How to Bid the Right Amount on My Pay-Per-Click Ads

You’re ready to launch your pay-per-click campaign. You’ve got great ads written with fantastic headlines. You know which search engines you’re going to use. You’ve got a fantastic list of keywords that you know your customers are using to find your site. You’re ready to go. But before you start, there’s one more thing you need to consider: how to bid the right amount on keywords and key phrases for your campaign.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• PPC ad
• PPC advertising budget
• Tracking system for evaluating your ads and keywords daily
• List of keywords and key phrases

1. Determine your advertising budget. Look at how much money you have to spend, and make sure you don’t spend more than that when you launch your campaign.
2. Prioritize your keywords. You’ve already made a list of them and you know which ones your visitors use the most. Now, evaluate which are the most important to your campaign.
3. Evaluate the cost of each keyword or key phrase. When you look at a list of cost-per-click for your best keywords, make sure it’s in your budget. Keep in mind there will be tight competition for the best keywords, and using the most common ones may not be the best plan.
4. Break down your budget based on your keyword research. Rather than working with your overall budget, determine what your budget is for each of your keywords.
5. Manage your campaign well. You will need to re-evaluate your campaign daily to determine which keyword clicks are converting to sales and how much of a return on your investment you are getting.

Tips & Warnings

• Plan ahead. If you know your budget and who your target customer is you will be better able to know which keywords will convert best.
• Focus on the slightly less popular search words and phrases. Why bid on a keyword that’s $3 per click if one that costs five cents will bring you more sales?
• Bidding wars are a way of life in PPC advertising. Don’t let your desire to keep the No. 1 position make you go over-budget.