I was reminded about this a month or so back in an email from John Reese’s newsletter and after someone in our forum mentioned it today, I realized it was time to bring this up publicly.
Most of us know the benefits of PPC (pay per click advertising) for driving instant traffic to our websites.
The trouble is, that someone, somewhere along the line started instilling in us this mantra of, “Why should I pay for traffic when I can get it for FREE!?”
Don’t get me wrong, I love free traffic as much as the next guy… but free traffic that doesn’t make any money? What’s the point right?
I first heard of this on John’s famous Traffic Secrets dvd and to good marketers it’s common knowledge but at the same time I think it’s got to be the most underrated use for PPC advertising…
What I’m talking about is this…
Say you’re trying to rank for the keyword “Dog Training California” you’ve got your site up, you’re growing your content, building links, optimizing like crazy, you’re doing everything right.
You’re doing everything right but under the ASSUMPTION – and yes, it’s an assumption – that when you rank for the term “Dog Training California” that the resulting visitors are going to buy your product, opt in to your list, or purchase from your affiliate link…
Question is… HOW DO YOU KNOW?
It happens all too often that people try to get SE traffic for a term, get to page 1 only to realize that the traffic coming from this term isn’t converting for them. IN other words they wasted months of [tag]SEO[/tag] (we all know how long it can take) when there is a simple way they could have found out within a couple of days whether or not that term would convert…
RUN A PPC AD!
Here’s the solution: You build a list of keywords you THINK will convert – you do all your keyword research, organize them all nicely and you start an Adwords campaign. YES, this means spending MONEY!
You spend $50 or $100 over a week and you track the results… Suddenly you can see: ok ad 1 for the term Dog training California converted 1 sale in 50 visitors but the term Dog Training Report converted 1 in 20… DONE, now you know where to focus your SEO efforts. You just saved yourself months of hard work.
The second thing that brought this issue to my attention was a lady in our forum who, in having searched for products to promote with niche mini sites, was frustrated about having to do all the promotional work and taking weeks to find out whether a product was going to be a winner in the free traffic states. Same solution – spend some money!!
Remember, page 1 rankings are great but money is what you really want. Taking this easy step will save you months of time and potentially put stacks more cash in your pocket.
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Hey Andrew…this is biggie advice, especially for newbies.
We read all the horror stories about folks dumping tons of money on PPC and losing their underwear. Why do they lose? As you suggest, the lack of proper testing and research, is why.
I am just beginning the process of learning as much as I can about PPC because it has taken nearly 15 months (from scratch), using free traffic methods, to gain Google PR 3 and PR4 for all my blogs and websites with little money to show for it.
I am now convinced I got the cart before the horse because of my lack of knowledge when I began in May 2006.
So, bottom line, I am going to try the PPC route next.
Keep up the great advice. We need it.
Jim
There is no such thing as “free”. Mostly people do not value their time when they talk about free traffic.
PPC is a lot cheaper than “free” traffic when you reckon time into the equation.
How about “PPC on Crack” Andrew ?
Alex
Andrew, thanks for the great post. Ironically, I had been reading along the very lines you have posted in this blog but you have brought the point home very clearly.
And Jim,
Thanks for your post. I started doing about 4 months ago what you have been doing since 2006 and I am certain my results would have been similar as you describe. I am certain that testing properly with ppc is probably the only way to go!
I have to say, this blog has probably saved me a year of hard work and frustration. Now to find out the correct way to run a ppc campaign!
Barry
Hi Barry.
I have collected tons of free info on Adwords over the past few months through the various Giveaways. I am reading through them and making notes. I am finding various ways of approaching this.
So far It seems:
#1 – Find a hungry crowd (keyword research and Adwords Ads research).
#2 – Find or create a product to sell to them or give it free to get their email.
#3 – Set up a domain and sales page with autoresponder, or freebie page with autoresponder.
#4 – Do Adwords campaign.
This is an oversimplified formula, I know, but that’s what I’ve found so far.
Now, to choose which approach. Maybe both and test each?
Jim
nice blog lots of good info.
Thanks for the insights Andrew.
That does make a ton of sense. Reese is a genius.
Just a few things he’s said and done has really opened up my eyes in the past.
Great post Andrew. Because the barrier to entry is so low with an online business, most internet marketers don’t test and track the way they should. PPC traffic is a quick and very cost effective way to test everything about your business from your offer to your sales funnel, to which keywords are most effective as far as people spending money. Thanks for the reminder.
Gregg
G’day Andrew,
Another thought-provoking article from you, as usual! Jim (and others!), try doing things in this order instead, my comments in [...]:
#1 – Find a hungry crowd (keyword research and Adwords Ads research). [MOST important stage!]
#2 – Find or create a product to sell to them or give it free to get their email. [Look at Clickbank, Clixgalore, CommissionJunction, etc for well-paying affiliate products in your niche]
#4 – Do Adwords campaign. [As Andrew mentioned above, start small with a budget of something like $100-200 depending on your niche's popularity - you will need to get about 500 visitors to your site to see if they are BUYERS, or just LOOKERS!]
#3 – Set up a domain and sales page with autoresponder, or freebie page with autoresponder. [ONLY if you are attracting BUYERS to your site - otherwise go back to #1 and start again]
#4 – Do Adwords campaign. [This time, go big! You now know that your ads are attracting BUYERS, not LOOKERS, you have a product to sell them, and a website to convert info seekers into buyers.]
Works for me!
Bye for now,
Terry Chadban