PPC Implementation Strategies

The degree to which a PPC campaign is implemented will be dependent on several factors which may or may not be economically or technically feasible for your company. Certain aspects of the campaign management will be performed based on the level of experience and the tools which the campaign manager has at their disposal. However, in many cases, especially for companies who only have a basic web site and a minimal budget for internet marketing, even the best campaign manager will be limited in what they can do, especially when it comes to producing tangible results in the short run.

Successful search engine marketing is focused on one very important factor; Return on Investment (ROI) and the primary tool used to calculate ROI is called conversion tracking. A conversion takes place when a visitor to your website is able to take some meaningful action which can be measured and monetized.

If you have no meaningful actions visitors can take that can be tied back to a specific keyword, then you need to construct your campaign and adjust your expectations accordingly. For example, if the action you are looking for from your PPC campaign is to have a prospect call you on the phone, it will take a lot longer to know if your campaign is producing the results you are hoping for.

John Wanamaker's famous 1886 quote sums it up very well:

"I know that 50% of my advertising is wasted...
...I just don't know which half!"

A good campaign manager will begin with a thorough analysis of your web site to determine what, if any visitor actions can be monitored to begin the process of establishing ROI based advertising. In many cases, some important actions already exist, even if it is only the action of visiting a specific page on the site. Other actions may be able to be added without much difficulty or expense such as creating a printable coupon. The ultimate action is to have a visitor actually buy something on your site! However, that implies that your site is capable of e-commerce, which most small businesses that are not web-based, simply are not set up to do.

Here are some ideas for actions that can be tracked and used to help establish ROI:

These are all actions which indicate that you have connected with the visitor and you are beginning a relationship, and these actions can be traced back to specific keywords and ads. Now you have empirical data to know what's working!

Once you and your campaign manager have decided what your site is capable of, web analytics should to be installed. Web analytics allows the tracking of visitor movements and actions while on your site. In addition, they tell you lots of other useful information that can help fine tune your campaign for greater efficiency and improved ROI.

If you are still early in the process and you are not prepared to make investments in creating new content,  modifying your website or installing web analytics, there is still hope of having a successful campaign. However, the campaign should be conservative and highly targeted.

If you are just beginning a PPC campaign, always start on Google, unless there are strong reasons to the contrary. It may be more difficult to grasp, but you have a lot more tools that will help you create and fine-tune a good campaign. The Yahoo Search Marketing system used to be very simply, the one who bids the most is ranked the highest! However, this has changed. See my article on Google versus Yahoo for information.