Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is having a huge impact on smart businesses. Huge!

Buyers are searching Google right now for your products and services.

PPC could mean lots of sales and big business for you.

Maybe you’re not using PPC. Or maybe you’re one of too many business owners who create their Google AdWords strategy, set it on autopilot, and walk away. You’ll never know how many sales you’re missing.

Pay per click can pay off in big ways

Or, you can use PPC to grow your business month over month. Consider Charles Tyrwhitt’s www.ctshirts.co.uk AdWords campaign for shirts.

PPC has driven them to become the largest shirt maker for Internet retailing in England. But that’s not all. Much of their AdWords sales (about 40%) come from new customers.

Not a bad growth strategy.

PPC 101

If you’re new to this, think of Google’s PPC ads like an auction where businesses bid for keywords against competitors. When a prospect searches a keyword or phrase, the top bidders are displayed as a Sponsored Link. Sponsors pay Google when someone clicks of their ad.

Whether you’re new to PPC or not, here are eight ways to realize its full power:

1. Set your budget

AdWords worked for Charles Tyrwhitt because, for them, it was the most efficient sales channel with the best return on investment. Start out slowly. Don’t blow your budget paying for your learning curve. But you’ll soon need to put some skin in the game.

Tip: Use Google’s algorithms to estimate keyword traffic and costs, and set your budget.

2. Use Wordtracker for keyword selection

Google Wordtracker shows you current words searched by real people. Use this to make your decisions about what terms to target.

3. Get specific

The more specific the search, the more serious the buyer. Don’t be one of thousands using broad keywords. Target customers with specific words. Think “women’s Brooks Ariel running shoe” instead of “running shoe.”

4. Test continuously

PPC is hard science. It’s easy to test and learn what works best. So there’s no excuse for not testing different words and landing pages. Even the smallest changes can add up to big ROI. Test versions against each other based on ad copy and offers to determine the winning combinations.

AdWords is survival of the fittest at its best. To stay on top, you need to invest the time.

5. Go negative

Use negative keywords to keep unqualified clicks off your website. If you sell computers but not printers, your ad won’t show for searches for printers. This will save you money and move your ad up higher. Cool, right?

6. PPC from branding to selling

Charles Tyrwhitt has used PPC to reach customers from first encounter to purchase. They consider the sales process and use Google’s content network to build their brand with display ads. They also leverage search ads at the end of the cycle. When the customer is ready to buy.

This is how you use PPC to make money.

7. Focus locally

Entrepreneurs can maximize their budgets by setting their ads to target people in specific regions. Efficiency is the name of the game with small business budgets, and PPC delivers.

8. Measure and modify!

Always be measuring. Google provides a Placement Performance Report [link to http://www.google.com/AdWords/contentnetwork/#utm_source=gcn&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=gcn_redirect]. This gives you visibility into where your ads appear and performance analytics like impressions, clicks, cost, and conversion data.

I repeat—there’s no excuse for guesswork with PPC.

And if all this sounds confusing or ‘too much effort’ – trust me it isn’t. If you want success in business in 2010 and 2011 then you HAVE to master PPC…

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