PPC Pitfalls?

In a few weeks I'll be launching my new ecommerce site and plan to rely heavily on PPC. I've read alot about click fraud and bid management but I'm wondering in your experience what you've found to be the top issues with PPC? What would be your advice and issues to watch out for with PPC? Thanks guys

 

PPC can get out of hand quickly. We have hundred of thousands of terms we use in Google and Overture and most of them are at .25 or less. Most obscure terms are at .05 or .10. Of course it all comes down to your conversion ration and what your ROI is at the end of the day, but assuming your site converts well (always could improve) and you do your keyword research (Digitalpoints tool is great!), you should realize a positive ROI with Goog and Ov. I always tell my affiliates to start out small with low bids and wait for some conversions to come in before you pump up the bids and get AGRO! Definitely AVOID smaller ppc's, they never have worked for squat for us. Try to get the most out of Google and Overture with large keyword files, geo-targeting, and drill down baby!

 

hmm..juz a tip...before you launch your PPC campaign big time, you might want to limit the amount allocated to test and make sure your site converts well. At the very least, you should capture the leads so that all that traffic is not wasted.

 

Thanks guys for your very valuable advice. You've likely saved me hundreds of dollars

 

Go for the search ads and stay away from the content ads. Using different ppc conversion analysis tools, the search ads convert 5x better than content ads.

In my experience, anyway....

/DJ

 

Yes, I have been running the content matching on Google for the last 2 months to try to boost revenue, but all it's really doing is boosting our cost.
Evan

 

In my experience there is absolutely no legitimate reason to use the content matching ads. You may get one or two sales (conversions) but you are paying so much for those that is not worth it. You are better off missing out on those sales entirely. Currently I am managing over 35 google campaigns and none of them are converting via content match.

Waste of money.

/DJ

 

Yeah...it's sucks! Done with Content match for good!
Evan

 

pay per click breaks the wallet

 

Personally, I'd rather invest money spent on PPc in buying advertisements on related sites. In the longrun, the pay off is much much higher. PPC pays off now; links pay off in the future.

 

I say use PPC and test it. Only testing can really prove
if it's going to be profitable for you or not. And content
match really stinks but in some cases it actually works
so give it a shot. Use your money wisely and slowly.

 

My biggest advice to anyone running a PPC campaign that takes you to a site where people buy things, specifically with CC's is that you DO NOT have an instant order procurment system. Look carefully at each order before you actually process it. Every single person that hit our site with a PPC paid with a stolen CC. This was for dedicated servers and web hosting. Our web hosting set up used to be automated so you were online after payment processed, now it is not for this specific reason. PPC with Adword got us tons of leads/sales, but they ALL were bogus. Like clockwork every Sunday we would have a slew of orders. I guess they figured we were not at work on Sunday and would not catch up with them right away.

Anyway, your mileage may vary.