How To Click With Online Advertising

Welcome to another informative article
by Mark Vandorone

As the free search engines become increasingly competitive,
not to mention complex, pay-per-click ("PPC") advertising
can be ideal for the small business operating in a niche
market.

Study the workings of the PPC search engines and you'll bo
on a fast-track to success. Conversely, poor knowledge can
put your business on the slippery slope to ruin. Listen to
me carefully now! Learn how to operate PPC search engines
and you will have a great advantage over your competition.

Advertising on the PPC search engines can be a bit like
attending an auction where you can bid for the top ranked
positions on the keywords of your choosing. Every time a
visitor reaches your website by clicking on your advert at
that search engine you pay the value of your bid. Bid
values typically start at five cents but can be several
dollars for certain highly-competitive keywords.

Let's consider the advantages and disadvantages of PPC
advertising. First some advantages -

1. You don't pay unless someone clicks on your advert.

2. Can be an inexpensive method of attracting targeted
traffic to your site.

3. Outbid the competition and that top advertising spot can
be yours, no matter how small your business.

4. In some cases a PPC advertising campaign can be up and
running in minutes allowing you to start generating revenue
almost immediately.

5. Adverts can be cancelled immediately if they are not
successful.

6. Campaigns can be tested and refined very quickly and
very easily.

However, be aware of the disadvantages :-

1. People may click on your advert just because they can.
You will, of course, have to pay for these junk clicks.

2. Competition over that top spot can result in a bidding
war, driving up the cost per click.

3. Some of the PPC search engines have rigorous approval
processes for adverts. You don't always end up with an
advert to your liking, or it could take a long time to get
the advert agreed.

4. A misleading or poorly crafted ad can result in traffic
that doesn't convert to sales. If you haven't restricted
the advertising budget to something you can afford - then
in these circumstances you could be on that fast track to
bankruptcy.

So how do you start with PPC advertising? First you need to
establish which keywords your potential customers are
searching on. No point in bidding for traffic on an
inappropriate keyword. There are many ways of doing this
research, unfortunately it is way beyond the scope of this
article. But this is an important step that shouldn't be
missed and I'll be covering it more fully in a future
article.

Before you consider making a bid, you must first establish
the average revenue which each visitor to your website
generates. Use this calculation as your benchmark to
prevent you bidding too highly.

Admittedly in cases where a site is new and you have no
visitor experience you may want to use PPC advertising to
test your sales copy - but be careful to monitor costs and
sales closely. Also set yourself an initial daily budget
that you can afford to lose if the worst happens and no
sales are made. You can always increase this if your copy
is converting like crazy.

You're just about ready to dip your toe in the water. I've
simply given you an outline here and this is only my
interpretation of PPC advertising, which I suggest you use
as a stepping stone to finding out more for yourself.

Here's to your online success with PPC advertising.


At
Five Marketing Mark Vandorone provides a simple, and
extremely powerful, keyword-targeted source of online
advertising. You can try out Mark's service by visiting
http://www.fivemarketing.com