Selecting which phrase will produce highest ROI based on these numbers can be a bit more involved, weighing a number of factors such as cost in either time or money (or both) to optimize for various phrases, sales-per-click ratio, etc. Basically what you want to do is consider your budget vs. how much can you make per click and thus, how many sales you can expect per day based on keyword phrase you have chosen to target. If a promotion can pay for itself over a 3 to 6 month period of time, thus producing a surplus after it is paid off, it can be considered a successful promotion.

It should be noted that this step is not an exact science. The number of sales you will get per day will be dependant on exactly what position you attain on natural engines (your content is also important obviously, however you will have used your existing content on PPC engines so for most part you will be comparing apples-to-apples). There will be some guestimation but you will get a good idea of how many sales you would make if you ranked in same position for all of possible phrases.

While I have not tested above noted phrases on PPC engines and applied them to natural engines I would feel confident in predicting ROI would be higher for “acne treatment” based on two factors:

1. The competition is lower and thus number of sales required to produce a return on investment is about half that of phrase “acne”.
2. The phrase is far more targeted. People searching for “acne” may be writing papers on subject or just looking for information whereas people searching for “acne treatment” are far more likely to be looking for a solution to an acne problem.

While I have my instinct on subject, were I to advise a client on best possible strategy I would have to recommend testing these phrase on PPC engines. It may extend promotion for a bit but in end decision on which keyword phrase makes best target will be based far more on statistics and facts than a simple guestimate.

Additional Considerations:

While this article’s purpose is to explain how PPC engines can be used to help increase ROI of a search engine positioning campaign, your use of PPC engines should not stop there. While you are testing out phrases you should be making sales as well. If revenue generated from PPC promotion is higher that it’s cost then stick with it. PPC engines are a great testing ground however they’re also a great source of leads and revenue if used correctly.

There are many PPC engines out there. We’ve researched a number of them and posted ones that have produced highest ROI for our clients on our PPC Engines page. These are engines that we have found are worth sticking with once any testing phase is complete. In case of primary engines (Google and Overture) you will have to use your discretion based on cost-per-click to determine whether they are worth testing or advertising on.

Dave Davies is CEO of Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning, Inc. He has been optimizing and ranking websites for over three years and has a solid history of success. Dave is available to answer any questions that you may have about your website and how to get it into top positions on major search engines.

Tip #2: Use Your Description to Pre-quality and Pre-sell

If searcher gets past title to description you're doing well...but you have to hook them with your description. Again, make sure description elaborates on title and tells your searcher EXACTLY what they can expect.

This is also a way you can further 'pre-qualify' your traffic. You don't want to spend money on people who don't fit your perfect customer criteria so be as specific as possible about what your website offers them.

Don't just say "A website that sells a variety of cheesecakes" Pre-sell and pre-quality your traffic with a description like:

"Gourmet New York Specialty cheesecakes sold exclusively online. From Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake to Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake. Check out our online catalogue if you want to serve your guests something heavenly!"

Makes your mouth water already doesn't it? And chances are that someone only looking for a free cheesecake recipe won't click through so you've prequalified your traffic and your conversion rate will go through roof!

Tip #3: Think 'Niche' with your keywords

Unless you are Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, chances are you can't afford to spend $5.00 on word "diet". That's ok - you don't have to.

You can pick up a huge variety of more specific keywords that probably very few pay per click competitors have bid on (for example, what about 'heart healthy diet'?)

Just make sure to do your homework and remember to get misspellings people use also.

So those are 3 tips to get most from your pay per click campaign. By grabbing customers with an attention getting title, prequalifying them with a detailed description and choosing niche keywords, you’re sure to get ready-to-buy traffic for pennies per keyword.

Good luck and may you make millions with your online business!

Kate O’Neill is chief editor for Pay Per Click Advertising – a website dedicated to helping you run a successful, optimized pay per click campaign.

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