PPC Horrible Conversions!

[Slin]

I posted recently that I was starting PPC, a lot of people gave some great advise.

I have been running my ads for 2 days now, I have over 600 impressions.

I have zero clicks, it's funny to read about people losing money over adwords (OK it isn't funny) how in the world did they get people to click in the first place?

I own a product in the get your ex back niche. I know it converts well with ezine traffic and am moving up to PPC, problem is, I can't get anyone to click on my ads!

Any advise when it comes to this? Am I really dumb? Did I do something wrong? (I turned content network off)

Thanks,

- Nils Evensen

[ReadyNicheInvestor]

You need to write your Ad in such a way that will make people want to take action or click on your ad. Remember, you have only a few lines to write so think creatively. Read some on Google Adwords Techniques written by people who use PPC as their main traffic generation method.

[jonsjon]

do you have a call to action like click here?

[Shaun Lee]

Originally Posted by jonsjon

do you have a call to action like click here?

If OP is trying Google Adwords, then I don't think your ad can contain the words "click here".

-Shaun

[Lucid]

You are not allowed to use "click here" in a text ad. As RNI wrote, you need something that attracts them, take action. The vast majority of ads are ho-hum and all similar basically saying "yes, we have widgets here. Lots and lots of widgets". So what? Nothing new, I just asked about widgets, every one has widgets to sell me.

The question is, what's in it for me? Why would I buy your widgets? If you tell me your widgets are made of an indestructible alloy with a lifetime guarantee, that'll make me click the ad.

The good thing is, you haven't spent money (no clicks). You've just learned what kind of ad doesn't work. Note too that ad position can make a big difference, especially in some niches. I've seen some where the top three spots above the SERPs get 5% click rates but drops below 1% on the right side. This is especially true in very competitive industries like web hosting. Other niches, it doesn't matter and can get decent rates with good ads even on the right side.

With zero clicks in 600 impressions, I'd say it's your ads or your keywords are not relevant.

[carterstory]

I'd recommend using this guy, we are doing a 3 months series with this guy and really like what he has to say.. I haven't spesifcially taken the PPC class, but he's tought some PPC stuff and I find it pretty helpful
7figureppcsecrets (can't post the full link.. too new)

[Medway1]

Put the Ad up here so we can look at it for you. As the post above says "Whats in it for me" that's the only reason they click so your Ad has nothing in it for them. It is Benefit or Features based?

[indexphp]

600 impressions and no clicks yet?

Bid $5! You will only pay 1cent more than the next competitor anyways. Think out 3 really good adcopies and let them test. Use the best one and start lowering your bids from its "actual cpc" - not "bidded CPC"

[seobear]

as said above, and taking into account that you advertise on search only, either keywords and ads do not match (you show your ads to people who are searching for other things), or you show too common text in your ad - these seems to be the most probable reasons you're not getting clicks (yet).

re content network - switching this ON will give you far better exposure, and you can try to start with managed placements (websites you choose to advertise at) to make sure your ad does not appear on irrelevant/low-quality websites. In this case you will get far more impressions to test your ads for sure.

[netmatrix]

Are you using dynamic keyword insertion? This will help raise ctr.

Also, what type of keyword match are your using: Exact, Phrase, Broad?

Broad match will generally generate more impressions, lower ctr.
Exact match will generally generate fewer impressions, higher ctr.
Phrase match will generally be somewhere inbetween.

[patey88]

I'll share my experience with ex-back adwords. Last summer when I first started PPC, I had to pay an average of 0.50 to 0.65 per click to get an average ad position of 2.4 to 2.8 on the side. This got me 24 to 40 clicks per day.

This was with what I think of as the 2nd tier of keywords -- ones that might have the word "ex" in them, or the word "back", but not both.

Anyway, I lost money pretty fast and had to stop PPC until I had a new plan.

Nowadays, I get about 10 clicks a day paying less than 10 cents a click for fringe, no-competition, 2nd and 3rd tier (3rd = no ex, no back) keywords.

You have to start out paying higher than that until your campaign and ad group accumulate a quality score that can bring your cost down. At least, that's how it works in my head. Definitely true that if you start low, you get no clicks, but if you pay high for a while you can bring it down to the lower rate later and still get clicks.

One other thing: you actually CAN get a trickle of clicks for 1st tier, "ex back" keywords at ten cent bids. A tiny trickle.

And lastly, make sure you know how exactly much every google/cpc click is worth to you. Expect to pay more than that in the beginning, and lose money, while you learn. But eventually, you have to turn a profit on those clicks, or else quit PPC.

Patey

[netmatrix]

Originally Posted by Lucid

...Note too that ad position can make a big difference, especially in some niches. I've seen some where the top three spots above the SERPs get 5% click rates but drops below 1% on the right side. This is especially true in very competitive industries like web hosting. Other niches, it doesn't matter and can get decent rates with good ads even on the right side.

This is also a possibility.

In addition, I recommend you split test your ads. Make sure your 'Ad delivery' setting is set to Rotate: Show ads more evenly".