One question that I am often asked is how important is the place an advert is shown when using Pay Per Click Adverts? This is a good question and is related to some degree at least to the question about what Organic ranking it is best to have.
We will however concentrate on PPC here, only referring to Organic rankings as appropriate. So, what is the best position to have for your advert? Is it position 1, or 4, 10 or what?
The short answer, that will infuriate many, is that 'it depends' on what the advert is for. Before I go into my thoughts, it is important to grasp one most important fact, this fact being that no matter how good your advert is (or where it is on the screen) that your potential customers will look around the others and click them (and the organic listings too) as well as looking at yours.
This fact means that even though a certain position may get you the first click, that it does not guarantee that you will get the last one, the 'buy it' click. This will depend on where you land your customers and how good a 'deal' you are offering them. The best positioning in the world and the best advert text in the world will not make up for a poor landing page, or in some sectors at least a higher price tag on the goods.
Let me tell you a little story (a true one too)
I thought perhaps that going through the process of buying a camera (as I did last week) might help to illustrate the process, helping with not only this question, but also covering some other aspects of online marketing too.
So last week I decided that I wanted to buy a camera, one primarily that would also take reasonable videos for use on websites (mainly our own and YouTube). I had looked a few months before too, but had decided at that time not to buy. This in effect means that I had started the 'buying cycle' some weeks before. Don't know what the length the cycle for a camera is on average, (varies from product to product, the cheaper the product the faster the cycle, at least on average) but in my instance it must be about 8 weeks.
I had in my mind a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7, this in part being down to the TV ad (the dancing Statue of Liberty one) [ a point here about the power of TV ads ], but was not sure if this was the best bet. So I started looking around for Reviews. There were many of course and all were very helpful, but here the point is, are there any online reviews for your products? This is not always appropriate or possible, but if others have them and you do not, you could be in BIG trouble, as your product will be the one that people cannot find out what they want to know, i.e. what do others really think about it.
The reviews led, in this case to YouTube videos, showing the camera, how good it was at videos etc as well as showing the competition. Here is another good point. Do you have videos about your products or services. When you think of it, most businesses could have videos about what they do. Having an informative video could well make the difference of someone buying or contacting you so do think about getting some online.
So, I had looked around and had decided that the camera would do. I also decided that I was going to buy it online, the question was from whom. That I decided (like many others I expect) was going to be on price, at least on price from what looked like a genuine site. I had seen some links from the reviews to sites that were selling the camera and they were my first port of call. However, I was not going to leave it there and turned once again to Google (where I had started out with the query 'Panasonic Lumix reviews'.
Up came all the adverts of course, together with some Organic listings that were in the main all too general. No it was the adverts that caught my eye. Why?, well because many were telling me then and there how much the camera was going to cost, including such info as 'Free p&p'. The latter is important as some sites do, in my opinion charge far too much for this, often 'hiding' it until the last moment. Note, this is NOT a good idea, be as upfront as you can here, otherwise you risk loosing sales. Tip here, keep a good check on your shopping cart abandonment rates and make changes to see if you can improve things.
I clicked on the cheapest one first and had a look around for any catches. None were there, but there were other ads showing the camera at other (higher) prices and some with no prices. I clicked on about 5 in the end, but none could compete for the same product, the prices being sometimes as much as £80 dearer (for exactly the same product). So I went back to the first one, not because it was the first (this being a combination of being high on the front screen of Google AND more importantly the text and message - the price) but because it was the best DEAL.
By the way, it was also important that I was taken just where I wanted to be with one click (from the advert). I did not have to look around for the camera on the page, it was there right in front of me, all I had to do was to choose the colour. It even confirmed the price and free p&p.
So in the end, the other adverts had had their chance of getting me to click and some had succeeded, but only one company had sealed the order as they were selling at the best price (this time).
What all this boils down to in the end is that it is not positioning or even (to a degree at least) the text of the advert, but what that click leads too. So don't fret too much about not being No.1 on Google Adwords (or in the Organic Listings) as just being there on the front page for ads and in the first 2 to 3 pages of Organic listings will get you visits, all because people like to 'Pogo Stick' through the possibilities to see if they can find the best deal or source of information.
So, instead of concentrating on rankings, take a good look at how you are presenting your products for 'sale' and if it is a price sensitive market place consider putting the prices in the adverts. Plus ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS make it easy for people find what they are looking for and easy to buy it / contact you.
More soon
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