Revenue Advertising Cost Per Click and Banners

Advertising on other people’s websites works! However, the most important rule as with any advertising is to identify those websites that attract your target cliental and are therefore are a relevant point of contact for your customers. Statistical analysis show there is an optimum mix of banner ads that reinforce brand and banner ads that have a direct call to action message. It is possible to control the ads and a message a customer sees throughout this campaign to optimise this mix.

Cost per click advertising is popular, particularly with Google and there are few key rules that must be followed. These are:

• Only target keyword phrases in which your website does not already come in the top 10 results

• Use the ads to target specific pages. For example, for the keyword phrase “Melbourne hostel”the ad should link to the Melbourne hostel page.

• The heading and content of the ad are very important and should be continually reworked and tested. The best method is A/B testing which involves running exactly the same ad at the same time but with ever so slightly subtle text changes. For example, one add might say “Ayres Rock day trip” while the other says “Ayres Rock day tour”. Monitor the number of visits over say one week and see if there is an improvement from one to another. This process is dynamic and should never stop.

• Conversion rates must be monitored. This is very easily done with Google Adsense. A piece of JavaScript code is supplied that can be entered into the booking confirmation page which tracks the purchase to the ad that the customer came in on. Keyword phrases that do not generate conversion should be eliminated as they are costing money without generating revenue.

• Only target those keyword phrases that will realistically generate business.

Similarly, it has also been statistically shown that a mix of banner ads and search engine ads are optimal. A person who has been exposed to banner ads is as much as 27% more likely to select a search engine ad for a search term, and up 40% more likely thereafter to actually convert to a sale as a response to the search ad click, than a customer who comes to the website only via the search engine ad