The reality is that there often simply is not enough highly affordable traffic to sustain business growth unless marketer optimizes landing page offer as well as search terms and makes them work as a team!

Search Engine Marketing works -- provided you are selling a product that has some demand, that is priced reasonably, and that you are able to satisfy basics of security and fulfillment. We can buy product names, brand names, and other hot terms that are very specific to a product we specialize in, and qualified customers will find us. The Vicious Cycle of SEM

The problem with search engine marketing is when you need to increase revenue and profitability. I cannot count number of times I have heard of marketers who have developed a list of 2,000 to 20,000 words and phrases to garner traffic. This number is inevitably reduced, sometimes to 100-150 high-performing terms, when cost per customer acquired soars beyond profitability.

Growing a list definitely grows traffic, but it can often be “bad traffic.” This traffic consists of words that are cheap, but have a .01 or even lower conversion rate during visits as well as words that have a 3% or more conversion rate, but end up costing $80-100 per acquired customer because of competition from other sellers.

For example, “ecommerce” is a high-traffic term, and results in a lot of clicks for online advertisers because searchers are usually looking for at least information if not an actual product or service. Unfortunately, this traffic is so unqualified that actually converting a visitor into a buyer of a commerce platform, consulting service, or marketing service is very unlikely.

Alternatively, names of brand name electronics equipment like Olympus C-460 can be high-conversion search terms, but even when they result in a purchase yield on sale does not merit cost paid for click. In our experience, you have to buy both product terms and category terms like these to maximize volume of traffic of your online segment.

Optimize your Landing Page

To make such a traffic purchase affordable, you need to optimize your “Landing Page” or page that PPC search term ad links to, on your site. Effective landing page optimization strategies include:

Subheads are great to use to break up your long ad copy. Your subheads will keep your visitor's interest in your marketing copy and help you to break up your information into short manageable chunks.

Your subheads should act like your headlines. Use your subheads to increase your visitor's interest in what you're talking about, draw your visitor into your ad copy, and to emphasize benefits of purchasing your product.

2. Use call to actions, such as "click here to order now" throughout your ad copy.

Use your call to actions after your testimonials, after listing benefits your visitors will get from purchasing your product, or along with your subheads.

3. Use bonuses to get more sales.

Add to your bonuses value by offering unique bonuses. For instance you could provide ebooks you've written, a consultation with you or access to your membership site.

In addition, you could add a lower priced product you sell as a bonus for buying a higher priced product.

For instance, if you sold autoresponders, you could provide an ebook you've written on email marketing as a bonus, for subscribing to your autoresponder service, a product that provides you with a residual income.

4. Provide your visitors with testimonials.

Your testimonials will add credibility to your ad copy and help you to strengthen your visitor's trust in your product.