Does PPC work only for high-ticket items?

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When people talk about stepping up their marketing efforts, they usually talk about including paid advertising (PPC) in the mix. Some even make it sound like it's a natural step to take -- after you've dabbled in SEO for a while and are now serious about building a sustainable business. Nothing wrong with that logic, really. However, I see a LOT of products on the web (including my own) that are low enough in price that a PPC campaign could never generate a return on investment, at least from what I can see.

Of course, the real deal breaker is the conversion rate. I've been selling stuff online for more than 10 years now, and the conversion rates I've seen in my niche have been surprisingly consistent -- around 1 percent (maybe 2 on a good day).

So let's say I have a digital product that retails for $15. Most PPC programs I've looked at (Adwords, etc.) will cost me upwards to $.50/click. With my average conversion rate being 1 percent, it would cost me $50 just to make one $15 sale. Or in other words, I would need a $50 price tag on my products just to break even. And keep in mind we're talking about digital goods with 90 percent profit margins. If I were selling physical products, the scenario would be even more bleak.


Does PPC work only for high-ticket items? I'm befuddled.
#search engine optimization #highticket #items #ppc #work
  • It's all about the ROI. Pretty much anything can be sold using PPC. Price has nothing to do with it. Provided you use proper keywords to trigger your ads and your landing page converts well. A 1% rate is poor in my opinion.

    Example, selling widgets. I can guarantee you that if you simply bid on "widgets", you won't make as many sales and profit as you would if you bid on "round widget" and "square widget". And you'll do better if instead of your home page, you land the ad clicker to the appropriate widget page. Even better if your keywords are "brass round widget" and "plastic square widget" and again, land on appropriate page.
    • [1] reply
    • Hi keyon,

      I sell hundreds of items that average below $10 CPA. So yes, you definitely can sell low priced products if you do things right.
      • [1] reply
    • Banned
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  • Use long tailed kws to get more specific traffic in. You can sell anything w/ Adwords. Even informational websites.
    • [1] reply
  • Adwords are good for high converting products, high ticket or not. And obviously, if it does not make money, you don't bother with it.
  • You need to increase your conversion rate AND decrease your average CPC at the same time by choosing more obscure yet still high converting keywords. It's almost like gold mining, you have to sift through a LOT of dirt to get to the gold. But once you've found the gold, well, you're golden
  • I've gone after the real estate niche primarily with PPC and had good results, but I also had a friend who had a website about thimbles that did pretty good on PPC as well.

    I mean come on...

    Thimbles!

    His site had a lot of traffic, but that's because he took action and built that traffic and made it his primary focus over everything else.
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    Does PPC work only for high-ticket items?

    When people talk about stepping up their marketing efforts, they usually talk about including paid advertising (PPC) in the mix. Some even make it sound like it's a natural step to take -- after you've dabbled in SEO for a while and are now serious about building a sustainable business. Nothing wrong with that logic, really. However, I see a LOT of products on the web (including my own) that are low enough in price that a PPC campaign could never generate a return on investment, at least from what I can see. Of course, the real deal breaker is the conversion rate. I've been selling stuff online for more than 10 years now, and the conversion rates I've seen in my niche have been surprisingly consistent -- around 1 percent (maybe 2 on a good day).