PPC newbie - where do I start?

[Dean Strauss]

Hi everybody,

I've always been the free traffic dude and now I want to try PPC because it sounds really interesting but I have no idea where to start.

I know how to find less competitive keywords but I have no idea how much to pay for them.

Also, should I use AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing? (I'm a little bit scared of Google slap to be honest)

[AllRed]

Dean,

I'm with you, i am just starting PPC. I am currently in a PPC 4 week class, and based on what I have seen so far (First session). I would highly recommend watching for a WSO on PPC training before jumping into that pool!

There are a lot of ways to loose money, gambling, stock market, 'Trying PPC'
Don't get me wrong... PPC is the way to go... But only after you learn how to trade a dollar for more than a dollar! Again, I know very little at this point, to guide you in the right direction, but I can share this little bit of wisdom...... The money that you spend on a PPC training program will be some of the best spent money you might possibly ever spend!

[dburk]

Hi Dean,

I believe it's really important to learn the basics before moving on to more advanced strategies and tactics. Advanced tactics require a fundamental knowledge of all the basics. I recommend that you start at the AdWords Learning Center to get this base knowledge and then you can move on to more advanced training.

[waihon]

Hi Dean,

Welcome to the PPC world.

I myself focus more on PPC instead SEO. With PPC, I can get my ads appear on search engine results page (SERP) faster than with SEO.

I'm not saying that SEO is not good. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, e.g. faster vs. slower, paid vs. free, easier to influence position vs. more difficult to influence position, less authority vs. more authority, etc.

In fact, I'd think PPC and SEO complement each other.

To determine how much to pay for a keyword phrase, I'll consider the following 2 main factors:

1. Breakeven point = net profit per conversion x expected conversion rate
E.g. Net profit per conversion = $15
Expected conversion rate = 2% (2 sales per 100 clicks)
Breakeven point = $15 x 0.02 = $0.30

2. Desired ad position

The breakeven point is the maximum cost per click (CPC) that you can bid on while still maintaining profitability for a campaign.

Depending on the competitiveness of a keyword phrase, the breakeven prince point might or might not get your ad to the first page of SERP. If the price point warrants first page listing of your ad, you may still need to "play around" with ad position to achieve optimum cost-effectiveness. E.g. while being at ad position #1 would attract a lot of traffic, that position might not give you optimum profitability.

BTW, I only have experience running PPC campaigns on the AdWords program but have yet to experience other serach engines' PPC program.

I think you don't need to worry so much about Google Slap as long as the destination/landing page content is consistent with your ad, and your ad copy is consistent with your keyword phrase(s).

[seobro]

Google has many keywords with medium traffic and low price as in less than a dime per click. Here is an easy metric.

0.05/click and 4% conversion, profit $10/item.

10000 clicks costs $500

It generates 400 sales = $4,000

Your profit is $3500.

When calculating profit per item make sure to subtract warehouse fees, shipping, etc.

Right now I am selling an item with a profit of about $90 each
my per click is twenty cents and the number of clicks I get is about 200 -500 per day.

[A. van Heerden]

Dean,

You can Google Perry Marshall's guide which will get you up to speed and Google's Adwords learning centre is also very useful.

[Dave Ward]

Originally Posted by A. van Heerden

Dean,

You can Google Perry Marshall's guide which will get you up to speed and Google's Adwords learning centre is also very useful.

Agree with this, I still advise anyone who is new to read his guide. In my opinion it is the best written guide there is to help a beginner.

[bozzie311]

adwords learning center for sure! use match types, use negative keywords, run search query reports!

[McBrett]

1.) Find someone with experience that can help you out.

2.) I agree that Perry Marshall's guide is really good for starting out. This will help you make a lot less mistakes.

3.) Make sure you have a great product, attractive website, calls to action, etc. It's one thing to get traffic to a page and another to get them to complete an action. Sounds basic but for a lot of people its an afterthought.

For Dean -- Don't worry about a "Google slap" when using PPC. It won't affect your organic search rankings.

As for the Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing question, Google has a much larger audience so the potential for profit is better. Also, I've experienced a better ROI over the longterm with AdWords. My advice would be to start with Google once you've tested a campaign and it's profitable, add it to Bing and Yahoo.

[keenstyle1]

I would say open an account with yahoo and bing. Their platforms are alike. Google is user friendly but they let you use big keywords and then notify you 2 days later that it's now going to be 5 or 10 dollars if you want to keep using that keyword.

[pikachu]

I would start off with google content network and facebook. Zip/email submits are great offers to start learning with since you can spend a little a make a little. Best of luck in getting started

[Raja Kamil]

dare to fear. Just do it !!!!

[Matt Cromie]

Set a budget for testing then do it. I made the mistake of doing course after course and learning everything about ppc or so I thought but I did not really learn anything until I started actually doing it. Dont forget there is Yahoo for direct linking too.

[Jayson L]

I can't get any luck at all with google, but I am doing fine with Yahoo. It seems like you can bid a lot lower for the keywords with yahoo. You don't get as much traffic I'm sure, but if your new you probably don't have a huge budget anyway.

[ocmnet]

Might as well ad some PayPerSale items too. Sometimes they provide ven better return since you cam get much bigger commisions per sale.

Follow my signature for an example of some Ads and Plugins you can user for Free as long as you want, then if they start convewrting you can upgrade and make even more...