If it was that easy, we'd all be doing it and raking in the profits. Realistically, the only way to run a successful Pay Per Click campaign is to put the groundwork in first.

Like all marketing campaigns, Pay Per Click requires a substantial amount of research, planning and budgeting to be profitable. The only difference is the type of campaign. For a Pay Per Click project to work, you need to know how it works and how best to exploit it.

Although Pay Per Click services differ from one search engine to the next, they all have some basic principles in common. To set up your PPC campaign, you need to register a list of keywords with the search engine. You can then bid for each keyword and if you have the highest bid, the search engine will rank your site at the top or in the top three when that keyword is searched for. You will also need to supply a title and a short listings description for your site; even though your site is at the top of the list, you still need to sell it to the searcher for them to click through to your site. You are charged for each user that clicks through to your site.

There are three key elements to PPC campaigns: Getting your keywords right, managing the bidding process and setting and measuring your targets.

Keywords

Evaluate your products and your ideal customer. Make sure you know what benefit your product or service is going to give your customer and research how they might search for it on the internet. Look at your competition, and select specific keywords that apply to your business and product, but don't apply to the competition. To begin with, select a number of keywords; your measurement process will knock out unproductive keywords, and it's best to start with too many than too few. Your campaign can succeed or fail based on the keywords you select, so spend some time ensuring you get them right. Choose positive, active keywords that your customer is most likely to use.

Bidding

Bidding rules vary from search engine to search engine, but the most important thing is that you keep control of the bidding. Set an upper bid limit where you know you can still make a profit on sales from users who click-through to you, remembering that not everyone who visits your site will buy your product. As the campaign progresses, you will be better informed about the percentage of click-throughs that convert to sales, and you can then adjust your bid figures accordingly.

Measurement

In a Pay Per Click campaign, measurement is key. You need to know which keywords are working best for you, whether you need to change your title or site description text to promote click-throughs, and what users are doing when they get to your site. If you are paying for click-throughs but not making sales, then your problem lies in what the user sees once they've come through to your site. If you've landed them in a complicated home page, where there's no mention of the keywords they were searching for, they'll use the back button to go straight back to the search engine list. In many cases, it may be easier to create a microsite, or landing page that is directly relevant to the keywords you are using. This will make the website immediately useful and attractive to your visitors, and you can then link through to the relevant part of your own website to complete the purchase. Creating a separate site also enables you to track how your users move through your site and what pushes them to make the purchase. You can use this information to focus your Pay Per Click activities on those customers who are going to buy.

There's a lot more to Pay Per Click than this, but if you have a basic idea of what's involved, then you won't rush in to PPC as many companies do, and then wonder why it isn't working for you. On the contrary, because you have planned, budgeted and monitored, you could run a far more successful campaign than your competitors and make a real difference to your bottom line. At WebTrafficker we can help you plan, implement and monitor your Pay Per Click campaign because, like all your marketing, you need to know you're getting value for money.