So you’re not a big business, or global corporation that has a multi- million dollar ad budget.  But, being a small business doesn’t mean you can’t be competitive in market. Because the wonderful internet allows you to do just that without requiring you to break the bank. One of the easiest and quickest ways to get your business name, products, and services out there has always been the oldie but goody Pay Per Click (PPC) Aka Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  But for a small business to cough up $100 + for management fees, or 20% or more margin off the top of your total ad spend, just isn’t feasible nor does it make sense.

So if you’re in daring and you want to save yourself money, and become a digital marketing student at the same time here are the top 5 concepts to get you started on your first ppc campaign.

Numero Uno. LOCATION LOCATION

First of all where the heck are you? Don’t worry about encrouching on your competitors territory. Concentrate on dominating your local market first . Many PPC platforms will leave their defaults to more countries than your product or service applies to so make sure hone in our your specific area, because you don’t want to burn through your budget marketing to the wrong audience.

2. Content Ads or Search Only

First off Content Ads display ads on the websites where people are participating in Adsense, which basically allows them to make money on ads that are displayed on their website. So you can imagine that many people opt in to Adsense. Just FYI Google has AdSense, while Yahoo has Yahoo Publisher Network, and Microsoft Adcenter Display Network. But, let’s not get to lost in this one because then you need to decide on what kinds of sites to display on, can I use image ads or text only ads, etc… The easiest and most popular route among marketers is to start with search only.  You can hone in on your ad copy (descriptions) writing skills and really figure out keywords are bringing the ROI. Google is notorious for mysteriously opting you into their content networks while you might be thinking your only running PPC, so be thorough in your setup.

3$$$ Budgeting

The easiest way to proper ad budgeting is to figure out how much you can afford on search marketing for the month and then it divide it by 30 to get your daily spend. To enusre you’re starting off at comfortable pace properly setting your budget settings is a crucial step. A majority of ad platforms allow you to set daily budgets and sometimes budget setting on a monthly basis.

4. Scheduling/Timing

This may sound elementary but this has been a common mistake overlooked. For a small ecommerce business running your ads when your customer service can’t take orders is a definite fail. Or for a business such as an automotive dealership why would you run all of your ads at night? The most repeated overused stat is that most people are doing their searching during lunch at work or during the evening when kids are out of their hair, so let’s make sure you’re ads are at the height of showtime during this time of day. But, I’m sure this true for all retailers in the like.

5. Tracking Your GOALs

No matter if you’re using Microsoft Adcenter, Yahoo Search ads, or Google Adwords you need keep track of what’s making sales, or whatever you’re defined goal is and what’s not. All these platforms give you tracking code ready to install on your site that feed back to their systems every lead count (hit) or successful sales via (contact form confirm) so you can easily see down to the keyword level of what’s working and what’s not. I know it may sound a little a technical but, just locate “conversion tracking” in any of those platforms and it will walk you through. The only technical thing is that if you didn’t build the site you may just have to pass the tracking onto your webmaster and have them place the code for you.

So get out there be adventorous you might actually find that you like this stuff. A marketer in the making. Remember you don’t have to start out big, test out a campaign and let it run for a couple days and then dive into the analytics to get familiar with what you’re looking for. Most platforms allow you to create a dashboard, which is customized to just what you want to see so take the time to see what information is valuable to you and create your shortcuts so that monthly or weekly reporting isn’t a tedious chore.

Have Fun!

Ciao~