Business Information

In times past there was no trouble getting an upper position in those highly searched, general keywords like ‘china’, ‘business’, ‘running’ and ‘headache’ for a nickel a click. When you did a search on Google for one of those terms, you would get only 1 or 2 results, indicating to you that you could bid a minimum price for your clicks.

But as an advertiser you had a difficult time getting these general terms to convert, particularly before the advent of phrase- and exact-matching were in use. When someone entered a keyword there could be any one of a number of different specific things on his mind that he was looking for. The chances that he would click on your ad was slim and there was an even a slimmer chance of his buying your product.

Since that time, there have been changes in the ways to manage PPC. No longer is there a minimum CTR, so keeping your clicks up is a non-issue. Also advertisers have gotten more savvy in the past year or two and are able to make these general terms become opportunities to market lucrative information.

So now it is worth the trouble to bid on general, non-specific, big-traffic keywords. But what is the secret to making them work?

Here are the secrets:

Change your ads until you find a winner. Make copy changes and run trials, then more trials. This can be a lengthy process with plenty of failures but the victories will come if you will be willing to try and try again until you get a winner.

Use negative keyword to your advantage.

With your ads you want those who you don’t want clicking to be disqualified. When you offer “Golf Instructions: Free” you will get unsuitable folks clicking. However if you offer “Golf Video $49″ those who are serious and likely to buy will be the ones clicking.

Market information, not just products. Send people to a landing page that collects opt-ins, and offer a free guide, a tutorial, or an e-mail course of some kind, which will establish you as an information source, create longer-term customers, and grow your visitor value to where even the most generic clicks are worth getting.

Managing PPCs - The New Rules

Literally every keyword in your list is a market of its own.

Each keyword stands for the state of mind the person had when typing it.

Behind everything explicit that your customers type in when they’re searching, there’s some want, need, question, or assumption, they have (but may be completely unaware of).

Keyword markets vary, some are larger and some are smaller.

Some keyword markets are more competitive than others.

Not everyone will have the same profits from the same keywords.

There are always keywords that are overloaded with competition, where bid prices are jacked up far beyond their real market value.

In contrast some keywords are left out even though using them would bring you to a stronger market with better responses, and they can be found using a reliable keyword tool.

When you mirror the language playing in your customers head, that is when he is going to buy from you.

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