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PPC Management Services Questions

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When hiring a consultant that offers PPC Management Services there are important questions to ask:

  • Will you run various ad groups?
  • How many keywords do you use per group?
  • Is it more important to target the right person or to write a great ad?

Below you will find the answers to these questions as well as the BIGGEST mistake you can make that will waste your money.

Explanation and key points for PPC

Answer to #1– The number of ad groups you should run depends on several factors but it is important that it is more than one.  Some people will get lazy and run one ad group with 50 keywords in it and that is a mistake.   Each ad group should be highly targeted and the ad should be written based on the keyword and the mindset of the potential lead for that particular keyword. 

For example…if someone types in “PPC management” they may be looking for a company to run their campaigns but they may also be someone looking for information on how to properly manage your campaigns. 

If someone types in “PPC managment services” they are more likely to be searching for a consultant or company to run their campaign for them.

So an ad in the first example where someone may be just searching for more information I may write an ad that talks about my Pay Per Click course that will help them understand the secrets to successful pay-per-click advertising and mention my consulting services.

In the second example they are very likely looking for a company to manage their campaign for them.  Here I am going to focus my ad on why they should choose us to manage their PPC and list the benefits to doing so. 

Running different ad groups allows you to target your specific ad for a very specific person.

Answer to #2– Their is no exact number but once again make sure it is not a large number like 50.  Launching a campaign with large numbers of keywords per ad group may get you a ton of clicks but they will be more expensive.

Answer to #3– Targeting the right person with a bad advertisement is better than targeting the wrong person with a great ad.  Ideally you want both a good ad and good targeting but the targeting is more imporant.  You can’t sell steak to a vegetarian no matter how good your ad is written.

The big mistake that will cost you money…

Writing ads to entice people to click on your ad.  You want as many people as possible to click on your ad and drive your click through rates up and your click cost down but it should be the right people.  Your goal should be to have only highly interested people clicking on your ad. 

An example would be to put the word FREE in your ad.  Everyone clicks just to see what it is that is free.  They may have no intention of buying. 

The opposite of the enticing ad is to put an ad up that states something that may drive away people that are not buyers.  You want buyers not clickers.

The fastest way for getting exposure and online leads when marketing a small business is pay-per-click.  

Have a quick question about PPC?  Ask it or type it in the comments section below or just let us know if this article provide you insight.

Should You Have a Website

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In the coffee shop…

John– “I noticed your landscaping shirt.  Is that your company?”

Larry the Landscaper– “Yes it is.  Do you need some work done?”

John– “Yes I do but don’t have time to talk right now.  Why don’t you give me your card and I will look at your website after I get off work today.”

Larry the Landscaper– “Here is my card but we don’t have a website.”

John– “How do I [Read more…]

Is Your Website For Show Or Dough?

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There is a multi-million dollar a year company with 14 restaurants in 7 different cities that just had a website built for over $7,000.  The restaurant owner met with me to discuss some marketing because he knew I was into that, “online marketing stuff.”

The first question I asked was, “Now that you have this fancy flashy website, how are you going to get traffic to it?”

He responded even before words came out of his mouth with a somewhat confused look, then he said, “Traffic?”

This is a smart man with a multi-million dollar operation and an expensive, fancy website…but he doesn’t know what website traffic even means.  Before we continue let me offer you a brief explanation of traffic if you don’t know either.  If you’re chuckling because you do know…just hang on.  I may have something for you.

Website traffic is the people that find their way to your website.  Just like foot traffic walking up to your store and inside your store…except this is online.  Potential customers find their way to your website through word of mouth, social media, PPC, SEO, and links primarily.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand the meaning of all of those terms or even how to do it.  That’s not the point.  The point is,

“If you don’t have a plan to get traffic, you don’t need a website.”

If you were the person laughing because someone else didn’t know what it was, I hope you are getting traffic to your site because if you’re not then it does not matter if you know what it means.

Unfortunately many business owners spend thousands having a website created but spend next to zero on getting traffic.  That’s like building a beautiful store out in the middle of the desert and not having any roads to it.

According to Alexa.com as of today, Craigslist is the 6th most visited site in America.  Have you seen it?  As simple as it gets.  Maybe for your industry your site needs to be a touch prettier but remember,

“Better to have a simple website with loads of traffic (potential customers) than an expensive, flashy website, with next to no traffic.

Flashy Web Graphics or Simple Marketing Design

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Is your website designed by a flashy web graphics person or a marketer?

Are there a lot of moving parts flying all over the screen?  Maybe some hoppin’ music?

Which is better for business?
It depends what your website is for. Is it for increasing your profits or to get oooohhhs and aaahhhhs like on Wheel of Fortune?

Let’s assume for this article that the purpose of your website is to increase profits.  There are technical considerations then there are human considerations.

Technical– Most marketers agree that Search Engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) have difficulty reading Flash intros.  In other words, they may not know your site exists or what it is about.  Search engines send out these robot spiders that crawl the internet and when they get to your Flash intro and can’t read it, they leave.  If not for the Flash intro the spider crawls your website and reads it to determine who to send to your site based on the keywords they typed into the Search bar.

Human-One of your friends or even you might look at your newly designed fancy website with moving parts and media and say wow!  That’s cool!  You got your moneys worth…but the person searching the internet for information is looking for information.  Not flashy moving parts.  You have 3 seconds or less to get their attention and if things are still zinging around the screen before they can click on the next button…guess what they are going to click on?  That’s right. the “X” at the top right of the screen to get out of your website and to the next one.

Don’t get me wrong here.  Video is my favorite addition to a website and video marketing may be the most powerful.  However, too many moving parts that automatically start when first getting to your webpage is distracting and annoying to your viewers. 

Let’s go over some examples.

  1. While designing a website for marketing purposes for a restaurant I was showing examples to the owner.  We found a site that looked like the owner got his/her moneys worth.  When we first clicked on the page the owner comes in from the side of the screen and introduces himself.  He talks about the product and he obviously has a passion for it.(I like this because it’s personal.)While the guy is talking there is a rolling slide show off to the right.  Music is playing the whole time.  His website is designed technically right and it is recognized by the search engines.  However, for the viewer it’s distracting.  I didn’t know what to pay attention to-the owner talking, the slide show, or the music.  If there was a unique selling proposition in his message, I missed it because I was too busy watching the slide show and trying to turn down the music. 
  2. I reviewed a photographer’s website and found that it was also, “cool dude.”  It started with a Flash Intro slide show of some of his work.  It makes sense that as a photographer the focus should be on his photographs…but the slide show took up the entire first page.  It was difficult to find information. 

I could review numerous examples so let’s just get to the main points:

  • Simple is good 
  • Flash intros should be re-evaluated
  • Media is a good add-on to a website for human viewing but search engines read text
  • Give your viewer what they want-Information
  • When hiring someone to create a website ask them about their marketing skills.  If they don’t have any, hire someone that does or hire an online marketing consultant to work with the web designer because those are Two Different Things.  If you can hire both that’s great but if money is an issue and you have to choose between a web graphic flashy person or a marketer, choose the marketer.  Your profits will reflect that decision.

Inbound Marketing Versus Outbound Marketing

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People love to be sold but hate to buy.

Oops.  I got that backwards.

People love to buy and hate to be sold.
It’s important not to get those backwards.

Remember the time you were watching Monday night football and your wife asked you if you wanted to go out to dinner with the neighbors next Monday and you said, “yeah sure.”

Then next Monday rolls around and you are getting ready for the biggest game of the year and your wife asks, “Why aren’t you getting ready for dinner?”

Your thinking…go out to dinner!  This is the biggest game of the year.

You weren’t listening when she asked you about dinner because you were so  into the game and she interrupted your activity and thought process. 

This is similar to interruptive outbound marketing.  You’ve interrupted someone’s thought process or activity with your advertisement. 

What if she had said, “Next week why don’t we fly to Green Bay
and watch the Monday night game in person?”

Then you would pay complete attention.  Her communication relates to what you are already doing.  However, as much as you would love to go, you have to work that morning and won’t be able to get to the game in time.  You only have time to go home and watch it on television.

This is similar to target marketing but still interruptive.

Now what if you wanted to go to the Monday night game so you mentioned it to your wife and she pulls two tickets out of her pocket and says, “Let’s go to the game.”

That is similar to inbound marketing.

The difference.

Inbound– Make it easy to “get found” by customers wanting to buy what you have.  Put yourself in front of customers that are actively looking for your product or service.

Outbound– Push your advertisements and let them compete with 2,000 other ads that humans are exposed to daily. Humans that have made it clear they don’t want to be interrupted and they use TIVO, Satellite Radio, Do-Not-Call Lists, Do-Not-Mail Lists, SPAM filters, etc.

More examples:

Someone is reading the zip code magazine about cooking for the holidays and there is your ad off to the side with your puppy store.

Someone is reading the community magazine about the dog park and there is an ad for your puppy store.  The only problem is this person is allergic to dogs and can’t have one.

Someone goes to the internet and types in, “dogs that don’t irritate human allergies”.  This person finds a blog post you wrote about short haired dogs that don’t irritate allergies.  You just happen to sell these dogs at your store.

Considering that inbound methods also lead to a higher form of database and permission marketing(maybe the best of all)…

What would you rather do?