Pay Per Click Resources

Pay per Click resources providing information about pay per click advertising program, pay per click search engines and other PPC resources.


Thursday, April 13, 2006

5 Secrets to Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertising

by: Daegan Smith

With so many companies swarming the World Wide Web with their products, how can you and your products and services stand out?

Your ready answer would most likely be effective marketing. But how? How can you catch the eye of a surfer skimming carelessly through web pages? How can you keep the attention of a typical website reader who spends no more than 30 seconds to read any given article online? How can you garner sales online?

One marketing technique is to be listed in search engines – but again, with thousands of companies offering the same products and services as you, how can your scream for attention be heard?

One technique is pay per click advertising, or PPC. You write out and place an advertisement in a search engine, list yourself under keywords of your choosing, and bid on the placement of your ads. This narrows your field to the people who are actively searching for your products and services.

If someone finds the ad and clicks it, that person goes to your website, and you pay the bid price. As a rule, the higher you bid, the higher your ad goes in the list of search results for a certain keyword, and the more people will go to your site.

PPC can be used to widen your reach, but it can be very expensive, especially if people click your ad only out of curiosity, or if you bid on more keywords than your budget can handle. However, PPC can get you customers and increase your profits. If done well, it can earn you money.

Here are five tips to get the most out of PPC.

Get Ten Specific Keywords. If you are a company specializing in exercise equipment, don't select "exercise equipment" or "gym" as your keywords. Chances are, there will be hundreds of thousands of other bidders waiting to jump on those same keywords. Be specific. Try "treadmill" or "stationary bike." Select a maximum of ten words, just to test the waters and see how your potential customers respond.

If the first ten keywords succeed in getting you a larger market, then research additional keywords which are not as specific. However, if your first try yields less than satisfactory results, then try another set of keywords if you can still afford it.

Write Your Ads but Write the Truth. Most ad writers will broadcast their wares as being the be-all and cure all of all ills and pains. If they do this, web users will click on their ads and storm the site. This is well and good if the product or service will live up to the ad's promise – but what if it doesn't? A customer clicks, you pay, but the customer doesn't buy. You lose.

Write a succinct but accurate ad that doesn't sue vague language. Avoid using words such as "free," "low cost," "extremely effective," and "cheap." Tailor your ads to fit the keyword, and if you can, include your prices on the ads. This way, you will get a buyer who is ready and willing to purchase your product or service.

Budget Your Bid. It's tempting to go all out and set your prices, especially if you think your product will sell. But what if it won't? Set a monthly budget of about $100 for your bids, and bid just right – bid too high and you will run out of money, bid too low and your ads won't show up.

Even if you believe in your product, keep within bid budget, and do not get into bidding wars, especially with another advertiser who has a much larger budget than you. Don't waste your time thinking about your bids. Instead, invest your time in designing what your ad is linked to, which brings us to:

Make Your Site a Professional One. The standard rules of web design apply. Check your web content for spelling and grammatical errors. Update your web content regularly. Fix any broken links and images. Design your website so that it will be easy to navigate and load, so do not use Flash animation, as this will slow down your buyers' browsers. Link your ads to the exact place on your site where your product or service appears.

Know When to Stop. PPC ad campaigns can lead more buyers to you, but take care to check profit against spending. If you have already spent double your advertising budget, but have had little or no sales, consider dropping your campaign. You can also measure your progress in clicks. A total of 300 clicks is average for any ad. If your ad has reached 300 clicks and you have made no sales yet, then terminate your PPC project.

Equally as important as knowing when to stop is knowing that all is not yet lost and you can still go on. Running a web-based business means investing time, money, and effort, so keep your PPC up and running as long as you are raking money in. PPC, after all, may first mean pay-per-click, but, if you're successful, can soon mean Profiting Perfectly in Cash.

About The Author

Daegan Smith is the leader of the fastest growing team of successful home business enterpernuers on the net. Find out how we're creating financial freedom all across the globe and how to get in on the action FREE at http://www.comlev.net.

article.domain@gmail.com

Friday, April 07, 2006

What is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?

by Adrian Mullan

As we've discussed, targeted traffic is the lifeblood of any website.

And while it is definitely worth optimizing your website for the search engines, you're likely to come across the following obstacles:

1) It takes time. It will typically take at least a couple of months before your website starts showing up in the search engines.

2) The top positions in any search engine can be very competitive. This means when your site does get listed, you'll usually start off lower down the list of search results.

This is where Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising can be a real life saver.

Pay-Per-Click advertising is the fastest way to start driving quality traffic to your website.

What is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?

A commonly asked question about the Internet is:

'How do Search Engines make money?'

The answer is simple - search engines make their money by selling advertising space to website owners.

This type of advertising is known as 'Pay-Per-Click' and it is a very effective and affordable form of promotion.

The concept of Pay-Per-Click (also known as 'pay-per-performance' or 'paid search') is based around the simple concept of matching buyers with sellers.

How does Pay-Per-Click Work?

When someone types in a keyword or keyword phrase into a search engine, they receive two kinds of results; Natural Results and Sponsored Results.

Search engine optimization focuses on improving your ranking in the natural results. Pay-Per-Click advertising focuses on the sponsored results area.

Natural Results (also know as 'Organic Results')

Natural results are free listings which are generated from the search engine's database. They are also sometimes referred to as 'organic results'.

The characteristics of natural results are:

- Listings are free. Website owners don't pay to be listed in the natural results. - There are often millions of results for each topic, but most web surfers don't go past the first 30 results. - With popular search terms the competition can be fiercely aggressive for the top positions. - You have no control over the results - your position is determined by a search engine ranking formula (also known as an 'algorithm'). - You can, however, use legitimate Search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to give yourself a better chance of getting a good position (refer to search engine optimization).

Sponsored Results (also know as 'Paid Results')

The second type of result is Sponsored Results.

The characteristics of sponsored results are:

- Listings are paid for by advertisers. - Listings appear at the top of the page and along the right hand side of the screen. - Unlike natural search results, you get to specify your ad description and the keywords that make your ad appear.

Differences Between Sponsored and Natural Results

1. Fast set-up

Sponsored results can be set-up immediately, whereas natural results often take months to show a new site listing. 2. You have total control over your ads

You control the appearance of your ad, what position it appears in and how often it is displayed to web surfers.

Once you have your ad up and running, you are free to update it whenever your want. This differs from the natural search results where you have no control over your listing or its position.

3. You choose the keywords that your ad will appear for

Sponsored results allow you to specify exactly which keywords your ad will appear for. You can also specify which keywords you do not want your ad to appear for.

For example, if you sold Harley Davidson motorbikes then you'd want you ad to show up for searches related to 'Harleys' or 'Harley Bikes'.

At the same time, you wouldn't want your ad to show up for other searches that include the word 'bike' like 'mountain bikes' or 'racing bikes'.

4. You determine how much you are willing to spend

Pay-Per-Click advertising allows you to specify exactly what you're willing to spend on a daily basis. Generally, the higher you bid, the higher your ad will appear on the page.

Source : goarticles.com