Aaarghh!! My mind is melting!!!

[kipper workshops]

Ouch! Brain meltdown! I have been researching shopping directories, pay per click etc... All the usual suspects for driving people to your site.

My mind is in total meltdown.

I have such a tiny budget that i want to get as many directory listings as possible for free (of course I do!). But there are so many directories and sites that require a fee that I can only choose a couple to start with.

Also Adwords, Yahoo etc.. What are your experiences with these? Are they actually driving traffic to your site that is resulting in REAL SALES?? Do these actually pay for themselves.

I know Mr media is into all this and I have looked at your SEO site (very good) but I am natually suspicious of the whole pay per click thing when it comes to small websites. If you ahve the budget of Argos then yep it may be great but what is the best way forward for us little 'uns?

Your experiences and opinions so very welcomed!

Steve 'my brain is a fried' kipper!

[0103media]

You need to look into whats called ROI .. return on investment..

ITs all about maths..

I use adwords yahoo msn Pay per click along with many others..

Is it worth it... Yes.. But again its a still to find the best ROI or else if it was that easy I would have a job..


You need to test .. At the start its like betting on a horse..

You can spend loads of ££ testing thing before you find what works and what doesn't.. .


The most important thing is to make sure you site look great and the photo's are perfect..

Then start testing

[zebra]

Hi, Just wanted to say that I use adwords...I pay a little more than most small companies on there but I do get the returns.
I also pick up commissions through it - which are worth more than daily sales.

Other big things have come off because of adwords..but I can't say the biggest one just yet!! will let you know soon!

Works well for me - All I can say is try it out.
Invest in your business in all ways I say, that way you should see a healthy return.
Good luck and let us know how you get on if you try.Hope it works for you mate.

[swirlyarts]

Being really dozy - I have heard of adwords but what are they and what do they do??

[0103media]

Adwords is google way of advertising..

You can pay per click (ppc)

You pay each time a visitor comes to your site ...

You can pay from 2p to £50 per visitor ..

People do pay loads of money if its worth it.. Say a customer would make you £10,000's in profit it would be worth paying loads for..

My job entails managing these accounts... You can add a little code to your site which return the ROI (return on investment) It will tell how much it cost to sell a item.. pretty cool

[kipper workshops]

Thanks for your expertese. It's most welcome.

I understand the principle of ROI, and I do want to set up systems so that I can see where my best leads are coming from and what the conversion rates are.

So this code, is it something you have written and is part of your service or is it freely available, easy to get hold of? Or does it come with the stats you get from your adwords account?

Sorry if I am asking too much and stepping on the toes of your 'day job' as it were. Just feel free to tell me when I am being too cheeky!!

Ok, so I have set up an adwords account. I have put in some keywords and made my little ad. I am thinking long and hard which keywords to go for. Just a few to start so I can monitor what happens.
I haven't set up payment yet. I am looking at the prices of different keywords.

It seems that around £0.05p is somewhere near what I might have to ppc.

So here is my plan:

I will finalise my keywords, choose £0.05 keywords and then choose £30 per month as my max spend.

I will then set upmy payment and have a gander at what stats etc... I can get and see how the hits go for a month.

Does that sound about right as a starting point to those of you who already use adwords?

See how we go then..

Thanks for all your input so far.

Steve

[0103media]

I'll give one big tip away and thats it.. lol..

Start your bids maybe twice as high as your happy to pay for a few months..



I shall say no more

Otherwise what your doing is great.. It worth buying a few books on principles of marketing... Nothing deep ..

[0103media]

Regarding the code for your site you have so many options..

When you login to adwords your see a tab analytics.. You can ad what called "goals" to the program and ad a small bit of code to the site for that goal e.g. the purchase page or contract page..

The graphs are pretty cool and most people need nothing more than what google analytics offers..

Hope that helps..

[kipper workshops]

You are a very very good man!

I will take your advice and put the plan into action. I'll let you know how it goes.

Many thanks for your help and support.

Steve

[zebra]

You are a very very good man!

I will take your advice and put the plan into action. I'll let you know how it goes.

Many thanks for your help and support.

Steve

Fingers crossed for you - let us know how you get on

[zebra]

I'll give one big tip away and thats it.. lol..

Start your bids maybe twice as high as your happy to pay for a few months..



I shall say no more

Otherwise what your doing is great.. It worth buying a few books on principles of marketing... Nothing deep ..

Hmmmm, so what do you think the cpc /bids should be then to gain an advantage? Ive put my monthly rate up and that had made a difference.

Interesting subject! and thanks for the tip! nudge nudge

[Dinky Lady]

I am in the process of setting up an Adwords account and I tried it using the monthly budget plan instead of paying per click.

Should I have gone for pay per click instead?

I have budgeted for £30 a month.

All confused now.

[EMEvans]

I think you can still set a budget even if you go for pay per click. I was told to be prepared to pay double what you'd expect for a couple of months anyway.

I don't know to much about it but i'm sure some of the others willl be able to advise you.

[GEM]

I was told to be prepared to pay double what you'd expect for a couple of months anyway.
.

was this person on commission?
I have a good campaign going and I pay 1/4 of what I would expect to pay.
Just juggle around your words until you see a drop in price. Generally the more targeted you get, the cheaper it is and the more sales you make.

James.

[EMEvans]

The advice was from Mr Media as that sort of thing is his day job.