Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising can be quite lucrative. The keys are to bid on literally hundreds of lesser-
used keywords and keyphrases to keep the cost per sale down. Then add traffic strategically with judicious
use of the higher-priced, high-volume keywords in your field.
Leading PPC Ad Publishers and Distributors
The two leading PPC ad publishers and distributors are:
Google AdWords provides a great deal of flexibility to advertisers. Here's where you need to start.
Yahoo! Search Marketing "Sponsored Search" (formerly Overture). You can get a $25 credit when you sign up
with this link. While Yahoo Search Marketing doesn't give you as much flexibility as Google AdWords, it covers
a lot of search engine you can't afford to ignore.
Secondary PPC Players
These serve the smaller search engines that don't get nearly the traffic that Google and Yahoo bring, but their
PPC prices might be 10% to 25%, so if you're struggling with a tight budget, try here. The only problem is,
since traffic is far less, you may be reaching the point of diminishing returns for your ad placement time.
FindWhat is the largest of the second tier companies. If you are looking for lower priced PPC, start here. You
get $5 to open an account with them using this link.
Kanoodle is a smaller player.
Local PPC
ReachLocal will help local businesses manage a local PPC campaign. They also team with consultants to
offer this service to local clients.
Yahoo Local Sponsored Search (formerly Overture LocalMatch) at this point provides great value, since
Yahoo is a leader in local search. Get a $20 credit when you sign up through this link.
CitySearch PPC ads also provides wide coverage for those searching on Yahoo Local and other search
engines.
Books
The best books I've found on PPC advertising are:
Andrew Goodman, Google AdWords Handbook: 21 Ways to Maximize Results (updated May 2005). He
outlines a strategy that will actually work if you follow his instructions. I consider Andrew one of the industry
experts in this field. He speaks regularly at Search Engine Strategies conferences, etc. (Self-published e-
book)
Catherine Seda, Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales (Pearson
Education, 2004, 368 pages, paperback). Less costly than Andrews book and not as up-to-date, but good,
reliable information.
Pay per click (PPC) advertising has revolutionized advertising on the Internet. This allows for very targeted
advertising to Internet users who are searching for the particular item that is being advertised. Google
Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing are the two major PPC programs on the Internet today. Microsoft
AdCenter is a recent newcomer to PPC programs.
It is easy to set up an advertising campaign under these programs, but one must be cautious and make
good business decisions about the campaign. The intent is to make money rather than pay Google, Yahoo,
or AdCenter more than you make.
When evaluating the potential profit from a PPC program, you will only be charged for the times that the user
clicks your ad. However, there is another variable that you must consider which is called conversion rate
(CR). This is the number of users who click the ad divided into the number of users who actually buy the
product. A rough rule of thumb for CR is five (5) percent.
You need to project the economics of the campaign before you launch it. If you have a low cost per click
(CPC) and the commission from your affiliate company is high, you can afford a campaign with a low
conversion rate. On the contrary, if the commission per transaction from the affiliate company is low, and the
CPC is high, you need a conversion rate that is high.
It is a matter of simple math to project the results of a sales campaign.
Profit per click = ($ per sale X Conversion rate) - (Average cost per click)
Let’s plug in some numbers and see how this works. Assume that the selling commission is $5.00, the
conversion rate is 5%, and the average cost per click is $.10. Multiply the selling commission ($5.00) by the
CR of 5% to get $.25. Subtract the cost per click (CPC) of $.10 from $.25 and you get a profit of $.15. This
does not seem like a lot of money, but the Internet is viewed 24/7 so if you have 1000 clicks per month and
convert 5% of them, you will make $150 for setting up the campaign and then monitoring it occasionally. If you
set up several of these campaigns for different key words, you can make a nice supplemental income.
Pay Per Click Advertising
|