Online Basic Strategy

For most businesses, the first thing to do is set up a Google AdWords campaign. It doesn't matter how long it takes to make that work. Every step of the process teaches you very important things, even if it's through trial and error.

Google AdWords it's just about the only way to get a steady, predictable stream of traffic day in and day out. Most other sources of traffic, like free search engine listings and PR, are things you have no real control of. You can easily track the level of response and test different campaigns simultaneously.

Once it's working on AdWords, you take the same messages and sales process and roll out your product in this order:

1. Google AdWords
2. Search Engine Optimization
3. Other PPC's like Yahoo and Bing etc etc.
4. Email promotions
5. Affiliates
6. Press Releases
7. Direct Mail
8. Print Advertising

Items #2 through 8 are more expensive and less "controllable" than Google.

Usually pay per click traffic represents only a tiny percentage of the people who are potential customers for you. When you roll out to items 2 through 8, you can often make five to fifty times as much money as you were making with AdWords. And no longer is it necessary to risk more than a few hundred dollars on a marketing campaign!

How to test New Products/Services for Under a Few Hundred Dollars

You've got a product idea. The product itself costs $50,000 to develop, and you're sure it's a good idea because it really solves as specific problem that many people are dealing with.

What you do is : You write a report, e-book or white paper about how to solve that problem. You create an opt-in page where people can get your report in exchange for their contact information.

Then you buy keywords, send people to that page and see how many people you can get to opt in.

That alone will tell you something.

And if you absolutely cannot get anybody to opt-in to your report - or if you can't find keywords that anyone is searching for - then that's a good sign you should abandon the project before you throw any more money at it.

When people do opt in, you can send them an email (or even call them on the phone) and ask them what they're really looking for. If your report is any good, they'll be happy to talk to you, and you'll get LOTS of input about the kinds of problems they're trying to solve.

It's impossible to do this and not learn some major things that you did not know or anticipate.

Not only will this process validate that you're solving a worthwhile problem; it will also fine tune your efforts so that you're dealing with the real problems that real people have!

It's worth repeating: after testing your concept, you'll never throw good money at a lousy product idea. And when you need assistance or investment money, you'll have proof that people are looking for what you have to sell.

AdWords or Free Search Engine Rankings: What is best?

A lot of people ask about the merits of buying clicks on search engines with AdWords, vs. getting free visitors with search engine optimization, where you load up your web page(s) with strategic keywords so you can get a good rank on search engines.

At first glance, of course free is more attractive than paid. You can do a lot if you are very creative and think out of the box when you market.

When doing it for free, remember that you can only optimize a website for ten or so words and phrases, so you should choose your words very carefully. Always check on the competition you are facing on those keywords. Find unexplored niches.

It is extremely important to choose the RIGHT words and phrases that in you specific case, will attract many interested prospects every day, and will filter prospects that will really appreciate – or are in need of – you product or service.

However, if you don't use a pay per click strategy to determine which words and phrases actually attract paying customers first, you will almost always choose the wrong keywords.  The words you initially think you want are almost always different than the ones that actually work.

Be aware that it takes 30 days to several months to see results when you're playing the search engine optimization game, so the faster you start targeting the correct keywords, the better.

When you do pay per click campaigns properly, you'll see that there are almost always a few really productive words and phrases that only 2-3 people are bidding on, instead of 10 or 20 bidders.  What that means is that those people are not optimizing their website(s) for those same keywords either.

Just like pay per click, search engine phrases have varying degrees of competitiveness.  If you want a #1
ranking for the phrase "Printer" it's going to be a LOT harder than getting a #1 ranking for "Brother MFC" which is a popular printer.  And the traffic will be much more targeted, too.  When you do search engine optimization, you must pick battles you can win.

When you are setting up your pay per click campaign, determine which keywords are productive, then do
search engine optimization based on what really works.

Trying to Sell Sophisticated Products on Google?

If the product you are selling is expensive, sophisticated, is technical and/or involves a complex buying process - or if your company sells to other businesses - one of the most powerful marketing tools that can help you is a White Paper.

A White Paper is a document, usually a few pages long, that states your company's position on how a problem should be solved. So if you sell drills, you can write a report on how to make better holes, and you'll get lots more sales leads than merely advertising information about your drills. Why does that work?  Because: Nobody who bought a drill wanted a drill.  They wanted a hole.  Offer information about making holes and you'll be much more successful.

If you give away information like that, Google AdWords is a great way to get web visitors to come to your website, fill out a form and download your report or white paper.