Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad?

ParatusFoam · 08-28-2010, 06:51 PM

Paid search is tricky, I do agree on that, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth trying. I have used AdWords, and AdWords only, many times and focus it on new sites only as it helps build ranking and trust with Google.

The other very important thing with paid search ads is to not let them sit, you have work with these regularly in order for them to be effective. Just some thoughts to keep in mind.

MasterCraft-KB · 08-28-2010, 07:37 PM

I wasted alot of money on it and saw little results...Good SEO to generate high organic results is the way to go.

hammer-n-nails · 08-28-2010, 08:11 PM

It is difficult to track. When I ask potential customers that call how they got my contact info the normal reply is "On the internet." When I ask further about where exactly was it from google maps or was it the sponsored advertising? "I'm not sure". After that I don't really prod them anymore as they are ready to discuss their project.
For me it has been ok and I will stick with it. I run several different versions and when I "paused" my ads.....my calls and emails went flat. Try running a cheap budget at first and see how it works for you....So take it with a grain of salt.

Sportioli · 09-03-2010, 07:57 AM

I wear it out...

And my bill in never over $5.00 a month. Just because google wants you to pay $2.00 for a keyword doesn't mean they won't sell it to you for a nickel... Especially if that's all you've bid for it.

Try it and be shocked. Also make your ad specific to your region in your settings. Why would a guy from Louisville with a small painting company want someone from CA clicking on his ads?

My web guy seen me coming up for several diff searches on Google PPC and commented that it must be costing a small fortune. I hate having to teach web guru's how to market in a cost effective way. But he's a friend. Now he's working it too, and it's not costing him a fortune.

Here's another small tidbit. There are people that don't even visit your website. If they see your ad, and the phone number is visible, they'll grab the horn and dial. They don't even click. It works on googles organic returns too. Just make sure you put your number in your page description. A person will type in a given search term and see ten organic returns there on the first page. And wow! One has a phone number visible (and it's there local area code) and the others don't. So they grab the phone and call, with having never visited your site. Don't get me wrong here, most people go ahead and click to go to your site, but there are those that will dial and never click if the number is there. And think about it. At the end of the day, all we really want is for them to call and set an appointment for an estimate. We need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Some people look at an extra click as some seriously hard work. How many of us haven't changed our PC settings from double click to select to single click?

Google PPC should be cheap. Never! And I mean NEVER! Bid over a nickel for a click. You'll come up plenty

festerized · 09-03-2010, 08:23 AM

PPC & a local business do-not go hand & hand.
PPC is for larger company’s who service larger or broad areas.
Don’t waste your time & money on PPC if your service area is 40 miles or less.
You could achieve better results with a good web site & Google local

Sportioli · 09-03-2010, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by festerized

PPC & a local business do-not go hand & hand.
PPC is for larger company’s who service larger or broad areas.
Don’t waste your time & money on PPC if your service area is 40 miles or less.
You could achieve better results with a good web site & Google local

I have my settings set where I only get clicks from inside my city. You can set it so that you only get clicks from a certain street if you want.

Understanding how PPC works (and adjusting it accordingly) is key to making it work for you.

PPC is a super cheap goldmine for any business (local or national). It just has to be tweaked.

Rob Pankow · 09-03-2010, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sportioli

PPC is a super cheap goldmine for any business (local or national). It just has to be tweaked.

May I ask what keywords you're currently bidding on?

Sportioli · 09-05-2010, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Pankow

May I ask what keywords you're currently bidding on?

I'm not bidding on any keywords. Bidding on keywords is an ignorant thing to do and very expensive. I did that once and it cost me close to a hundred dollars in one stinking day LOL. Yeah ol sporty learned a hard lesson.

I bid on keyword phrases now. And only keyword phrases. Currently I'm bidding on somewhere within the neighborhood of 300 of them.

And! I bid on exactly searched phrases. No variations. The exactly quoted phrase is where it's at.

When I first jumped into the fray with PPC ads on google doing the keyword thing, I came home after a few hours and noticed where I had already spent 100 bucks.... HA!

If I were to bid on a keyword... Say like "painters" I'd get a butt load of clicks from all over the world, and pay a fortune. That's an expensive word and highly competed for apparently.

But if I bid on the exact phrase "painters Louisville" and go into my geographical settings and set it for east Louisville KY.. I get seen by only people in eastern Louisville KY (they have money) that google the exact phrase "painters Louisville".

Or "Commercial Painters Louisville" or "Interior Painters Louisville"

It's like this.. I don't want people 30 miles away in Etown KY clicking on my ads. I don't go there to paint, so why do I want the potential for someone in that town clicking my ad and costing me a precious nickel. I don't!

Here's another tidbit. Go to your website... See exactly what your pages are named... And make an ad group that exact same name, then do a bunch of keyword phrase bidding around that page and ad. Always bracket your keyword phrases so that only that exact quote gets a hit.

Stop and think..... How many other painters in my city are competing for that exact same phrase in that exact same demographic? I don't know, but I'd bet it's very few. I do know this though, it's few enough that I come up all the time for my low low bids

If you spend some time looking over googles PPC features you'll find that keyword phrases are where it's at. You will spend a fortune if you're going after single keywords. And you'll spend a fortune if your not exercising your demographic controls.... And I mean fine tune your demographic controls too. Don't just set if for you city.

My max bill for a given month this year was never over 6 dollars and I come up for everything painting related in googles bar on the right hand side of SERPS here in Louisville. Sometimes I'm even at the top in the pink ones

Spend some time with it. You'll find that everything I've told you is true.

Here it is in it's most basic form

1) only use keyword phrases [bracket them like this] so only the exact phrase is hit on.
2) Start ad groups named after your websites main pages. Link them to your pages, I swear it makes them come up higher in googles organic returns. Google likes themselves really well. It's like their bots look across the web and know that that page has a google adword campaign going on of the same name with a back link to that given page

3) Set your demographics tight.
4) Bid low on your newly chosen keyword phrases and go higher if you need to.
5) Set your monthly expenditure to cut off at $50 in case you don't follow these directions properly.

Come back here and let us know how it goes.

RH-Electric · 09-05-2010, 10:28 PM

Your PPC competitors will complain that you're a spammer or that your site distributes malware and Google will ban you and there will be no appeal and no one that will help or listen. The good news is that being banned means that you'll no longer be the target for click fraud, so it's all good.

Solar Control · 09-06-2010, 07:47 AM

Not contracting related, but this piece at Advertising Age is an interesting article to quickly scan in regards to online advertising.

Roger Plummer · 09-06-2010, 12:42 PM

Well, PPC overall can work if you have a budget set high enough to convert clicks over to phone calls. This is where most SMB's fail. They try things out with budgets that are too small to see a result with PPC. I have talked to many contractors that have gotten a result with PPC but the budget needs to be in the neighborhood of $400-$750/mo.

Right now, there is legislation being passed becuase the issues with PPC services however. PPC is riddled with stories of what's called "click fraud." Basically, a competitor or even the company that is managing the business PPC campaign purposefully clicking on someone's ad to cost them money.

PPC campaigns biggest faults IMO are that they are inconsistent, it's difficult to gage your ROI, managing the campaign can be too difficult for the common business owner, and that the exposure is extremely limited.

PPC's inconsitency revolves around the fact that anytime someone does a search, the PPC results change. So you may be the top PPC ad on one search and then be completely off the page in the next. When you bid on keywords, if someone outbids you the PPC manager is going to move the highest bidder to the top.

To really get an understanding for PPC, you have to understand the intent most of the time is to get the phone to ring. That being the case, PPC whole premise is to charge you for someone else CLICKING on your site not actually calling you. So it's important for the business owner to understand that you must have concrete statistics on what the % of clicks:calls is! I think the guy that started this thread mentioned it and he has a great point in the fact that if you are paying $5 for a click, it didn't necessarily relate to a call! So you could have been clicked on by accident, or by a competitor but guess what... you just payed $5 for it no matter what the result was. And even so, as a business owner, all you want is your phone to ring but even if it does... it doesn't mean that EVERY person that calls you is going to say, "Hey get over here an do this room addition right now!" So as far as paying per call, it doesn't even make that much sense to me.

Overall, a business owner must have the knowledge of the keywords that are going to give the best result. THIS IS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF PPC. How does the common business owner know which words are going to be the most relevant and return the biggest bang for the buck? It's far too difficult to really decifer without paying a PPC company to do it.

Finally, PPC exposure is extremely limited. What I mean by that is so simple, it's ridiculous and sometimes when I mention it I even laugh a little. Think about when YOU DO A SEARCH. It could be for anything, how often do you actually click on the sponsored links? Think about it from the clients perspective... THEY KNOW YOU ARE JUST PAYING TO BE THERE. Google is very smart and if it didn't work, Google would be out of buisness but most business owners just don't have the budgets to make it work.

Here are some stats that tell the overall story of PPC IMO:

85% of searchers don’t click on paid links
77% of search users choose organic over paid listing when searching
40% of SEO campaigns achieve ROI returns in excess of 500%, while only 22% of PPC campaigns were able to achieve this value
Organic search results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than paid search results.
Over the last year, Pay-per-click (PPC) costs have grown 37% and they are continuing to rise.

While like I said PPC can give you a return, typically you will always have more success in Local and Organic Results.

Roger Plummer · 09-06-2010, 12:43 PM

double post...

Sportioli · 09-06-2010, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Plummer

While like I said PPC can give you a return, typically you will always have more success in Local and Organic Results.

True!

I look at PPC as a way to further legitimize my organic listing. I don't even monitor what the click thru stats on my ppc ads are.

When they search for a variation of "Painters in Louisville" I feel it helps if they see my site in the local listings, in the ppc column, and again in the organic listings. It's my guess they normally arrive on my site via the organic listing. They see the phone number and just dial.

I used to ask them if they remembered what they typed in, and normally they said no. When I would ask what page they landed on some would say "page?" I didn't even go to your site cause I seen your phone number there in the returns.

So I try to have it in the description of every page now.

Internet advertising is all I do these days. I dropped everything else.

Paint Dribblz · 09-07-2010, 10:30 AM

From the young guns to old...and i'll only say it once, take it with a grain of salt if you'd like. Twitter and Facebook. I run all my news using twitter and (50%) most of my advertisment on facebook. I want to throw out there that I would never use google (PPC). I live in a SMALL state so maybe that makes the difference. I hear from jobs regually from being routed to my site thorugh facebook ( main problem is I cant afford right now to have someone disign in HTML what I want my want to look like).

It's easy, free (besides the clicks of course), and when you do pay you dont pay per key word. You offer a bid in that competes for the ad space.

I cant see how many times they flashed my AD on peoples pages I targeted and then I can see the clicks. To assure myself I have google analytics attached to my site so I can even see how many people come into my site from facebook. I can see how long they stayted, what they looked at, and where they went to after. Not to mention location down to the city and town.

acmepowerwash · 09-07-2010, 12:03 PM

We have had a great experience with PPC, as long as we administrate the campaign ourselves. We've used other marketing companies and been extremely disappointed. Nobody understands your business better than you.

That being said, PPC may not be for every business. There are many factors to consider. We wouldn't pay $5 a click to target a one-time $50 job - there's no point. But paying $5 to land a $5000 job and earn a lifelong customer in the process... that's a no brainer. You may not land one every month, but how can you pass up the opportunity?

If you need to hire someone to run the program for you, find someone local you can meet face to face with. Get references. Trust your instincts.

Roger Plummer · 09-07-2010, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sportioli

True!

I look at PPC as a way to further legitimize my organic listing. I don't even monitor what the click thru stats on my ppc ads are.

When they search for a variation of "Painters in Louisville" I feel it helps if they see my site in the local listings, in the ppc column, and again in the organic listings. It's my guess they normally arrive on my site via the organic listing. They see the phone number and just dial.

I used to ask them if they remembered what they typed in, and normally they said no. When I would ask what page they landed on some would say "page?" I didn't even go to your site cause I seen your phone number there in the returns.

So I try to have it in the description of every page now.

Internet advertising is all I do these days. I dropped everything else.

This is great advice and there is company called ReachLocal that does just that. They actually take part of your PPC budget and redirect it into what is called nickel words. Basically the idea being that you can get 20 clicks for $1 which would get you a greater result than 1 click at $1.

Long tail keywords are great for targeting your customer but also remember the key to advertising is Exposure first. The more people that see you, the better chance at getting them to call you so I would still put a lot of stock into keyword searches that consist of (City, Industry). ie Lousiville Painter

Also for anyone else who is interested, here is what is called a 'heat map' (PM me for the link. It won't let me post it as I'm new). It shows where surfers actually clicked when they search. What is interesting is that the number 6 spot organic is just as likely to be clicked on as the number 1 PPC. Visiblity numbers listed here:

Organic Ranking Visibility

(shown in a percentage of participants looking at a listing in this location)
Rank 1 – 100%
Rank 2 – 100%
Rank 3 – 100%
Rank 4 – 85%
Rank 5 – 60%
Rank 6 – 50%
Rank 7 – 50%
Rank 8 – 30%
Rank 9 – 30%
Rank 10 – 20%
Side sponsored ad visibility

(shown in percentage of participants looking at an ad in this location)
1 – 50%
2 – 40%
3 – 30%
4 – 20%
5 – 10%
6 – 10%
7 – 10%
8 – 10%

SEM Guy · 09-11-2010, 11:19 AM

All this bad talk about PPC and how it never works. I'm not just saying this because I work for a PPC company, but have you ever thought you are to blame why it doesn't work. The reason PPC fails is because of the customer mainly. If you set a small budget you are going to get small results. I'm not saying every company does a poor job but if you set a $500 a month budget and expect the world you are not going get it. I'm an honest guy and I treat all of my customers with respect and honesty and will tell them the truth. I hae suggested to clients that this may not be right for you. I don't believe in a company wasting thier money. I have a family and would want someone to do the same for me.

To let everyone know I do work for Webvisible. Have we done the best job on every account, no but we are the best out there in my opinion. Do we have complaints yes, but we don't hide behind them. Guess what McDonald's, Wal-Mart, AT&T, Microsoft all have complaints but you all and your family still buy from them.

I understand and respect everyones concerns but if you really want to grow your business the right way then reach out to me and we can talk. I won't pressure you I will talk to you. Give me a chance. Just like all of you I'm trying to earn a living. I will address all ofyour questions and if you like what I say then cool, if not then that is cool as well.

I"M JUST TRYING TO HELP

festerized · 09-11-2010, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Plummer

This is great advice and there is company called ReachLocal that does just that. They actually take part of your PPC budget and redirect it into what is called nickel words. Basically the idea being that you can get 20 clicks for $1 which would get you a greater result than 1 click at $1.

Long tail keywords are great for targeting your customer but also remember the key to advertising is Exposure first. The more people that see you, the better chance at getting them to call you so I would still put a lot of stock into keyword searches that consist of (City, Industry). ie Lousiville Painter

Also for anyone else who is interested, here is what is called a 'heat map' (PM me for the link. It won't let me post it as I'm new). It shows where surfers actually clicked when they search. What is interesting is that the number 6 spot organic is just as likely to be clicked on as the number 1 PPC. Visiblity numbers listed here:

Organic Ranking Visibility

(shown in a percentage of participants looking at a listing in this location)
Rank 1 – 100%
Rank 2 – 100%
Rank 3 – 100%
Rank 4 – 85%
Rank 5 – 60%
Rank 6 – 50%
Rank 7 – 50%
Rank 8 – 30%
Rank 9 – 30%
Rank 10 – 20%
Side sponsored ad visibility

(shown in percentage of participants looking at an ad in this location)
1 – 50%
2 – 40%
3 – 30%
4 – 20%
5 – 10%
6 – 10%
7 – 10%
8 – 10%

My dumb math tells me this.
I have yahoo web hosting; cost me $5.00 per month.
That $5.00 gets me in the organic clicking zone. My monthly clicks are around 350
PPC ads will cost $1500.00 per month with less clicks

festerized · 09-11-2010, 03:27 PM

+ YouTube Video

Hers another reason why I have doubts with using PPC

Roger Plummer · 09-11-2010, 04:26 PM

That's the exact picture and video I was going to post. I don't have anything against PPC at all. I think any exposure would be better than no exposure at all but there are flaws to ALL ad campaigns. There is no perfect one that's for sure.

But if you can get into what they call the GOLDEN TRIANGLE, you are good to go. The golden triangle is the known as the top 4 spots in the organic section on the page. It is known as this because these are th most clicked on areas of the page BAR NONE. The reason is simple, the top 4 spots appear without you even having to scroll your mouse down so it's the most exposure on the front page, meaning you are always visible. With PPC, you could be visible all the time, but that would mean that you would have to have a budget that allowed you enough clicks/month to stay up there. Remember with PPC, when your budget is gone for the month, you are off the front page.

Organically ranking however is the difficult most of the time, mainly because Google, Yahoo, and Bing DON'T want you to manipulate the front page. They only make money off the sponsored links. That's is why there are times when you discover a method that may get you to the front page but once Google figures out that people are using that method, they put less weight on it actually reflecting if you come up on the front page or not. So typically, if Google, Yahoo, Bing, change what is known as their algorhythm, then you naturally fall off if you were using one of these methods.

SO in the end, yes more effective, however, it is much more difficult.

08-28-2010, 06:51 PM	#21
ParatusFoam View Profile ParatusFoam Registered User Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (18) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Registered User Trade: Spray Foam Insulation Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 18	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? Paid search is tricky, I do agree on that, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth trying. I have used AdWords, and AdWords only, many times and focus it on new sites only as it helps build ranking and trust with Google. The other very important thing with paid search ads is to not let them sit, you have work with these regularly in order for them to be effective. Just some thoughts to keep in mind.

08-28-2010, 07:37 PM	#22
MasterCraft-KB View Profile MasterCraft-KB MasterCraft-KB Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (30) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity MasterCraft-KB Trade: Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Montgomery County, PA Posts: 30	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? I wasted alot of money on it and saw little results...Good SEO to generate high organic results is the way to go. __________________ Joe Wright MasterCraft Kitchen & Bath www.MasterCraft-KB.com

08-28-2010, 08:11 PM	#23
hammer-n-nails View Profile hammer-n-nails Registered User Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (16) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Registered User Trade: Residential Repair Remodeling & Handyman services Join Date: May 2010 Location: Royse City, TX Posts: 16	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? It is difficult to track. When I ask potential customers that call how they got my contact info the normal reply is "On the internet." When I ask further about where exactly was it from google maps or was it the sponsored advertising? "I'm not sure". After that I don't really prod them anymore as they are ready to discuss their project. For me it has been ok and I will stick with it. I run several different versions and when I "paused" my ads.....my calls and emails went flat. Try running a cheap budget at first and see how it works for you....So take it with a grain of salt.

09-03-2010, 07:57 AM	#24
Sportioli View Profile Sportioli Pro Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (201) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Pro Trade: Painting Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 201	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? I wear it out... And my bill in never over $5.00 a month. Just because google wants you to pay $2.00 for a keyword doesn't mean they won't sell it to you for a nickel... Especially if that's all you've bid for it. Try it and be shocked. Also make your ad specific to your region in your settings. Why would a guy from Louisville with a small painting company want someone from CA clicking on his ads? My web guy seen me coming up for several diff searches on Google PPC and commented that it must be costing a small fortune. I hate having to teach web guru's how to market in a cost effective way. But he's a friend. Now he's working it too, and it's not costing him a fortune. Here's another small tidbit. There are people that don't even visit your website. If they see your ad, and the phone number is visible, they'll grab the horn and dial. They don't even click. It works on googles organic returns too. Just make sure you put your number in your page description. A person will type in a given search term and see ten organic returns there on the first page. And wow! One has a phone number visible (and it's there local area code) and the others don't. So they grab the phone and call, with having never visited your site. Don't get me wrong here, most people go ahead and click to go to your site, but there are those that will dial and never click if the number is there. And think about it. At the end of the day, all we really want is for them to call and set an appointment for an estimate. We need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Some people look at an extra click as some seriously hard work. How many of us haven't changed our PC settings from double click to select to single click? Google PPC should be cheap. Never! And I mean NEVER! Bid over a nickel for a click. You'll come up plenty __________________ Painters Louisville KY , Commercial Painting Louisville Pressure Washing Company Louisville House Painters Louisville Last edited by Sportioli; 09-03-2010 at 08:29 AM.

09-03-2010, 08:23 AM	#25
festerized View Profile festerized David Festa Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (2,018) Photos (3) Reviews (2) Projects (0) Toolbox (10) View All Activity David Festa Trade: Framing Contractor Join Date: May 2007 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,018	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? PPC & a local business do-not go hand & hand. PPC is for larger company’s who service larger or broad areas. Don’t waste your time & money on PPC if your service area is 40 miles or less. You could achieve better results with a good web site & Google local __________________ Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ “Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”

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09-05-2010, 10:28 PM	#29
RH-Electric View Profile RH-Electric Electrical Contractor Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (87) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Electrical Contractor Trade: Electrical Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Southern California Posts: 87	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? Your PPC competitors will complain that you're a spammer or that your site distributes malware and Google will ban you and there will be no appeal and no one that will help or listen. The good news is that being banned means that you'll no longer be the target for click fraud, so it's all good. __________________

09-06-2010, 07:47 AM	#30
Solar Control View Profile Solar Control Pro Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (285) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Pro Trade: Subcontractor Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Midwest Posts: 285	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? Not contracting related, but this piece at Advertising Age is an interesting article to quickly scan in regards to online advertising. __________________ Solar Control, LLC--\| --Motorized Shades & Blinds--\| --Google+

09-06-2010, 12:42 PM	#31
Roger Plummer View Profile Roger Plummer Registered User Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (4) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Registered User Trade: Marketing Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 4	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? Well, PPC overall can work if you have a budget set high enough to convert clicks over to phone calls. This is where most SMB's fail. They try things out with budgets that are too small to see a result with PPC. I have talked to many contractors that have gotten a result with PPC but the budget needs to be in the neighborhood of $400-$750/mo. Right now, there is legislation being passed becuase the issues with PPC services however. PPC is riddled with stories of what's called "click fraud." Basically, a competitor or even the company that is managing the business PPC campaign purposefully clicking on someone's ad to cost them money. PPC campaigns biggest faults IMO are that they are inconsistent, it's difficult to gage your ROI, managing the campaign can be too difficult for the common business owner, and that the exposure is extremely limited. PPC's inconsitency revolves around the fact that anytime someone does a search, the PPC results change. So you may be the top PPC ad on one search and then be completely off the page in the next. When you bid on keywords, if someone outbids you the PPC manager is going to move the highest bidder to the top. To really get an understanding for PPC, you have to understand the intent most of the time is to get the phone to ring. That being the case, PPC whole premise is to charge you for someone else CLICKING on your site not actually calling you. So it's important for the business owner to understand that you must have concrete statistics on what the % of clicks:calls is! I think the guy that started this thread mentioned it and he has a great point in the fact that if you are paying $5 for a click, it didn't necessarily relate to a call! So you could have been clicked on by accident, or by a competitor but guess what... you just payed $5 for it no matter what the result was. And even so, as a business owner, all you want is your phone to ring but even if it does... it doesn't mean that EVERY person that calls you is going to say, "Hey get over here an do this room addition right now!" So as far as paying per call, it doesn't even make that much sense to me. Overall, a business owner must have the knowledge of the keywords that are going to give the best result. THIS IS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF PPC. How does the common business owner know which words are going to be the most relevant and return the biggest bang for the buck? It's far too difficult to really decifer without paying a PPC company to do it. Finally, PPC exposure is extremely limited. What I mean by that is so simple, it's ridiculous and sometimes when I mention it I even laugh a little. Think about when YOU DO A SEARCH. It could be for anything, how often do you actually click on the sponsored links? Think about it from the clients perspective... THEY KNOW YOU ARE JUST PAYING TO BE THERE. Google is very smart and if it didn't work, Google would be out of buisness but most business owners just don't have the budgets to make it work. Here are some stats that tell the overall story of PPC IMO: 85% of searchers don’t click on paid links 77% of search users choose organic over paid listing when searching 40% of SEO campaigns achieve ROI returns in excess of 500%, while only 22% of PPC campaigns were able to achieve this value Organic search results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than paid search results. Over the last year, Pay-per-click (PPC) costs have grown 37% and they are continuing to rise. While like I said PPC can give you a return, typically you will always have more success in Local and Organic Results. Last edited by Roger Plummer; 09-06-2010 at 04:42 PM.

09-06-2010, 12:43 PM	#32
Roger Plummer View Profile Roger Plummer Registered User Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (4) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Registered User Trade: Marketing Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 4	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? double post...

09-07-2010, 10:30 AM	#34
Paint Dribblz View Profile Paint Dribblz Member Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (38) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Member Trade: Painting Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: RI Posts: 38	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? From the young guns to old...and i'll only say it once, take it with a grain of salt if you'd like. Twitter and Facebook. I run all my news using twitter and (50%) most of my advertisment on facebook. I want to throw out there that I would never use google (PPC). I live in a SMALL state so maybe that makes the difference. I hear from jobs regually from being routed to my site thorugh facebook ( main problem is I cant afford right now to have someone disign in HTML what I want my want to look like). It's easy, free (besides the clicks of course), and when you do pay you dont pay per key word. You offer a bid in that competes for the ad space. I cant see how many times they flashed my AD on peoples pages I targeted and then I can see the clicks. To assure myself I have google analytics attached to my site so I can even see how many people come into my site from facebook. I can see how long they stayted, what they looked at, and where they went to after. Not to mention location down to the city and town.

09-07-2010, 12:03 PM	#35
acmepowerwash View Profile acmepowerwash ACME Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (33) Photos (3) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity ACME Trade: Pressure Washing, Power Washing, Steam Cleaning Join Date: May 2010 Location: Phoenix, Arizona Posts: 33	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? We have had a great experience with PPC, as long as we administrate the campaign ourselves. We've used other marketing companies and been extremely disappointed. Nobody understands your business better than you. That being said, PPC may not be for every business. There are many factors to consider. We wouldn't pay $5 a click to target a one-time $50 job - there's no point. But paying $5 to land a $5000 job and earn a lifelong customer in the process... that's a no brainer. You may not land one every month, but how can you pass up the opportunity? If you need to hire someone to run the program for you, find someone local you can meet face to face with. Get references. Trust your instincts. __________________ Power Washing Phoenix, AZ Paver Cleaning and Sealing in Phoenix, AZ Pressure Washing Services in Phoenix, AZ ACME on Twitter \| ACME on Facebook \| ACME on Google+

09-11-2010, 11:19 AM	#37
SEM Guy View Profile SEM Guy New Guy Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (5) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity New Guy Trade: Internet Marketing Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 5	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? All this bad talk about PPC and how it never works. I'm not just saying this because I work for a PPC company, but have you ever thought you are to blame why it doesn't work. The reason PPC fails is because of the customer mainly. If you set a small budget you are going to get small results. I'm not saying every company does a poor job but if you set a $500 a month budget and expect the world you are not going get it. I'm an honest guy and I treat all of my customers with respect and honesty and will tell them the truth. I hae suggested to clients that this may not be right for you. I don't believe in a company wasting thier money. I have a family and would want someone to do the same for me. To let everyone know I do work for Webvisible. Have we done the best job on every account, no but we are the best out there in my opinion. Do we have complaints yes, but we don't hide behind them. Guess what McDonald's, Wal-Mart, AT&T, Microsoft all have complaints but you all and your family still buy from them. I understand and respect everyones concerns but if you really want to grow your business the right way then reach out to me and we can talk. I won't pressure you I will talk to you. Give me a chance. Just like all of you I'm trying to earn a living. I will address all ofyour questions and if you like what I say then cool, if not then that is cool as well. I"M JUST TRYING TO HELP

09-11-2010, 04:26 PM	#40
Roger Plummer View Profile Roger Plummer Registered User Send Message Follow Blogs (0) Threads (4) Photos (0) Reviews (0) Projects (0) Toolbox (0) View All Activity Registered User Trade: Marketing Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 4	Re: Pay Per Click Stories Good And Bad? That's the exact picture and video I was going to post. I don't have anything against PPC at all. I think any exposure would be better than no exposure at all but there are flaws to ALL ad campaigns. There is no perfect one that's for sure. But if you can get into what they call the GOLDEN TRIANGLE, you are good to go. The golden triangle is the known as the top 4 spots in the organic section on the page. It is known as this because these are th most clicked on areas of the page BAR NONE. The reason is simple, the top 4 spots appear without you even having to scroll your mouse down so it's the most exposure on the front page, meaning you are always visible. With PPC, you could be visible all the time, but that would mean that you would have to have a budget that allowed you enough clicks/month to stay up there. Remember with PPC, when your budget is gone for the month, you are off the front page. Organically ranking however is the difficult most of the time, mainly because Google, Yahoo, and Bing DON'T want you to manipulate the front page. They only make money off the sponsored links. That's is why there are times when you discover a method that may get you to the front page but once Google figures out that people are using that method, they put less weight on it actually reflecting if you come up on the front page or not. So typically, if Google, Yahoo, Bing, change what is known as their algorhythm, then you naturally fall off if you were using one of these methods. SO in the end, yes more effective, however, it is much more difficult.

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