PPC Keyword

This is an extremely important part of the PPC system, and where you can get yourself into a lot of trouble. Keywords are the words people use in search engines. Your keywords will determine whether or not your ad appears when someone does a search using that keyword. BE CAREFUL! Keywords are powerful and they can generate a lot of lost revenue because you have not targeted them properly!

For example: You sell children’s music CD’s (songs for children to sing along and so on). You might be tempted to use the keyword, MUSIC. This is a tremendous category and is not necessarily any good for you. People are curious and people browse on the Internet. That’s why the Web page display software is called a “Browser”. You want BUYERS not BROWSERS! So, using the keyword: MUSIC, for a CD of children’s music is not going to get you good ROI (sales). It IS relevant to your product (your CD contains music), so the PPC provider will allow it. But it is too GENERAL.

Most PPC providers have a “keyword suggestion” device or tool. You can pre-test your keywords and see what kind of traffic (or clicks) they get over a given period of time. Some of these tools will offer alterative keywords. You can pick and choose as many as you like from the suggestion tool depending on the rules of the PPC provider. But remember that the tool is from a machine and does not understand context or anything that humans use to make decisions. Consider the suggestions carefully. Don’t take them at face value. They are suggestions, not requirements. You can have hundreds of keywords (expensive and difficult to manage) or just one (not enough coverage). Some PPC providers limit the number of keywords you can use. Read their RULES!

You can also, many times, schedule when each keyword is active (when your ad appears).

Here’s how you can use this:

If you live on the east coast of the US, having your ad (which is controlled by keywords) appear between about 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM is a pretty good schedule if that is when your expected customers are using the Internet. But remember, the Internet is GLOBAL—there are time zones! When it is 1:00 PM in New York, it is 10:00 AM in California. If you want buyers from California AND New York, they will see your ad if it is scheduled for 1:00 PM EST. But many Californians won’t be up and about when it is 6:00 AM in New York because it will be 3:00 AM in California. 24 hour timing (letting a keyword be active for 24 hours—often the default setting) can waste your money, so look at scheduling and consider its use wisely.