Using Pay-Per-Click Advertising Successfully
I’ll not fake any optimism about the pay-per-click channel of internet marketing as an effective tool for small businesses. In the last two months, my optimism bubble burst. Here’s why: Marketing effectively by pay-per-click via Overture (now Yahoo! Search Marketing) or Adwords takes more work than is readily apparent on the face of things.
A few months ago, I launched pay-per-click campaigns for several clients with the goal of increasing sales conversions. While the campaigns did increase Web site traffic, they have showed only a tangential relationship to sales conversions.
What was my mistake? I launched campaigns for clients instead of continuing to tweak their Web site designs because their budgets did not allow for continued design services.
How can I increase the effectiveness of pay-per-click campaigns? I think it requires a paradigm shift. I have learned by trial and error that pay-per-click advertising requires a complete campaign design and strategy that includes the following elements:
- Relevant keywords
- Well-written ads with a compelling offer
- Landing pages that expand on the offer with a clear call to action
When all these elements are in clear focus, this form of advertising has a chance at being cost-effective. However, each campaign will require a launch period of continual revision before the campaign can run itself. All of this means that pay-per-click is not a low-cost advertising alternative.
Are there low-cost advertising alternatives online? Only three that I know of:
- Free Directory Listings
- Direct Email (once your Web site is set up to collect opt-in email addresses)
- and Word of Mouth
Thanks to Mat Greenfield of Faster Marketing for an article in Practical eCommerce this month in which he carefully dissects the pay-per-click advertising process.
1 comment October 8th, 2005
