How Virgin Websites Can Generate Immediate Traffic Using PPC

By Andres Munoz
Posted Thursday, October 28, 2004

The following article examines PPC marketing and how to execute this strategy effectively and efficiently.
How Virgin Websites Can Generate Immediate Traffic Using PPC By Andres Munoz

Most if not all-new webmasters are hit with the daunting task of gaining visitors to their websites. With little information at their disposal those new to Internet marketing will sign up with shady companies offering so called safe lists, pop-up exchanges and any other “new” marketing tactic. The truth is, if webmasters literally require immediate web traffic there are two resources readily available at their disposal.

1) Overture.com 2) Google AdWords

Overture.com is the grandfather of Pay Per Click search engines and still reigns supreme due to their powerful relationships with other search engine results. Overture search listings appear on Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista, Lycos and Info Space. Pay Per Click search engines are quite simple to grasp, you basically pay to be ranked. To be listed on Overture.com you need to create an account, deposit an amount of your choosing (there is usually a minimum of $25 a month) and create your listings. The listings consist of titles, descriptions, your web address, keywords, and most importantly, a bid amount. The bid amount is the amount of money that will be deducted from your account every time a visitor clicks on your listing.

The factor determining the bid on a keyword is the amount other webmasters are willing to pay for. In other words if your site is about weight loss and the current bid for “weight loss” is $0.35 you’ll need to bid $0.36 to be on top. The trick in conquering the pay per click war is using specific keyword phrases that are relevant to your site. Use single and 2 word keyword phrases that zero in on your target market will attract buyers. The more specific the phrase, the more likely it is that a click will convert into a sale.

There are 4 general rules to remember when using PPC: Tip 1: Since most pay per click search engine services will limit the number of characters you will need to include as many keywords in you headline and body.

Tip 2: As stated before use 2-3 word keywords. You want to target and bid on specific phrases. The more specific the phrase, the more likely it is that a click will convert into a sale.

Tip 3: Don't get involved in bidding wars with other web masters. It simply doesn't pay and you will quick find yourself exhausting your account. Additionally it doesn’t really matter if your listing winds up number one or three, your title and description will attract the visitor.

Tip 4: Monitor the effectiveness of your CTR (click through rate). This can easily be accomplished by having each of your search terms click to a different URL and examining your web logs.

By far the fastest way to generate traffic is using Google AdWords. You literally receive same day service using this great service from Google and the $5 minimum deposit make this very cheap for any webmaster. Google AdWords are quite simply ads for your site that appears on the right hand side of normal search results, in addition you can test several ads simultaneously. This allows you to maximize your marketing efforts without losing a lot of money. Google AdWords requires webmasters to pay close attention to the appropriate keywords used in search engines and an equal amount of attention to writing an attention getting ad.

After all it’s the ad that will attract the lead and it’s your job to attract that lead to your ad and click into your site.

To successfully use Google AdWords all your efforts will focus on writing an attention getting ad with the focus on the right target audience, highly targeted keywords and selling the benefits and not the features.

Using PPC can be a relatively cheap form of advertising depending on the industry and keywords you wish to choose. There are some keywords that can fetch up to $10! Not too many new webmasters have that type of money to spend on a single click. The biggest pitfall of those attempting to PPC marketing is becoming too broad when choosing the terms you want to bid on. To avoid this PPC killer you’ll need to research the best keywords that are appropriate to your site. An excellent site specializing in tracking keywords and those of your competitors is (http://www.wordtracker.com/)

PPC marketing isn’t difficult when done correctly even for virgin websites. You simply must do your homework choosing the right keywords and incorporating them into your listing.

=========================================== Copyright (c) 2003 Andres Munoz Andres Munoz is the Editor of MyBiz eZine Newsletter where he writes about the skills needed for successful internet marketing and running an on-line business. To subscribe, visit: (http://www.mybusiness-resource.com/) Other articles are available from Andres Munoz in his FREE eBook, "The MyBiz Article Collection" ===========================================

About the Author
Andres Munoz is the owner of Mybusiness-resource.com. Dedicated in helping the home-based entrepreneur in developing a serious web presence, mail order business, home-based business and creating a permanent presence through effective marketing.