When organic traffic is just not good enough

[Kickedout]

I used to have #1 results, driving good traffic thus later sales. All that is in past. Since maps an adwords are now at top, even with a decent organic, I'm way below other sites. My budget for adwords is not good enough as my adds appear 5th-9th, sometimes besides my organic result (some keywords are around 3 dollars for mi niche and is not very productive, you know, I don't sell luxury cars :)

I don't find the way to deal with this, increased my adwords budget, but since those aren't driving traffic nor converting my loss is worst (I'm in low season also)

How do you dealt with that? (in case you did already)

[tedster]

It's a problem I've faced on several sites. Conversion optimization is the way to go, IMO - including A/B split testing. Sometimes you can double conversions with the same traffic, if you get a good tweak on the page. And when you co A/B testing in a disciplined way it can be astonishing what actually makes a difference.

[Pjman]

I second tedster. The only solution is to work on that key sales page. Focus on conversion, double or triple the conversion will in turn double or triple sales.

Try everything start with layout, then copy, then button style, then colors and fonts. It may take a year, but you will see results in the end.

[Simsi]

Sometimes you can double conversions with the same traffic

I can vouch for this first hand. I spent 4 months optimising my main site for the visitors, testing and implementing better calls to action, making pictures more intuitive, repositioning data and improving the layout and my conversion ratio nearly doubled.

One of the best bits of advice I ever had was: "it is x times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one". (I think x was 5 but I can't remember lol).

[netmeg]

One of the best bits of advice I ever had was: "it is x times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one". (I think x was 5 but I can't remember lol).

This is a huge point and can't be stressed enough. It goes back before Search to your business model. I am of the opinion that ANY business model that doesn't include a way to get customers to come back and buy again is just leaving big piles of money on the table for someone else to pick up. If your product or service is only ever going to be purchased once, then find more or different products. Because otherwise, your shelf life is limited, and some other commodity pusher will always eventually beat you out.

[diberry]

I'm following this thread because I've never bought Adwords before but am considering it and want to learn. Question:

I used to have #1 results, driving good traffic thus later sales.

Doesn't this suggest that the page itself is working pretty well, and it's the method of driving traffic to it that's failing? I.E., maybe the Adwords ad isn't quite as compelling as it should be, or it's grabbing the wrong eyeballs because of how it's worded? Maybe it's the ad that needs tweaking more than the page?

[netmeg]

I was under the impression he meant that statement with regard to organics.

Measuring organic performance (and conversions)and PPC performance are different. Almost nobody buys off an ad; it's 25/35/35 and a display URL. The ad brings the horse to the water, but the landing page makes him drink.

You do get specific CTR information with ads, and if you're smart, you can test different elements to see what makes a difference. That will tell you if your ad is effective. The ad makes a promise, the landing page should deliver on that promise (or answer the question) the ad started. The conversions tell you if the landing page is effective.

(Very simplistic way of putting it, but there it is)

If he's talking about his PPC performance, the first thing I'd ask is how his CTR has held up and if he's tried rotating ads.