subject: Google Pay-Per-Click DEFCON Alpha! by:Meg F [print this page] If you have run, are running or are thinking about running a Google Adwords pay-per-click (PPC) campaign (or any PPC campaign for that matter), pay close attention! This could save you a lot of money!
I'd take the time to introduce myself but there's no time. We're in DEFCON Alpha and a lot of you out there are being affected!
As more and more "traditional media" based companies are getting into the PPC marketing space, I feel the utter frustration from business owners' first-hand. I'm frustrated as well! There are just too many companies out there wasting your money! And I feel obligated to challenge the PPC wannabes and rid the marketing world of those that are just out to collect your money.
Look, don't get me wrong. We're all out to make money and I don't blame the large companies losing market share to online marketing to try to compete in this space. What I do take issue with is that they are bastardizing what could be one of the most effective and efficient forms of direct marketing out there (despite what natural SEO guys are saying - I'll get into that debate later).
So how do you know what a good Google Adwords PPC campaign looks like? Next time you sit down with a rep trying to sell you on an online PPC marketing campaign, ask them the following:
1. Can you tell me the estimated amount of clicks on a daily and monthly basis on a list of keywords relative to my business within the specific geographical area that I service?
2. Can you tell me the average cost-per-click that I'll pay on a list of keywords relative to my business?
3. How do you determine what days/times to run my campaign?
4. To what pages on my site do you direct traffic to?
5. How do you measure the success of this campaign?
6. How often to I receive reports?
7. Do you disclose all the keywords, costs, and ads to me?
8. What is your set-up and management fee and how much of my budget is going to clicks?
9. Can you guarantee that when my ad appears, it will appear in the top 1-3 positions?
10. How do you choose the keywords for my campaign?
These are just 10 of MANY questions you should ask but a great start. Any company trying to sell you a PPC campaign should be able to answer every single one of these questions in detail. At no point, should the answer be "we can't do that!"
About the author
Meg Ferguson is author of this article on Philadelphia Internet Marketing.
