Quite a while back we talked about how to launch a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign and which PPC companies were available for you to choose from. While Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft are the most popular, there are several others for you to choose from. Today I’m going to suggest a few others for you to consider.

WidgetBucks

WidgetBucks is a quickly growing new network that allows you to cycle advertisements through your website. The ads are usually all graphic-based and are very bright so you may not want to use this system if you have a low-key blog or website or are worried about the way advertisements will appear in contrast to the rest of your page.

ClickThruTraffic

I’ve heard that ClickThruTraffic isn’t the best option available but it’s still just that – an option. They supposedly pay anywhere from 6 to 20 cents everytime someone clicks on an advertisement on your site.

AdToll

AdToll is actually a very interesting new system. You get paid on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis but the advertisements aren’t forced into your sidebar. You can use a “peel away” advertisement to place the ad in the top corner of your page. When a user hovers over the peel away tab the ad will show and you’re more likely to get clicks from interested web browsers.

Clicksor

Clicksor is very similar to Google Adsense and allows you to use both their suggested keywords and those you have chosen on your own. You can include an unlimited number of domains under one account and you’re paid by check or PayPal when your account reaches $50 – a huge improvement over Google’s $100, check-only minimum.

ExitJunction

ExitJunction works off of an interesting concept as well. Visitors aren’t shown advertisements when they land on your website. They are instead shown an advertisement after clicking the “back” button to go back to their search engine pages. The advertisements they see are always related to the advertisements that brought them to your page to start with and you are paid per impression, not per click.

It’s up to you to experiment and determine which PPC system is most profitable for you. If you have a network of sites you may want to try several different options and compare the results. Good luck!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant - Internet Marketing Consultant - Sales Expert

Pay per click advertising is one of the most popular ways to reach your market on the web, but if done improperly you could end up wasting your time and (more importantly) your money with little result. Before you launch your first pay per click campaign take the following tips into consideration:

Choose Targeted Keywords

Choose keywords that are as specific to your product or service as possible. The more specific you are, the more likely the person clicking through to your website (and causing you to pay for that click) will be interested in what you have to offer. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. If you were looking for a product similar to yours what keywords would you be using to conduct your search?

Utilize Keyword Tools

Most pay per click companies have a free keyword search tool that will help you to find out keywords similar to those you are considering. They may be just as popular or a little less but will offer you some viable alternatives. Not everyone uses the same words to search for products, so variety is important.

Make a Budget and Stick to It

This is perhaps the most important aspect to a successful pay per click campaign and it has two main parts. First, don’t bid more per click than your keyword is actually worth. If your keyword is too competitive you’ll end up spending more money than you had budgeted and severely limit the impact of your campaign. Second, those who are competitive should avoid getting into nasty bidding wars with the competition. It’s just not worth the price you’ll end up paying just to show someone else up. Choose a maximum bid price and stick to it.

Write Product Specific Advertisements

Individuals searching the web are searching for products. They are not searching for specific stores or people. Make sure your advertisement focuses on a product or service and then directs a client to your website. If you sell widgets, write an add that advertises your “discount widgets.” Don’t write an ad that talks about “Bob’s Discount Shop.”

Take Advantage of Typographical Errors

People conducting web searches often misspell the words they mean to enter, but they still get search engine results. Find out what words are commonly used when searching for your product and then find out if that word is commonly misspelled. If so, include the misspelled word on your list of targeted keywords. I guarantee you’ll attract some new traffic by doing so.

Pay per clidk advertising can be both fun and challenging. Make sure you take the time to research your market before launching your campaign. Doing so will help you to avoid wasting your hard earned cash!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant - Internet Marketing Consultant - Sales Expert

What is Pay Per Click Marketing?

Pay per click marketing, commonly referred to as PPC, is an online marketing method used by webmasters who want to drive traffic back to their websites without relying solely on SEO and other marketing strategies. In short, you will place an ad within an advertising network but you will only pay for the ad if a web user clicks on it in order to be referred directly to your website.

Most ads appear on search engine result pages or on other websites. Search engine result pages are the ones that appear after a website user has input a keyword or phrase into the search box. When a list of websites appears, you will usually see a highlighted box of links at the top of the page and a list of sponsored ads or links down the side of the page. These ads and links are highlighted and segregated because website users have paid to have them appear.

The concept of pay per click marketing is relatively simple but the actual placement of ads can be a little more complex. In order to get started, you need to have a list of keyword phrases that you will use in your campaign. The better or more popular your keyword, the more you are going to have to pay each time a web user clicks on your link.

For example, let’s assume that I am marketing a website that relates to time management. Time management is an incredibly popular keyword. I will have to tell the advertising network what the maximum amount is that I am willing to pay if someone clicks on the ad I place using that term. When the list of advertisements comes up on someone’s search, my placement on that list will be determined by the amount I am willing to pay for a click. The more I am willing to pay, the higher up my ad will appear on the results page.

It’s sometimes difficult to determine what keywords are most popular for any given niche. There are dozens of keyword tracking tools available online to help you find just the right words or phrases to use within your pay per click campaign. Most can be found by doing a simple Google search. I would venture to guess that if you search for “keyword tracking tools” you’ll notice a few pay per click ads for various programs on the page.

The key to any successful campaign is carefully tracking each keyword to determine whether or not it is effective. If the advertisement is bringing clicks to your site, but those clicks aren’t resulting in sales or some other form of action, you may need to consider changing your campaign strategy to something that will draw in a better or different crowd of visitors.

Pay per click may seem overwhelming at first, but it is very easy to use once you’re used to the system. If you want to drive high levels of targeted traffic to your website quickly, pay per click campaigns are the way to go.

Happy Marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant - Internet Marketing Consultant - Sales Expert

Pay Per Click Accounts – What is Available?

Believe it or not, while one or two may have a monopoly on the market, there are actually several different pay per click companies available on the Internet. While some are more popular than others, or boast different features, each are effective in their own way.

If you are just starting out with pay per click marketing, I highly recommend setting up small accounts with a handful of different pay per click providers in order to test them and determine which ones are going to bring the best results. I personally started out with Google AdWords, Microsoft adCenter, and Yahoo! Search Marketing.

Google Adwords is by far the most popular pay per click provider on the web today. Google’s search engine is widely used by web surfers around the world, which means your ads are likely to be seen by millions of people. Google can help you to set up an ad campaign using either text or banner advertisements, though I don’t recommend the use of banner ads on a regular basis as they haven’t proven to be as successful as text. Your ads could possibly be distributed around the world, as well as on Google’s partner networks, including AOL and Netscape. Your ads will appear on Google search results as well as on web pages that have opted to show Google advertisements.

Microsoft adCenter is a division of MSN and is also considered to be amongst the three largest ad networks. In my opinion, the larger the ad network, the better the chances of your ad being seen because the network is likely to have better technology and exposure. Advertisements placed on this network are shown to users who search the web with MSN Search. Microsoft adCenter uses technology that limits your advertisement to a particular set of demographics, making it easier for them to control your costs and visibility.

Yahoo! Search Marketing is the last of the top three pay per click providers and I’ve had great success with them as well. Yahoo! purchased Overture Services, one of the very first search services that allowed advertisers to pay for placement, back in 2003. Overture was originally used by search engines like MSN and Yahoo to monetise their search results. Each later created their own pay per click services, phasing out the need for Overture itself.

There are plenty of other pay per click providers on the Internet. I encourage you to take a little bit of time to research some of the smaller networks as they may suit your needs as well. I can’t tell you which to use, but I can tell you that pay per click advertising is something you should seriously consider as you set up your marketing campaign. You won’t be disappointed.

Happy Marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant - Internet Marketing Consultant - Sales Expert