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Reducing Pay per Click Costs

Posted on 18. Jan, 2010 by Pete Hollier in Pay Per Click

Pay per Click has the potential to be excessively costly however, by following a few basis steps, PPC is an effective method to increase targeted web site traffic.

Determine PPC Objectives

Before any other PPC task is completed, your business must determine what needs to be achieved to consider the PPC Campaign a success, and what financial resources will be committed to achieving these business goals. Some common Pay per Click objectives are:

• Branding and Market Visibility: Increasing public awareness of your company, services or new service or product offerings. Utilizes broad term keywords to create maximum visibility within the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
• Conversions / ROI: To increase business profits through increased sales or client acquisition. Utilizes 2 to 4 word keyword phrases (longtail) to filter Internet users who are specifically interested in the information, services or products promoted through a PPC Campaign.

Keyword Match Types

Targeting is the key to lowering the cost, and increasing the ROI of a Pay per Click Campaign. Consideration to keyword match types can greatly increase the return of your PPC program by providing the targeting you require. Keyword Match types include:

• Broad Match: This method gives you a great range of traffic for a specific keyword, this is ideal if you are trying to generate large volumes of traffic from your Pay Per Click program however, much of this traffic may not be the type you are looking for, as this method will include your listing in results which are seen to be related to the keywords you have selected but may not be relevant to your business offerings.
• Phrase Match: This method offers better targeting than Broad Match. Phrase Match may also include additional words and phrases used by Searchers before and after your specified keyword phrase which have no relevance to your business’s desired outcome and are therefore less likely to achieve a successful conversion.
• Exact Match: This method provides you with the most likely visitor to convert to the desired goals of the campaign. However, the down side of Exact Match is you are likely to receive less traffic from these terms however, a high ROI is the positive upside.
• Negative Keywords: Negative Keywords are one of the most important aspects of your PPC campaign. Filtering words you do not want to include in search results is one of the best methods to ensure you are not attracting undesirable clicks and the associated costs.

Ad Scheduling

Ad Scheduling enables you to determine when your ads will be included in Search Results. Your ads will only show at the times you have identified as an active time for your potential clients and customers. One of the best methods to determine what times your ad should be displayed is to use the information in your web logs which indicates the days, and time of day when your web site is most active. Scheduling has the potential to minimize both irrelevant clicks, and also ensures your ads are not shown on a 24/7 basis which assists to reduce potential click fraud.

Geo-targeting

Even if you are targeting a global market there are likely to be locations which you have determined as unlikely to provide high quality visitors who are likely to complete your business’s conversion goals. Geo-targeting enables you to specify what locations you want your ads to be viewed. Again, like Ad Scheduling much of this information is available from your web site log or analytic software which will identify what geographic regions you are currently obtaining your web site traffic from.

Avoid Content Networks

In my opinion generally the Content Networks are to be avoided. Internet users viewing an ad on a content site as apposed to Search Engine Results Pages SERPs) behave differently and therefore convert differently. By restricting your PPC Ad display to search, you are targeting those customers who are actively searching for your particular offering and therefore more likely to convert than those coming from a Content Network site. Content network sites are also to a large degree responsible for some of the click fraud issues encountered by Internet Marketers.

Don’t Bid for 1st Place

Bidding for first place is often expensive due to having to outbid all other competitors Also out of habit Internet users tend to click the first result regardless of their intention or interest in your product and services. Although you may receive more traffic through a first place location, it may not necessarily result in higher conversion rates. Bidding for the 3rd or 4th position is often the more cost effective method.

The Last Word

One of the primary keys to a low cost high ROI Pay per Click is the application of continuous effort and vigilance to optimize the performance of your campaign.

By being mindful of business objectives and refining the PPC processes such as Keyword Research and modifying your bids, Pay Per Click can offer a high ROI and successful overall campaigns.

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If you would like to use this article on your web site please contact pete@seowizardry.ca for an html version. All I request is you provide Pete Hollier and Seo Wizardry with a reference to this article and provide a link back to www.seowizardry.ca

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