PPC tips

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eliquid

eliquid

Serpwoo.com
May 10, 2007
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A/B Testing
Wondering if anyone has PPC tips to share in general....

To give you some background, I have been trying to arbitrage a few offers as well as drive traffic from PPC to sites not for arbitrage.

I know each program is different, but I hear stories of how you should not use broad match, should do day parting, etc.....

Just wondering what steps, tips, or methods you use for PPC that are most helpful.

I have been doing SEO and email marketing for a long time and I thought PPC would be cake to do.. but it seems like I always have to raise bid prices in Google all the time.. or I get the wrong kind of traffic to my site, even though in SEO the same keywords produce excellent results.. the same ones don't produce well in PPC.

So what are your tips? I know testing your own ads/keywords is the best method for anyone, but can you share anything in general?

Some people say only bid on phrase or exact match keywords... wondering if anyone had tips like these in general and what your thoughts are.
 


You might know some of this stuff, it's basic stuff but I'll just mention it just incase. The content on your landing page should be relevant to your text ad to keep your CTR and QS up, this will also lower your costs for your keywords with Google. Use smaller adgroups (especially with google), I think up to 25 keywords per adgroup. Make sure your ad has those keywords in your landing page. If you're having problems with Google, start with Yahoo they're more leanient on QS (although I don't think for long.)

As for broad match, and standard match etc.., I would just try all methods and see what works. In my campaigns my broad keywords are converting and getting more traffic than phrase/exact match keywords. I've also heard people say to keep your bids on exact matches higher than your broad keywords since your traffic is targetted. My bids are higher for my exact/phrase keywords and getting less traffic, but it's not effecting my ROI much so I'm just keeping them, maybe they'll convert at some time.

Split testing is important as well, create many ads, see what ads your competitors are using. Keep the ads with higher conversions. Just because you have an ad that is displayed all the time with a high CTR, doesn't mean that it's converting (I just found this out last week, all of a sudden my traffic went up, and conversions went to 0).

Track your keywords, delete irrelevant or keywords not converting so you don't waste money on those.

Negative Keywords - If you're promoting an item that requires payment, make sure to use negative keywords such as, "free", "reviews", etc.. more examples, if you were selling a video game you dont' want keywords such as, "cheats", "codes", etc.. Nobody searching with those keywords is looking to purchase anything.

Keywords - I use keyword elite to create huge lists of keywords and then just throw it up and see what sticks and get rid of what keywords are wasting traffic. I've also heard everybody recommend wordze.com although there's a monthly subscription fee, I think they have a trial for a day or something. I'll probably try it out at some time and see how it works. Try to create or use 3-4 long tail keywords, as you'll get targetted traffic with a higher conversion rate and they'll cost less as well.

That's all I can think of right now.
 
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^ I actually work in reverse in terms of keyword lists. I start off small (50-100) and add on slowly. Costs are controlled this way and less hassle in the end.
 
Starting with a small number of keywords may be the best way if you don't have a lot of content right off the bat. Allows you to make sure you actually have those keywords on the page, thus creating a more relevant page/site.

But if you have tons of keyword rich content, throw up a bunch, prune out the PPC keywords that don't convert, and let them end up hopefully getting organic listings at some point...

My thoughts... Wish I could put them into action each and every time!
 
ubaidabcd said:
Keywords - I use keyword elite to create huge lists of keywords and then just throw it up and see what sticks and get rid of what keywords are wasting traffic.
Click to expand...

When you "throw up" your keywords - do you bid them high - or low? Do you like them to start at the top or work from the bottom?
 
Always start with a smallish batch of keywords.

Bid them all to the top-ish spots.

Actively manage your campaign, when a keyword exceeds the max spend for your target roi, delete it. Replace the deleted keyword with another new one.

Rinse and repeat until you have nothing but converters in your campaign.

Throwing a bunch of keywords into it and hoping adwords/ysm/msn will sort out the winners for you is stupid and a waste of your time.
 
PPC is very effective given the proper treatment. Identify your niche and select the market you want to cater to and start from there. Research also on the keywords your desired market would most likely be looking for. You should be more focused on getting targetted traffic than just page views. It really all boils down to what your site offers to your traffic. Your service and products determines your conversion ;)
 
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