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To meet your business online objectives you must have a good mix of marketing techniques, including a targeted Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. I agree, this is easier said than done. How do you know if your cost and Return On Investment (ROI) match up? How can you prevent spending hard earned funds on weak keywords? You do not want to wait until it is too late, right?

On one hand, there are many ways in which a PPC campaign can lose you money and time if not implemented correctly; on the other, there are twice as many techniques to achieve a decent ROI. You can avoid a lot of headaches and cost by:

• Setting a daily budget that will stretch throughout the entire day – it should not run out in a couple of hours.
• Preventing all your clicks coming from content networks that deliver few or no conversions – diversify!
• Immediately detecting suspected ‘click fraud’ (when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web).
• Changing your approach and strategy as soon as your tests show that your conversion rate is slipping.
• Educating yourself so you know how to bid the right amount of money for the different “match types.”
• Not attempting to bid on high-end ad spaces – the more bidders, the higher the price.
• Selecting PPC ads specifically for your industry – unqualified ads bring in the wrong, non-buying traffic.
• Carefully writing and updating ad copy to ensure the highest click through and conversion.
• Following through after building a keyword list. In fact, it does not matter if you plan web development improvements, or a keyword optimisation session, always complete your mission. It is the only way to improve ROI and online presence.

• If you can afford it, move up the keywords with a high conversion rate on your bidding list. Yes, it may cost a bit more, but you will also be selling more goods and services.

Any PPC campaign can be optimised even if you think it is hopeless. That means that you too can achieve a good Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). All you need are the right tools, as well as a number of set skills that can help with your PPC campaign optimisation and spending. This sounds simple enough, yet in practice it is not. To be successful in both fields you will need quite a broad range of talents and you must be willing to spend time on the correct implementation.

#1 – PPC Campaign Optimisation

In recent years, managing PPC campaigns has become so intense and complicated that it is no longer a task marketers can do after hours. Today, practitioners need to set ample time aside for keyword research, budgeting, account administration, bidding, deciding on ad types, geo-targeting, reporting, testing, and much more – basically a lot of AdWords, Bing or Yahoo administrative tasks. The workload has increased so much, it is virtually impossible to handle a PPC campaign, all while managing your website, performing SEO, adding new merchandise/services to your site, expanding your social media network, etc.

Because there is so much work involved, and the field is so specific, many marketers will outsource their PPC campaigns to specialised agencies or consultants. That is fine as long as you know that the company you hired is reputable, delivers adequate results, charges competitive fees, and communicates with you in language you understand.

Reliable PPC firms can provide quick results and help you save by vastly improving your ROI. If they are dedicated, your team of experts will find the ideal list of keywords for your business, constantly test the work they have done, study the outcome, and perfect their strategy until your PPC campaign is an ultimate success. In other words; when the traffic you pay for converts!

# 2 – Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

It won’t help you much if your campaign optimiser specialist attracts lots of qualified traffic, and your website’s conversion rate is low. A lack of Return on Ad Spend is bad and should be corrected ASAP because, as we know, the better you convert, the more expensive the bids on keywords, and the higher your chances for qualified traffic, which can be converted. More people buying your products will increase your profits, and the amount of money to spend on your PPC strategies. It is a spiral that can go either upwards or down, and only you can determine its direction.

Qualified conversion rate optimisation experts should fully understand ‘paid search segment’ and the user intent of keyword queries, as well as how to properly segment and analyse PPC traffic and conversion rates. In addition, these professionals should:

• Have the ability to suggest effective landing page tests;
• Recommend higher quality ad copy;
• Find new ways to boost a conversion rate through PPC traffic;
• Be familiar with Unique Value Propositions (UVP) – Why should a consumer buy from you and not from your competitor?
• How UVP can span from PPC ads, to landing pages and conversion;
• Have access to persuasive copywriting sources. This type of unique written content can be quite beneficial to both your website and PPC campaign.

Do PPC Campaign Optimisation and Conversion Rate Optimisation Overlap?

It does not matter what you do in life, your talents will come in handy in a number of different situations. When dealing with your PPC promotions and conversion rate optimisation strategies, you will soon realise that some of your skill sets will be valuable in both categories. They may overlap in fields like analytics, keyword research and ad copy production.

The fact that you have overlapping areas should make you aware that you will need to create a bond between the two teams working on your marketing optimisation project. Both your PPC experts and those working on improving your conversion rate should consult each other regularly about their set goals, their actions, the progress they made, and their testing results. Only through cooperation and a close working relationship will they be able to significantly advance your PPC campaign, increase your conversions and, over time, lower your advertising cost.

About the author: Michael Jenkins is the director of Shout Web Strategy which is a firm in Melbourne specializing in Search, conversion rate optimization and web usability.

You haven’t seen a blog post from me in months, and some of you may have wondered what happened. (Others of you might have been relieved, haha)
 
I all but retired from the Internet Marketing niche. I still have a few small products selling, because they’re fully automated (I’d be stupid to shut them down and kill the income) but I’m no longer doing email promos, promoting launches, etc.

When I started in the IM niche, I had a lot of fun. But things have changed, and now it’s just draining to try to keep up with all the launches, try to fit my own launches in on days when a massive launch won’t trample them, and generally keep a smiling face through it all.

So, did I find a magical, profit producing niche, you ask?

Magic? No. But do I enjoy it? You bet. I’ve gotten into publishing – “Real” publishing – physical books that you can hold in your hand, and the more I do it, the more it’s becoming my passion.

I’ve written a few books, and have them listed on Amazon, and I’m in the middle of raising the capital necessary to do a full-blown best seller book launch.

Here’s a parting tip for you – Check out KickStarter.com

It’s a site that allows people with creative ideas/products (like books, music, art, website/script/app ideas, and more) to get funding for their project by crowdsourcing it. And, from what I can tell, it’s working like gangbusters!

And that brings me to the reason I’m sending this email… If you’re struggling to sell things to the Internet Marketing, consider going into a different niche. Sure, it won’t be easy to
re-establish yourself as an expert, but if IM is draining you, you might find yourself rejuvinated in a different niche! Give it a try, you might be plesantly surprised.

In it with you,
Jason

Back in 1995, there were some questions as to whether the internet could sustain commerce. When Amazon.com started selling books, people thought they were crazy. When they started selling electronics and digital media, flowers and food, people thought they were out of their mind. But now, being the biggest ecommerce business on the internet, we all recognize that big business can happen online.

Smart entrepreneurs have been running internet marketing businesses online for awhile now, some with more success than others. It might seem that all good ideas are taken and that there are no internet marketing businesses left that produce income and are legitimate in nature, but that is not true. There are plenty of possibilities if you are willing to work. Read The Rest Of This Post »

Almost everything you read about Internet marketing for newbies will tell you that you should start slow and work your way up to making your Internet millions. However, what they don’t tell you is exactly what the best beginners marketing techniques are when it comes to Internet marketing for newbies.

• Start a free blog! This will be the blog that you test out all of your new skills on before you launch a full time marketing campaign for the business plan you have developed. Read The Rest Of This Post »

In the early part of this decade, when the dot-com bubble burst, a lot of people thought that there was no more money to be made on the internet. People’s mistrust of all things technological along with the reputation of the internet being a breeding ground for scammers and spammers led everyone to believe that there was simply no more money out there to be had.

Apple proved us all wrong when they turned their website into the world’s largest music store, selling literally billions of songs, movies, and television shows. Amazon sells not only books, CDs, and DVDs, but baby clothes, vegetarian food, and car parts. There IS money to be made online.
Read The Rest Of This Post »

There are a lot of Internet marketing newbies out there who get started off on the wrong foot when they begin their business ventures. Sometimes they jump into things too quickly, or try something that isn’t going to work for their needs. Below is some of the best advice that can be given to Internet marketing newbies.

• Start off slowly. Before you can run you must first learn to walk. Start with small investments, and a lot of testing before you decide to launch full sized campaigns. Take things one step at a time, and while it may take a bit longer to meet your goals, you can avoid a lot of unnecessary risk by jumping into things that you are not ready for and losing money. Read The Rest Of This Post »

When you start out to look for Internet marketing advice, you will likely find a bunch of sites that say they will teach you what you need to know for a fee. If you are like me, then when you first start out you don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on Internet marketing advice. Let’s look at some free ways to find this information.

• Online forums are a great way to find marketing advice from people who know what they are talking about. You will be able to get a lot of information from many different people, simply by joining a forum and posting the questions you have. The best thing is that it is completely free. Read The Rest Of This Post »

In the mid-1990s, the term “ecommerce” was just being coined and it took a few years before people could even imagine what it meant. No one thought that people would buy items online because they wouldn’t want to wait for shipping, they wouldn’t trust giving their credit card numbers online, and they preferred to shop in a real store. They were wrong! Ecommerce is huge and will continue to be so.

Because of this, ecommerce Internet marketing is one of the easiest ways to go into business. Without the expense of buying stock and building a store, you can set up shop almost instantly and sell to people throughout the world. Ecommerce Internet marketing also allows you to change products almost instantly, adapting to a changing market, and with the advent of digital media, you can sell without ever going to the post office. Read The Rest Of This Post »

I have been marketing on the web for some time now. And, while I’m definitely no old fossil, my years online have made friends and family look up to me as an “Internet guru”.

My cousin, Jenny, will be the first to disabuse you of the idea that “Internet guru” could mean I’m someone important. “Don’t believe the old folks,” she’d tell friends. “Internet guru just means he can hook up a computer, set up a website, and know how to search using Google.”

So okay, yes, I’d be the first to admit it doesn’t take much to impress the people around me. But, since I am the “guru”, where do I find help when I need it? Who do I go to? Who is the guru’s guru? Read The Rest Of This Post »

If you spend any time online, you have most certainly seen ads for online business opportunities. You probably get many unsolicited emails every day, offering riches with little or no work. Just pay a few bucks to sign up and watch the checks roll in. There is no such thing as a free lunch, as we all know, and there is no such thing as a successful business without work.

A lot of these business opportunities are scams. The latest internet marketing reviews all say so. Very few online opportunities will result in real income, and in most cases, you will be paying out more to join than you could ever hope to earn from your work. Internet marketing reviews also say that if you join any of these opportunities, you are only feeding the problem, so beware! Read The Rest Of This Post »