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10.Pay-Per-Click Management (PPC)

1. overview 2. domain 3. hosting 4. design 5. optimisation 6. submission
7. ranking 8. directories 9. links 10. pay per click 11. development 12. ecommerce

What Pay-Per-Click (PPC) engines are we considering?

In my view, there are only really 2 to consider at this time - Google Adwords and Overture. I have to say that my direct experience of the other systems is that they are more prone to abuse because their technology is less secure. You may be billed therefore for clicks that did not take place or for clicks generated by more unscrupulous website owners. I may be too critical, but until these systems are able to provide more security I feel nervous about recommending a client to use them.

So my recommendation is to stick to Google Adwords and Overture/Yahoo.

Why use a PPC? Quite obvious really

1. Your rankings are stable. You decide where you want to be in the rankings by deciding how much you want to pay. The more you pay, the higher the ranking. If someone comes in and jumps ahead of you by bidding more, you know exactly what you need to do.

2. You are not left to the vagaries of the search engine algorithm. We all know that your natural search engine rankings can go up and down - sometimes quite violently. You have consistency when you purchase your positions with PPC.

3. There is no doubt that with some searches the visitor is more likely to click on the PPC advertisement rather than the pure search result.

4. You may be getting good rankings on the natural search results on certain terms but not on others. PPC is an ideal way to "fill in the blanks". This is applicable to every business because a website cannot rank well on every search term.

That being the case, you do not necessarily need to spend large sums of money to exploit PPC.

So what is involved in achieving top position in a PPC campaign?

Google Adwords

google

Google AdWords is a quick and simple way to purchase highly targeted cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, regardless of your budget. AdWords ads are displayed along with search results on Google, as well as on search and content sites in their growing ad network , including AOL, EarthLink, HowStuffWorks & Blogger.

With more than 200 million searches on Google each day and even more searches and page views on their ad network, your Google AdWords ads reach a vast audience.

When you create a Google AdWords ad, you choose keywords for which your ad will appear and specify the maximum amount you're willing to pay for each click. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

There's no minimum monthly charge -- just a £5 activation fee. Your ads start running within minutes after you submit your billing information. You can easily keep track of your ad performance using the reports in your online account Control Centre.

Overture/Yahoo

yahoo

Overture's PPC search allows advertisers to bid for placement in the search results on terms that are relevant to their business.

These search results are screened for relevance by Overture's editorial team and are then distributed to the UK's leading search providers reaching more than 82% of the UK's online population. These sites include Freeserve, AOL, MSN, AltaVista, Ask Jeeves and many more. Once again you pay Overture the amount of your bid only when a consumer clicks on your listing.

Principles

Remember, this is not an optimisation game, but an advertising game. So the principle is to set up an advertisement that convinces the searcher to click your advertisement over-and-above someone else's. Additionally, you do not necessarily need to be on the top to get the best results. This can save you a lot of money, as the difference between paying for the top position compared to third position can be as much as double! Why pay £1.50 per click when £0.75 will do?

Before you get started with any PPC Campaign be sure you understand the search engine's budget and billing procedures. Google AdWords charges a one time, £5 setup fee, and after that you pay only for delivered traffic. Overture does not have a setup fee, but they do require a minimum charge of £20 per month, regardless of whether or not your click through's have accumulated to that total.

Start off by reading through their FAQs pages, guidelines, tips pages, and absorb as much information as you can to get a good grasp on how their PPC system operates. If you are new to this, AdWords and Overture will seem quite confusing at first, but you will understand the more you read. It doesn't take long to get a firm grasp of the systems.

Conclusion on PPC

Managing a Google AdWords or Overture PPC campaign can be confusing at first, but if you have the time it doesn't take long to work it out.

You now need a 'landing page' for your PPC advertisements.

Alternatively, if you are looking for someone else to manage it for you, then please contact us.





 


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