Monday, October 13, 2008

How effective is your PPC Campaign?

By Brian Basch

In the past few years, the world of PPC advertising has become a lot different. Policy changes from Google mean that it's not possible to simply collect an enormous number of keywords without thinking about it if you expect to turn a profit.

Attempting this kind of PPC deviousness will bring an expensive campaign that often ends up being partially deactivated. Prices are rising on basic keywords, so it's easy to lose money fast if you ignore Google's rules.

Fortunately, paying just a little attention will result in the best chances of success. Learning why Google treats your ads the way it does, and choosing your keywords in a way that makes sense gives you a good chance of a successful, profitable campaign.

The money to support Google comes from advertising. That means that they only make money if viewers believe that the ads are worth clicking. This means that it's important, from the search engine's standpoint, to be sure that all ads on their site are the real thing.

Google works hard to keep out false information, spam, and websites that don't give the visitor what they were looking for. It's a bit like seeing a sign on a store advertising burgers only to get inside and find out that everything is tofu. There are lots of unscrupulous types out there who will try anything to earn a dollar, so Google has its systems to keep the cheats out.

To get a higher score and lower costs, begin by adding to your site. All it takes is a few extra pages telling visitors and the search engine about your site to improve your standing. Consider a single page privacy policy, a list of terms and conditions, a page about your company, and similar information. Contact pages that allow visitors to get in touch with you are viewed as extremely important by Google.

By now you're probably thinking to yourself,' Is this thing a machine or is it alive!' The truth is that these simple changes can net big results. It also adds legs to your pay per click campaign. Add an XML site map to your site. XML is just a directory of your site content, but they make it much easier for Google to look around. A programmer can create this map for you, the result will be that you'll find bids become up to 35% less expensive.

Building a good campaign starts with better knowledge of Google and what its people want you to show them so that they know your site's legitimate. They aren't trying to make things hard for everyone, just the cheats and nasty types that try to scam the search engine's users. The best way to see how effective your site is, Google your keywords and see where you finish. If you're there in the top entries, you've chosen your keywords very well. Other things you can keep your eye on include related terms, meta tags and the copy that appears on other sites like yours. While you should never copy someone else's material, it can make for great inspiration.

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