Most article writers do keyword research using tools such as Wordtracker but don’t test their keywords with Pay Per Click (PPC) traffic first. Without testing you could be wasting hundreds of hours by targeting the wrong keywords.
What is a PPC campaign?
Pay per click ads are displayed down the right hand side, above or to the right of the search engine results page. When a person clicks on the link in the ad, the advertiser is charged a small amount of money. A typical PPC campaign can be created using Google AdWords.
Benefits of testing keywords with PPC traffic
1. Saves time
Writing lots of articles to gain traffic to your web site takes a great deal of investment. If the keywords you target are not the ones people are entering in the search engines your traffic may not increase. You get the most impact the keywords that have been thoroughly researched.
2. Immediate results
You can set up a PPC campaign within 15 mins and start generating traffic. Within a few hours or days you will know what keywords attract the most visitors. You can then use these in your articles, web pages and blog entries.
3. Testing
You can test the demand for a new product or service without spending a lot of money. The keyword results will help you to write articles tailored to your market and drive traffic to your web site. Often the keyword you thought was popular is not the one that gets the most traffic. This saves you a lot of time and money.
4. Monitor results
Online marketing changes often. The keywords you once used may no longer produce the traffic you desire. With PPC traffic you can easily monitor what keywords are working for your market and adjust your strategies accordingly. This helps you to
stay ahead of your competition.
5. Budgeting
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to test your keywords with PPC. You can set a daily budget that can be adjusted according to the traffic you receive.
6. More traffic and sales
The ads from your PPC campaign may result in more traffic and increased sales. If this happens while researching keywords, keep the campaign going so you “kill 2 birds with one stone”…ie find high quality keywords and gain more visitors that buy your products or service.
7. No waiting
If your web site is not listed in the first page of the search engine results you won’t get much traffic. Getting ranked on the first page may take months or not at all if it’s a very competitive field. PPC enables you to get traffic immediately by displaying your ad down the right side of the first page.
Tips
If you can’t get PPC traffic from the keywords you are testing you certainly won’t get much traffic from other methods ie article marketing, SEO, web sites, blogs etc.
Make sure you are able to generate consistent traffic with PPC before choosing your niche. Even if you lose money by testing
your market with PPC, you won’t have wasted it by investing in something that has no demand.
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Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Design, SEO, Hosting
Receive fresh, in-depth articles articles on how to design, optimize and promote your web site by subscribing to his “Marketing Tips” newsletter at: http://www.isitebuild.com/
I don’t vouch for programs very often however this new service is superb. It is a key phrase tool having a database of millions of keyword phrases showing the adwords traffic count per month along with the google competition count as well as other numbers.
At a click of a button you will discover keyword phrases with traffic but no competition and I’ve used it already to get webpages and web sites to the top of the various search engines, even with no backlinks.
You can look at a video of it in use here – http://MarketEyeSite.com
I was just talking to my PPC marketing partner about this very topic. You must be psychic or something!