Types of Businesses That Succeed with PPC

I run two sites myself that PPC (Google, Overture Precision Match, and Overture Site Match) has worked well for, and have tried to implement PPC ads for another site with great failure. By venturing into advertising for this 2nd type of business I learned a lot about what does and doesn't work well in PPC advertising, and just wanted to bring up the topic of how a business type affects PPC advertising.

First of all, the two sites that work well have keywords "lost dogs" and "lost cats" respectively. Very defined searches, searches full of very specific intent. I can be assured that just about all of the people that see my ads are potential customers. The other site is for handmade beaded jewelry. As I worked with KW's for this other site it became evident that the people searching for "beaded jewelry" are not the same people who are purchasing this product offline (my Mom can bring in $2,000 in two days at a craft /jewelry show). Whether they are hobbyist or other jewelry makers as well, I do not know, but they definitely are not looking to buy jewelry. Even using the KW "handmade jewelry" did nothing to increase the sales. Bringing hundreds of people to a site that usually gets 30 a day made no difference. Buying keywords like "jewelry" or "womens apparel" failed as Google cancels low CTR KW's. Overture didn't do any better and made it more difficult to succeed as it's so involving to change ad text where you can play around with AdWords much easier.

So the question is, what experiences do you have with different types of businesses that worked of failed? In the case of the handmade jewery, most of the customers offline do not KNOW that they want to buy "handmade beaded jewelry", so online PPC KW advertising fails.

Bid on very specific terms... brand name/model.... these are "searchers" - high quality leads as they know what they want. The terms that you mention above are mostly "surfer" traffic.

After reading what you wrote... are you sure that your site is set-up for stong conversion? You might have buyers but you are not calling them to action. Or, they have trouble getting around your site. Payperclick is a fools game if you are not savvy with this.

I learned a lot by reading the book "Don't Make Me Think" and the applying what I learned to my landing pages. Big difference. Huge. Although the book is not about payperclick or about converting customers it is just good sense applied to how people engage with a website. I have read and reread this book several times and have STUDIED CAREFULLY the key sections as they relate to my websites. Then I experiment, experiment, experiment... and keep great records. Most valulable thing that I have done for making money. I already have the second edition on pre order.

Very interesting question and very helpful answer. I was going to give you some REP EGOL but I've got to spread it around.

I guess you are saying the more specific the PPC ad the better the conversion...is that accurate?

Dave

Yes, that's what he's saying, but it doesn't apply to every type of site / business.

The problem with the handmade jewelry is that there is no brand or model, it's made by the person selling it. The only familiar words to list would be what the jewlery is made of (crystal, jade, sterling silver, etc). But, people hardly search that specifically. If you purchased those keywords you'd get very little results and eventually Google would delete the keyword (done it). In the real world she makes money off real world "surfers" who walk by her booth and see something shiny / pretty. They then look more, and decide they would like something shiny / pretty. They had no intention of buying a "handmade beaded necklace" when they walked up. They simply are not "searchers."

So, I think that this type of business is very hard to market using PPC.

I don't at all boast her site as being all that it can be. She uses Microsoft bCentral and it's about as good as having a Yahoo Shopping site. But, it's not horrible, it's not un-friendly...it's just not what I would do if I was writing it for myself.

As a general rule, yes. But keep the conversion stats because sometimes you can be surprised.

I agree with Wesmaster, you have a tough job to locate performing and converting PPC phrases.
BUT......
If you can think like a buyer, you might add words like: gift, buy, order, purchase, etc. to your terms to pre-qualify the search.
Yes, the volume will be lower but the conversion percentage should be much higher.
Personally, I like bottom-feeding. Low cost, low-maintenance, high margin. Set it, forget it and get back to SEO

I just want to add to your good comment. I read an article about a site that sells sleepwear gift sets. So, they're "fun" (no, not "sexy") sets of sleepwear to give as gifts to people. They learned that people who are their potential customers would more likely type in "pajamas" than "sleepwear". I don't think this directly applies to my "problem", but it's another good thing to think about when choosing keywords for a tough-to-define industry.

I think that "jewelry gift" might be better than "handmade jewelry" for my mom's site. Good recommendation. I doubt it will get very many impressions, but I may try it out.

x

Wesmaster,

I have a unique perspective on your problem in that I make beaded jewelry (as a hobby) and I'm a search marketing specialist. I've considered creating a Web site for my jewelry and optimizing it and perhaps buying some keywords on Overture, but in doing some preliminary research I've seen it's a difficult market to pinpoint because you're either going to attract beaders or people with an interest in buying more high end jewelry.

I've had a lot of success selling my necklaces directly to people I know through networking (e.g., work, friends, etc.) My best customer was a woman I worked with who kept ordering custom pieces as gifts. The key was that I kept the prices reasonable and brought in the raw beads around the holidays or special events such as Mother's Day. Everyone loved to look at the raw beads and "create" their own custom design. I've often thought how I could apply this to a Web site because the trick with selling the handmade necklaces (for me) was not only in showing people the finished result, but in showing them the endless possibilities by bringing in the raw beads. It's hard to communicate this to people via a Web site, and EGOL's point about setting up the site for conversion is a good one. I think with custom jewelry, this is very important. I intend to buy that book EGOL recommended.

Getting more specific with your keywords is also very important. In thinking about what worked for me offline, I have thought of a preliminary list of keywords that may foster more conversion (assuming the site itself is conversion-oriented). Things like "unique gifts," "gift ideas," and "unique jewelry," may work. More specific types of jewelry components such as, "peridot pendant" may work, but again you may actually be reaching out to the beading community by naming specific stones. Most people don't know that the pretty light green stone they like is called, "peridot" so perhaps, "green pendant" or "green stone jewelry" may work better. Look at the sites that come up in the natural search results and the paid search results for whatever term you're researching. If it's mostly beading sites, you may want to consider something more consumer oriented. Speak with people who actually buy the jewelry and ask them what motivates them to want to purchase it, then write it all down and research the keywords.

Let me know what works and I'll launch my own jewelry site (kidding).

I also see your point that PPC just may not be appropriate for handmade jewelry. With that in mind, what would be? Perhaps a venue such as Ebay or Froogle would be better suited? I've visited Ebay many times to buy jewelry components and also look at finished jewelry to get ideas and inspiration. If a particular piece really strikes my fancy, I bid on it.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Jackie

I agree with everything you said, and just wanted to reply to this question. The one format / web site that I found that would work best was Shopping.com. Your jewelry /product comes up in searches and browsing on the Shopping.com (and affiliates) site and they show a preview thumbnail of your jewelry on the line item result for the search. When someone clicks your image it goes to your site, and charges you your click-through price. I tried out this service right before Christmas of last year and it produced enough traffic for me to want to refill my balance and go at another $50-$100, then they jacked up the prices for Christmas, which irked me, and also announced a new pricing structure for 2005 that brought the click-through for the Jewelry category up to $1.00, or some other ridiculous amount. I may try them in the future, but I wanted to be sure that they knew I didn't like their pricing structure change. So, you might want to consider Shopping.com.

great read for those looking to get into PPC!