Beating PPC Competition using Common Sense
December 5th, 2008 | 29 comments
If you’ve been following me for any time at all you know I’m not afraid to admit I’m not a pro at everything online. One online business model I’ve yet to make big profits from so far has been PPC. My “bread and butter” has been email marketing, niche marketing etc. but I’m starting to get into PPC after about 5 years online and I’m starting to see results. I want to share those results with anyone who cares to read it.
I’ve actually been playing around with PPC for several years. The problem for the longest time was that I couldn’t get my ads to compete with the top competitors without paying a crap load of money to get them up there.
I was reading alot of PPC blogs and forums and I was looking for all the answers… I never found them and figured PPC was just too hard to figure out, but I’ve always seen the ENORMOUS profit potential in it!
Recently I decided to start playing with it once again, but this time I decided to just forget all of the advice I’d been given and just use common sense and what I realized was PPC is much like SEO.
* The PPC networks (Adwords, YPN, Live etc.) want to serve the most relevant, helpful ad to their visitors. So, my ad needs to be relevant to the phrase that it’s served for and it needs to be helpful.
Relevance – So, if I’m bidding on “Red Nike Shoes” I’m going to start an ad group using “Red Nike Shoes” as the title of the ad, insert “red Nike shoes” within the ad as well and bid on ONLY “red Nike shoes” and a few more extremely relevant keywords with that ad! So my keywords would be something like
“red nike shoes”
“red nike shoe”
“hot red nike shoes”
“hot red nike shoe”
Then I start a new ad group in the same campaign, but this time I’ll change the ad to target a different, yet similar term like “red nike shoe store” or whatever I come up with during my keyword research. I do that over and over, so I’ll have a different ad group for basically every ad variation I find with a decent amount of search volume.
Helpfulness – Being online for several years now I probably have somewhat of an advantage because I have several sites in various niches that are established. Do you think an ad network is going to give preference to an ad for a site that has been around for a little while or a site that is brand new?
I also include links on my landing pages to pages that any credible site would have, like contact, about, privacy/legal etc.
By using common sense and doing the things I mentioned above my adverts have been served above 90% of the competition, 100% of the time… out of 10 campaigns I’ve been running for the last few days and I’m paying far less than I expected… the CPC is actually going down on many of my campaigns because the ads are performing well.
This is obviously not ground-breaking advice on PPC, but for those like me who have never really gotten into PPC, it’s useful information.
I’ll be working alot more with PPC in 2009, so you’ll most likely be seeing a few more blog posts on the subject in the coming months.
photo credit: Danard Vincente
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5th December, 2008 at 3:46 pm
It is something I am also looking ito. Thanks for sharing your views. Very helpful, as usual.
5th December, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I started in PPC as well and also found that if you keep everything relevant that the CPC can be quite ow. I am currently getting around .09 for clicks that i used to be paying .50 for.
I just made sure that the ad mentioned the keyword, the landing page used the keyword and even the landing pages URL had the keyword in it,.
5th December, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Hey Josh, it’s good solid advice. I’ve just started to get into the PPC game myself and I’ve begun to discover that after the core basics of setting up a campaign properly, as you talk about, it really all comes down to a few things that can’t be taught in a course.
Mainly, lots of testing, tweaking and tracking. Improving your ads, improving your landing page, etc.
If you KNOW there is money to be made in a market, you can be successful with ppc. It may take a lot of time and money, but if you can make a sale (even at a loss) you can work to improve the all the steps of the process from your keywords, to your ads, to your landing page, to your autoresponder series, to upsells, crosssell, oto’s, etc.
Gregg
5th December, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Josh — good advice about using the long tail in PPC. Really looking forward to hearing all about your progress. I hope you figure it out and release another killer report.
Regards,
Mark
5th December, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Josh, can you give us any hints (not asking you to give out secrets) as to the types of markets or products you are using? Part of my challenge is that my established sites are in such competitive markets (debt, mortgage, internet) that I’ve been unable to crack the PPC market in these areas without paying a fortune per click. And my attempts at new sites hasn’t worked all that well so far.
5th December, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Thanks for your insights regarding the black art of PPC Josh!
I’d be interested to know what sort of monetry ROI you are getting with your ads?
Keep up the good work mate, will be very interested to hear about future developments.
If successful, I’m sure you’ll also be able to turn your findings into another report! – I’d buy it!!
Cheers mate!
~ Peter Tremayne
5th December, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Very interesting post Josh. I’ve never managed to get my feet wet with PPC yet having heard too many horror stories regarding costs. I shall follow your progress with interest.
Dave
5th December, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Hi Josh
I’ve been on the edge of PPC for a while too. Using it to drive sales of my article marketing book and not even tracking it properly!
Yikes!
But just by plugging away at it I’m beginning to build some confidence and I realised that the one thing that was spoiling my progress was, er, not tracking properly!
I think your observations here are spot on.
I know that for a long while I was totally fixated on keywords and the fact is that keywords are only a piece of the puzzle and the landing page – a bigger piece and most people underestimate it.
All The Best
Alex
5th December, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Good post Josh. I tried PPC a few years back and could never get the cost per click low enough. I never tried optimizing the landing page to match the keywords in the ad though. I’m considering using PPC to drive traffic to CPA landing pages and this info will help.
Regards,
John
5th December, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Hey Josh!
Would be interested to hear your results from PPC.
I’m kind of like your exact opposite; I’m more of a PPC guy and am trying to integrate more article marketing into my arsenal.
5th December, 2008 at 5:46 pm
@ Gregg – That’s an excellent point! If you’re at least making sales you’re doing something right, even if you’re losing money… that’s the first step and one I just conquered!
@ Kris – Well like I said, I’m not a PPC pro, so just because I’m targeting a certain market doesn’t mean you should
I have several campaigns going right now… 1 in the mortgage market, 1 in the geocaching niche, 1 in the aquarium niche etc.
@ Peter – My first goal was to figure out how to get my ads above my competitors in competitive markets without spending a fortune… I believe I’ve figured that out. Next was to make some sales, whether at a loss or not, I’ve done that. Now it’s to make a profit… I’m working on that
So far I have a few campaigns making a profit, but very little, and a few losing money. Right now I’m concentrating on more conversion and volume.
5th December, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hey Josh, its nice to hear someone at your level of IM admit that they haven’t figured something out quite yet. I’ve also had some trouble with PPC,especially on Google, but your points are exactly what I have found to be true as well. You hear Perry Marshall say this or that aobut being successful with PPC, but until you actually lose some money, it sometimes goes in one ear and out the other.
5th December, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Hey Josh,
I’m going through a lot of similar things right now.
The most important thing I’ve noticed is that I can take advantage in my experience with WordPress to build Google-friendly mini-sites for my landing pages, very quickly.
Cheers,
Alex
5th December, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Hi Josh, I am also keen to ramp up my PPC efforts. Do you use landing pages or blog pages?
6th December, 2008 at 1:46 am
Hi Josh,
This is a great way to use PPC. I have followed advice from others, who supposedly “know” how to do it, and lost money. What you have told us makes a lot of sense. I had basically given up on PPC but you have given me a bit of incentive to give it a go again.
Thanks for the great post.
Barry
6th December, 2008 at 2:01 am
Josh,
Thanks for the primer on PPC. You made it more clear than anyone else has for me. I am working with adsense now and the way you explain it does make a lot of sense.
Thanks
6th December, 2008 at 7:12 am
I’ve been dithering for a few weeks about dabbling in PPC for one of my sites. I pretty much decided to give it a try, but ‘life’ got in the way (as it does sometimes) and it had to be pushed to the back burner.
It will be interesting to follow your progress and get a few more tips as you go. I’ll be watching.
6th December, 2008 at 8:06 am
That whole “Google Googles” launch some months back was all about landing page relevancy, but it’s easier (and cheaper) just to think of it as just like ‘best practice SEO’ – if you look at the PPC ad as your ‘link text’ then what to do after that comes fairly naturally.
6th December, 2008 at 11:11 pm
PPC has nailed me , if you’re a newbie you can lose money quickly. Lots more study before i go PPC again
Jason
7th December, 2008 at 6:35 am
Perhaps I should try PPC again. Haven’t been able to succeed with it yet, but I suppose that it is a case of practice, practice, practice. And common sense as you say, Josh. Thanks
7th December, 2008 at 9:15 am
I’ve been doing PPC for a while now, but usually have my ad groups paused because I find keyword research the tricky part.
I’d insert tons of keywords and then after 30 or 40 clicks, cut the keywords not performing.
Now, I will reorg. all my ads into adgroups with only 4-6 keywords in each group.
Josh-
Do I need a different landing page for each group, and
are 7 Search and Pulse 360 worth the effort?
Thanks for the great info.
Trevor
7th December, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Josh you’ve just pretty much explained my Adwords venture to a T. I know how profitable it can be but just can’t see the justice in paying $1 per click for a $28 product.
I know you make up for it with the back end but surely the front must be not far from a profit also. Anyhoo, good luck and let us know how you get on bro.
Louis
8th December, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi Josh,
I believe the Ultimate Guide To Google Adwords by Perry Marshall would be such a great resource for you, if you’ll give me your address I’ll send you a copy. This is the print version.
He also has another ebook version on his site called Definitive Guide To Google Adwords.
I learned so much reading this a few years ago. There is no fluff, just great info.
10th December, 2008 at 7:19 pm
It’s ground-breaking for someone who is just learning about PPC, as I was not long ago. PPC ads can really help out a site, but only if done correctly. I’ve seen too many people throw money away.
I’ll look forward to your future PPC posts.
11th December, 2008 at 6:30 pm
@ Alex – Yeah, FirePow is an excellent way to kick out relevant WP sites with a high quality score.
@ Tony – Both… I have static sites, blogs etc. and I’m starting to make blogs with FirePow just for PPC.
@ Trevor – Well like I said, I’m not PPC expert, so there are many others who are much more qualified to answer your questions. I’d say whether or not you need a different landing page for each group depends on several factors including the niche, offer and keyword relevance. I haven’t messed with 7 search or pulse 360 so I honestly don’t know.
@ Louis – It’s all about conversion and not always about the backend… Why use an example of $1 per click for a $28 product? I wouldn’t either unless it was converting to a 100+% ROI.
@ Brent – Thanks… I actually have his Definitive Guide to Google Adwords…. got it years ago, but I doubt it’s up to date now. I’ll check out the “ultimate” guide though, thanks… nice to hear from you by the way.
18th December, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Ad prices are currently collapsing and IMHO they are likely to drop to unprecendented low levels in 2009
So may be your results are not only the results of your method, but they are tied also to the economic conditions.
But in anycase, you are right, common sense is likely to prevail in 2009.
18th December, 2008 at 8:56 pm
i’ve been a PPC wuse because I just didn’t want to spend the money when there are so many linking and SEO strategies to work with that don’t cost me anything.
However, like you, I do see the enormous potential but a risk of losing a lot of money if you don’t know what you’re doing.
So I’ve also been doing a lot of research to try to get up to speed. Very helpful post, by the way.
I recently read a post on PPC by a guy I won’t give credit to because, his approach feels “slimey,” if you get my drift, but his idea made sense.
He never advertises on Google. He always researches to see where his potential customers hang out on the web, and then puts his ads on those sites.
This may be obvious to alot of PPC experts but it was a revelation to me.
20th December, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Good post – PPC is a beast for newbies. I remember just jumping in and losing fist-fulls of cash in no time. There is definitely a steep learning curve – gotta do the groundwork before the campaign – still suck with landing pages though.
5th January, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Keep learning for us Josh. You communicate what you are learning well to us. Please keep talking about your latest adventure.
Rick