If only pay-per-click campaigns were as easy as a snap of
the finger, then every web page could strike it rich at the
first try. Unfortunately, pay-per-click (PPC) isn't that
simple. While the actions required to participate in many
search engine PPC programs don't take a genius to figure out
the steps, the true marketer understands what it takes to
achieve a response rate worth bragging about. Can the
ordinary web page owner do it herself? Perhaps yes, if luck
is on her side. But, do you really want to leave your
campaign to luck?

Most of the big search engines have great PPC services.
For example, Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing
Solution (previously known as Overture), go through
the mechanics of how to advertise and submit for review or
activation. With Google Adwords, your PPC campaign can be
up and running in a matter of minutes! Yahoo takes a little
longer because of their human review process. However, this
doesn't mean your campaign will be visible to searchers.
Your ad may not climb positions until way down the road.

Get your plan together before launching a campaign by
following a few basic tips:

- Who's your target? Pick keywords and phrases that mean
something to your market. Many groups expect your product
or service to be presented in a certain fashion. Examine
your list of words and phrases that are commonly used by
your customers to find out their likes and dislikes. This
may clue you into how your customers will search for your
product or service.

- Do you track your keywords? Even if your PPC is tight
with keywords, each keyword will only attract a percentage
of visitors. Attract new customers by tracking which
keywords appeal to them most strongly. Tracking systems
like in Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing Solution
do the trick.

- Did you split- test your keywords? Granted, space inside
a PPC ad is limited. So why not use your space wisely by
continually testing which words and phrases actually get the
best results? Perform research by testing out your keywords
in the Search Engine of your choice and monitoring
the results.

- Don't mistake traffic with performance. You may attract
heavy traffic to your site through a PPC but you might not
get desired performance. Are you clear on the action
you want? Performance is when your visitors take the
action you are seeking. You need to strive for performance
as well as traffic. With better performance than your
competitors, you can afford to buy higher PPC ad positions.
You'll get more visitors, and they are more likely to take
action.

- Is your campaign linked to "landing pages"? A "landing
page" is where the visitor is directed upon clicking on a
keyword. Direct your visitors to a page in your site that
is most relevant to that keyword and to that population of
visitors who are most attracted to that keyword. Studies
show the more relevant the landing page to the visitor the
more likely the visitor is to respond to the call to action.

The best way to get a return on your investment (ROI) is to
implement a well thought out PPC campaign. Learning how to
set up a PPC ad is one thing; strategically planning a PPC
campaign that gets the best bang for your buck is another.
To learn about simpler and typically much more effective PPC
campaigns, visit www.1dmom.com/archive.

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