Keyword Cost Guideline and PPC Specialist Costs

Keywords cost anything from £0.01, meaning that potentially you can pay only £0.01 for a visitor to your site. The keyword cost is determined by the number of companies bidding for that keyword.

Generic one-word keywords such as ‘marketing’ are very expensive whereas more specific keywords such as ‘cheap marketing ideas uk’ are less competitive and therefore less expensive. Expect to pay at least £0.05 per click, and usually in the region £0.10 – £0.30 per click for most sectors.

Pay per click (PPC) advertising has developed into an industry of its own. Writing effective adverts, improving conversions, and getting higher ad positions has become specialised skills. If you have a large monthly budget for PPC advertising it may be worth considering outsourcing it to a PPC specialist. They usually charge 10% of total ad spend.

Google has an excellent statistical centre where you can track click-throughs, conversions, and average cost-per-click. The click-through rate is usually in the region of 2-5%, and your web site is doing very well if 5% of your visitors are converted into sales.

Web sites are renowned for having very low conversion rates so to make your PPC advertising cost-effective you may wish to see how many of your click-throughs go on to register or make a sale. Google offers are very good free tracking tool in the Adwords control panel, simply requiring you to enter HTML code on the relevant pages.

To reduce cost-per-click you can choose longer more specific keyword phrases three or four words in length. Fewer companies will choose to target these words and as a result it will cost less.

The position of your advert in Google is dependent on click-throughs and the amount you bid. Therefore even if you bid less than competitors you can still achieve a higher position if you write a more attention-grabbing ad. In Google Adwords you can write a couple of ads and let Google display the one that is more effective more often.

Alternatively write a specialised advert for each search phrase, including the search phrase text in the title of the advert. People are drawn to the adverts that mention what they are looking for in the title and will subsequently be more likely to click on your advert.

Again, PPC specialists are experts in the area of writing ads and more cost-effective click-throughs so it may be worth looking to recruit one if you’re spending hundreds of pounds per month on pay per click advertising.