Web Marketing all-in-one for Dummies®

Chapter 5. Budgeting and Bidding on Keywords

in this chapter

• Setting your PPC budget

• Deciding what to spend per keyword

• Managing the bidding process

• Targeting your spending by industry and niche

In this chapter, I talk about the most important aspect of your pay per click (PPC) account: money. The amount you spend and how you spend it determine the overall outcome of your campaigns — unless, of course, you have an unlimited budget and don't need to see a positive return on your investment. Very few marketers fall within that category, though.

The very first question you should ask yourself is "How much can I spend?" After you establish how much you can spend, you can really expand and optimize your account.

In this chapter, I help you decide where to set your daily budgets and how much to bid on a per-keyword basis. Depending on your industry, these costs can vary greatly, but if you follow the general rules of thumb in this chapter, you'll be managing your campaign costs like a pro.

Determining Your PPC Budget

Establish your PPC marketing budget with the assumption that you might not make it all back. Any get-rich-quick promises or pitches that guarantee that you'll quadruple your return on investment are just as fishy as they sound. Not all industries, products, or services flourish in PPC. Industries that sell equipment retailing for thousands of dollars might have a much harder time than a site that sells shoes, for example. Those types of industries should consider PPC to be a tool ...