Pay Per Click

[Willow]

I know we talked about this before, but I wasn't in the market or considering this service. Has anyone used it? Pros & cons of it? Thinking of using it for my book to send traffic to the website (which also sells workbook, counseling, ebook, etc.)
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A life well-lived is its own novel.

[writertiff]

used it - be sure to set limits on daily spending and don't bid the highest amount. use rarely thought of keywords, too. test several ad campaigns.

[BookCoverDesigner]

Is Google Ad Words considered pay-per-click? I am using two campaigns there to try and promote my forum, onmylastnerve.com and I am getting nowhere fast! I'm going to have to use "naked babes" in my meta tags or something to get some traffic...LOL

[Willow]

I researched the words looked up most often in relation to my book which was 'abusive relationships.' It was used over 4500 times. What do you mean by using weird words for traffic?
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A life well-lived is its own novel.

[booklocker]

Hi Everyone,

This is Richard, Angela Hoy's husband. She alerted me to this thread and thought I might be able to weigh in.

There are two major pay-per-click systems - Yahoo's Overture and Google's Adwords. There are lots of minor ones too, but they probably won't get you much in the way of results. Between Overture and Adwords, you are covering about 95% of the searches done online.

The idea behind pay-per-click, for those who don't know, is that you bid on keyword phrases in the search engines. When someone searches on a keyword phrase you've bid on, your ad pops up along with the search results. If you bid the most, your ad is listed first; bid the second most, your ad is listed second; third most, listed third, etc...

Google's Adwords is a complicated system. Lots of variables and things happening behind the scenes are what determines the amount you're ultimately charged. I wouldn't recommend it for someone with no experience in pay-per-click advertising.

Conversely, Yahoo's Overture is pretty straightforward. I'd recommend starting on that system.

The major difference is that with Overture it is clear what you are spending at any one moment. If the top spot is going for 15 cents and you bid 16 cents, you are now in the top spot. And you continue to pay 16 cents per click until someone outbids you - very straightforward.

With Google, though, the top spot is determined by the click through rate of the ad, as well as the maximum you are willing to bid. So it is actually possible in Google's system to pay less than the competition, but get the top spot anyway. It is driven primarily by how good your ad is. But the downside of that system is the actual price you pay per click is dynamically generated moment to moment. So essentially you don't know what you are paying until you've paid it. Plus, if your ad doesn't get minimum click through rate (I think it is half a percent), it drops off the system completely.

Google is so complicated, in my opinion, that you really need to read up on it before running any campaigns. Otherwise, you'll blow through a lot of money quick (I did, and I've bought and sold online advertising for 10 years). The best book on the market is Andrew Goodman's "Winning Results with Google AdWords".

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0072257024/

Here are some other observations about pay-per-click advertising:

1.) It works best with high-dollar products and services. I'll run some numbers to show you what I mean.

If you have a book you are selling for $8.95, and buy a keyword for 10 cents a click (the cheapest you can pay), and for every 100 people that click, one person buys the book, you are losing money.

100 clicks x 10 cents = $10.00 to get a buyer, who you sell an $8.95 product to. Gross loss: $8.95 - $10.00 = -$1.05

If you can get more than 1 in 100 to buy, then the numbers start to look better, but it is still tough.

Now, say the product is $100, with the same conversion rate. Now the numbers are:

100 clicks x 10 cents = $10.00 to get a buyer, who you sell an $100.00 product to. Gross profit: $100.00 - $10.00 = $90.00

See? The numbers are much better in this case.

2.) You want to be in position number 1, 2, or 3. Both Yahoo and Google syndicate their search results, and the advertising that goes with it, to other sites. But many of those sites only run the top 3 advertisers. Some go down to the top 5, but being in the top 3 will assure you appear in most places.

3.) Be sure the ad is descriptive. Use the search term in the ad itself. And make sure the keywords you pick are narrowly defined ("abusive relationships" is better than "relationships". "how to get out of an abusive relationship" is even better than both those.) If you aren't specific, you'll get a lot of "tire kickers" who click on your ad just to get more info, only to find out it wasn't what they were looking for. If they click, you pay - regardless of how unqualified they are.

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any other questions.

richard

[Willow]

Great info Richard. Thank you. Doesn't look like it pays to use it for books. Too risky. Writers ALREADY don't make enough $$ as it is!
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A life well-lived is its own novel.

[Piper]

Thanks for the detailed info, Richard. I had no idea what this thread was about! Always good to be informed, whether or not it's relevant to what I'm doing right at the moment.

[booklocker]

[BookCoverDesigner]

This is the second time I used Google AdWords. The first time, a few years ago, I ended up with a high bill to pay, and no idea why. I could not understand the system (glad to hear it's not just me). I got exactly ZERO clients from it.

I thought I'd try again, and again, I had no idea what the heck to do. I ended up calling them and my campaign was not even active because apparently, the bid price on the words had gone up in the days since I signed up. I still can't figure it out, but when I type in my keywords, my ad does pop on on Google - to the right.

I think I'll bail out and join Yahoo!!

Also, I believe Google charged me $10 just to sign up.

[Willow]

Bookcoverdesigner, if you join Yahoo, update us with how that is working for you. I might still be interested in doing something eventually.
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A life well-lived is its own novel.

[mmorancbt]

Having worked with companies using pay-per-click programs, the ones that were successful had a higher profit product than a book. I believe there are much more effective ways to build awareness and create sales.

We have had good success by doing a search, finding some of those top sites, and creating an affiliate sales/marketing relationship with those sites paying for the top placement.

That way, we get the one-off benefit of their pay-per-click placement without the expense. For smaller ticket items, this seems more feasible.

In fact, in one sense my first publishing deal came through such a method. I found a site that focused on IT careers, I approached them and provided them with some articles for byline and link back to my site where I sold my self-published book. They were responsible for 70% of my book sales (no cost to me). When my editor started looking for authors writing professional development content for IT professionals, their site was #1. She went to their site and my articles and my self-published book was featured prominently on their home page. Voila! Discovery.
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Matthew Moran
http://www.MatthewMoranOnline.com
http://www.youtube.com/MatthewMoranMusic

[Marilyn]

There is a great deal of evidence including a news item on CNN (I believe) on fraudulent clicks and competitors clicking on link ads to run up costs. I have used Kanoodle and Google adwords and received thousands of clicks with no sales attributed to the clicks and it cost me a great deal of money. Most stayed on my site a very short period of time giving me the impression they were false clicks. My complaints resulted in no satisfaction from either company. I understand there is also legal action regarding the improper use of clicks that fill the pockets of the companies like Google but do not promote sales to the businesses advertising. I have also been on forums discussing these issues. Be careful!
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Marilyn Barnicke Belleghem M.Ed.
Books on Personal Growth Through Travel
Quest Publishing
www.questpublishing.ca

[carroach]

Thanks, Richard. This goes into my Information File.


Colleen
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"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." (Hemingway, "A Moveable Feast.")

"Write the Truth." (Author's advice written in signed copy of Robert McKee's "Story.")

[Willow]

Thanks everyone! This is why I LOVE this forum!! Also, Matt--GREAT IDEAS buddy. You need to be in marketing!
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A life well-lived is its own novel.