First you will want to determine your costs on the level of the campaign. If your campaign is utilizing both Google’s ad networks as well as its content networks, then you will want to set up a campaign that exclusively targets the search aspect and a duplicate campaign that focuses on the content side. Creating these separate campaigns will allow to you control spending for each one separately, so you can find optimum costs that maximize the utility of each campaign. In your content based campaigns it is also important to use exclusions for both site and category terms that will prevent your click dollars being spent by putting your ads on unrelated websites.

When your campaign has gotten started and you are seeing some results, you will want to analyze the data coming back on your top performing keywords, and adjust their spending so that you can see even more returns on them. In addition to this, you can also add new query match formats for your existing and underperforming keywords to boost their functionality, allowing you to develop a unique bid for every match type that you are using.

Be sure to monitor the quality scores of all of your keywords. Stop using terms that have zero conversions and/or low quality scores, as they are essentially wasting your time and money. Remember, that your keyword’s quality score will affect its cost per click and its estimate in bids for the first page. Quality Score also affects the ranking of your ad and its eligibility to be featured in an ad auction.

When you are working with an insurmountable number of key words, it is simply not possible to manage them by hand, you will require the assistance of software to help manage your spending for each of your selected terms. The following list details a number of management tools that will help you to adjust your campaign spending in the most efficient manner possible:

• Acquisio SEARCH. This is a top of the line, well programmed pay per click bid management tool. It is able to offer suggestions on which keywords should be paused, alerts you by email to keywords that are given low quality scores, and allows you to set programmable cost per click values for your keywords.
• Clickable. This tool is able to offer performance enhancing recommendations for your campaign. It will indicate calculated and reasonable bid increases on high performing keywords, a reduction of bids on your lower performing keywords, or alerting you when keywords have not met their first page estimates.
• DoubleClick DART Search. This tool is able to automatically bid on any of your keywords a maximum of twelve times daily. You can create a bid strategy that is executed based on a variety of factors concerning your keywords.
• Omniture SearchCenter. This tool offers the standard bid management tactics that you find in such software which includes portfolio based or rules based routines. This tool also features day-parting, but this comes standard with almost any modern pay per click engine.
• Podium adCore. This tool can adjust your bids on a wide level and will allow you to remove underperforming words that do not meet specific performance requirements.

Though these tools sound like they will have your campaign running itself, it will still require regular human intervention, if only to collect your earnings. Though these tools will help maximize your profits, they still require solid human generated ideas to be truly effective. If you give your campaign the human touch that it needs and employ the tools above, your campaign will really start gaining steam and really getting your ads out there!

There is more than one way to accomplish the goal of ranking well.  A concise, straight to the point site, can do very well.  TeenModelStar.com is a site with few pages, but seems to be a top ranked site for terms such as teen model.  The lesson here is:  keep it simple, if simple is all that your visitors require.

Use Keywords: Many new advertisers fail because they ignore the basis of all search engine results – keywords. A targeted keyword phrase should be inserted in every one of your headlines, for each advertisement and preferably something that entices the visitor to click on the ad.

Target Your Landing Pages: Instead of creating links that lead back your homepage, set up a landing page that is targeted for specific users. This should provide the visitor with all the information they need and spares them of navigating through your site to find it.

Stay Away from Multiple Campaigns: Using too many campaigns can be your biggest downfall. In fact, there is really no need to take this route unless you are marketing two or more different products, or targeting different regions. By sticking with a single campaign, you can invest more time into making it successful.

# 1 – Present a question - even impulse can be triggered by curiosity. Place a question in your PPC headline and take advantage of that curiosity, by trying to relate on a personal level.

# 2 – Add some humor – everyone likes to laugh. Scripting your ad copy in a manner that draws some positive emotion is more likely to get a response.

# 3 – Go regional - depending on your niche demographics, you could make your ads more appealing, by including the name of a particular city or state. The ad will appear more relevant to the visitor and possibly inspire them to click it.

#4 – Tell a story – instead of using an all-out advertising approach, your PPC campaign could be more effective with a captivating storyline. This creates empathy and often parallels with the visitor’s own experience.

#5 – Call to action – some of the most successful PPC campaigns are those using a call to action. This could be something as simple as “subscribe here” or “download free e-book.”

Optimizing Your Pages

It’s a good rule of thumb to generate consistency over the entire campaign. If a visitor enters the keyword phrase “spare parts” into a search engine and are lead to your site, that term should be displayed in the PPC headline and more importantly, on your landing page. In order to keep the visitor around and complete the conversion, you need to make sure the page is designed in a manner that serves the purpose.

A well designed landing page should contain the following elements:

- Product titles and images that are visible and easily accessible

- A buy or subscribe button that is visible and easily accessible

- A simple design that doesn’t distract or confuse the visitor

- A vivid description of your purpose and what the visitor can achieve, by doing business with you.

SEO myths seem to multiple each year. Some are based on reality while others are just uninformed misconceptions. Here are five of the most common SEO myths:

#1 – Your URL must be submitted - this may have been true once, but search engine submissions currently have no relevance.

#2 – You need Google Sitemap to rank in Google - this tool is not needed when your site is properly designed with relevant keywords and quality links.

#3 – PPC campaigns will increase or lower rankings – some believe that using Google AdWords will boost Google rankings while others believe it will bring them down. The truth is that such campaigns play no factor in any search engine.

#4 – SEO copy must be at least 250 words in length – Not true. Whether it’s a 250 word product description or a 500 word landing page, your site can rank well with the use of relative keywords and phrases.

#5 – Buying links will get you disqualified – there is actually some truth to this myth. Search engines may not count paid links as votes but often can’t determine whether they were paid for or not. You should know that buying links will not necessarily place you atop the rankings.

Pay Per Click advertising has become a viable stream of revenue for several website owners with Google and Overture being two of the biggest players. Where others have succeeded, many more have failed, completely giving up and leaving their PPC accounts sitting inactive.

Here are a few tips to help you avoid some of the most common mistakes.

Don’t Rush Into It

Some fail to understand that there is no exact formula to a Pay Per Click campaign. What worked for the next webmaster, may not be the right move for you. For this reason, you should begin conservatively and learn the ins and outs of this system. If you’re not careful, you could find yourself out of funds before the advertising campaign even takes off the ground.

Keyword Research

Keywords rule the internet as they are how many people find exactly what they’re looking for. During your research, find some relevant terms your niche audience would use and avoid all the hi-tech industry terminology.

Customize Your Landing Page

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is using a homepage as your landing page. In order to achieve a higher rate of conversion, it’s a good idea to create an individual landing page for each keyword or phrase.

Don’t Let Your Visitors Get Away

If the landing page doesn’t draw a conversion, try to grab your visitors as they attempt to exit the site. Entice them with something like a blog or newsletter relative to their interests.

#2 – Only one search engine counts – Contrary to popular belief, Google isn’t the only search engine out there. You should test Yahoo, Miva, Mirago and Webfinder as well.

#3 – PPC impacts natural rankings – Javascript and similar programming languages do not act as anchor text and will not appeal to search engine spiders.

#4 – PPC optimization is a one-time deal – Similar to SEO, a PPC campaign is an ongoing process. This campaign should be continuously developed and evolve right along with your business.

#5 – PPC optimization has no bearing on your site – A PPC campaign isn’t necessarily the answer to all of your marketing troubles. Without a well written landing page, a professional design and keyword-rich content, all of your efforts will come up short anyway.

#6 – Editing deletes your history – History is only lost when individual adverts are edited. However, the previous performance is factored into associated quality scores and the overall account score.

#7 – No one wins at this system – Before you get totally frustrated, be sure to refer to the campaign’s help center whether its with Google, Yahoo, or MSN adCenter. Succeeding is very unlikely if you do not use all available resources.

Google AdWords has been
popular for a while, but it doesn’t always give people the results that
they’re looking for. To get good ads that are well-positioned, a person or a
company has to pay a lot of money. There is money to be made of course,
especially if a lot of people click on your ads and end up making a purchase.

This doesn’t mean that no one outside of that
demographic group will see your ads. If a man goes to a site that has women as
a targeted audience he may find your ad and you could make a sale that way.
The same is true for age, ethnic makeup, religious preference, or any other
criteria that might affect where your ads go and how much money you make
because of them.

2. Keywords, keywords, keywords. Whenever you think of a possible term someone in your market would type in, email it to yourself right away. Then add it to campaign later. Also… use the word to create new words. There are many paid tools… but Google also has a free built-in tool. Use any tools available to you.

Example: You may think, oh yeah… someone that might buy my product would be looking up the xxxxxxx regulation that applies to their industry/hobby. Add that to the keyword list.

3. Ideally every keyword would have it’s own custom ad. But, that is not realistic. You might end up with 20,000+ keywords. Some of which rarely get traffic, making an ad for each is too time consuming. So you will want to break them into categories and have custom ads for each category.

Example: You may decide basic users/buyers of your product will have concerns about ‘ease of use’ — so that would go into the ‘Easy to Use’ campaign. Some die-hard, serious hobbyists may be more interested in the xxxxx power feature — put that into a different campaign that pushes that specific point in the ad.

Keywords can get moved back and forth. Keywords can each have a custom bid attached to them. (some convert better than others and are worth more).

Let things run a while. You need 1000 impressions to make an informed judgement on ‘click through’ …plus a week of time.

You need at least 100 clicks on a keyword to gadge the value of it.

Be patient, but always take some time to go back to the campaigns and look at the numbers. Make small adjustments, don’t over correct. Little changes here and there will slowly develop a low cost, high conversion campaign that you can profit from.