Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Advertisers: All signs point to the Web
Tech entrepreneur David Pitlyuk is learning the lessons of advertising the hard way -- by starting with newspaper ads.
He got zero leads from a $200 ad he placed in a few local Maryland papers. I'm not surprised. This approach only reaches local readers who happen to turn to that page of the paper. Plus, consumers don't really read the newspaper to research businesses and products.
Both challenges can be solved with -- you guessed it -- an online presence and online advertising. When people are looking for a product or service, the Web is by far the first place consumers hit, and for one simple reason: It puts a world of information at their fingertips.
Consumers can quickly and easily find what they're looking for with a few key stokes and mouse clicks. They can also complete the commerce cycle in one sitting -- research businesses, learn more about their products or services, select one, and make a purchase.
Plus, with online advertising tools such as pay-per-click and pay-per-call, the Web offers some of the most powerful and efficient ways to attract consumers to your business and Web site (as we've discussed before).
So my recommendation for Pitlyuk and any other businessperson looking to spread the word about their company: Refresh yourself on our words of wisdom, take to the Web, and let the cash register ring.
He got zero leads from a $200 ad he placed in a few local Maryland papers. I'm not surprised. This approach only reaches local readers who happen to turn to that page of the paper. Plus, consumers don't really read the newspaper to research businesses and products.
Both challenges can be solved with -- you guessed it -- an online presence and online advertising. When people are looking for a product or service, the Web is by far the first place consumers hit, and for one simple reason: It puts a world of information at their fingertips.
Consumers can quickly and easily find what they're looking for with a few key stokes and mouse clicks. They can also complete the commerce cycle in one sitting -- research businesses, learn more about their products or services, select one, and make a purchase.
Plus, with online advertising tools such as pay-per-click and pay-per-call, the Web offers some of the most powerful and efficient ways to attract consumers to your business and Web site (as we've discussed before).
So my recommendation for Pitlyuk and any other businessperson looking to spread the word about their company: Refresh yourself on our words of wisdom, take to the Web, and let the cash register ring.
Labels: Online advertising, Pay-per-click
Friday, April 20, 2007
The pay-per-click pay-off
Humble apologies, IncPlace readers! Andy got caught up in MySpace, so I'm picking up where he left off yesterday. Hopefully we haven't disappointed you too much. Now onward with the pay-per-click show!
Like Andy stated in his other post, pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the most popular and efficient ways to advertise online. And we have a few words of wisdom to get you started on a successful PPC campaign:
Make sure you have a well thought-out budget. Figure out how much money one new customer is worth to you, and then bid accordingly. This also helps you determine your ROI.
Don’t get caught up in the auction hype. Many people lose sight of their budget, and bid ridiculous amounts because they want their ad listed in the No. 1 slot. If you figure out how much money a new customer is worth to you, then you should have no problem bidding accordingly. And you'll be able to keep your costs under control.
Consider the low-hanging fruit. Just like Andy's SEO advice, having the No. 1 keyword might not be the best route. Pick some second-tier keywords; they might be more useful, cheaper, and still generate an effective PPC campaign.
Experiment. If you're unsure of what keywords are first-tier, second-tier, and so one, or what's going to get you better traffic, run test ads. Create a few ads using different keywords, and limit the number of times people can click it.
This way, you won’t be out of pocket too much. Plus, if you see that the second-tier keywords generate more traffic, and your click allowance depleted faster, you know that keyword is a good one to go with.
Likewise, buy keywords on second-tier search engines or ad platforms. Yes, Google and Yahoo!'s traffic is amazing, but you're paying for it. If you take our first piece of advice, you should know your maximum price for customer acquisition. Second-tier engines might let you to get that price, and still bring sufficient traffic to your site.
Take that a step further and look at it from an SEO standpoint. Your site will gain more traffic and activity, effectively making it more desirable in the larger search engines rankings. So for pennies on the dollar, you get the traffic you want, and you get SEO’d at the same time -- a win for you, and your business.
Use multiple ad platforms to display ads. If you find second-tier ad platforms work, spread your ads among the different networks to gain the most exposure for your ad.
Make your ads diverse. All of the ads you create do the same thing: They take people to your Web site. So the more ads you have, the more opportunity you create for people to click your ad and be directed to your Web site.
If you sell several different products, create an ad for each product, and use lesser-known keywords. For example, if you have a hardware store, don’t advertise your hardware store. Make separate ads for “new hammers”, or “latest power tools to hit the market.” This way, you'll have an army of ads working for you cheaply.
Target your ads by region. If you're selling a local service, geo-target your ad using an advertising application. It will look at which city or geographic area people are searching from, and display your ad only when someone from that area searches for the type of service you offer.
This really helps ROI because you won't get someone in Australia clicking on your ad for plumbing services in New York.
Create well-designed landing pages. Make sure your landing page -- the Web page the ad directs people to -- clearly displays the information that will guarantee the close of a sale. This information includes call-to-action text and links to contact the company.
The last thing you want to do is direct a potential customer to the wrong page, and make them figure out where to go to buy the product or service. I can guarantee they will leave the site immediately, and you won't be able to get your money back from the wasted click.
Like Andy stated in his other post, pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the most popular and efficient ways to advertise online. And we have a few words of wisdom to get you started on a successful PPC campaign:
Make sure you have a well thought-out budget. Figure out how much money one new customer is worth to you, and then bid accordingly. This also helps you determine your ROI.
Don’t get caught up in the auction hype. Many people lose sight of their budget, and bid ridiculous amounts because they want their ad listed in the No. 1 slot. If you figure out how much money a new customer is worth to you, then you should have no problem bidding accordingly. And you'll be able to keep your costs under control.
Consider the low-hanging fruit. Just like Andy's SEO advice, having the No. 1 keyword might not be the best route. Pick some second-tier keywords; they might be more useful, cheaper, and still generate an effective PPC campaign.
Experiment. If you're unsure of what keywords are first-tier, second-tier, and so one, or what's going to get you better traffic, run test ads. Create a few ads using different keywords, and limit the number of times people can click it.
This way, you won’t be out of pocket too much. Plus, if you see that the second-tier keywords generate more traffic, and your click allowance depleted faster, you know that keyword is a good one to go with.
Likewise, buy keywords on second-tier search engines or ad platforms. Yes, Google and Yahoo!'s traffic is amazing, but you're paying for it. If you take our first piece of advice, you should know your maximum price for customer acquisition. Second-tier engines might let you to get that price, and still bring sufficient traffic to your site.
Take that a step further and look at it from an SEO standpoint. Your site will gain more traffic and activity, effectively making it more desirable in the larger search engines rankings. So for pennies on the dollar, you get the traffic you want, and you get SEO’d at the same time -- a win for you, and your business.
Use multiple ad platforms to display ads. If you find second-tier ad platforms work, spread your ads among the different networks to gain the most exposure for your ad.
Make your ads diverse. All of the ads you create do the same thing: They take people to your Web site. So the more ads you have, the more opportunity you create for people to click your ad and be directed to your Web site.
If you sell several different products, create an ad for each product, and use lesser-known keywords. For example, if you have a hardware store, don’t advertise your hardware store. Make separate ads for “new hammers”, or “latest power tools to hit the market.” This way, you'll have an army of ads working for you cheaply.
Target your ads by region. If you're selling a local service, geo-target your ad using an advertising application. It will look at which city or geographic area people are searching from, and display your ad only when someone from that area searches for the type of service you offer.
This really helps ROI because you won't get someone in Australia clicking on your ad for plumbing services in New York.
Create well-designed landing pages. Make sure your landing page -- the Web page the ad directs people to -- clearly displays the information that will guarantee the close of a sale. This information includes call-to-action text and links to contact the company.
The last thing you want to do is direct a potential customer to the wrong page, and make them figure out where to go to buy the product or service. I can guarantee they will leave the site immediately, and you won't be able to get your money back from the wasted click.
Labels: Online advertising, Pay-per-click, SEO
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Go where the eyeballs are
Yes, eyeballs are in your head. But they're also on the Web. And no one knows this better than advertisers.
Online advertising is growing by leaps and bounds. It's already a multibillion dollar industry, and expanding at double-digit rates every year.
The reason, of course, is that everyone is online these days. They're either blogging, chatting, meeting people, searching for information, conducting business, shopping, and whatever else people like to do with their computers and an Internet connection.
And like loyal bloodhounds, advertisers follow. Then more advertisers pick up the scent, and so on. This means businesses that don't advertise online will struggle to make profits while their competition -- who uses the Internet to market -- slowly steals away their market share.
But don't freak out yet. I have a three-letter answer: "PPC."
They stand for pay-per-click, the most efficient, easiest, and popular way to advertise online these days.
In order to get started with a PPC advertising campaign, you have to understand exactly what it is, and how to budget for it. (Refer to my post on SEO, as some of these ideas overlap.)
In a nutshell, PPC is keyword advertising. You know the list of "sponsored links" that appears on the side of your screen when you do a Google search? Those are PPC ads. You might see PPC ads on other search engines, too, such as Yahoo! and MSN.
That's the short explanation. The more detailed explanation can get a bit complicated, so stay with me here. Advertisers bid on keywords they think people would type when searching for them, their competitors, or information related to their business.
For example, a real estate lawyer would bid on keywords such as "real estate lawyer" or "real estate law." Other real estate lawyers are probably bidding on the same words.
Then when someone searches for a keyword, ads by the top five to 10 advertisers that won the bidding on that keyword appear on the search results page. The ads are ranked by the amount of the bid, with the highest bidders landing on top.
When people click the ad, they're taken to the advertiser's Web site. The advertiser pays the keyword bid price when someone clicks their ad.
Here's where PPC can get expensive. Some top keywords might go for up to $15 a click, while others for pennies. It all depends on the popularity of the keyword ("real estate lawyer" would be more expensive than, say, "condominium lawyer in Philadelphia"), and where your ad falls on the sponsored link list.
But even something that sounds cheap, like 25 cents, can actually get quite expensive. Here’s how:
1. Your keyword makes the top of the list for a quarter.
2. You ad shows up every time someone searches Google with that keyword.
3. Google gets millions of page views a day.
4. Millions of people can potentially see your ad.
5. They click it, and you get charged a quarter each time.
6. Before you know it, you owe Google thousands of dollars.
This might not be bad if you have the budget for it, but you have to make sure you can effectively calculate your ROI. PPC ads work best if you have a product for sale directly on your page. It's easy to track how many clicks you got, and then how many sales occurred in a time period.
However, if you're a service-based company, people might just click to your site, surf around and not use you. You're still charged for the click, making it much harder to calculate your ROI.
Also something to keep in mind: When you buy PPC ad space, you have to create your own ads. Whether it's coming up with unique copy for your text-based ad, or making a flash-based ad, the time and money investment is yours.
There are companies that can assist in developing ad copy for you, but this can get expensive, too. If you use one, you're not just paying for the clicks, but also the creation of your ad. That needs to be factored into your ROI as well.
So where do you go from here? I'm all typed-out for now, so that, my fellow bloggers, is the story of tomorrow! Check back then for my advice on developing an effective PPC campaign.
Online advertising is growing by leaps and bounds. It's already a multibillion dollar industry, and expanding at double-digit rates every year.
The reason, of course, is that everyone is online these days. They're either blogging, chatting, meeting people, searching for information, conducting business, shopping, and whatever else people like to do with their computers and an Internet connection.
And like loyal bloodhounds, advertisers follow. Then more advertisers pick up the scent, and so on. This means businesses that don't advertise online will struggle to make profits while their competition -- who uses the Internet to market -- slowly steals away their market share.
But don't freak out yet. I have a three-letter answer: "PPC."
They stand for pay-per-click, the most efficient, easiest, and popular way to advertise online these days.
In order to get started with a PPC advertising campaign, you have to understand exactly what it is, and how to budget for it. (Refer to my post on SEO, as some of these ideas overlap.)
In a nutshell, PPC is keyword advertising. You know the list of "sponsored links" that appears on the side of your screen when you do a Google search? Those are PPC ads. You might see PPC ads on other search engines, too, such as Yahoo! and MSN.
That's the short explanation. The more detailed explanation can get a bit complicated, so stay with me here. Advertisers bid on keywords they think people would type when searching for them, their competitors, or information related to their business.
For example, a real estate lawyer would bid on keywords such as "real estate lawyer" or "real estate law." Other real estate lawyers are probably bidding on the same words.
Then when someone searches for a keyword, ads by the top five to 10 advertisers that won the bidding on that keyword appear on the search results page. The ads are ranked by the amount of the bid, with the highest bidders landing on top.
When people click the ad, they're taken to the advertiser's Web site. The advertiser pays the keyword bid price when someone clicks their ad.
Here's where PPC can get expensive. Some top keywords might go for up to $15 a click, while others for pennies. It all depends on the popularity of the keyword ("real estate lawyer" would be more expensive than, say, "condominium lawyer in Philadelphia"), and where your ad falls on the sponsored link list.
But even something that sounds cheap, like 25 cents, can actually get quite expensive. Here’s how:
1. Your keyword makes the top of the list for a quarter.
2. You ad shows up every time someone searches Google with that keyword.
3. Google gets millions of page views a day.
4. Millions of people can potentially see your ad.
5. They click it, and you get charged a quarter each time.
6. Before you know it, you owe Google thousands of dollars.
This might not be bad if you have the budget for it, but you have to make sure you can effectively calculate your ROI. PPC ads work best if you have a product for sale directly on your page. It's easy to track how many clicks you got, and then how many sales occurred in a time period.
However, if you're a service-based company, people might just click to your site, surf around and not use you. You're still charged for the click, making it much harder to calculate your ROI.
Also something to keep in mind: When you buy PPC ad space, you have to create your own ads. Whether it's coming up with unique copy for your text-based ad, or making a flash-based ad, the time and money investment is yours.
There are companies that can assist in developing ad copy for you, but this can get expensive, too. If you use one, you're not just paying for the clicks, but also the creation of your ad. That needs to be factored into your ROI as well.
So where do you go from here? I'm all typed-out for now, so that, my fellow bloggers, is the story of tomorrow! Check back then for my advice on developing an effective PPC campaign.
Labels: Online advertising, Pay-per-click
