Pay per click advertising, PPC search engine articles

There's plenty of information out there about what A/B split testing is, but the ultimate success of your testing will be largely determined by what you test. So, how do you know where to start with your testing?

First, identify which pages of your website you will test. Choose pages that have a specific focus or single goal for users–these will be much easier to test than your home page or other pages that have multiple paths of action. Next, decide on which page elements to test. Examples of page elements are: headings, introductory copy, graphics and photos, main copy and testimonials. Start with elements that appear "above the fold" or near the top of the page, and place extra focus on promotional and limited time messages.

By knowing what to test, you'll be able to design more effective A/B split tests, ultimately improving your click-throughs and sales.

I'm asked this question quite a bit:

Should I market my new website with PPC advertising, or should I focus on natural search optimization and marketing?

The answer is: You should take advantage of both PPC and SEO. PPC marketing will get you tracffic quickly, allowing you to test the effectiveness of your new site and get an idea about your conversion rates. When you have that data in hand, you can then reduce your marketing costs by shifting some of your efforts to search engine optimization (SEO).

Natural search:

• Prominent page positioning
• Slow results
• Moderate trust level
• Difficult to attain top positions
• Traffic volume based on position for various keywords
• Low to moderate cost

Paid search:

• Less prominent page positioning 
• Fast results
• Less trust (users perceive paid ranks as being "bought")
• Easier to achieve top results (provided the budget supports this desire)
• Traffic can be quite high for all keywords
• Moderate to high cost 

Targeted landing pages
Don't send users to your home page! Send them to a page that is optimized for the content of your ad.

Make broad topics narrow
If your website is all about cars, create PPC campaigns that are tightly themed to more specific content, for example "sports cars".

Split testing
Test, test, test. Changing one word can double your CTR! 

Conversion tracking
At minimum, use Google's conversion tracking code on your success/thank you pages. It is imperative that you be able to track conversions of keywords to sales!

I'm a firm believer in being prepared, whether its for a camping trip or a PPC campaign. Here are some 8 quick tips for planning a successful PPC campaign.

Define your unique selling proposition
How do you stand out fro the crowd?

Define your PPC goals and objectives in measureable terms
Examples: Increase traffic X percent, acquire X number of new leads, etc. You must define your goals in a manner that is quantifiable so that you can determine the success of your efforts.

Set your campaign starting and end dates

Establish targets for click-through rate (CTR)
Click-through rates tend to range from 1% to 5% of the number of impressions. The formula is:
Click-Through Rate % = Total Number of Ad Clicks / Total Number of Ad Impressions * 100

Establish targets for conversion rates
Conversion rates vary but a reasonable target might be from 5% to 20% of the number of ad click-throughs. A quick view of the formula is:
Conversion Rate % = Total Number of Conversion Actions / Total Number of Ad Impressions * 100
or
Conversion Rate % = Total Number of Conversion Actions / Total Number of Ad Click-Throughs * 100

Set your campaign budget and ROI goal
Revenue increase or expense decrease, versus the cost of your campaign

Determine the value of each keyword and visitor
Divide the average number of new customers each month by the average number of monthly website visitors to arrive at the percentage of visitors who actually become customers. Next, multiply this percentage by your average profit margin on sales to new customers to determine an estimate a visitor's is worth on their first visit. Knowing these values will help you estimate your maximum bid prices for PPC success.

Plan how to track your PPC campaign results
Web logs? Analytic tools? Do have have tools in place that will help you track the success of your campaign? How will you track conversions?

With PPC marketing gaining steam, it's not a surprise that several new PPC engines are emerging that allow advertisers to target specific audiences within a vertical sector. Vertical PPC might prove to be an excellent model for your marketing efforts, depending on your industry. Duncan Parry over at PayPerClickAnalyst.com uncovers a few vertical PPC engines in his recent article.

With all the talk of rising costs to play the PPC game, why should anyone bother? For those of you who are thinking about getting started with PPC marketing but need a little encouragement, I offer you the following advantages of the platform to consider:

• It's easy to get started: Create an account and get going! No changes to your website are required.
• Pay only for what you get: You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
• Total control over your budget: You decide what to spend. 
• High quality traffic: Users who click PPC ads tend to be very motivated to buy.
• Control over your ads: Change your ad copy whenever you want.
• Swift ad publishing: Have a new product coming out tomorrow? With PPC, you can get literally millions of eye balls looking at your ads within a day or so. Try doing that with organic search marketing! 

Search Engine Guide Editor Jennifer Laycock wrote a recent article that stands as an excellent argument for using targeted landing pages:

"[Using targeted landing pages] could mean the difference between a 2% conversion rate and a 10% conversion rate. Study after study shows that the less clicks you place between your visitor and a purchase, the more likely they are to buy. So why would you make them dig through your site when you could deliver them right to what they are looking for?

I understand that many business owners want to force their users to look at all of their products in the hopes that they will be able to upsell or cross sell their buyers. This is why the milk and bread is in the very back of the grocery store. That makes sense for a retail chain, but remember this: on the web, your biggest competitor is a single click away. You simply cannot play the same games with your customers that you can in a retail outlet. If you force your customer to play hide and seek, they will most likely seek out someone that makes it easier for them."

I couldn't have said it better, Jennifer! 

It's easy to get caught up in the rising costs of PPC marketing. Unfortunately, it's something we'll just have to get used to as recent reports indicate that PPC will only get more expensive as more players enter the field and the competition gets stiffer. Don't despair just yet, because there is something you can do: combine cost per click smarts with intelligent metrics analysis to increase your returns.

Cost per click (CPC) is the amount you pay a PPC engine for a single click to your website, and is measured differently engine to engine. With Google AdWords, CPC is lowered by a high clickthrough rate (CTR): the more relevant your ad is, the more clicks you'll get, and the lower your CPC will be. Over at Yahoo! Search Marketing, CPC is calculated by simply paying 1 cent more than an advertiser positioned below you.

In the right circumstance, lowering your CPC can actually increase your CTR for the same budget! The key is optimizing the relevance of your ads. Always choose targeted keywords for your ad copy, and conduct bid management at the keyword level. Well-written ads can outperform poorly written ads even if top positioning is not attained.

Sometimes, paying more per click is necessary if you are going after an ad position for a specific reason, such as increasing brand awareness. The big picture comes into focus here: it's not just about lowering your CPC, but increasing your customer acquisition. Afterall, what good is a heap of paid clicks if users aren't following through on your website and becoming customers? Truly, it's your conversion rate that is the most important number, not your CPC, and metrics analysis can play a huge part in tweaking your ad copy and landing pages to increase this number.

As the PPC industry matures–and gets more expensive–it's imperative for marketers to arm themselves with techniques that lower their paid search costs while increasing returns. Knowing how to effectively manipulate your CPC and analyze campaign metrics can help keep you on top of the game.

Dan Thies has posted a quick review of Boris Mordkovich's PPC Search Engine Marketing Handbook. Thies calls the paperback a "gem", and "a nice introduction to PPC, with clear and concise discussions of the standard strategy & tactics".