“You never truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother.”
Albert Einstein
In the cut throat world of pay-per-click advertising, your ultimate goal is a page one presence. In fact, in most cases anything less than a page one position will place you at an unprofitable disadvantage. Think about it in your own experience. Unless you’re feeling especially determined, how often do you glance beyond the first page of any web search?
But don’t become obsessed with coveting the number one position. Second third, fourth position is fine. (Some even claim that slightly lower ratings are better than number one!). What matters is that you feature on that first page.
Of course, if you’re happy to pay silly £££s per click it’s perfectly possible to buy your way pretty much instantly to the first page of any search, but unless your product is remarkably profitable and / or sells like the proverbial hot cakes, this is unlikely to work and, as many have discovered, can turn into a costly or even ruinous exercise.
That said, if you’re selling papaya seeds, for example, (or any other relatively obscure product), then you aren’t going to have much trouble buying your way profitably onto page one. Because the bid price will be manageably low. At the time of writing, there are just 4 sponsored ads for keyword ‘papaya seeds’! Getting a front page position would be immediately achievable and relatively inexpensive:
But what if you do a keyword search for, say, ‘Mp3 players’…
You’ve guessed it. The sponsored links go on forever. I gave up checking when I reached page 91!
How do you get a front page position on keyword search ‘Mp3 players’? Well, you probably wouldn’t even try. Based on relevance alone, the major players are going to win every time. So if you happen to be selling Mp3 players, or any other popular product, you’ll need to be much more creative. Here’s how:
If you’re selling Mp3 players, don’t bid on the generic term ‘mp3 player’. Firstly, it’ll cost you a small fortune, and secondly, the traffic you’ll get to your site won’t necessarily be relevant. So the worst case scenario is that you’ll be paying too much money for irrelevant traffic that is highly unlikely to buy from you.
Instead, define your product and bid on the niche keywords in that space. For example, use the model number: if your Mp3 player is a Samsung GX400, add this as a keyword. Narrow the search still further: Samsung GX400 black; Samsung GX400 black 8mb…
You get the idea. Each time you narrow the search you’ll be minimising irrelevant traffic and greatly enhancing the likelihood of a conversion.
And remember: the ad for a specific product MUST lead to the precise product page on your website. If someone clicks on an ad for a Samsung GX400 black 8mb, that’s EXACTLY where it should lead them, and NOT to your homepage, where they’re left having to further navigate their way to their chosen product. Because in most case they won’t bother!
Combine your keywords to send a specific message to a specific market. Place yourself for a moment in the shoes of the buyer. Consider the typical problems they face that might trigger a keyword search. Keep it relevant and ALWAYS tightly focused.
Remember, you’re not sending a single message to a mass market; you’re creating numerous messages for hundreds of micro markets. For example, if you’re selling seed, you’ll want to bid on pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, grass seed, wild flower seed, courgette seedlings, etc, etc. You can then narrow your message still further: traditional striped courgettes; striped courgette seedlings, etc, etc.
Google features a keyword suggestion tool, and for purposes of diversity look up Yahoo’s free ‘Inventory Overture Keyword Tool’ (better in my opinion) as well as the excellent ‘Word Tracker’. You’ll never be short of inspiration.
More on this subject soon.
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