Example, I could pay $4.25 a click for Position 1 (on the left) Wouldnt I get a much higher CTR (since the impressions would be the same) but Im on top so more people are likely to patronize the ad. But it would cost me a lot of money. Vesus...
I could pay just $.50 for position 6 (on a KW where the ads go all the way down to the bottom) and get fewer clicks, but possibly save a lot more money in the long run.
Which plan would be best? (I know it varies depending on industry, but in general is the cost to be #1 worth it?)
Grazie
You're better off figuring out your conversion percentage, average profit per sale, etc, and arriving at a number that you can afford to pay regardless of what the bids are. This number will be your max CPC, which you can raise and lower depending on recent trends with your website. By working in this manner, no matter what your competitors do - you'll be making money.
We sell specialized software that sells for over $1000 and associated services, but obviously with a high cost product like this we dont do many sales each month, so tracking ROI becomes a bit tricky.
We're currently more interested in generating leads, so the ads lead to a product description page that tells why were better than the competition, features, product overview, email, and Demo download.
Would it be a good idea to try to track how many Downloads we get due to the Google ads?
And does anybody know any stats regarding clicking on Ad boxes? I read somewhere that 75% of people only click on the top 3 boxes (that figure was from memory, but it was something I thought was high)
I would set your conversion tracking software to monitor your downloads, and track leads from your ppc accounts in that manner.
I would then suggest you get an 800 number just for the website. That way you can see the difference in your offline vs online advertising conversions.
I don't know the specific stats for what positions get what CTR, and doubt anyone who doesn't get a paycheck signed by Google does (at least to any degree of accuracy across all keywords).
I think an additional 1800 line is currently out of the question, but the conversion tracking is something we hope to implement soon.
Is it possible to track both the Downloads (The code snippet would be on the downloads page) and the leads? I was thinking about setting up a seperate E-mail/phone/leads page that only the customers who arrive to our site Via Adwords would be able to get to - that way I can track conversions by putting the code snippet on that specific site as well. Would this work? (You can have the conversion code snippet on two different sites, right?)
(the above is based on very high volume keywords)
Your CTR for being in the top 1-2 will more than triple, however your conversion will go down. It gets very expensive so if you are not making a good profit being on the side, then going to the top might break you.
When you say top 1-2 are you referrign to the TOP ads or the Top 1-2 on the left side?
And if your CTR triples, wouldnt Actual PPC go down accordingly, thus making it worth it? Or does one have to pay such a high amount to into those top spots that its not cost effective?
Why would your conversions go down? Are you implying that people who click on the top ads are interested enough to check your site out, but not interested enough to buy/give lead info?
Sorry for the preponderence of questions, you guys are great! =)
The higher you get the lower the potential interest as they just click on the 1st thing they see.
Note that this is a very general statement but true for most of my campaigns.
The higher you get the lower the potential interest as they just click on the 1st thing they see.Note that this is a very general statement but true for most of my campaigns
I would have to second this info by Robsp. In general, this is very broad info, the highe the ad, the higher the ctr, the more 'just looking' people you get.
However, for many sites these just looking people do return later either through ads or direct request and become customers. If you are spending a lot of money for premium positions, it can be very useful to track visitors who return at a much later date and buy something from you in determining the effectivness of your campaigns.
That said, I've also seen that a lot of hits that ads get where their first occurence is on page 3+ are more competitors checking out the competition than potential buyers.
The old direct response equation on this subject generally holds for PPC: the higher the response rate, the lower the conversion rate.
Know what you can afford per click, stick to it and work on improving creative to improve position.
Sorry, to be more specific, I mean the TOP top 2.
"And if your CTR triples, wouldnt Actual PPC go down accordingly, thus making it worth it? Or does one have to pay such a high amount to into those top spots that its not cost effective?
Why would your conversions go down? Are you implying that people who click on the top ads are interested enough to check your site out, but not interested enough to buy/give lead info? "
Your CPC will go down quite a bit, however being at the very top invites many 'impulse' clicks (people just clicking on the first thing they see). Thus conversion goes down.
Being in the top 2 is very much worth it I have found. However you must have a very high ad budget, and I would only recommend it if you are making a profit! (which should be obvious)
Sorry, to be more specific, I mean the TOP top 2.
I've been enjoying this discussion, but have to jump in now to say that I think 'The TOP top 2' is my new favorite name for those spots.
Perhaps even better than 'G-spots', IMO, in a politically-correct sort of way. ;)
AWA
