Comment posted on How Expensive PPC Advertising May Payout For Keyword Testing by Randy Pickard
Lisa - Seems like you did your homework and were appropriately careful. It is amazing to me how much money some newbies throw at PPC is order to “win” the auction. Google’s own research indicates that position on the page does not dramatically alter conversion rates. So the highest bidders get positions at the top of the page in the sponsored search results and a lot more traffic and sales, but at a much higher cost per transaction than lesser bidders.
Randy Pickard also commented
- Amr - Congratulations on targeting a niche where PPC still offers an opportunity to be profitable. Good luck
- Alex - I tried a small campaign on Facebook for a client. The initial results were not not very promising, but the client pulled the plug to soon to really learn much about advertising effectiveness on Facebook.
- Jared - Congrats on your success with PPC and also for being wise enough to take the money and run.
- Mavis - Hope the tips are useful if you give iPPC a test
- Dennis - Agreed. PPC is not for everyone, particularly if you have productive methods of driving traffic to your blog or website.
Recent comments by Randy Pickard
- Why Google PageRank Could Be a Thing of the Past
If the folks at SEOmoz are correct, and external links account for about a 33% weighting factor in Google’s ranking algorithm, it would explain why opinions on PageRank and the importance of links are so mixed. Getting incoming links is important if you want search engine traffic, but other factors also matter, and search engine visitors are not the only game in town. Here is an example of one of the obscure factors — Do you have secure pages on your site (https)? Bing monitors clicks from standard pages to secure pages as a factor in their PPC quality score. Seems if they use it as a PPC ranking factor, they probably use it as a factor in their organic rankings. - Link Building: What’s Naughty, What’s Nice?
Ana - This is great advice. Your suggested efforts include a lot of link diversity, which is probably very beneficial. As recently as a couple of years ago, quantity of links was the number one correlation factor with high ranking. Checking the backlinks of some sites with 100′s of legacy spammy reciprocal links shows that they still rank well. But as your link spinning efforts seem to demonstrate, obtaining new spammy links seems to hurt. The Google algorithm is definitely evolving, but it takes a lot of testing to figure out what works with no updates to PageRank since April 2. - Link Intelligence: What Goldilocks Can Teach You About Linking Out
In regard to the impact of outbound links on ranking, the only definitive information from Google was in a 1998 paper published by Google founders Brin and Page. Based on the 12 year old version of the algorithm outbound links leaked page authority. A few years ago, page rank sculpting was the fad in the SEO community based on the theory of not leaking PageRank. However, in 2010 a blog or website without any external links is going to appear very unnatural to the Google algorithm. Further, it is widely assumed that Bing tends to reward outbound linking to authoritative and relevant sites. While it is probably prudent to limit links to external sites on posts that are intended to pass link authority to your own older posts, in general, as Ana suggests, creating outbound links to relevant sites offers more benefits than drawbacks. - On-Page Ranking Factors That Scream or Whisper
Is increasing page download speed really important? Some residential real estate sites that I was worked provided a great test bed. They were huge sites, in the 50,000 to 100,000 page range. We made some changes that increased download speed by 35%. The result was about a 20% increase in search engine traffic to the sites we optimized. - Top 10 Split Testing Tips to Increase Your Landing Page Conversion Rates
Ana - Based on some very expensive testing conducted in the past, I’m a bit skeptical about the potential for changes in fonts and colors to really moves the needle significantly. However, what our testing did show was that adding more calls to action, improving the calls to action (great examples in your post) and changing the site navigation are the game changers. However, our testing was conducted on a site selling a complicated service. The simpler your selling proposition is, the more likely changes in fonts and colors are to impact conversion rate. And one of our business partners that had a basic one page site for lead generation had great success changing fonts and colors. Regardless, my experience is that the biggest opportunity for conversion improvements is to focus on testing your calls to action. I recommend a split test of stuffing your site with calls to action. Go overboard in the test, and then pull it back based on what you learn.
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I am a wife to a great husband of 13 years (here ya go, now I have to make changes to this sentence once a year), a mother to a beautiful and, no doubt, genius little girl, and a successful internet entrepreneur. I also devoted my life to Jesus Christ many years ago, and He remains my true priority, focus, and hope.
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Good article Randy!
I’ve never thought of the idea of using PPC in such way before, although I’m sure I’ll be doing a few campaigns in the very near future, as Google Keywords Research is showing very low competition for the keywords I would love to target, and a low Avg. PPC cost as well.
Thumbs up to Alex & Ana for contributing to the article with their notes
Amr Boghdady @ Learn German Online for Free´s last blog ..German Prepositions
Amr - Congratulations on targeting a niche where PPC still offers an opportunity to be profitable. Good luck
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..What You Can Learn From Alexa Trend Reports
First I thank you for written a awesome article on PPC.PPc is benefit for our website.It is true or not and one more thing is PPC campaign is expensive.What I do?Tell me Ana
I hope you reply me
PPC can definitely still benefit some niche websites like yours seems to be. If you can manage to keep your costs down and are getting a reasonable amount of traffic that leads to sales, I would advise to continue doing it.
Hope this answered your question!
Recently My website traffic going down and down.After that I increase my PPC Campaign around $5000 per month.It’s ok Ana
Thax Ana
Create Facebook Application´s last blog ..Win a Free iPad – Sweepstakes
PPC can be something that bring you lots of happiness and sales if used right, but it can also be a wallet thinning exercise if you don’t know how to use it right. I know that ppc can drain your money like there is no tomorrow (especially AdWords), and if your ROI is low you can find yourself in a hole.
I recently bought an ebook that talks about StumbleUpon PPC and it’s great conversion rates (for websites that promote affiliate products). What do you think of social media PPC ? Is it better then google. I heard lots about facebook ads and such.
Alex@Jocuri´s last blog ..Dadaca Nelly
Alex - I tried a small campaign on Facebook for a client. The initial results were not not very promising, but the client pulled the plug to soon to really learn much about advertising effectiveness on Facebook.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why PPC Advertising Is So Expensive
Hi Randy,
Great information here. PPC can be intimidating and costly if you don’t know what you’re doing.
I love your tips on how we can use this strategy to drill down on keyword research - very good.
Thanks for sharing.
Mavis
Mavis Nong @ Free Marketing Training´s last blog ..Are You Still Annoying Your Blog Visitors
Mavis - Hope the tips are useful if you give iPPC a test
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why PPC Advertising Is So Expensive
Hi Randy,
I am glad you wrote this here.
I have wondered if there was something that could help to cover the lack of info regarding conversion in google’s keyword tool. PPC is something that I had wondered about for this and micro niche sites, but could never get started as I could never find information on using it in this way that I could understand.
Very nice post. Thanks!
mark@keyword analysis tool´s last blog ..How I Use Branding To Promote My Blog
Mark -A quick and dirty analysis of whether PPC pays out is fairly straightforward. If each click costs $0.50, and 5% of visitors purchase my product of service, and the net margin per sale is $10, then break even has been achieved. For a new product of service that is just been launched, trading dollars may be a good strategy. However, the ROI calculations become much trickier once lead attribution and lifetime value consideration are factored into the equation. The PPC reporting tools report whole numbers for conversions per keyword and ads, but there may have been other clicks that contributed to the sale. And justifying a money losing sale based on the lifetime value of a new customer can lead to cash flow problems.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why PPC Advertising Is So Expensive
Excellent points. I never would have thought it, since I really don’t get KW research to begin with.
Personally, I’ll stick to free methods for blogging and leave the paid avenues to product sales; it’s my understanding that is what it is best for.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..I Was Hoping to Never Have to Publish This…
Dennis - Agreed. PPC is not for everyone, particularly if you have productive methods of driving traffic to your blog or website.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why PPC Advertising Is So Expensive
Hey Randy,
Interested post man. Some great points on PPC Advertising. I really like the notes from Ana & Alex!
Great work. Thanks for sharing.
Deck@Premium WordPress Themes´s last blog ..Event WordPress Theme
I have used PPC in the past and actually made a lot of money in a short period of time from it. I don’t recommend playing that game everyday though, it can be stressful and time consuming.
I’ll stick with writing awesome articles that the search engines will eat up.
Great guest post!
Jared Holland´s last blog ..Join a Tribe and Become a Better Blogger in 2011
Jared - Congrats on your success with PPC and also for being wise enough to take the money and run.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why PPC Advertising Is So Expensive
although i do not plan a large ppc campaign anytime soon i found your information usefull at a different level pertaining just to keyword choices, thanks for the info
greg urbano´s last blog ..Seminole Indians Attack!
Greg-glad you found the guest post informative.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why PPC Advertising Is So Expensive
Excellent article Randy!
When Ana sent it over I was very impressed by both the information and the style in which it was shared.
Before I go on, Ana - thanks so much for allowing me to contribute to an already impressive article.
I think what this post does is highlight the validity AND importance of using paid keyword research tools and services as they provide so much more detailed information about the commercial viability of a particular keyword or phrase.
Thanks again Ana, and Randy - excellent.
Alex@Build Rank Profit´s last blog ..Want a Better Blog in 2011 Then Get Your Ask Out There!
Hey Randy and Ana
Running short-term PPC campaigns to determine if a keyword is a money one is a great idea.
Sure it costs, but how much would it have cost you in the long run if you optimized for “shopping baskets” instead.
Peter
Peter Fuller @ Home Business Solutions´s last blog ..Top 10 Home Business Predictions for 2011
Peter-Good question. It’s a new site so too early to tell about Google. But on Bing, the site is on the first page for both “plastic shopping baskets” and “shopping baskets”. So adding “plastic” probably expanded the number of searches that we appear for.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why Is PPC Advertising So Expensive
James,
I was scared off early from doing PPC for my blog and niche sites. Too many people loosing big. My interest has peeked again because of the low cost for PPC on cell phones. It is something I have not researched. Have you?
Sheila Atwood@newbielifeline.com´s last blog ..Masters Of The Web
Sheila-Just dipped my toe in the water on mobile PPC. Haven’t learned enoough offer suggestions. Good luck. If you test, I would be interested in learning the results.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why Is PPC Advertising So Expensive
Great discussion on PPC. I only use PPC now as a testing method for the conversion rate for my website designs. I also only run short campaigns (24hrs usually) that provide enough data for Google to generate a report.
As for keywords, to be honest by the time I have the keywords to run my ads then I usually have enough data to help me decide what my target keywords are for my website’s organic search optimization efforts.
PPC is something that I do try to avoid in longterm marketing efforts. Google really can rake you over the coals if you try to advertise affiliate links and sites. (Probably because they have their own Google affiliate network now)
Kerry Thomas@Home Business´s last blog ..Welcome To The Home Biz Blog
Ana,
Very interesting post coming from you. It’s an interesting way to exact your keyword research.
Jordan Schultz
Jordan Schultz´s last blog ..How to get your mlm prospects to call you
Jordan - Hopefully, the caveats in the article serve as a warning that PPC is not something that everyone should go out and just give it a goh. As Ana indicates, this article is probably more informational than practical for most bloggers.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why Is PPC Advertising So Expensive
Ana,
It’s good to see someone else writing about PPC advertising. I’m not an expert either but I have had success with it. I’d like to add a word of caution to anyone new to Google PPC advertising. The default is to include the “Google Display Network”. (This used to be known as the “content” network.) When this is on, your ads display whenever your keywords are in the content as well as when someone is specifically searching for your keywords. Your best bet at generating sales is when someone who is at the buying stage is searching for your product or service. (This means also considering “buyer-intent” when selecting your keywords.)
Sherryl Perry´s last blog ..4 Tips to Creating Successful Google AdWord Pay Per Click PPC Ads
Sherryl - Good point about the Google display network. They tend to convert at a lower rate than search network clicks. If testing the dispay network, consider setting up a separate campaign just for display network ads, and only bis 1/3 to 1/2 as much as for search network ads.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why Is PPC Advertising So Expensive
PPC. I haven’t written it off, I just don’t find it fun.
As a tool to drill down on keyword research I can understand and see where Randy is coming from. But in order to be able to drill down properly you have to know PPC to a good / great level and this learning curve has the potential to suck you money out of your purse / wallet very quickly.
However. If PPC is your thing. Go brave and conquer.
Thank Randy, Ana and Alex for your opinion.
Chat soon
Dwayne
Dwayne Huggins@How To Make Money Blogging´s last blog ..How To Be A Better Blogger From Jay Z And Oprah
The cost of the learning curve has gone way up in price. Bids for many categories are 10 times higher than they were in 2003. Anyone planning on testing PPC should use the dashboard to set a daily budget limit to an affordable level. Also consider starting out on Bing and Yahoo through adcenter.msn. Cost of clicks is lower than on Google Adwords. However, I agree that unless you have a product or service with good conversion rates and high margins, PPC is too expensive to pay-out for most blogs. Given that PPC has become too expensive to pay out for many on-line retailers, it is really challenging to pay out for a site with an ad or affiliate supported revenue model.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Blog Subject Titles Should Seduce - Web Page Titles Inform
Randy:
Great article. I agree with Ray up here that more localized targets have a better ROI. I only dabbled in PPC for a bit last year and noticed a higher CTR when I geo targeted my campaigns. I think people need to be more educated in PPC before diving into their wallets because unfortunately, one mishap can cost a bundle.
It was quite interesting your research on shopping baskets vs plastic shopping baskets. Just goes to show that more laser targeted keywords can and do get more clicks.
Lisa
Lisa´s last blog ..The Fastest Way To Turn Any Blog Post Into An Article
Lisa - Seems like you did your homework and were appropriately careful. It is amazing to me how much money some newbies throw at PPC is order to “win” the auction. Google’s own research indicates that position on the page does not dramatically alter conversion rates. So the highest bidders get positions at the top of the page in the sponsored search results and a lot more traffic and sales, but at a much higher cost per transaction than lesser bidders.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why Is PPC Advertising So Expensive
Good stuff, I have seen PPC costs go crazy too, local stuff still works well though as Google seems to like the relevancy
Ray Higdon´s last blog ..What is The Blog Success Summit & Should You Attend
Too bad we can not return to the early days of PPC when a $0.15 click was expensive. Good advice on local focus. The settings menu provides an easy way to set up targeting limited to desired geographies.
Randy Pickard´s last blog ..Why Is PPC Advertising So Expensive
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