Pay Per Click Advertising - a Comprehensive Guide

Search engine pay per click advertising has become one of the most popular advertising methods used in internet marketing, and once a person understands the potential of this kind of advertising it's not difficult to figure out why.

With pay per click advertising, instead of you going out and searching for customers; the customers actually go searching for you. In adition to that, customers that see your ad are specifically interested in what you have to offer. There's more...you don't pay for the ad until someone actually clicks on it.

Sounds great! But as with most things in life it's not that simple. Because of the above mentioned positives for pay per click advertising a whole bunch of people have jumped unto the bandwagon so to speak and so there is tremendous competition for the top ad placements. The question is; how can you squeeze out a sensible profit from pay per click advertising?

Choose the right things to advertise.

If you're advertising something using a pay per click program it's very important that you choose something that people are interested in actually paying for. And that is because pay per click (PPC) advertising costs you money. You don't want to be paying the advertising company to advertise something that won't bring you returns. Do some marketing research before hand to find out how much your product or service is in demand and if people will be willing to pay for it.

Choose The Right Keywords

Keywords should always be customer oriented. If you're selling ipods for example, it might not be wise to use a keyword like "mp3 player". Not only is that keyword not targeted enough in that it does not specify which mp3 player you are advertising but it is also not customer or buyer oriented. It would be wiser to use a keyword like "buy ipod". An even better keyword would be "buy ipod now". People who type in keywords like "buy ipod now" mean business; they are buyers and those are the type of people you want clicking on your ads. Of course you'll need a keyword popularity tool to determine the best keywords based on what people are acutally searching for. I personally recommend wordtracker.

Write A Good Ad

Of course that goes without saying, you already know that you need to write a good ad. But the question is; what constitutes a good ad? Search engines don't allow you much space for your ad, so you'll have to use the small space given to the best of your ability. If you're selling a product, mention the price in the ad. That way people can make a decision as to whether or not they are interested in your price before they click on your ad. If you don't mention the price and someone clicks your ad then decides your product costs too much, you'll lose money for that click.

Always capitalize important words in your ad, this makes your ad stand out and people are subconsciously drawn to your ad as opposed to one written in only common letters. Make your ad seem different from the others, take a look at the other ads that your ad will be competing with and create an ad that will stand out as different.

Spilt Testing

Split testing is when you create a number of ads and run them either simultaneously or one after the other and then compare them. This will enable you to determine which ads are making the most money for you and so you'll be able to improve your return on investment. Never stop split testing, this should be an ongoing endevour.

Pay per click advertising can be costly and challenging if you approach it without sound guidance and a plan of action. But if you remain conscious of your customer base and offer them just what they want, you'll be surprised at how rewarding this advertising method can be.

In my experience, the number 1 secret is choosing the right keywords...once you've selected 'buyer-oriented' (not popular) keywords for your ad, all you need to do is to observe and tweak your ad as you manage your campaign. And you'll certainly profit.