Pay Per Click is a very complex animal and even those who think they understand it, can’t possibly say they know it all. The reason PPC marketing is so difficult is because of all the different variables involved. Probably the most frustrating part of PPC for the Average Joe is that you can lose a ton of money if you don’t do it properly. The upside to this is that if it’s done right PPC can be a very effective and efficient marketing tool.

So, what are these variables that cause it to be so difficult?

• Keywords
• Content Network
• Text Ads
• Banner Ads
• Landing Pages

The more consistent and relevant you can make your ad campaign from keyword to landing page the more effective it will be.

What does this mean?

It means that the more your ad campaign relates to each component along the way the more effective it will be.

Example: Keyword=“blue suede shoes”, Text Ad = “Buy Blue Suede Shoes”, Landing Page says “Get your blue suede shoes here!”

The Variables

Keywords

Pretty simple, right? Select relevant keywords, sort them in to related groups and drive the traffic to a site that is relevant to those keywords. Seems simple, but, what about negative keywords? Broad, phrase or exact match? But, the most important question to answer is, where are your users/visitors at in the buying process? Are they looking for a review site, information, a quote or are they ready to purchase? Trust me, this matters! How do you find this out? How do you capitalize?

Content Network

Okay, so you’ve figured out your keywords for search and decided to advertise on Google search and their search partners, phew, glad that’s done. But, now do you want to advertise on their content network? What does this mean and how does it work? Basically Google will take your keywords and find relevant sites that make sense for your ad. There’s a ton of quality traffic on the content network, so you want to get this right.

Text Ads

Keywords, check. Content Network, check. Now to make some text ads. Are you going to use the Keyword insertion tool? Should it be title case or sentence case? www.DomainName.com works best, right? Or is it DomainName.com?

These are just a few questions you want to ask yourself when creating your text ads. You’ll definitely want to test, but how many ads per ad group will make for an effective test? Also, which ads work best with which keywords? How do I optimize them, by click through rate or by conversion rate?

Banner Ads

Wait a second, Google doesn’t allow banner ads. Well, that’s partially correct. Google doesn’t allow banners ads on their search results or their partners search results, but it does allow for it on the content network. So, this adds another variable, because how do you optimize the banner ads and which sizes are most effective? Are they better than text ads?

Landing Pages

Well, at least this is easy, we just send them to our site. Unfortunately, no. You need to send them to a page that’s relevant to what they are searching for. Remember, are they here for information, a quote? Do they want reviews or testimonials? Or, most ideally they are just here to purchase or sign up. So, if your page isn’t geared to the correct type of visitor you’ll just be wasting those clicks.

And that my friend is why PPC is so difficult. I haven’t even attempted to answer the question of how to make it work. Just consider the variables and you’ll understand the complexities.

But, don’t forget that when it’s done right PPC can be a gold mine for your profit margin and/or the growth of your business!

CC