19 Things to Do When Business is Slow: Pay Per Click Advertising
Steven Snell will help you cure boredom, while business is slow. If you’re between projects, you might as well try at least several of his suggestions over here.
Of note is his summary on PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. Basically, it’s spending some money to make more money. In a freelancer’s case, it involves setting up a portfolio website, and paying for advertisements focused on specific search terms to appear on top of search engines. When a prospect clicks on your ad, they get brought to your site. It’s up to you then to turn them into a paying client through online persuasion, to at least make up the money you’ll be charged for every click.
It’s not as scary as it sounds. You can control your PPC spending by setting a budget per day, which means you can start out small as you experiment. And there are so many resources out there to help get you started, so it’s not exactly a case of the blind leading the blind.
Tags: effective online persuasion, pay per click advertising, PPCRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Marketing Your Skills
6 opinions for 19 Things to Do When Business is Slow: Pay Per Click Advertising
Randall Gniadecki
Jul 24, 2008 at 9:34 am
I started my career as a Search Marketing Analyst by managing PPC campaigns for small to medium size businesses. Here are a few pieces of advice for small business owners looking to start a PPC marketing campaign:
1. Don’t just run all the words Google suggests, look carefully and note “bad” terms you will use as negatives later.
2. Start with one finely targeted campaign, one product, one very specifically designed destination URL, for example Campaign for a Florist “Roses” with ad groups by color or type or occasion.
3. Don’t just do Google, try Yahoo, Superpages, MSN, Ask, & Quigo. Get a little exposure in each all with the same keywords and structure and ads, then see which one is really best for you. Just because Google has 60% of search doesn’t mean small business should ignore the other 40%. The second tier platforms are often much less expensive, and sometimes better performing overall.
4. Use as few of the platforms automated features as possible to set bids or budgets, you know better than they do, It’s like leaving the lambs with the wolf.
Steven Snell
Jul 24, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for the mention!
Randall Gniadecki
Jul 24, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I’m glad Rico mentioned you Steven. Great posts, lots of great info for large and small business alike. Many Big businesses are looking to use these more cost effective marketing strategies, and when times are tough companies outsource. Great to show off your skills as a contractor.
Rico
Jul 24, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Randall: Thanks for those tips! In your opinion, what’s another great PPC resource out there? :)
Steven: No problemo Steven. One thing you missed out though: #20 - “Help others find something to do” ;)
Randall Gniadecki
Jul 25, 2008 at 9:20 am
The absolute best PPC resource I have used is people.
When you are starting to design a PPC campaign outline talking to people can be better than any historical search research you do to develop the keywords in the outline. And anything is better than trusting the list the PPC engine generates for you!
It all comes down to the fact that you don’t know what you don’t know. While speaking with people, that you know or meet networking, listen to the words they use. This can reveal the keywords that you hadn’t thought to research.
I also used this technique and did a small survey of College students to find the right negatives to eliminate their traffic from watering down my results.
Also, staying true to the company’s branding is essential to turn clicks into conversions.
Calling all Writers: Win a MacBook Air
Jul 25, 2008 at 11:32 am
[…] something you can do while business is slow: join Smashing Magazine’s latest guest post writing contest. A great way for the site to […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: