Blogalytics - and PPC

[Sam Dodd]

While writing my article about blogalytics something came to me. I know this is by no means new or original but here is what i figured out. You can use the analytics on your webpage to find easy .10 cent clicks. Search the bottam of your the list of search phrases you are gaining traffic from and add those keywords to your PPC campaign. You might just start getting some highly targeted, high relevant .10 cent clicks that you may not have thought about prior to searching that list.

[waynelong]

What do you figure you can pay in PPC and still have a really good ROI. I know this varies for every market but I don't really know any rule of thumb.

[ericbramlett]

What do you figure you can pay in PPC and still have a really good ROI.

It's going to depend a lot on your conversion. I think the key here is that your marketing $$$ is going to be infinitely more measurable than with traditional forms of marketing. I've yet to dive into PPC, but it's definitely on the horizon. I went to a luncheon on Wednesday regarding online marketing - both SEO & PPC. I asked the speaker "where should I spend my money - SEO or PPC?" already having a pretty strong opinion formed. He basically said to spend in both places - that SEO would be much more cost effective, but since both are measurable, you'll be able to see your results - so continue spending where it works!

[webmaster]

Absolutely! Export all of your longtails, organize em by category or type, and throw em in your PPC, you will find that very few cost you more than 10 or 15 cents for top 3 spot.

[Sam Dodd]

I like to look at SEO as my long term plan and PPC as a sort term money maker. Morgan is right on this one. PPC for the lost cost/less hits terms. You see a hit to your site is a hit to your site it doesnt matter if you paid 10c or 3 dollars. Many people only PPC for City/State Real Estate and I think they are making a big mistake.

[Eric Blackwell]

As a follow up to Morgan's thought...and to direct a way of calculating ROI to Wayne's question, here's the thought process I go through with REALTORS in our office wanting to do PPC.

If I told you that I had a lead and asked you if a 25% referral fee was OK for you, you'd do that in a heartbeat. WHY? Because you don't pay unless you close and it's incremental revenue at that point. 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

But PPC is NOT a sure thing! If you use the long tails (widely available at the prices Morgan suggests in most markets) as opposed to the city real estate type terms, here's how the return works...

Let's say it even costs you 25 cents per click.
Average closing in your market let's say $150K
That would be typically $4500 commission for one side of the deal (buyer)
25% referral fee (hypothetically) would be $1125 (what you'd pay for a sure deal).

But you cannot afford to risk EVERYTHING betting on the come, so you say, I'll do half of the 1125, or no, better yet one quarter of it, or a total that I am willing to risk on PPC of $281.25

So I take my $281.25 and generate 1125 clicks to my site! (at .25 per).

Simple answer is--if you can generate one average closing from that, then you DO it. Again and again and again.

The two main metrics are Cost per Click and Conversion rate. Manage those and you are golden. I have two agents in our office that are KILLING it with this type of thinking backed up with the long tails research of our brokerage site...it works.

Eric

[waynelong]

Very good post Eric! Thanks. Wayne

[Eric Blackwell]

I would be in agreement with the guy you were listening to Eric Bramlett. As for the SEO vs PPC thing...if BOTH are generating GREAT returns, why only do one? Never quite understood that logic.

Where to start is IMHO a fair question, but (in the end) if both are profitable business generating enterprises...then time to get busy! (grin) You can use one to prime the pump for the other but ALL advertising that generates PROVEN leads is a good target.

It's about dominance of profitable marketing channels. If I could PROVE that advertising on toilet paper rolls doubled my business for very little investment, I'd be on the phone to Charmin today for a truckload of the stuff!

Best;

Eric

[u2man]

Using longtails has brought my average cpc down to about .68 cents in a red hot market. I don't even run major city/real estate anymore. It's more expensive and doesn't convert as well. We spend about $80-100/day using ppc on google, yahoo, msn. Sometimes it's not worth creating a webpage for a longtail (not enough traffic) but definitely worth bidding 10-15 cents and still sending them to a "relevant" page.

PPC has allowed me to take a new website (8 months old) and hire three agents and an admin person to the staff. We have two more agents coming on this spring. I'll always do PPC even when I make 1st page of google but will always be checking the stats for those longtails. It actually blows my mind that agents sit around and wait for their websites to come up naturally when using longtails in ppc is very cheap and the roi is $$$$. If you can't convert a ppc lead then how are you going to convert a lead that comes from a natural search? I don't know which one I'm calling.... ppc vs organic? The better you convert the more $$ you make but longtails will give you the opportunity to fine tune your skills for less $$.

[Smuck]

...Sometimes it's not worth creating a webpage for a longtail (not enough traffic)...

I disagree. Doesn't take but a few minutes. You can PM if you want details on what I do.