AdAdvantageSuccess Home Page for Internet Marketers!

Home   |   Marketing eCourse   |   Online Marketing Kit   |   Web Hosting   |   Links   |   ClickBank Portal
Advertising Information   |   Blogging & RSS   |   Branding Information   |   Copywriting  |   Traffic Building
Email Marketing   |   Ezine Publishing   |   Site Promotion   |   PPC Advertising   |   E-Books

Secret Reasons Why Some Businesses Can Afford to Bid Ridiculous, Amounts On Pay-Per-Click Keywords


The other day I was talking to one of my consulting clients on the phone about the return on investment from his Google Adwords campaign. And, he asked me a question that I get several times a week from clients and other online marketers.

His question was?

"Eric, how on earth can my competitors afford to bid over $4 per click for the number one position on the top keywords for my niche?! I can't make a profit on those keywords at just $2.00 per click!"

His concern is a common one among businesses that use pay-per-click advertising to generate traffic. It seems that the top positions in most competitive markets are reserved for businesses with more money than sense.

I explained to him that short term his best strategy is to just cast a broader net with his keywords by expanding his keyword list to include thousands of less competitive, yet still targeted phrases, by using tools like WordTracker or Ad Word Analyzer.

However, to remain competitive long term he needs to address the real reason that his competition can afford to bid $4 per click and still make a profit?

There are only 4 reasons that another business can bid higher than you on pay-per-click ads.

  • They have very deep pockets and very dumb marketing managers. You usually find this in businesses that are used to blowing their offline marketing budget on unaccountable "image advertising". While there are a few like this in every market, these are not the ones you need to be concerned with. The dangerous competitors are the next two?
  • They earn more profit from each sale than you. If you are making a $10 profit selling an ebook, yet your competition is earning a $100 profit selling a set of DVDs and a printed manual, then (all else being equal) your competition should be able to afford to bid 10 times what you can per click.
  • For example:

    Site "A" is making a profit of $10 per sale and converts 1 out of every 100 visitors. This site can afford to bid only $0.10 per click to just break even.

    Site "B" is making a profit of $100 per sale. If they also convert 1 out of 100 visitors, then this site can afford to bid $1.00 per click to break even. (Better yet, they can bid $0.50 per click and earn a 100% return on investment!)

  • They are making their real money on the "back end". It is not uncommon for savvy marketers to sell a lower ticket item up front, and only break even or sometimes even take a loss, when they know that they can then upsell a good percentage of those customers on a higher ticket item later. Using pay-per-click advertising as a lead generation or list building method for future follow up is actually one of the most effective uses for this method of marketing.
  • They convert more of their traffic into buyers than you do. Even if you are both selling the exact same item at the exact same price, if your competition converts 5% of their traffic into sales and you only convert 1%? Well, it's no wonder that they can afford a $5 bid on "blue widget" when you are loosing money bidding $1.25.
  • You can get a pretty good idea who has the best converting website in any given market by watching the Google Adwords listings in that particular keyword niche for a few weeks. Unless they are one of those "more dollars than brains" marketers, the sites that constantly stay near the top long term are the ones that are generating the highest value per visitor.

    The only way to compete long term on the super expensive keywords is to maintain a continuous focus on improving both conversion rates and average profit per sale.

    Want to improve your conversion rates? Eric Graham is the CEO of several successful online companies. Internationally recognized as a top authority on eCommerce, Website Conversion & Internet Marketing, he's an in-demand speaker & consultant.

    Visit http://www.web-site-evaluations.com today for an in-depth evaluation to boost YOUR websites conversion rate!

    Get expert tips, advice, news and commentary on improving conversion rates, split testing, web usability, copywriting, internet marketing and more. Just visit Eric's popular Blog: http://www.conversiondoctor.com/conversion-blog/


    MORE RESOURCES:

    JumpFly PPC Advertising News

    Starting New PPC Advertising Campaigns - Begin With Google AdWords
    JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 24, 2008
    New clients will often ask us here at JumpFly which search engine is the best to begin pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on. Clearly, Google is the first ...


    JumpFly PPC Advertising News

    Cost Per Conversion in PPC Advertising
    JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 14, 2008
    ... of spend as it relates to your average sale value — so is 5% a good ratio between pay-per-click (PPC) advertising spend and revenue generated? Is 10%? ...


    JumpFly PPC Advertising News

    Why Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising is Great
    JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - Nov 7, 2008
    Honestly, I don’t understand why every single company or person trying to sell a product or service is not doing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. ...


    Best Syndication

    PPC Services – maximize your ROI and reduce ad costs
    Best Syndication, CA - 5 hours ago
    ... expert SEO services, PPC Advertising, Article marketing services,drupal development, UK web development solutions and website designing over the globe.
    CMS Development – it is extremely necessary for better website ... Best Syndication
    Best Syndication News Best Syndication
    all 3 news articles


    3FN Improves Hardware Monitoring and Replacement Services
    HostSearch.com - 14 hours ago
    3FN Marketing is an online ppc advertising network that offers advertisers to benefit from the optimized targeted pay per click advertising. ...


    AORN Works Selects 90octane for Strategic Pay-Per-Click ...
    MarketWatch - Dec 1, 2008
    ... largest perioperative nursing association, has hired conversion-driven marketing agency 90octane to manage its pay-per-click (PPC) advertising program. ...
    AORN Works Selects 90octane for Strategic Pay-Per-Click ... International Business Times
    all 16 news articles


    JumpFly PPC Advertising News

    Maximizing Your Holiday PPC Campaigns
    JumpFly PPC Advertising News, IL - 7 hours ago
    But have you given any thought to your pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns? In your ads, be sure to mention any holiday specials you are running. ...


    Search Engine Journal

    Five Critical PPC Budgeting Problems
    Search Engine Journal - Dec 1, 2008
    Some companies do not budget their PPC advertising spend. But many set specific monthly budgets. Sometimes a part of the annual spend is left back to assign ...


    Dallas SEO Services Company Hired IRS Tax Law Firm
    PRLog.Org (press release), Romania - 14 hours ago
    While many online businesses choose to use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, SEM is a long-term strategy focused on a creating global visibility to potential ...


    Review: Google Insights Can Help Merchants Optimize PPC/SEO Campaigns
    Practical Ecommerce (subscription), Grand Junction - Nov 25, 2008
    Like it or not, many online retailers depend on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) to drive shoppers to their digital ...

    PPC-Advertising - Google News

    Home   |   Marketing eCourse   |   Online Marketing Kit   |   Web Hosting   |   Links   |   ClickBank Portal
    Advertising Information   |   Blogging & RSS   |   Branding Information   |   Copywriting   |   Traffic Building
    Email Marketing   |   Ezine Publishing   |   Site Promotion   |   PPC Advertising   |   E-Books
    Copywrite ©      2006 www.AdAdvantageSuccess.com      All Rights Reserved.