Exploring PPC advertising (eCommerce Activity 7)
Written by: Jonathan Briggs
November 19, 2008 [4600 views]
Down the right hand side of Google’s search results are Pay-Per-Click or PPC adverts. The adverts shown are related to the keyword you have typed. Type in keywords related to your case study and look at how the adverts change.
A search for Kingston generates the following ads…
Virgin Holidays: Jamaica
Research and Book to Jamaica
with Virgin Holidays. Save Online
www.virginholidays.co.uk
Holidays to Jamaica
Great deals on holidays to Jamaica
Book & save online at First Choice.
www.firstchoice.co.uk
Kingston Properties
UK's Property Search Website. Find
Kingston Properties Now.
www.PropertyFinder.com
England
Flash Memory -Crucial.com
Shop at Crucial.com for quality and
Excellent prices. Buy Now and Save.
Crucial.com/UK
Look at the adverts themselves. They are made up of a headline, two short lines of text and a link (actually two links – a visible one, usually short and a hidden longer one that actually takes you to a specific location on the site).
Try making small changes to the phrase being searched to see how the ads change
Compare broad and more detailed searches.
Kingston
Kingston property
Kingston rental property
Kingston holidays
This week's activity
This week’s activity asks you to look at either http://www.marketquarter.com or a site of your choice and plan the start of a pay-per-click advertising campaign for the site. PPC advertising allows you to pay only when an ad is actually clicked (not when shown) and can result in highly qualified traffic. The best known PPC advertising is Google adwords although MSN and Yahoo both offer similar programs (and will do more in the future).
The steps this week are
- What site have you chosen for this exercise?
- What keyword or keyphrase would you buy? (choose the main one and some variation)
- What ad would you show? Read Google adwords guidelines and write an adword text ad.
- What page would you link to on the site?
- What changes might you make to the site to make the ad more effective?
- How much would you be willing to pay for each click? (guess if you don’t know)
- How much would you expect the average customer to spend per order? (guess if you don’t know)
- What percentage of the customers who come from a PPC keyword campaign would you expect to make an order? (guess if you don’t know)
- What questions do you have about advertising online?
- Any other comments or questions about the module?
Here is a link to feedback your answers.
What do you think?
