Improving Pay-Per-Click Advertising Results

Get the most out of reaching potential clients via the Web

It's a brave new world in online, search-engine advertising and a rapidly changing world at that. Pay-per-click (PPC) – also called cost-per-click – is the fastest growing type of advertising for small business. Little known just a few years ago, PPC advertising is evolving at break-neck speed as more small businesses use it and advertisers become increasingly smart about how to draw the best results.

That includes a combination of things, such as placing your PPC ads in the right places, and writing them in a way that appeals to your best prospects. That might sound simple for a little ad that might count a dozen or two words at most. But that means each choice must be terribly precise.

There's a lot to understand before you rush off and sign up. Here's the skinny on getting the most from pay-per-click.

It's all about the keywords

Pay-per-click is driven by searches on big search engines like Google and Yahoo!, among others. If you want people to find your pet groomer, it helps to understand what words they are likely to type in (groomer? poodle?) when seeking help with their lovely little furball.

Read this next paragraph carefully!

Reading carefully now, aren't you? A call to action, as direct language is known in marketing-speak, is a big part of any text ad. Tell the person what to do, or they likely will blink and look away. Now keep reading this article!

Consider the context

The more relevant your ad to the actual search, the more likely you'll get a click-through to your site. Accordingly, if you sell a product, it's better to appear in shopping databases — that much closer to the buy! — than in straight information search.

Pay-per-call could be a better fit for small businesses

If you sell rock T-shirts online, a click to your product is likely a sale. But if you sell anything more complicated or more local, like legal services or plumbing, well, that's what sales people are for. The next step is pay-per-call, essentially a lead-generation service over the Web.

Although a call to action is key to getting a response, overused words like FREE won't mean much to word-weary Web surfers.
Instead, reinforce your message by repeating key product words, like "plumber" and "24-hour service" or "big and tall sizes," whatever really describes your offering.
Run two versions of a text-ad for a set period of time, then cancel the weaker ad based on results and start over with two more. That's how Madison Avenue does it.
Review your Web site traffic stats it to find out where people go on your own site. It won't help if they click through from an ad then can't find a way to buy. Point them directly to the page where the sale happens, not the front door.
How far could this go? Well, the guy who invented pay-per-click is supposedly working on pay-per-sale: You kick back to the advertiser only if the customer clicks through and actually makes a purchase. Now that's power!