Google & Yahoo Pay Per Click Advertising

[sunkist219]

It works great if you work it right. Also be carefull about spreding it over otherr sites. They tend to suck up the clicks without results....

It's so true! Google has increased their tracking & statistics tremendously. Especially since you can now get the average number of searches each keyword has. They're improving every day.

 

[Ironclad]

I been using adwords and have had not one app and I think im up over $100 in clicks.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I don't know about you guys but I ran PPC for a short while, just over 6 months and the math didn't play out.

Back when my per-click cost was around $4.00 - my click to form submission rate was around 1 to 4 making my average lead $16.

Problems:

*People still went on other sites
*People typed in fake info - bad phone numbers and emails
*People were uninsurable

Of course, you can't return any of that so when the dust settled I did the math and my true cost per lead was around $28.

I can buy exclusive leads from ASAP for $18 and they're returnable for bad info and uninsurables.

 

[sunkist219]

If you're not getting anything on PPC, it might be the keywords you are bidding on or it could be the design of your website. I have run accross a lot of websites that look very "flashy" but don't direct the customer as to what they are supposed to do.

Question - do you have Google analytics installed so that you can see how long the average person stays on your site once they've clicked through?

 

[The New Guy]

Here is a break down of my pay per click advertising for the last month. 9-07-08 thur 10-07-08

This is just my Yahoo account.

I have my bid set at $3.50 per click, and my daily spending level set at $7.00 a day.

My ads are set for search results only, no content site ads.

I use a keyword list that is currently at 1013 keywords, or phrases long.

My most expensive click this month was $3.47, my cheapest was .04 cents.

Total Cost
$159.58

Ad Impressions
37,401

Clicks
67

Cost Per Click
$2.38

Quotes Ran
21

Quotes ran with correct contact information.
18

Sold
3 Health and 2 Life

Right now, my landing page is my home page. I'm going to change this to my quote page, to see if I can get more quotes ran.

I only require their zip code to run a quote, 18 of 21 gave me their complete contact information.

I may change this in the future to require full contact information, but I figure if they voluntarily me give this information, they are truly interested.

The key to this is in the length of my keyword list and the length of the phrase, otherwise known as long tail keywords.

Here is an example of one of my phrases:

"Small business health insurance in Michigan" This phrase was typed in 9 times in Michigan the last month, and responsible for two of my sales.

 

[sunkist219]

Here is an example of one of my phrases:

"Small business health insurance in Michigan" This phrase was typed in 9 times in Michigan the last month, and responsible for two of my sales.

Wow - very interesting. One of the most random phrases and I would never guess that it would get you a sale when it's only typed in 9 times. It really shows that impressions are not always as important.

Question - are your quote forms long on your website? I know a lot of corporate companies are doing studies that show people start to fill in a quote form and then stop mid-way b/c it's just ridiculously long (this is State Farm's problem). Certain companies do much better than others at getting online quotes. There was actually a study done on it by ComScore that was facinating.

 

[The New Guy]

When that exact phrase is typed in, my ad appears at the top of the search results.

Most people who type in a long tail keyword like that, are looking for something very specific.

My ad stated free quotes, and that particular ad was written to appeal to small business owners.

I have many ad variations, when someone types in a phrase that matches a particular ad, yahoo automatically shows the ad with the most relevance to that keyword phrase typed.

I use the generic Norvax quote form.

 

[Alston]

Yea, you really have to be careful with the "click fraud" I new a guy who set a $50 daily budget. It got maxed out everyday, for 6 days and he never got a completed quote.

I've been the victim of click fraud several times. Stick with the big search engines. You will have to test ten smaller engines to find one that is profitable. And it will usually be profitable with a small volume.

By the way, a bad landing page can masquerade as click fraud. Make sure your landing pages are user friendly and have good sales copy on them. Of course this is easier said than done, but you can copy the concepts behind the designs of a popular website and improve your site.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

"Small business health insurance in Michigan" This phrase was typed in 9 times in Michigan the last month, and responsible for two of my sales.

Not anymore I just bid $10 a click!

LOL

 

[The New Guy]

I suspected click fraud when I used content search results as well. Use to always get multiple clicks with no follow through.

That's when I changed to just advertising in search results.

Now I have fewer clicks, but much larger percentage of follow through.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Not anymore I just bid $10 a click!

LOL

Back your bid down to $3.49, and I promise not to click on your ads any more