The number of available positions varies depending upon the search engine and even upon the resolution of the searcher’s computer screen at times, but it is generally limited to five to eight ads.

The top three listings are the ones with the highest amount of traffic. For one thing, these top three listings are more likely to wind up in the syndicated listings (that is, those that are shown on partner sites, so you get extended reach of your act without additional payments).

However, the interesting aspect of this is that the higher you are listed, the lower conversions to sales/actions you will have.

As you go down in the, positions, the conversions of clicks to sales/actions will increase and the bid prices will decrease. However, the overall amount of traffic will go down.

Your goal is to find the golden middle. If your ad appears too low in the listings, your traffic will vanish. However, occupy the first position and you’ll wind the paying for a lot of wasted clicks.

Positions three to six may be more effective for a PPC ad campaign because people often click on the first listing out of curiosity, rather than true interest or intent to purchase.

Therefore, the top-ranked position in PPC ad listings often receive a number of clicks that don’t necessarily come from someone who is already interested in the product and is ready to purchase it.

By being in the second or third position, you will receive clicks from visitors requiring more information than they received from the first website or those looking for comparisons on features and pricing between your site and the others.

A visitor will often click on the first ad, find out all they need to know about the product and its price there, and then click on the second ad to comparison shop.

They may or may not then move on to the third ad, or go somewhere else for further comparison shopping, if they are truly interested in purchasing.

However, if the price of the product is roughly the same between the first advertiser and this second one, the visitor will often purchase the product right then, on the second-listed PPC, ad site, rather than going back to the first site.

If the visitor does return to the first site to purchase, the profit margin on that sale is slightly less than it could have been, because the conversion of this visitor into a buyer took two clicks rather than one, so the advertiser has to pay for two clicks at whatever price the keyword is currently bidding at.

For many products, this may be a matter of just a few cents, but some keywords have bids of a number of dollars, so extra clicks for no reason are not something you want.

Bid Gaps

Another aspect of keyword bidding that is vital to success is understanding bid gaps. Bid gaps occur when You have established a keyword price you are willing to pay based on the situation at the time the campaign was set up, and then a change occurs as the result of a bidding war or other circumstances that results your add remaining in place while the bid just below yours is much lower.

Bid gaps happen most frequently when you arc not monitoring your ad campaign closely enough.

Some search engines will automatically close bid gaps for you and third-party tools arc also available to screen for bid gaps, but you also should keep an eye out for them.

If the gap between your keyword hid and the cost for the ad listed directly underneath you is large, you arc having too much for the keyword and your ad budget may decline alarmingly before you realize what has occurred.

Keywords: Ad Positioning, ad, traffic, bid gaps, ppc, seo.

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As you read through this article, keep the following points in mind, especially when you are ready to open an advertiser account.

·        Choose your search engine(s) wisely. Search engines differ in the type of pay-per-click services they offer and in the audience they appeal to and serve. Consequently, the same ad on different search engines will have different results.

·        An ad written for one of advertising is very different in nature from other forms of marketing.

Certain aspects of your products or services should be prominent in PPC ads, although you may consider them secondary in other forms of advertising.

·        Re-think the way you write ads. Search engines restrict not just the length of your message, but also stop you from using terms that you may consider vital to attracting potential buyers, such as “the greatest bargain online” and similar superlatives, unless you can prove your claim.

Despite this, you still need to find a unique selling point that will attract the eye of someone browsing the search results page.

·        You must entice visitors to click on your ad. Without a carefully crafted ad, you will not profit from your undertaking, even if you have paid for the privilege of’ having your ad appear at the top of the paid listings (you have successfully hid for that position).

·        The ultimate purpose is to attract quality visitors. Because you pay each time someone clicks on your ad, your success is measured by actual sales or by visitors taking other actions that you have decided are part of your ad campaign goal (such as signing up for your newsletter).

The more specific the ad is, the more targeted the visitor will be, and the higher the number of conversions you will receive.

Opening an Advertiser Account on a PPC Search Engine

Opening an advertiser account with any pay-per-click search engine is usually simple and intuitive.

Generally speaking, all you need are a list of keywords you wish to use, the final copy for your ad, and the URI, of the landing page you wish to use.

Many search engines even have a wizard that will guide you step-by-step through the process, often with interactive help if you have questions along the way.

However, the opening of the account is the easy part. Before you do so, there is much preparatory work you should do.

Once opened, using a combination of the information provided by the search engine to its advertisers, third-party tools and services related to pay-per-click advertising, and your own observations of the direction of your results, you will need to tweak your ad campaign(s) as frequently as possible to ensure you are receiving the best results possible and generating a positive return on investment.

Let’s see a variety of factors you need to consider when writing your ad for inclusion in a paid advertising program based on clicks.

Writing a PPC Ad That Generates Results

Your ultimate goal is to write a pay-per-click ad that will strike the optimal balance between receiving the largest amount of targeted traffic and making the most conversions, in terms of sales and leads.

The ad itself generally consists of several parts-the title of the ad, description, and the visible URL, of the page you want to send visitors to.

Most search engines have fairly strict parameters concerning the length and appearance of text allowed in the title and description portions of the ad. Using Yahoo! Search Marketing as an example, your ad will consist of three basic parts:

·        Title or Headline-this section of your ad is limited to a maximum of 40 characters. It is highly recommended that you use the actual keyword you are basing your pay-per-click ad on in the title, for two very important reasons.

First of all, if the searcher’s keyword is also in your title, he or she will perceive your ad to be more targeted toward their specific needs.

Secondly, many search engines bold the keyword when it appears in the title/headline or the description of your ad, thus attracting more attention to it

·        Description-this part of the ad is limited to 190 characters (other search engines allow anywhere from 100 to 250 characters).

The description should succinctly state the unique selling point you wish to use to catch a searcher’s eve the benefit or feature of your product that will entice the searcher to click on your ad, rather than your competitors’ ads.

Be as specific as possible, concentrating more on describing your product than using sales talk and superlatives that do not describe what you are offering.

Focus on action words and avoid using the term “free” (even if you have a free offer on your website); you will receive huge numbers of clicks from searchers curious about anything that is identified as “free,” and those visitors don’t tend to convert well.

·        URL-this is the landing page to which your visitors will be redirected once they click on your ad.  

Most search engines offering pay-per-click advertising follow similar guidelines for ad structure.

However, Yahoo, Google, and some other search engines have a fair number of rules about each part of your ad, not just concerning their length, but also their content. Some of the more restrictive rules Include:

·        Superlatives, such as “the best” or “top-rated” shouldn’t be used unless the content on your landing page specifically backs up that claim via a description of why you are entitled to claim to be “top rated” or “the best.”

·        If you are targeting a local area, Google likes you to work the name of the city or region into the ad.

·        If the text of your ad mentions a special promotion or deal being offered, full details must be available within 1-2 clicks of your landing page.

Other search engines, especially smaller, second-tier search engines may be a little more flexible in terms of editorial guidelines.

But few provide the amount of detail online about acceptable ad characteristics that Google and Yahoo! do.

Instead, they just say that your submitted PPC ad is subject to review and changes by their editors before it is placed on the search engine.

While crafting your ad, take time to investigate your competition. Find out who the main players in your Industry are and look at a number of ITC ads they have placed to get an idea of the kind of verbiage they are using.

This approach can help you whether you are new to the process or are a seasoned advertiser struggling to come up with compelling verbiage.

Your competitors’ ads may provide just the inspiration you need to create an ad even more compelling than theirs.

Because the content of your ad can be changed as often as you wish, constantly test and retest your ads.

Remember that there isn’t a single point in time when you will come up with the perfect campaign, so you can say “I’m done.”

No matter how well your ads are performing, you must always experiment and try to improve your results or you risk your competition besting you.

As a final note, because PC ads are dynamic and can be changed quickly, you can also use them to highlight a special promotion or a special feature of your product or service that sets you apart from the competition.

Just be sure that if you do this, the landing page has all the information the visitor needs about that special promotion or feature.

Most PPC search engines offer help with crafting your PPC ad at little or no charge. Others will take over the entire process for a somewhat higher price, but they do have the expertise and experience to know what works and what doesn’t in a PPC ad.

Of course, keep in mind that when you pay somebody to design your campaign, its success depends entirely on a stranger’s perception of the unique qualities, of your particular product or service, and how much time they are allotted by the search engine for each customer.

Some business owners prefer to have complete control over the content of the ad from start to finish, while others are content to leave all the decisions in the hands of the search engine’s employees at least until they see the initial results of the ad that the search engine’s employee developed!

We recommend that you set up the campaign yourself, but contact your account executive at the search engine(s) you are using for pay-per-click advertising for advice and tips on how to improve it.

Remember, it is also in the search engines’ best interests that you succeed as an advertiser.

If you are new to the PPC ad, take advantage of every opportunity offered to help you, especially if it does not add to you advertising costs. 

You have nothing to lose, and at worst will come away from the experience with more knowledge than you had before about which action words you should use and what types of phrases fail to motivate viewers.

Also try out all the free tools, such as those that suggest keywords and provide their current costs.

If free editorial advice is offered, and you have the time to confer with your account executive about your ad, always take advantage of this option.

After all, the search engine PPC consultants have been at this game longer than you have. You should take advantage of their knowledge, especially if it is included as a free service.

Whatever your level of expertise PPC ads, however, it is important that You test and experiment With different descriptions and titles, track the results over a set time period, and then compare them to one mother.

Use testing to ascertain which combination of descriptions and/or titles work best for getting people to visit your website, getting them to follow the logical progression You have set up or your website, and then converting him or her into a buyer and hopefully, a repeat purchaser. 

Keywords: Ad Campaign, PPC ads, ads, pay-per-click ad, landing page.

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