Despite being online using email since 1995, at the start of the summer of 2004 I had no idea what pay per click was.
During that summer, I had taken some time off work and was researching online opportunities. This led me to Ebay, various get rich quick type scams, and then an email referral to marketing using pay per click.
What was pay per click, I remember asking.
Days of research later, I learned that pay per click (also called ppc) was a type of search marketing where advertisers pay a set amount every time their ad was clicked by a prospect. This is known as a click thru, click through rate or ctr.
The opportunity to place your ad directly in front of a prospect at the exact moment they are searching for your product or service is tremendous.
Performance based advertising is not only cost efficient and effective, but it is track-able and user-friendly. The advertiser, you, in this scenario has control over the keywords that best represent your product.
The PPC model allows you to decide how much you are willing to pay per customer. Unlike banner ads that demand payment on a cost per thousand basis, the only viewers you pay for are those that are actively seeking your product or service.
In a Google search, I learned the small sponsored ads on the right hand side of the page were a type of pay per click called Google Adwords.
I discovered that the pay per click world was huge, with millions of clicks delivered by hundreds of search engines such as Overture, Find What, ePilot, Enhance and GoClick.
The great benefit is the cost-effective, highly targeted website traffic that this type of search generates.
However, the massive popularity and growth of pay per click had also made it very expensive.
For example, Google Adwords allowed me to set up campaigns and see them live within 15 minutes. This was very, very exciting and very addicting.
Within days of learning about pay per click, I was generating 1,000 clicks per day to my various campaigns. I thought I was seeing success in pay per click.
In the early days of ppc, that may have been true because your bids on popular keywords were just pennies a click.
By the time I was hitting it, popular keywords were around $1 dollar per click and I was actually losing hundreds of dollars per day.
Worse yet, my keywords were being disabled and my ads were getting disapproved.
Then I started watching for sales. I kept watching, and watching, and watching and by the end of that first week, my 6,800 adwords clicks had produced only 3 SALES for $55.
I was crushed. My brand new online business had already lost $500. This is when I realized just how steep the learning curve was.
I signed up for free-5 part email courses on Adwords and pay per click. I learned about converting traffic into sales, avoiding the curse of disabled ads, return on investment, finding niche keywords and lowering my cost per click.
The bottom line is pay per click campaigns can bring large numbers of highly targeted visitors to your website. The industry is growing rapidly, it is hugely competitive and campaigns can become prohibitively expensive.
Success of any pay per click campaign comes down to paying pay a reasonable price for each visitor, that each visitor is highly targeted, and that you continuously monitor and track your positions.
Copyright 2005
===============================================================
Adwords-Hints.com/pay-per-click shows you how to maximize profits from pay per click advertising. This website portal features hundreds of pages of tips, resources and reviews.
Find tools for keyword analyzing, lowering costs and increasing click throughs. http://tinyurl.com/5nb46
==============================================================
Drew Harris is a West Coast Canadian journalist, broadcaster and newspaper publisher. After writing more than 500 articles on area businesses over the last 10 years, he has turned his full-time attention to Internet marketing.






Google is probably one of the single most important revolutions... Read More
At first glance, Pay Per Click advertising seems to be... Read More
Setting up a pay-per-click campaign is simple, right? Practically all... Read More
I often get asked what the secret is to making... Read More
Has anyone else noticed a disturbing pattern in your pay-per-click... Read More
The darkest nightmare a hardworking affiliate webmaster fears is receiving... Read More
When running ads on the AdWords network, one of the... Read More
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is when an advertiser pays for each... Read More
Here's a simple way to use "No Results, No Pay"... Read More
Joel Comm is the best-selling author of a book called... Read More
Over the years I have had many accounts with Adwords,... Read More
When we launch a new product, we all hope it's... Read More
If you haven't yet got a Google AdSense account for... Read More
My first real foray into Internet Marketing was a Pay... Read More
Google Adwords is a great tool! Careful use can lead... Read More
Despite what you may hear, the Google AdSense program is... Read More
Looking back in time, I could still remember standing in... Read More
Pst! Wanna know some Adsense secrets? The only secret is... Read More
We constantly receive phone calls from clients, prospective clients and... Read More
So You Want Big Profits From Your AdWords PPC Advertising?... Read More
What are Website Conversion Strategies?Website conversion strategies are marketing and... Read More
During conversations with web business professionals about pay-per-click search engines,... Read More
Why should you pay to get web site traffic, isn't... Read More
No doubt you've heard the phrase "pay per click" before.... Read More
As anyone who uses Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising in... Read More
We constantly receive phone calls from clients, prospective clients and... Read More
Internet technology offers vast opportunities to promote your business with... Read More
Choosing to bid on the right keywords can be key... Read More
Google AdSense is easy to install on a web page... Read More
Once you venture into the world of Pay Per Click... Read More
"Pay-per-click," by far the most popular form of online advertising,... Read More
Google's AdSense program is one of the best, if not... Read More
PPC advertising has many great benefits. First of all, you... Read More
First impressions affect your relationship with someone for life. In... Read More
As you probably already know, AdSense is revolutionizing the way... Read More
The truth about Google's Adsense program is that it is... Read More
Google AdSense allows webmasters to dynamically serve... Read More
Over the years I have had many accounts with Adwords,... Read More
It is really frustrating, is it not, to log into... Read More
Adwords PPC Management Tip No. 1Setting up an accountIf you... Read More
Pay per click or search engine optimization, which one should... Read More
Running a pay per click campaign can be a valuable,... Read More
As you probably know, Google Adwords is a pay-per-click solution... Read More
As the dust settles and the excitement caused by Google's... Read More
Here's a simple way to use "No Results, No Pay"... Read More
For those of you who haven't used a Pay Per... Read More
Webmasters have a revolutionary new method of collecting income from... Read More
If you have visited any of the affiliate-related websites or... Read More
Although I was marketing online since 1997 and was making... Read More
Imagine if you could advertise ONLY to people who have... Read More
Pay-Per-Click Advertising Pay-Per-Click Advertising |