Need Input on PPC And Various SEs

I'm working with a vendor to open an online store directly on my site. Since the orders will be placed directly on my site, I don't have to worry about cookie expirations or anything long those lines.

The store is going to target a particular niche. I already rank well in Google for the niche, but want to use PPC to target the potential audience who is running searches on broader keywords.

My questions are what is the minimal budget I should plan on spending initially and are any SE's better than others for PPC?

Thanks in advance.

I've had the most success with Google Adwords. My Overture advertising has been disappointing, and I won't be using them anymore.

You need to offer more info. on your target market.

You're probably better off sticking to your niche and not targetting general keywords unless you know that you have an extra high conversion rate.

Also you would be well advised to look at overtures pricing on your particular intended keywords. It's not always best to be in the top three on overture if you're already scoring high on google.

Findwhat is good for price but gets much less traffic than overture but without further info from you it's difficult to offer a valid opinion.

Very true 100 Priests, I would not buy broad keyphrases unless you know you can convert them.

As far determining your budget, it is different for each SE. On Overture I use the click estimator when creating listings to determine how traffic how want with in the budget I have. It will estimate the number of cliks based on your position. Now this is not 100% accurate only about 75% in my opinion but it is better than a shot the dark.

Also I use the paid version of wordtracker to research the search volume of my PPC listings and then use a 3% CTR (Which is my average only) to estimate my monthly click throughs.

On Google you can set a daily budget and then target as many keyphrases as you like. They will only deliver your budgeted amount. Some people suggest a high budget and fewer keywords but I use both depending on the budget and the target markets CTR.

I don't want to publicly announce the target market that I'm going after, but I can give you example for a completely different market.

Let's use cookware as a random example. Say I sell All-Clad (a high-end brand of cookware) and I have a great placement in Google under "All Clad" and "All Clad Cookware". To increase my potential group of buyers, lets say I want to do PPC for "cookware".

Now I realize that a lot of the people using the search term "cookware" aren't going to be interested in All-Clad, but a certain percentage are going to be interested. These are people that I want coming to my site.

The wording that I'm going to be use is much more specific than All-Clad, but like "cookware", I'm going to be using PPC to target a broader, but revelant market. I'm less concerned with the overall number of people that I get, because of the niche that I'm targeting and the limited budget I'm starting with, and more concerned with a PPC program that offers relatively good bang-for-the buck. Trust me, the people clicking on this link are going to people in the specific market that I'm targeting.

Thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

I think you're already beginning to answer your own questions.

You need to test your own conversion rate on less expensive bid prices and then a little experimentation should put you on the right path.

Findwhat is probably your best bet at first:

http://www.findwhat.com/

A) The bid prices are much lower

B) You don't need maximum traffic to carry out a test.


Most people will tell you that they get different results at different ppc engines so it's up to you to do your own testing. The key for you will be in wrting a good listing/s. Make sure your listing qualifies your target market and disqualifies your unintended freebie/ just looking clickers. Test different copy for each of your keyword listings.

Andrew Goodmans pay per click analyst is a good resource. Check the articles at the bottom of the home page.

http://www.payperclickanalyst.com/

Hey Sweat I understand why you wont divulge your keywords. I think best way is to find it out yourself. Using the AdWords and bidding system. It will show you what position you will be for the price you are willing to pay and for the respective keywords.

For PPC's its very important that you are listed ont he top 3 or 4 max. So you can bid at a point where you stand atleast in top 4 positions. If its too competetive then my friend you cannot call it a niche market.


Hope this helps

i do lots of adwords... even though i hold #1 spots in the competetive SERPs for the identical search term... I do this because some people are attracted to the colored boxes and when I turn off adwords I can see it in my sales...

I never bid for top spot... that is clicked on by surfers too much. instead i run lots of campaigns with my keyword in the title line... that gives me a relevance boost and people notice me down at position 3 or 4 because my text shows bold with their search term. I don't do syndication - surfers click on your ads and eat a hole in your wallet with no return.

I also don't bid on the root keyword - those folks are surfers and not shoppers.

Great advice EGOL.

I agree, some people just can't resist clicking on those colorful little boxes! Which is why you need to attract the buyers, not the surfers.

Jon

Hi Sweat,

Your previous quote:

My questions are what is the minimal budget I should plan on spending initially and are any SE's better than others for PPC?

Yes different search engines can work in different ways, performing better than others. The best thing for you to probably do is to spend about $25 - $100 in a few of the ppc search engines first just to see what the quality of your traffics like, how your traffic converts, etc.

After you have done that, you should get a more clearer idea of what ppc search engine to choose and how much your spending is likely to be!