Using Google Site Placement in Your PPC Efforts

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

If you are like me, the best advice you have been given on PPC is to stay away from the Content network; focus only on Search Did you know that by following that advice, we are missing out on the larger portion of Google traffic?
Yeah, I didn’t either. Curse those gurus!

It turns out there are ways to make the Content network actually work for you. Using Google Analytics is one way I will discuss in this article I will also give you another tip at the end of this piece. google

When posting ads on the Content network, which consists of probably millions of sites, you need to select the specific sites where your ad will be relevant Otherwise, any traffic you get will have a lower chance of converting into a sale.

Using the Google Placement Tool can help you get your campaign ultra-targeted; showing only on sites you select.

The first place to look is within your Google Analytics account (you dohave that set up, don’t you?). See who is already linking to your site, and where your visitors are coming from That is the first place to begin building your list of sites to run your ads on

You need to have a placement targeted campaign set up in Adwords taht you can plug these in to. You can enter them manually, or put them into a csv file and import the whole lot

This is about a five minute exercise, if you have your campaign set up and are already using Google Analytics. Give it a go!

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For an even better tip on using Site Placement, you need to check out Adwords Digger. This is a tool that searches Google based on keywords you select, and gives you a list of sites that come up for those keywords. These sites are easily exported and transferred into your Adwords campaign for even more super-targeted site placement fun!

Did I mention that Adwords Digger is totally FREE?

Don’t make these PPC mistakes!

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

I have recently been really digging into PPC because I know it can work. To be honest, I’ve been a little frustrated with SEO. It seems like it’s getting harder all the time.

PPC has its challenges as well, don’t get me wrong, but I think it’s about the fastest way to get direct, targeted traffic to your site, as long as you know what you’re doing.

So please, please, I beg of you… don’t make these PPC mistakes!

Mistake 1. Home Page = Landing Page. Big mistake, and very common. The fact is, you simply cannot tailor your home page for enough keywords to allow you to get a high quality score for your entire campaign. Simply not possible. You need to have a separate landing page for each keyword, ideally, or at least for each closely-related group of keywords.

Mistake 2. Landing page is too confusing. You’ve probably gone to these. You’re searching for something, and there are a dozen sites that look like they will have information you are looking for. Starting at the top, you work your way down the list. Even the best sites only get 5-10 seconds of your attention, so imagine what a crappy, busy site will get? Only as much time as it takes your visitor to find and click the “Back” button.

You need to include good information about the product, but above all it must be clearly presented. If they can’t find the information they are looking for, and do it quickly, they will be gone.

Mistake 3. Landing page too “heavy.” If your page takes too long to load, because of scripts or graphics or whatever, your potential customer is gone. People aren’t going to wait around to see what you have to say unless they have some super-compelling reason.

Sure, you can have some images, but make them good ones, and be sure they are adding value, not just taking up space. You’re not printing this in a high-gloss magazine, either, so you don’t need a super-high resolution photo. Go with lower res. Your page will load faster and your customer will stick around a little longer.

Mistake 4. Frightening your customer.

People who visit your site do not know, neither do they trust, you. You need to build that trust before you start doing junk like asking them for a lot of personal info. You can usually get away with a first name and an email addy, if you have something free to provide in return, but asking for more than that (like phone number or home address) without a dang good reason is asking for trouble.

Mistake 5. The Hard Sell. Fact: people don’t want to be sold to. It’s as simple as that. No one visits a website so someone can sell them something.

But you’re in it to make money, right? So what do you do?

Well, you need to build the persons trust, show them you understand whatever problem it is they are trying to solve, and that you have the solution to their problem.

That’s it.

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If you want to learn more about how to run a great PPC campaign, you need to check out PPC Kahuna. You’ll get all the info, help and resources you need to start making money… start to finish. Do it today.