Pay Per Click question

If you want to run PPC campaign for generating traffic, then first you have to choose keywords which you think you targeted audience would use to search your product or service.

Keywords are really essential for SEO and PPC purpose, choosing wrong keywords would result wastage of money and resources.

Google is still the dominating search engine, so you should certainly run your ads on Google.

Good decision cos PPC is the way to launch your business asap.

What do you mean by RIP-OFF by buying clicks ? All major networks have their anti fraud click alghoritms in place. You should not be too much worried.

If you mean paying too much for 1 click, well thats another story but you have to know something about how PPC works before you dive in, otherwise you can loose everything in few days. Its more dangerous than casino sometimes.

Make sure that you ads are highly targeted. And monitor your traffic as well. I have an experience with an adult ppc network sending impressions. I realized that it's fake because I'm receiving hundred thousands of traffic with literally ZERO clicks!

Google Adwords is still the top choice.

Use Google adwords to generate traffic. It will definatly help you.

Set your daily budget low in the beginning and watch out for those keywords that only eat your budget and don't convert. Monitor keywords everyday and pause the ones that lose money. I read somewhere that only 5% of keywords usually make money. My experience is pretty similar. Always keep split testing and optimizing your ads.

First of course learn the basics like different match types etc. but then just dive in. Only way to learn is by doing. In the beginning you are likely to lose money or barely break even but keep your daily budget low and keep testing.

RetiredOldDude , PPC is fairy easy to get traffic with, but very difficult to do profitably, SEO and PPC often go hand in hand, since you need to be very good at keyword selection, you say you have your keywords already, and I am sure those keywords will give you traffic, but I am confident you initial keywords will not be profitable for you. It has taken me four years of experimenting and many thousands of dollars to find a highly profitable line up of keywords.

I would highly suggest you start with this
AdWords For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles...

Starting with PPC is sometimes easy and often complicated (Confusing if you are not sure where to begin with). Kind of uncertainty as well of losing money . Before you start buying traffic I would advice to do some math first.

First define a budget you want to spend on testing (To find your winning keywords). To Define your target testing budget, you have to take several things in account such that
-

1. how many keywords you want to start with ?
2. whats your Avg conversion rate (you should know , if not for info products take 2% as a general idea if the landing page is well)
3. whats the avg CPC for the niche you are . In this example lets take 75 Cent a click (You haven't mentioned your keywords so i am not sure, taking just a dummy value for the sake of calculation).

now, let's say you want to test a small market with 500 Clicks (Yeah your niche can be very broad but its good to test with a very small set of keywords and find the winners and then test more and more instead of spending 1000$ on 20K Keywords. )

Cost for 500 clicks : - 375 $ (500X .75)
Number of Sales - 10 (2% of 500)
Revenue - 10 * Your Revenue per Sale/conversion.

Now Compare the value of Cost with Revenue and then profit and see where you stand.

Now it might show you will make profit or not and if Yes they will be on below conditions.

1. the CPC has to below 75 Cent
2. The conversion rate has to be 2% .

If any of them is not as mentioned above, You might lose in the first try but it will give you a pretty good indicator what might be wrong and then consulting with a PPC Professional to help optimize further will bring you profitable.

Now let's talk about the questions you asked .


a. Do your math before starting,
b. Group your keywords as much and as tight as you can
c. Create your ads as close as you can with the keyword group (Ad group)
d. Make sure to have a strong call to action.
e. Never bid on Broad terms. If you need help understanding it you can Research on it or have a professional answer your questions over a skype chat , Can be me or anyone else as long as you value their time and pay for it. .

These are the initial things, Rest when you have some data - lets say 2 weeks of clicks data its a good idea to consult an expert and have him go over your account and suggest changes. You should ask him why he is doing what and learn from it. Do your tests and observe. You will mess things up sometime and sometime do a good job. Talk with pro again and seek advice on what you did and the effects. "
This is the way you can learn it, your another way is to hand everything over to a freelancer / company and let them do their job (Often not as effective as you can do yourself with conjunction with an expert).

2. How do I know if I am being ripped off? What are the signs?
if a Keyword is not converting (Showing leads/sales) over a period of time , that is not profitable and for the best of your interest you should pause/delete it. NOn converting kerywords are good sign to tell that you are getting ripped off by yourself. Google won't rip you off, they do a good job , its the person creating the account screws himself.

Of course Google

PS: Small tip to save around 20% of your budget - Bid -90% (minus 90) on mobile device. The clicks from mobile will not make any money for product sales. Disable it

For Reference, I am talking from experience, As well Associated with Google Adwords as Official Partner - that means I have achieved certain performance threshold which is above average and spend a significant amount on it per day Month.