by Andre Sanchez

Many people have lost tens of thousands of dollars in internet marketing through inadvised use of PPC advertising using programs such as Google Adsense or Yahoo Search Marketing. We have all heard the horrific stories of gamblers trying time and again to make up for losses on previous bets by doubling up in the belief that they must win eventually.  That is the road to disaster.

At roulette you have a couple of bets offering even odds, such as odd or even numbers, and red or black. There might be others, but these bets can lead to ruin. It only takes one bet at $25 and then another four doubled bets still trying to win that $25 before you have lost $775. Once you have lost these four bets in a row (and it happens), you will be tempted to bet up to a grand on your next bet due to the “law of averages”. 

However, there is no “law of averages” and each bet is just as likely to lose as the last one. The same is true of PPC, only even more so.  If you have failed to make money in your PPC advertising campaign, then unless you make very radical changes, you will fail again. If you think it is not easy to lose money quickly in PPC, then think again.  You only have to lose sight of your advertising costs for a few days, and you are in trouble.  Google charge your credit card in arrears, so when you have spent a few hundred dollars, it is charged to your card.

Yahoo charges you in advance, which is much more easily controlled.  If you can afford 100 bucks, you pay it then use it.  With Adwords, you place the advert then get charged when Google decide to charge you (or so it seems). Many people have fallen foul of Google’s way of doing things through ignorance.  So how do you use PPC advertising without losing your shirt?  In fact, it is quite simple if you follow some basic rules.

First, set yourself a budget and stick to it.  Irrespective of the value of the products you are selling, you have to work to an advertising budget, just like any other company, large or small. Once you start selling and understand more about your conversion rate and average click prices for your various keywords, you will be able to fine tune it, but to start with set a maximum amount you are going to spend each month. Key that into your Adwords campaign, and Google will stop your ads once you reach the limit.  If you fail to do that, then Google will continue the adverts.

After you have set up your campaign, analyze your CTR (click through rate) and make adjustments to your advert to try to improve it.  Google will help you to do that.  You should start with the less popular keywords that few are going after, and bid enough to get your advert in the top five results.  You don’t have to be in the top two – you will be wasting your money.  Keep in mind that you don’t pay till somebody clicks on your advert, so you cannot be harmed even if your keyword is only sought for a few times a week. 

Make your advert as specific as is humanly possible to your product.  If there are a range of colors, name the color.  If you sell red cheap tennis shoes, advertise red cheap tennis shoes, not just tennis shoes or cheap tennis shoes. Then anybody looking for red cheap tennis shoes will click on your advert, and not leave your site because they are looking for white. Be specific and get visitors that are targeted and focused on the exact product you are selling.

Try it out with $50 worth of adverts, or even $100 if you can afford it and see how you do.  If you don’t make that in sales before it is gone, you know you have to make changes or give up for the time being. Your money will have been paid for people who have visited your site looking to buy something.  Nobody uses Adwords unless they want to purchase, and if you are not selling, then either your product is the problem or your advert is misleading them.  Look at both.

Perhaps your product is not what they are looking for, and if that is the case you will have to either find a new product or improve the existing one. There is little you can do immediately about that.  However, if your advert is the problem  then look at it carefully.  Set yourself another budget, and then change the advert to be more specific to your product. Most advertisers have problems with their CTR that is a measure of prospects clicking on your advert from the number exposed to it.  However, you don’t pay for that.  You only pay for the clickers. 

If you are going through your budget with poor sales, then your website cannot be persuading your visitors to buy.  You have to look at that carefully. You have to learn how to use PPC advertising without losing your shirt, because if you keep allowing people to click through to your site without making a purchase, you will continue to fail.

PPC Advertising – How to use PPC Advertising and Keep your Shirt was originally published  at http://www.affiliatemarketinglife.com