I've been on the fence about a particular issue lately. We've tried pay-per-click in the past, and I know it works. However, it is very time consuming to manage. I'd like to start doing more of it again, and as I see it, there are two options at this point. We can outsource the management of our PPC campaigns, or keep it in house and purchase some software to better manage and track across multiple campaigns.

In order to make my decision easier, I decided to list the steps and sub steps of creating an effective PPC campaign. In the process, I created more of an article or whitepaper than a simple list. Here it is. Email me your thoughts on it.

1. Determination of business goals and PPC budget (Marketer)
···a. What are your overall business goals and goals for your website. The PPC strategy must work toward these goals. Basic, yes, but this sometimes slips by.
···b. What are you willing to pay? It pays to back this number out based on your known conversion rate or on the value of achieving one of your business goals? Also look at the cost-per-lead that you’re willing to pay. How much are you willing to pay to get there? What is your ‘inquiry’ to ‘lead’ or ‘sale’ conversion rate? With PPC it is very, and I do mean very, easy to overshoot your budget. Determine an acceptable monthly budget number and stick to it.

2. Selection of proper keywords (Marketer)
a. Keywords need to be selected to match your products, services, and brand all while trying to match the behavior of searchers (what do we think our product keywords are vs. what to THEY think our product keywords are) during the various stages of the buying cycle. (First Learn, Further Learn, Purchase Intent).
···b. Pursue keyword research based on the following:
······i. Incoming referring keywords from the search engines
······ii. Map these against keywords at wordtracker.com to find high traffic keywords that may suit your product.
······iii. Review your internal site search for high volume keywords that should be more ‘public’.

3. Gap analysis of selected keywords against organic search results (Vendor)
···a. Before you pay for keywords, it is essential to review each keyword against the major engines with which you purport to engage in PPC with.
···b. Run a web position report or something similar to find first page placements of your chosen keywords. Those keywords, which have not yet achieved first page placement, are likely candidates for inclusion in a PPC campaign.

4. Competitive review of keywords bid on by competitors. Also review organic results of popular keywords.

5. Gap analysis of keywords against landing pages on website. (Marketer/Vendor)
···a. It's one thing to run a PPC campaign with all the right keywords psychographically mapped to your buyers exact behavior at precisely the right moment in the purchase decision process, but if you website doesn’t support the keyword with the proper persuasive marketing material with an acquisition component for you, the marketer, all of your efforts are for naught.
···b. It is absolutely essential that proper landing pages be created to assure users that the keyword they’ve clicked on is for them, and that your product is the right one for them. You can judge the effectiveness of your landing pages by the conversions that they create against the chosen keywords.
···c. Create landing pages, as necessary, to support keywords purchased for PPC.

6. Decide which PPC providers to place keywords with. (Marketer/Vendor)
a. Once you’ve established the keyword set and adjusted your website to support the drive to from the keyword links, it’s time to reserve your space with the various providers. The top 3 are:
···i. Google (essential ? drives over 40% of a site’s search traffic)
···ii. Overture (syndicates it’s listings on several sites ? keep up on the partnerships to ensure maximum reach)
···iii. FindWhat (not the most widely read, but PPC is cheap and industry experts report unusually high conversion rates)

7. Create appropriate keyword listings and supporting verbiage (Marketer)
···a. Research listing parameters with the PPC providers to ensure that you are within the character limits and are not using any illegal words in your listings. Overture is the most stringent, as they review each listing personally.
···b. Relevance is key here. Be sure to choose wording that supports your keyword and entices users to click through for more value.

8. Establish metrics and setup tracking to measure keyword ROI. (Marketer/Vendor)

9. Submit your ad listings and establish your keyword position by placing keyword bids. (Vendor)
···a. Be mindful of your budget. Google’s AdWords setup tools actually calculate this out for you based on projected keyword position and historical CTR of that keyword in said position. If you are lucky enough to find a keyword that no one has purchased, your rate will be very low. At least, until your competitors find out!
···b. The top placement does is not always worth it. Relevancy is KEY here. If you listing is more relevant (keyword and supporting text) it’s CTR will tick up slightly, and your conversion at the website will see significant gains.

10. Manage keyword bids by measurement of clicks and conversions against pre-defined goals and vis-à-vis competitor’s positions. (Marketer/Vendor)
···a. It's essential to measure against YOUR metrics first. Are the keywords, with their respective placements and positions, achieving the results required to achieve you ROI? Give it a month. Drop them if they aren't up to standards.
···b. Also look at what your competition has been doing. Are they bidding up their keyword positions? Should you?

11. Re-bid, adjust keyword listings, revisit step 8. (Vendor)

12. Revisit landing pages - tweak for conversion

Hello,

My name is Ken Parks, I am working in a e-commerce using several PPC's engines and trying to optimize our results.

I found your website very interesting and I learned from it many new things I didn't know. But more you learn, more question you have... and I wanted to know if you can clear a bit my mind by answering those questions:


- What are the differences between Primary, Secondary, Directory and Paid Results ? And where do they come from ?

- Do all the Search Engines recieve those results from different sources ? Is it possible that a Search Engine recieve directory results from 2 different sources and paid results from a third source ?

- Where do appear the Paid results of the S.E. (PPC and Paid Submission) and the others (primary, seconday, directory) on the S.E. website ? (in the category search ? in the general search ? other places ?)

- If PPC's Engines are trying to expend their network by growing their partenairs, is it possible that a S.E. recieves the results of different PPC's Engines ? How does it work ?


Thank you for your answers !

Ken