Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is one of the fastest ways to drive a lot of traffic to a new website. You don’t need to take the time to build a reputation or establish back-links, but simply to have a profitable sales funnel and be able to fine-tune your PPC until you are spending money only on traffic that is profitable. Here are a few smart ways to do that.

Start with a Smaller Network

Try starting with a network such as Microsoft Bing. Though Bing has much less traffic than Google AdWords, the conversion rates tend to be a bit higher. You will have less competition and often lower bids.

In the beginning you won’t be using up all the traffic that AdWords can give you anyway. Instead of using a high-volume network, consider going with a high return-on-investment network instead. You don’t risk ruining your AdWords Quality Score with low click-through rate ads. Instead, use Bing or another smaller network to test out your keywords and ad copy before porting them over to AdWords.

Track Every Sale Back to the Keyword

Track every sale back to the keyword it came from. With proper tracking, you will be able to eliminate unprofitable keywords very quickly. Unless you are tracking your sales back to the keyword, you will probably spend a lot of money on campaigns that aren’t profitable. As a general rule, if you have spent more than double your profit on a keyword without making a sale, then cut the keyword. For example, if you are selling a product that earns you a $20 profit and you don’t make a sale by the time you have spent $40, then cut the keyword.

Start with Exact Match

Exact match keywords cost more than broad match keywords, but will usually have much higher conversion rates. The idea is to aim for people who are in the exact right mindset for what you are selling. Exact match allows you to filter out the browsers and instead get right to the buyers. Start with moderate volume keywords that your ideal buyers would enter. Bid exact match and get that to be profitable first. Then broaden your reach with phrase match. If you’re still profitable, then experiment with broad match as well.

Being Smart with PPC

Avoid volume until you have proven your campaigns to be profitable. Once you are profitable, scale up as quickly as you can while tracking diligently to make sure you are still profitable. As long as you are, then aim to get as much traffic as you can.

There is a lot of competition and many pitfalls in PPC. However, the rewards more than make up for the effort it will take to figure it out. Start small and start profitable, then make your way up from there.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is one of the fastest ways to drive a lot of traffic to a new website. You don’t need to take the time to build a reputation or establish back-links, but simply to have a profitable sales funnel and be able to fine-tune your PPC until you are spending money only on traffic that is profitable. Here are a few smart ways to do that.

Start with a Smaller Network

Try starting with a network such as Microsoft Bing. Though Bing has much less traffic than Google AdWords, the conversion rates tend to be a bit higher. You will have less competition and often lower bids.

In the beginning you won’t be using up all the traffic that AdWords can give you anyway. Instead of using a high-volume network, consider going with a high return-on-investment network instead. You don’t risk ruining your AdWords Quality Score with low click-through rate ads. Instead, use Bing or another smaller network to test out your keywords and ad copy before porting them over to AdWords.

Track Every Sale Back to the Keyword

Track every sale back to the keyword it came from. With proper tracking, you will be able to eliminate unprofitable keywords very quickly. Unless you are tracking your sales back to the keyword, you will probably spend a lot of money on campaigns that aren’t profitable. As a general rule, if you have spent more than double your profit on a keyword without making a sale, then cut the keyword. For example, if you are selling a product that earns you a $20 profit and you don’t make a sale by the time you have spent $40, then cut the keyword.

Start with Exact Match

Exact match keywords cost more than broad match keywords, but will usually have much higher conversion rates. The idea is to aim for people who are in the exact right mindset for what you are selling. Exact match allows you to filter out the browsers and instead get right to the buyers. Start with moderate volume keywords that your ideal buyers would enter. Bid exact match and get that to be profitable first. Then broaden your reach with phrase match. If you’re still profitable, then experiment with broad match as well.

Being Smart with PPC

Avoid volume until you have proven your campaigns to be profitable. Once you are profitable, scale up as quickly as you can while tracking diligently to make sure you are still profitable. As long as you are, then aim to get as much traffic as you can.

There is a lot of competition and many pitfalls in PPC. However, the rewards more than make up for the effort it will take to figure it out. Start small and start profitable, then make your way up from there.