FireStarter: More to life than Google with PPC?

More to life than Google with PPC?

We're often asked if its worth running pay per click campaigns on Yahoo and MSN. Our stock response has been: "Get it right on Google first". Why?

Focus

Well its a matter of focus. Running a PPC campaign means getting a real understanding of how the tools work so you can effectively measure return on spend. Remember the success of PPC is best-measured if you can follow the clicks right through to a conversion or action point (point of sale or completion of an enquiry form). Google's tools, so far, are the best. The combination of Adwords and Google Analytics, means that you can follow a customer from the first paid click in the Google search screen right throught to an online transaction and look at the results for each step.

What are the important measurement criteria?

As far as the important factors in any PPC management these are the "top players";

What is the CTR (Click Thru Rate from the advert to your landing page)?
What is the bounce rate on the landing page (i.e. how many people leave at the landing page without going further)?
What is the conversion rate?

Conversion rates

The conversion rate is an essential measure of you success. At first glance the cheaper the keyword the better, right? But:

If you are paying $3.00 per click on keyword group "X" and getting a conversion rate of 20%, then each online sale/lead is costing $15.
If you are paying $1.00 per click on keyword group "Y" and getting a conversion rate of 5% then each online sale/lead is costing $20

Google campaigns are easy to set up to provide this kind of information. You can get the same information out of MSN and Yahoo but it will require more thought, effort, and software. And it has to be worth it, which leads to the next question...

Market share

The second reason we always suggest your main focus should be on Google is that you should pick the low hanging fruit first. Google has the biggest market share - so it make sense to focus on Google first. This makes sense at the oft-quote market share for Australia of 65%. But recent data point indiciates that the market share is even more. The combined market value of google.com and google.com.au is estimated by some sources to be as high as 89%

With NineMSN and Yahoo having approximately 4% of the market each; it makes Google only campaigns a no-brainer.

The danger ahead

The other issue raised by the combined market share, is that it is inevitable that the CPC$ at Google will increase over the coming months/years. Any company serious about keeping a check on their online search budget, should start investing now in strategies to increase their organic rankings. As the cost of PPC increases (up 14% already over the last 18 months) organic search engine methods become far more attractive. But organic rankings take time and effort to build, so if you are in it for the long haul, you need to start now.

What now?

If you want qualified leads delivered to your business within the week, that are relevant, pre-qualified and ready to buy call on 1300 13 89 31 to arrange your keyword research and AdWords campaign set up .

Write a comment

Required fields are marked with *.

Firestarter