Marketing on pay-per-click search engines can be a little scary. You pay your hard earned money in advance. You submit your listing. Then, you pray that some of the people who click on your listing will actually buy something from you. There is little more disappointing than to watch you funds dwindle as the curious click away without spending a dime.
Here are a few things you can do to get the most out of the dollars you spend on pay-per-click search engines.
HIGH-PRICED KEYWORDS – NOT! Stay away from high-priced keywords. My logic is that I had rather purchase 20 keywords that get searched for 1,000 times a month than one keyword which gets searched for 20,000 times a month. Why? Because, with the one keyword that gets searched for 20,000 times a month you are likely to pay $2.00 a click. If you get clicked 1,000 times, it will cost you $2,000. With the lesser searched keywords, you can often get them for a penny a click. If you get clicked 2,000 times, it will cost you only $20. Either way, your listing is still getting 20,000 exposures, and you are still getting 2,000 clicks. I had rather pay $20 for those clicks than $2,000.
DISCOURAGE CLICKS! Many people advertise so that their listings attract the most clicks possible. With all the hype, they are swamped with the curious. When paying per click, the curious cost money. Drop the hype and be totally honest in your listing. You will get far fewer clicks, but those you do get will be very good prospects for what you have to offer. Thus, your cost per qualified lead will be much lower.
If you use hype at all, keep it in your title. This is what grabs the viewer’s attention. In the description, tell them what you are advertising so they can decide if they want to click or not.
THINK BROAD! If you are advertising a microdermabrasion cream, your first choice of keywords might be “skin care”. But, what other keywords are suitable? “Bath & beauty”, “skin blemishes”, “dry skin removal”, “skin treatment”, might all be keywords that get a hundred or more hits a month. If you are advertising prepaid legal, try “evictions”, “landlord tenant law” or “child custody”. All of these are common problems people might do searches for.
Regardless of your keyword selection, be sure to fully describe what you are offering in the description. If you advertise prepaid legal under “evictions”, make it clear that you are not offering to handle evictions, rather, you are offering tenants an inexpensive way to get legal advice.
STUDY YOUR COMPETITION! Recently, I was investigating a keyword and found the first two listings had questions as their titles. One was something like: “Can you really get rich doing this?”. The other read something like: “Can we help you fulfill your dreams?”. I purchased the number three spot and my title read “No question about it! etc. . . . “. Which title was most interesting? Mine was, because I played off the other titles. The titles of the number one and number two positions became part of my advertisement.
There are other ways you can use your competition’s listings to help your odds of getting noticed. Play opposites. If their titles hype it up, you should offer a very realistic title. If their titles are realistic, you should hype it up. If their titles are in all caps, try using all lowercase.
DON’T BID FOR #1! There is no reason to be the first on the list. People will generally read the first ten or more titles. I want to be in the top ten, not number one. Very often, the cost of a listing in the number eight spot is less than a fourth the cost of the number one position.
FORGET BEING CUTE! Often, advertisers get so involved with being cute they forget the real purpose of their advertisement is to sell products or services. You should write your description so that it appeals to your marketplace. Think as if you are the consumer. What would you be looking for? What is it you need or want? What information is important to you? These are the questions your description needs to answer once you have the viewer’s attention.
By following these few simple rules you will get the most bang for the buck out of your pay-per-click search engine dollars.
Brande and Chris Bradford are active participants in a home based business opportunity and are the publishers of GREAT HEIGHTS, a monthly newsletter focused on home based business issues. To subscribe to their newsletter, send a blank e-mail to: Great-Heights-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit: http://www.brandebradford.com
