Comments on: Is Your Business Built on Pay Per Click PPC Quicksand?

By: Grumble

Grumble — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:12:57 +0000

It’s true… to only use PPC as a lead generator for your website is short sighted and frought with problems. While it is possibly the most quantifiable of the online marketing efforts available, it can also drain your money with little return if managed badly.

By: Kelsey Bratcher

Kelsey Bratcher — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:16:55 +0000

Using PPC to market a business is risky as mentioned above, if one was so inclined you would need to make sure you offer a product with some sort of continuity to make it worth while. Recurring payments should allow you to make the most of it.

Having a means of capturing paid traffic is a must, if you don’t you are wasting your money.

By: Jennifer Summers

Jennifer Summers — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:11:49 +0000

I used to do quite well on PPC marketing, then I had to start being really really targeted with my ads to stay in the game. Now with every joe selling the same products I am finding it diffcult to make it pay, as some of the joe’s have deep pockets.

I think you are right that e-mail marketing and SEO are the best tools.

By: Francis L

Francis L — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:00:20 +0000

Personally i find PPC not worth the risk. Alot of it hinges upon the circumstance where competitors don’t find the keyword and push prices through the roof.

By: Dr. David J. Castle

Dr. David J. Castle — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:52:50 +0000

I agree, I try to avoid PPC advertising, I just focus on SEO and getting free organic traffic.

I learned SEO from Brad Callen and found him very helpful.

By: Chris Altesino

Chris Altesino — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:59:31 +0000

I agree that you certainly wouldn’t want to build your entire or even a large portion of your marketing efforts on PPC for the reasons that were mentioned above, I also think PPC offers different possiblities depending on the business model and/or products.

By: Erik H

Erik H — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:30:04 +0000

Be honest with you I stall away from PPC all together, I love organic traffic. It’s not to say this isn’t a great way of getting traffic to your site, I just like staying on the safe side of things.

By: Brad

Brad — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:45:13 +0000

While I agree that you certainly wouldn’t want to build your entire or even a large portion of your marketing efforts on PPC for the reasons that were mentioned above, I also think PPC offers different possiblities depending on the business model and/or products.

For example, if my business sold a consumable item or item that had to be frequently replenished, then I would be willing to “lose” some money on PPC for lead generation and customer acquisition . If my web site converts well, and I had some idea of the lifetime value of a customer to my particular business; then I would be far more willing to take a loss on my PPC costs knowing that I can potentially make the difference up with repeat business from customers acquired through that PPC campaign. While some would view that philosophy as risky, it’s worked well for some various businesses that I either owned or worked for. The trick is having the necessary data to estimate the long term value of a customer.

By: Winton Churchill

Winton Churchill — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:58:07 +0000

Agreed that building a portfolio is the right approach…sadly most businesses only have 1 or 2 effective marketing processes and this makes them vulnerable to the winds of change. The good news is that once you’ve built the list, by whatever method, you owne it and have that direct part to your prospects.

By: Ken Nickless

Ken Nickless — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:51:33 +0000

I agree, purchasing targetted email lists can be very expensive and not too responsive. Building your own list however is a slow process and can even take years to get the responses needed. PPC on the other hand, provided it’s managed properly can bring instant results. It’s just a case of keeping one step ahead of the opposition.