Tracking & Measuring PPC Ads Effectiveness

[WebWooly]

WARNING - Noob question!!!!

I am still climbing the steep curve of entering the PPC arena.

Everyone (who seems to be anyone) speaks of the importance of tracking results over time, and regularly analysing that data to get smarter about what is working and bringing into better focus the 'why?"

Yet, in the textbooks I have to hand (Marshall etc) or on line, no one provides meaningly examples of how to do it. Google Report is an obvious starting point, but even that data needs to be massaged to surface meaning.

I am reasonably analytical in my approach, so the measurability aspect of PPC holds a lot of appeal. I come from an advertising background in my more tender years, where the prevailing dictum was "I know half my advertising budget is watsed; I just don't know which half!"

So my question is this, has anyone found a good methodology or developed one that they are prepared to share?

Daryl

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Daryl,

I assume you are doing PPC for affiliate program, not your own products?

It sounds like you are asking for strategy rather than a paid tracking solution but...

A company that recently called me for a consultation has a VERY interesting solution
to the question of "which keywords are bringing me sales and which ones are just sucking my money?" KeywordXRAY - XRAY Vision for Keywords

I think if I was doing PPC for affiliate programs I would be using something like this to track and optimize my campaigns. If I was making 10K or more a month at PPC and was working blind because I didn't know what was working - well it seems this could boost results by a large percentage and for the 47 a month cost, it seems like a no-brainer.

The things that is VERY cool about this program is it will tell you which keywords made the sale without you having to get all your merchants to add a special tracking pixel to their cart, which lets face it merchants just arent going to be adding a separate tracking pixel for each affiliate that wants one.

This is not probably what you wanted to know but it just seemed the fit the question.

Disclaimer: I have not tried the product and am not endorsing it, just sharing the info. FOR NOOBS I would not recommend investing in a tool like this until you learn the basics of PPC and start to make some money.

[Rob_TID]

This is my solution of choice at the moment.

And it's free.

Quit Your Day Job Internet Marketing Blog » Blog Archive » Using PHP to Track Search Campaigns

[MrCat]

PPC is a very effective way given the proper treatment. Identify your niche and select the market you want to cater to and start from there. Research also on the keywords your desired market would most likely be looking for. You should be more focused on getting targetted traffic than just page views. Buying targetted link backs are also effective at getting targetted traffic. It really all boils down to what your site offers to your traffic