Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engines offer some of the best value advertising online. Where else can you get targeted visitors from just $0.01 each?

In the PPC model, you write your own title and description, select a keyword searchers must enter for your listing to appear, and bid against other site owners for its rank in search results. Your bid equals the amount you will pay for each click on your listing.

#1 SECRET TO BIG RETURNS ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET

Bid prices for good rankings on very popular, common keywords are often high. However, the vast majority of advertisers *only* bid on these obvious terms. They ignore THOUSANDS of other keywords. Here the bid prices remain low and good listings are just a cent or two!

Of course, less popular keywords aren't searched for as often. But that *does not* matter. Play smart. Bid on LOTS of keywords. Hundreds, thousands even. Here's an example of how it works:

# Keywords
in Account # Times each Keyword
Searched per Month Number of Times
Your Ad is Seen*
20 1000 20,000
200 100 20,000


*Assume all listings have the same ranking, say the #3 spot.

As you can see, listing under 200 keywords, each of which is only searched for 100 times a month, can bring you the SAME amount of traffic as 20 listings for much more expensive, popular keywords that are searched for 1000 times each month.

RESEARCHING YOUR KEYWORDS

You will probably already have several relevant words and phrases in mind. Write them all down and head over to the GoTo Keyword Suggestion Tool with your list. Type your first keyword into the tool's search box. When the results come up, select "Save As" on your browser, and choose to save as "Text."

Do likewise with all of your keywords, phrases, and other potentially important terms within phrases. When you've finished open the first file saved. Delete all irrelevant terms. From the remainder, identify potentially good words that you haven't yet investigated. Input these into the Suggestion Tool and repeat the process. Do the same for every file and you will soon have hundreds of terms.

For even more suggestions, try JimTools Keyword Generation Tool at http://www.jimtools.com . Bear in mind however that these are terms found in Web pages, and therefore not necessarily keywords used by searchers.

GET DATABASED

Create a simple database for your listing details - it will make managing your account much easier. You can use Excel or similar; I personally prefer FileMaker Pro for PPC accounts (Vicki at http://www.sitesell.com/info.html provides a basic template for affiliates).

Paste all the search terms from your collection of text files into your database (if you have a good text editor, use 'search and replace' strings to batch process, deleting unwanted information, and tab-delimiting the remainder for direct import).

YOUR TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS

Make your title catchy. Remember you are writing an ad. Incorporating the search term within it usually increases clickthroughs. Beware however that more clicks doesn't always equal more sales.

Some searchers will click on the first title they notice containing the term searched for, thinking it more relevant. In addition, writing a different title for every term is very time consuming. Make your description as comprehensive and benefit-laden as you can within the space allowed.

If your budget is tight and you simply wish to sell something, consider making it obvious from your description. Unless you have a secondary strategy (like collecting email addresses) save money by filtering out those least likely to part with any cash.

YOUR MAXIMUM BID PRICE

Ideally, calculate your maximum bid limit based on the average conversion ratio of the page you are linking to. If you don't know what that is, I suggest you initially base your limit on a 1% conversion ratio (1 in every 100 visitors buys).

Lets say you make $20 on every sale. That means - on average - for every 100 visitors, you get $20. To be in profit, those 100 visitors must cost you less than the $20 you make. It therefore follows that one visitor must cost less than $20/100, or $0.20. This is your break-even point. Always bid below this figure.

With a bid of $0.04, the 100 visitors required for a $20 sale will only cost you $4. You make $16 profit. If your conversion ratio is in reality 3%, at $0.04 per click you will make $56 for every $4 you spend. That's a 1400% profit!

Use coded (tracked) URL's for your PPC listings, or if feasible link them to specific pages that cannot be accessed by a surfer on your site (can be duplicates with no inbound links). You will soon have a good idea of your real conversion ratio.

BIDDING STRATEGY

The idea is to bid as little as possible for the highest number of targeted visitors. Being first on the results page will bring most visitors. However, as I mentioned earlier, simply getting more clickthroughs is not necessarily a good thing.

In the top position, you are more likely to attract 'lazy' searchers that simply click on the first thing they see, and others who automatically assume that since your listing is at the top, it must be the most relevant (like a regular search engine). How important or not this is, depends on the cost of the listings and your budget.

The further down the listings your ad appears, the less likely it will be seen. This is not only due to the behavior of searchers. Web sites that partner with GoTo seldom display all of the listings. AOL for example only displays the first three. Others display the first five, ten, or possibly twenty listings.

With this in mind, create various 'cut-off' points in the listings, in relation to your budget. Can you afford to be in the top three listings? If not, look at the top five, then ten.

Don't overly concern yourself with individual positions within these groupings. Your exposure will be almost the same whether you are at, say, number 7 or number 10. The difference in bid price however can be substantial. Pay as little as possible to get into the highest group within your budget. That notwithstanding, increasing your bid by 2 cents to jump five positions in the top half of the page would be worthwhile.

On popular terms where bids are high, simply try to get into the first half of the results page (the top 20 on GoTo). If that is still beyond my budget, I aim for a cheap position right at the bottom of the page.

My theory is that most searchers who have bothered to scroll more than halfway down the page will continue to the end. In addition, most people tend to scroll in 'chunks'. This makes them likely to miss listings in the middle, as their eyes are naturally drawn to the white space at the bottom of the page.

GETTING YOUR LISTINGS ONLINE

GoTo will happily accept bulk submissions in an Excel spreadsheet they have available for download. If you don't have Excel, you can send your listings in tab-delimited text format (other PPC engines operate the same way, but some don't advertise the fact, requiring you ask).

Use the account manager to get your first few listings online. GoTo check all submissions for relevancy so it will be 3-5 days before they go live. Meanwhile, work up a list of several hundred keywords. Email them to GoTo and they will add them to your account.

If you're not yet using PPC search engines, now is the time to start. You won't regret it. Follow these guidelines and it's impossible not to profit!

© Azam Corry "Do it Better. Do it Faster. Do it Right!"

Online since 1998, Azam Corry Helps Newbies Develop a Winning
Web Marketing Strategy with Great Free Guides, Tools and Resources.
==> Special from Azam:
Subscribe now to my Biz Bits Marketing eZine & get the Net's most
Comprehensive ecourse PLUS real-value ebooks completely FREE!