Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Selecting Keywords for Your PPC Campaign

When selecting the keywords for your PPC campaign, my general rule is that it is better to have as many keywords as possible since you will only pay by the click. That way, just in case someone searches even an obscure term, your ad will be displayed.

Keywords To Improve Sales
If the focus of your PPC campaign is sales, you should consider adding “long tail” keyword phrases to your keyword list. “Long tail” keyword phrases are keyword phrases that are very specific, sometimes obscure terms, and often have three or more words in the keyword phrase. For example, a long tail keyword phrase in the category of running shoes might be a specific brand and product, such as the “Asics Gel 2010 running shoe”.

While many of these “long tail” words might not receive as many impressions as a broader search term, like “running shoes”, studies have shown that searchers using longer search phrases tend to be further along in buying cycle. The max CPC to achieve a high position with longer, more specific search terms also tends to be lower than that of highly popular, broad keyword phrases.

Keywords To Enhance Brand
If the goal of your PPC campaign is to enhance your brand, broad keyword terms might be best. While these terms tend to be more costly, there are definite branding benefits to associating your company with particular keywords.

Additionally, studies show that searchers believe that the company with the number one PPC ad position is a brand leader.

However, be careful when selecting these broad keywords. Broad keywords can also make your ad display for search terms that contain that broad keyword but are not relevant to your company focus. For instance, if you are a mattress company and you include the word “bed” as a keyword, your ad may also display for searches for “bed and breakfast”, “dog bed”, and “bed of roses”.

This is where negative keywords come into play. Google allows you to input “negative” keywords in an ad group or campaign to ensure that these broad keywords, in combination with a less relevant keyword, will not display your ad. To enter a negative keyword in Google, simply put a negative sign in front of the keyword, like this: “-dog”. In the bed example mentioned above, using the negative keyword “-dog” ensures that the ad will not display, even on the search term “bed”, if the word “dog” is in the search phrase - ensuring that the ad will not display when a search for “dog bed” is performed.

In Conclusion
All in all, I tend to recommend a mix of both broad terms and long tail phrases, adjusting budget to provide a higher budget to one or the other, based on the client’s PPC goals.

Why Just The Right PPC Campaign Management Brings in Lots and Lots of Cash

Why Just The Right PPC Campaign Management Brings in Lots and Lots of Cash

So you spent all your time and energy building the perfect website. Now you want to share the fruits of your labor, and maybe even make some money on the side through your online ads.

Maybe you have an online business that markets a hot product that you are selling on your website; but you find that you are having trouble bringing customers into your site. So instead of gaining money, you are actually losing money because of the monthly rent that you’re paying to have your website hosted in cyberspace.

The best solution to this problem is to advertise. Let people know that you are here and ready to do business. One of the quickest and most effective ways to advertise your website on the net is to come up with a great PPC campaign management plan. PPC is an abbreviation for Pay Per Click.

Certain keywords or phrases that people type into a search engine lead to hundreds and hundreds of search results that pertain to that specific keyword. Businesses that want to advertise on the net using a PPC campaign have to come up with a plethora of keywords that is associated to the business that they are running; so when potential customers type in these keywords, it will lead them to their business site.

This is pretty much the whole concept that operates behind PPC. This is how a PPC campaign brings in traffic to your site, with the selection of the right keywords that people can search through the net.

Some keywords tend to be more expensive than others, especially popular ones. It is vital to select the right keywords, in order to get your money’s worth. This is why it is important to manage you PPC campaign wisely. Sometimes you are better off opting for the less popular keywords that are not so expensive, especially if you have a limited budget. Some businesses even hire the help of a consultant to manage their PPC campaigns.

There are a lot of experts that specialize in PPC campaign management. They come with strategic plans, and assess the need of their clients. They then come up with a PPC campaign that caters to their client’s specification.

This is why big online businesses seek the expertise of a professional to run their PPC ad campaign, because the right set of plans, can potentially bring in a large amount of profits. The more keywords you have, the more you increase the chances of customers clicking these keywords that would lead them to your website. There are also some software you can purchase, such as GoToast, or Bid Rank. These software track down your keywords listing.

If you are running a business online, and are planning to run a PPC campaign, it is advisable to purchase keywords that are extremely related to the theme of your business. This way, people know what they are getting, and don’t get confused about the content of your website. The secret is to use keywords or phrases that are searched frequently, but cost very little.

The chances are, the longer people stay in your site, the likelihood of these potential customers making a transaction. But first thing is first. You must lure them into your turf.

This is why a lot of entrepreneurs spend a large amount of their budget on advertising, because they know that the right advertising campaign can start the ball rolling.

Also, you should do some research before you start your PPC campaign. There are a lot of PPC search engines to chose from. Those who are less renowned charge less for the same keywords that you’d find in the bigger PPC search engines.

The great thing about PPC campaigns is that you can reach a worldwide audience. Advertising online means global marketing.

Most PPC search engines require a monthly payment in exchange for their services. But if you fail to make payments, they will automatically take your listings out of their search engines. So make sure that you pay your monthly bills, so all the efforts that you put into your PPC campaign don’t go to waste.

The potential earnings that can be generated by starting a pay per click campaign is significant. That’s why a lot of online businesses now are trying to get in on the act. Now, with the right set of keywords, and a smart PPC campaign management plan, more than ever, online businesses are bringing in the big bucks.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Blogging - Free Internet Marketing Method

It's been years since blogging has been practiced. But it's just recently that it has been considered as one of the addicting fads. Many teenagers have resorted to blogging as an outlet for their emotions, a little online nook where they can blurt out whatever just bugs them or whatever makes them feel elated. Savvy marketers have discovered that blogging is one of the best Internet marketing methods that won't cost you a cent.

What exactly is blogging? Blog is the widely used term that refers to web log. Basically, a blog is an online journal. A blog could be set up to no cost at all, and can be used for just for the fun of it or for business reasons.

Blogging for your Internet business is one surefire way to boost the visibility of your products and services. Here are a few ways to boost your internet advertising with the help of a blog:

1. Make your clients or customers abreast on your website's alterations. Your new products and affiliate websites could also be announced through your blog.

2. Keep track of your business objectives and plans through open writing. Your blog content can be easily stored through archives. What could be better than searchable information that could be easily accessed by anyone browsing the web, right?

3. Air your opinions, advice or reviews on specific services or products that are related to your business. Publishing is a very easy process with blogging.

4. Include links that will fetch back links and subsequently improve your ranking on search engines. This could be better executed through putting well-written articles in your website. Affiliate links could also be included in your blog to earn more extra income.

5. Collect response through the ability of blogs to fetch comments from your blog readers. You can learn and improve your products and services through with the feedback from your readers.

6. Connect easily with other bloggers. When other bloggers notice that you have something good in your blog, they will put you in their favorite lists that will automatically link you to their blogs.

So, how do you set up a blog? Here are some of the options you can make use of to take advantage of this fun way to advertise your Internet business.

Either you load a blogging software or let a blogging hosting service do it for you. Host services such as LiveJournal and Blogger.com are the most popular in this field. Those hosts will provide you with easy instructions on how to put up your blog.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

How to Harness the Power of Web Directories: The Missing Link in Your SEO Strategy

So you want exposure on the Internet? Of course you do. You want to drive people to your site, because that’s the only way your online business can succeed. And the more eyes you can get to your page, the better off you are. It’s common sense.

You’ve probably already thought of Google, and rightfully so. It’s the top search engine, so you want to make sure you’re a part of it. You may have also done some search engine optimization, and tweaked your site in certain ways so that Google will index you better. That’s a good start, but it’s also where many people go wrong.

The search engine marketing community often discusses this faux pas: people become obsessed with ranking on Google, and forget that there’s so much more to the Internet, so many more places where you can be found. It’s back to common sense again: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Here are some reasons why:

- People use multiple search engines.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, 58% of the people who search on Google also use another search engine. The same is true for 70% of MSN searchers, and 71% of Yahoo searchers. If consumers are looking for information in several places, it only makes sense for you to be in as many of those places as you can.

- Google indexes your listing in other search engines.
Ironically, when you work to broaden your horizons beyond the Google universe, you’re also working to improve your chances of showing up on Google. That’s because when a major search engine indexes the Internet, it also indexes the content of other directories.

Here’ the best part: if you can get listed in a web directory that provides Google-friendly one-way-links (that is, links that connect directly to your URL), you are essentially acquiring a ‘vote’ to your site, and therefore improving your site’s authority in the eyes of Google.

There are thousands upon thousands of Internet directories where you can list your site. Some will charge for submission, and the price will vary, from as little a few dollars to as much as hundreds. Some will accept your site right away, and others will need to review it, to ensure the integrity of their database.

Common sense applies again here: the goal is to get listed in as many directories as you can, so you get maximum exposure. But web directory submission can be very time consuming, so you have to be selective to maximize your productivity. Here are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind:

- If the price seems too high, it’s probably not worth it. If you have a little money to invest, it’s a good idea to get into some of the paid inclusion directories. Pick and choose from some of the mid-level ones, and try to diversify your presence by picking some foreign directories, as well as some local ones. Some directories also offer special inclusion, where you pay a premium to get listed quicker. It’s definitely worth it if you’re looking to improve your traffic as quickly as possible.

- Before submitting to any web directory, check to make sure the directory is not banned by Google.

- Be prepared before you start submitting. Write a few descriptions for your website in different lengths (50 words, 100 words, 200 words), so you can just copy and paste when you’re submitting. This is guaranteed to save you a lot of time.

- If you don’t want to spend a lot of time searching for, picking and choosing directories, you can find a variety of resources that will show you some of the best directories to submit to.

- If you don’t have a lot of time to devote to this, don’t worry about doing it all in one shot. Take a few minutes every day to do one or two directory submissions, until you make it through your list.