, you’re making a big mistake.  

The quality of your landing page is going to be the prime determinor of your profits, obviously.  If you’re landing page is a dud that doesn’t produce conversions, all of the successfully gathered traffic in the world isn’t going to save you.

But it goes deeper than that.  The quality of your landing page is also going to have a massive inmpact on the price you’re paying for ad clicks.  Google assesses keyword pricing based, in large part, on your landing page quality score.  Thus, even a “perfect” campaign in terms of ad structure and keyword bidding may be wildly overpriced simply because you’re landing page doesn’t meet Google’s expectations (which, by the way, appear to be inching higher and higher with each passing day).

Pay close attention to your keywords.  Right your ads the right way.  But don’t forget where all of that purchased traffic is going after the ads are clikced.  The quality and ability of your landing page to produce conversions must always be at the forefront of your planning.

The Funny PPC Mistake that’s so Easy to Avoid

If you’re buying PPC advertising, you know that the process really revolves around your ability to research and bid upon the right keywords. PPC is keyword driven and having the right search terms can spell the difference between a great ROI and a complete waste of cash.

Often, PPC buyers will maintain a list of keywords in a spreadsheet. That makes perfect sense. It’s a great way to organize them and to manipulate them, as necessary. When the time comes to insert those keywords into the pay per click interface, it’s easy to quickly copy and paste them.

It might be too easy. There’s a fairly funny and fairly common PPC bidding error that results from that simple Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V on a keyword spreadsheet. PPC campaign managers have a nasty tendency of grabbing all of the content in the keyword column. Including the column header. That header usually consists of a single word: Keyword.

Look at the picture accompanying this post. That picture is taken from a screenshot resulting from a simple Google search for “keyword”. It appears as if someone handling the health insurance company’s pay per click campaign is bidding on the term “keyword”.

I doubt anyone at Assurant really believes that folks searching for “keyword” are prime insurance prospects, do you?

Others have noticed this blunder before. Bill Hartzer refers to it as “the funniest pay per click mistake”. He argues that it’s indicative of a lack of attention to detail and states that “a lack of attention to detail causes companies thousands of dollars every month.” The blunder won the #2 slot on Apple Pie & Custard’s “3 Silly Mistakes You Might be Making When Optimising Your PPC Campaign”.

The moral to the story? If you don’t want someone dredging up your bidding error and/or having a chuckle at your expense, check your keyword list from top to bottom.

PPC Beyond Google… Adwords isn’t the Only Option

When someone discusses pay-per-click advertising, they’re usually talking about using Google’s Adwords program. Adwords is the biggest player in the PPC world and it it’s potential power is so great that most people focus their attention upon it.

Google, however, isn’t the only company involved in PPC advertising. It may be the biggest. You can even argue that it’s the best. But it isn’t alone. There is PPC beyond Google and you might want to explore creating a foothold with some other options.

Why? If Google is the biggest and the baddest, why would someone want to mess around with Yahoo or MSN? If Google is the center of attention, why spend time building a campaign for Mirago or Yell? There are actually a few good reasons to consider branching out beyond the confines of Adwords.

First, the options that don’t receive as much action are often not as competitive. Some niches are surprisingly under-represented on alternative PPC networks. That can create some strong value opportunities for smart advertisers. That click that costs you $5 via Adwords might be available for $2 on a competing network.

Second, you may be able to reach a different audience with different networks. In some cases, that can work to your advantage. Yahoo and MSN users, for example, profile out differently, on average, than Google users. This is your chance to reach the people who aren’t Googling their searches and, in some niches, the user demographics for alternate networks are a much better fit than is Google’s.

Third, developing alternate advertising venues provides some degree of insurance in case of problems. What would happen to your PPC plan if you experienced problems accessing your Google or Adwords accounts for a few days? What would you do if a new “bully” moved into your PPC “neighborhood” and you didn’t have the resources to fight back in an economically viable manner? You can avoid the sting associated with a variety of problems if you have back-up, or secondary, plans in place.

There is PPC beyond Google. Consider making it part of your overall plan.

Turning 95 Characters into Sales – Writing Ads for Adwords.

PPC marketing is probably the fastest way to drive traffic to your site and it can be one of the most profitable—if it’s done correctly. An important part of the PPC equation is actually convincing people to click on your ad. It doesn’t do you any good to have the ad displayed every time someone queries for your keywords if they aren’t clicking.

Unfortunately, Google gives you a mere 95 characters to construct an enticing ad. You don’t have a lot of space to write irresistible copy in the world of PPC. In addition to playing by Google’s rules with respect to grammar, spelling, etc., you need to be strong, succinct and tempting.

That’s easier said than done, of course. And there’s no way to turn an absolutely miserable copywriter into a PPC ad writing superstar in a single blog post. There are, however, a few things to keep in mind when writing your Adwords ads that will increase your CTR dramatically.

First, you need a call to action. The call to action is a critical component of traditional copywriting. Every sales piece is a funnel leading to that moment where the prospect is convinced to follow through with action. Your 95-character PPC ad might be a tiny copy project, but you can’t overlook including a call to action if you want to produce the best possible results. Don’t just impart information. Make a point of persuasively directing searchers to click on your ad.

Second, you need to approach your ads as if you were a potential customer. If you’ve done market research, this is the time to use it. If you have a strong sense of your potential customers and what they really want, this is the time to make sure you’re giving it to them. Too often, PPC advertisers think like business people or advertisers instead of “getting into the head” of the people who’ll really be seeing (and hopefully clicking on) those ads. Write for your audience.

If you put together an ad that will resonate with your prospects and you manage to craft a compelling call to action, you can expect great results for your PPC ads. Your CTR will jump and you’ll be getting the most out of your Adwords investment.

Negative keywords avoid unwanted clicks

We’re always searching for ways to optimize keywords and keyword phrases to attract the search engines. Search engines are always looking for the words that have relevancy to the search inquiry. While this is a commendable strategy, there’s another one that is just as important to SEO.

Negative keyword strategy

When search engines are looking for a specific topic, they focus on keywords. You can also eliminate any unwanted visitors clicking on your site by using negative keywords to send search engines away.  Focusing on targeted traffic is the best way to increase your conversion rates and negative keywords can help you with this strategy.

Negative keywords are especially helpful when you use them in ads to avoid attracting the wrong people to your website. It’s a good way to capitalize on your marketing dollars when you use these words effectively. PPC can be even more effective with negative keywords.

If your name is Jason Deere, and your online business is “Deere’s clocks”, you can use negative keywords such as ‘farm equipment’, ‘tractors’, ‘John Deere’, and similar words. This will prevent people looking for John Deere clocks or equipment from landing on your site. You still may get a few people who come to your site by mistake – but you’ll be able to weed out a lot of them.

Using negative keywords can increase your conversion rates and help you attract the target audience you desire. You can optimize the traffic that ends up visiting your site. They’re more likely to become paying customers at some point.

The Evolving World of Pay-per-Click (PPC) Advertising

We all know how Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising can drive traffic (and therefore potential customers) to your website. But have you ever heard of pay-per-call advertising?

Pay-per-Call is a similar online advertising style to PPC. However it is intended to assure advertisers that they will get visitors who are truly interested in what is being marketed.

As you know, PPC advertisers only have to pay for ads when a user clicks on them. However, as people become more sophisticated, the practice has lead to instances of click fraud. Website owners have been known to inflate the number of clicks each site received, thus increasing the amount they are paid.

To combat this practice, Pay-per-Call advertising is becoming more popular. In Pay-per-Call, advertisers only pay for each telephone call or personal visit generated by website. Users clicking on a site are taken to a page with contact information and a source code. When they contact the advertiser, he or she notes the source code to determine which website was the source.

While internet mavens may say requiring a customer to physically call a company may lose a client, many users actually prefer talking to a “real person” rather than just clicking a button. Calling a company allows the customer to ask any questions they may have before ordering. Many customers like the personal touch and won’t mind taking the extra step to get it.

Pay-per-Call is obviously most advantageous for businesses that work in a specific geographic region. After all, customers have to take into account travel costs and long-distance telephone costs in dealing with a business further away. However, for advertisers who want to make sure their advertising is truly effective, Pay-per-Call is becoming very attractive. PPC experts are predicting the major ad networks will be shifting to a pay-per-call format in the near future and so many advertisers are keeping that in mind as they make their marketing plans

If you are interested in Pay-per-Call’s potential, be sure to research on reputable companies who now offer this service. You can find them on your favorite search engine. You can also find other information that compare Pay-per-Click and Pay-per-Call methods. You should be sure you understand the pros and cons of each type of advertising.

Whichever form of Internet advertising you choose, it pays to be smart about it. Be sure to read all documentation about all online marketing services before you buy and be sure to understand exactly what you are getting. If you have any questions or doubts, don’t buy it. If possible, try the free trial offers that may be available. You can always cancel at the end of the 30-day period if you want.

Remember, each business is different and no advertising model is right for every business. No matter what advertising you use, use it consistently and often. The whole point of advertising, whether online or in person is to increase exposure for you and your business. The more your venture is in the public eye, the more business you will generate and the more money you will make.

Is Pay-per-Click (PPC) Advertising Right for Your Business?

Pay-per-Click advertising is a very tempting way to build your online businesses. What could be easier than having someone click on a link to your website to drive your business? What could be more enticing than paying only for the number of clicks on your link? What could go wrong?

Actually, there is plenty that could go wrong. Pay-per-Click advertising is not for everyone. Here are some pros and cons to help you decide whether it is an advertising method you should pursue.

Although Pay-per-Click seems very cost-efficient, it can actually get very expensive. In order to get the search engine rankings you want, you have to place a bid and compete with others interested in the same keywords. The highest bid per keyword, of course, gets the top spot. For example, if you are selling a weight loss product, you will have to pay a high fee to beat out all the others to the search engine top spot for the keyword “diet.”

In addition to this, even if you’ve paid a high fee for a search engine ranking, you can quickly lose that spot through search engines’ auto-bidding systems. If a competitor auto-bids on a site, he automatically bids just a cent more than your bid and displaces you. On the other hand, if you use the auto-bidding system and are unable to watch the results carefully, you may find that those penny-bids to retain your hold quickly amount to major dollars.

Furthermore, Pay-per-Click advertising can be a very inexact science. You can use all the keyword selector tools you want but you won’t know if you will get a good return on your investment until you actually have the advertisements in place. Part of the reason is that the networks that handle Pay-per-Click advertisements control where links appear. You cannot actually know if the visitors your site gets are there because they want to buy what you are offering.

However, Pay-per-Click advertising also has its significant benefits. It is amazing how much Pay-per-Click advertising can increase traffic so quickly. Many people have found traffic to their websites increased dramatically the very day they begin a Pay-per-Click campaign.

Also, there is a chance that the keywords you choose will not be overly expensive. You really can use internet marketing inexpensively as long as you are smart about it.

As with any marketing plan, the key to Pay-per-Click success is consistency. Keep your business’ name out there and you will get traffic. Many advertising experts agree that it is best to use Pay-per-Click advertising in conjunction with other forms of advertising. These may include banner ads and advertising in other media.

After all these, it all comes down to name recognition. You want people to recognize your business and there are many ways to get your name out there. If you try Pay-per-Click and it doesn’t seem to work for you, you can try a little longer or you can change small things about your Pay-per-Click campaign. Of course, you can always give up and move on to other advertising methods. Experiment and see what methods are right for you but always consider that if Pay-per-Click advertising is done correctly, it can prove to be a very fruitful internet marketing tool.