Optimizing your website for the 'traditional'
search engines can be a daunting task, and one that many people
are either unable or unwilling to attempt. Fortunately, pay-per-click
search engines (PPC SEs) allow us to specify exactly what key phrases
we want to be listed under -- for a price.
In brief, you simply "bid" on the
key phrases you want. Your bid indicates how much you're willing
to pay for a click on your link - in other words, every time someone
clicks your link, you pay 10 cents or whatever you bid on that particular
search term. The highest bidder gets placed at the top of the search
results, the second highest bidder gets the next listing, and so
on. It's a quick way to get exactly the search terms you want.
Obviously you want to maximize the effectiveness
of your pay-per-click campaign since you're paying for traffic!
Here are a few tips to get you started:
__1. Know Your Website's Conversion Rate.
What percentage of unique visitors to your
website actually make a purchase? For instance, a website that makes
1 sale for every 100 visitors has a conversion rate of 1%.
Although the quality of visitors you get from
a pay-per- click search engine may be higher or lower than what
you normally get through other marketing means, knowing your CR
will give you a "baseline" to help determine how high
you're willing to bid.
For example, let's say your conversion rate
is 1%. Based on this, you need 100 clicks on your link to make 1
sale. That's $10 if your bid is 10 cents/click. Figure out whether
or not your profit margin is sufficiently high enough to justify
the cost. If so, are you willing to go spend even more to get your
link displayed higher in the search results and possibly generate
more clicks and sales? Will the additional sales justify the extra
cost?
__2. Target the RIGHT Key Phrases.
The goal is to drive traffic and sales to
your website. Choosing the right key phrases is therefore critical:
if you choose a search term that no one uses, you won't get any
traffic. If you choose the wrong key phrase you may end up with
visitors who aren't really interested in your products and services.
Use Overture's Search Term Suggestion Tool to help you research
the appropriate key phrases for your business:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
__3. Qualify the Visitor Before He Clicks
On Your Link.
You pay every time someone clicks your link,
so make sure he's a qualified visitor! Make good use of your title
and description to encourage visitors who are specifically looking
for a product or service like yours, while discouraging people who
are "just curious".
For instance, you may sell professional website
templates -- but some people are only interested in fr^e templates
they can use for personal websites or small projects. These are
the people you *don't* want to attract.
__4. Spend Time Writing Good Titles and Descriptions.
Create titles and descriptions specifically
for each of your search terms. They should "speak" directly
to the type of visitor you're catering to. For instance, if you
sell a variety of golf clubs, you might bid on "used golf club",
"discount golf club", and "ladies golf club".
Use each of these terms in the title and description to help catch
the prospect's attention.
__5. Send the Visitor Directly to a "Sales"
Page.
Instead of linking to your home page where
the visitor may be presented with a variety of choices, link to
a page which asks the visitor to complete just one action. That
doesn't necessarily mean you have to send them to a page where they're
asked to make a purchase; you can also direct visitors to your newsletter
subscription page, or a page where they're asked to answer a survey.
__6. Consider Using the Smaller PPC SEs.
Overture is the best-known and most popular
of the pay-per-click search engines. However, you can still benefit
from the smaller ones as well, such as 7Search or FindWhat. Even
though you may not get the same amount of traffic as you would from
Overture, your money isn't "wasted" since you still only
pay for actual
clicks on your link. In fact, the bids are usually far lower on
the smaller PPC SEs. Take advantage of the cheaper traffic.
__7. Find the Bid Position that Offers the
Best Value.
Many people try to get the #1 listing for
their search phrase. While the links in the top three positions
may get the most traffic, you can still get good traffic from links
on the first few pages. Some people even argue that these visitors
are more qualified -- they took the time to read your link and are
interested in what you have to offer. They didn't just click your
link because it happened to be the first one.
Another thing to watch for are "bid gaps".
As an example, at the time of writing, Overture shows the following
bids for the search phrase "golf clubs":
Position #1 - 54 cents/click Position #2 -
50 cents/click Position #3 - 41 cents/click Positions #4 and #5
- 40
cents/click Position #6 - 33 cents/click
Most of the above bids are separated by several
cents per click... if you wanted position #3, you could bid 42 cents
(be sure to read the bids above AND below the position you want...
otherwise, in this example you could end up paying 49 cents/click
for position #3!). However, position #6 is available for a mere
34 cents. That may not seem like much when you're just looking at
a single click, but that's a difference of $8 for every 100 clicks!
Your savings can add up quickly. You have to decide whether the
extra cost is worth being higher up in the search results.
Pay-per-click search engines may not be the
cheapest way to promote your online business, but they can be a
very effective part of your overall marketing plan. Remember that
it's not how much you spend that's so important, but rather how
much return you get on your investment!
About the author:
_________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela is the editor of
Online Business Basics, a practical guide to marketing a business
on a beginner's budget. This guide offers loads of instantly useable
tips and links, in a down-to-earth style that even marketing "newbies"
can understand! A helpful Online Business Dictionary is included
too... visit: http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html
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