[Build Backlinks Online] 5 Ways to Prove to the Client that the Traffic Will Come

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, '5 Ways to Prove to the Client
that the Traffic Will Come'


Posted by james.harrison
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it
provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are
entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.

This post is dedicated to those hard-working white-hat SEOs helping websites
obtain top search engine rankings the right way. Sometimes we have to remind the
client that slow and steady wins the race. However, the majority of the time the
client doesn't want to hear that, especially if they are paying for SEO services
month after month.


Yes, SEO is an investment; however, showing them that they are investing in
your services and skills requires a little more than just performing SEO
services. Due to the search share click distribution, the client canât
really expect major increases in traffic until they reach the first page of the
SERPs. Sometimes they can see instant increases in traffic via long-tailed terms
after completion of thorough on-page optimization. But, for the most part we
have to educate them so that they will be patient. Remember, they hired you
because they are not experts in SEO, itâs important to teach them the
benefits as well as the slow process of organic SEO.




Below are five things you can do to help your client rest assured that you are
doing an effective job, and with time, traffic will come.


#1 â Rankings reports and keyword improvements

This is kind of a given, because traditionally all we could do is show the
client that we helped them go from the 100th position to 50th position. That
almost never reflects more traffic, but it does show improvement. It also shows
effort, and if you get two consistent upward movements, you can show that
thereâs a trend in their favor.


Another keyword improvement you can show them is total keywords bringing
traffic to their website in Google Analytics. If you go to Sources > Search
> Organic, then scroll down to bottom right, you can see how many total
keywords have brought traffic to their site in the current date range. If you
change the date range to a range pre-SEO work and that number is smaller than
the most recent, you can say that you are increasing their overall visibility.
So, if you can show improvement in rankings and that they are getting more
organic traffic via more keywords on the SERPs; you are showing them that they
are making progress. For most clients, this is enough.



#2 â Working logs

Every once in a while, a client may want some updates on how the SEO is going
because they aren't seeing an increase in traffic or conversions. In other
words, they want to know what you have been doing.


I recommend recording all work you've done for the client regardless of the
complexity and time it took. Create events in Google Analytics or your SEO tool
software. These are easy ways to document your work while showing correlations
with traffic. Another way I've satisfied my clients is having something like
BaseCamp or a time tracker that they can sign in to and see what has been
accomplished.


Behind the scenes, we know things are going good and we know that we are doing
work to get those rankings up, however the client doesn't. Anything you can do
to allow the client to check on what you've done for them, whenever they want,
can sometimes prevent emails or phones calls questioning your efforts.

#3 â Summary reports and updates

Sometimes, emailing the client or getting on the phone with them weekly or
bimonthly is all they need. When you reach out to the client before they reach
out to you, you are squashing embers before the fire starts. It shows them that
you are proactive and more importantly that you havenât forgot about them.
Emailing or calling them just to let them know that you've accomplished
something or that you were thinking about them while working on their account
can go a long way.


I believe this is arguably the most important thing you can do to build long
term relationships with your clients. It can be something as simple as "Hey, I
just wanted to let you know that we wrote up some content, emailed a few
webmasters and been working on your rankings. Just an FYI, give you more details
in the monthly report." This communication can make a clientâs day and
maintain their trust for you and your services.


#4 â Other metrics to report

Assuming that you are doing your job, you can report other metrics to the
client if rankings and traffic have not kicked in yet. Metrics such as total
links contacted out of total link goals, total tweets, fans, +1s, shares, pages
per site visited, site bounce rate, conversion rate, total live links,
subscribers, etc. Anything that will show them that the website is doing better
than when you started. However, in order to provide these types of stats, you
have to create a benchmark to show how where they are now is better than where
they started.



#5 â Resources vouching that SEO takes time

In the case that the client is still skeptical and the results are not yet
able to prove your work, the best thing you can do is show them that even the
authorities such as Search Engine Watch, Moz, Search Engine Journal, Google,
etc., all confirmed that rankings don't happen overnight. Perhaps you can do a
better job educating them about the fact that itâs a campaign to catch up
with the competition; that the competitors who are ranking high have performed a
long list of tasks over years to get to where they are, and you are emulating
them in the most efficient way possible.



So...

...there you have it, five ways to let the clients know that you are doing
what needs to be done in order to obtain top rankings. Just donât forget
that the client may still need to trust that the tasks you are accomplishing
actually works. So you may have to prove to them that your strategies have
helped other clients, or that you are doing what the algorithm, case studies and
the competition proves needs to be done.


I hope this helps my fellow white-hat SEOs performing legit services keep good
relationships with their clients.

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hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think
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[Build Backlinks Online] Having a CAPTCHA is Killing Your Conversion Rate

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'Having a CAPTCHA is Killing Your
Conversion Rate'


Posted by tallen1985

SEOs can occasionally find ourselves guilty of focusing on just the following
few things:



Links
Rankings
Fun cuddly animals that Google keeps releasing from its algorithmic zoo



Quite often we are heard muttering that user experience isn't really our
problem. We are all about the above three points. However, as the job of SEOs
continues to become broader, requiring a greater number of skill sets, I think
user experience is something we can all work on. Besides, surely if we focus
some of our energy on this, we are going to end up with much happier users,
which in turn will result in higher conversions.


There are various ways to work on improving user experience, and of course,
conversion rate optimization also plays a part. Today, I want to focus on one
specific part of user experience â CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public
Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) â and why I think they
suck.

CAPTCHAs ask frustrating questions

When you encounter a CAPTCHA, you are being asked the question,"Are you a
robot?" It's like asking a customer who is about to enter a physical store, "Are
you a thief?" before you allow them to walk through the door. So we used to
flood our users with these "questions:"






And from there we have now moved to this:






Literally every time I see one of the above it makes me wish that this was on
a nearby wall:





CAPTCHAs act as a barrier between you and your customers

Back in 2009, Casey Henry wrote a great post on CAPTCHA's effect on conversion
rates. He highlighted the fact that with CAPTCHA turned off, a company's
conversion rate would increase by up to 3.2%. It's worth noting that the CAPTCHA
type used in this test was based on the more traditional word format. That 3.2%
is a pretty big potential gain for a whole lot of companies.




Traditional Word Format CAPTCHA



CAPTCHAs are not a solution, they are a problem

At the beginning of 2013 it was announced that Ticketmaster was finally
ditching its traditional CAPTCHAs. Ticketmaster proceeded with an alternative
system by SolveMedia. The system presents users with an image or video, the user
then has to type a phrase associated with that image. In the video version of
the product, a descriptive phrase will appear which the user then has to copy
into a box below. If they are not willing to do this, they need to watch the
video for a certain amount of time (similar to YouTube advertising) before
continuing.




Right now, companies are producing variations of novelty products aimed at
helping us to stop spam from landing in our inboxes. Many products claim they
are aimed at improving the user experience by making this easier for humans.
They come in a variety of styles, ranging from completing a simple sum to those
that are image-based or even gamifying CAPTCHAs (such as Are You Human).


Yet all of these "solutions" create the same problem. I, the user, am trying
to complete a purchase, fill in a form, or even just submit a comment. And you,
the website, keep putting this frustrating technological barrier between myself
and my goal, just so you don't have to sort through a few items of spam.


Another major concern is that these products aren't particularly user-friendly
for those who are blind or partially sighted. Some simply offer the same audio
CAPTCHAs (and problems) that we have been experiencing for as long as we
remember.

CAPTCHA is built for advertising, not users

The key difference for me with image-based products such as SolveMedia and
Minteye is that they seem to act as another opportunity to push an advert in
front of users. In some cases they force you to watch an advert just to progress
to the next page.






Users don't want to see adverts even when they are "subtly" placed around a
beautifully designed page. Yet, more and more we are moving away from giving the
user a choice about viewing an advert to the point where adverts are forced upon
them (ahem...YouTube).

So people must be ditching CAPTCHA, right?

Despite statistics like those shared by Casey Henry, the fact is that the use
of CAPTCHA is actually on the increase. Perhaps for many webmasters this is just
becoming common practice, almost the norm. After all, it's a quick fix that
means we, as webmasters, no longer have to worry about dealing with spam.


Figures from Drupal's usage statistics show that they alone have nearly
200,000 people using one of their variants of CAPTCHA. This is a barrier to a
more fulfilled user experience that doesn't seem to be going away.




https://drupal.org/project/usage/captcha

"CAPTCHAs are designed to be easy for humans but hard for machines"

...according to a study carried out by Stanford University into the use of
CAPTCHA by humans. Yet, by testing more than 1,100 people, gathering 11,800
completed surveys, and studying 14,000,000 samples from a week's worth of data
from eBay, they revealed just how difficult CAPTCHA has become for humans.


The study showed that, on average:



Visual CAPTCHAs take 9.8 seconds to complete
Audio CAPTCHAs take much longer (28.4 seconds) to hear and solve
Audio CAPTCHA has a 50% give-up rate
Only 71% of the time will 3 users agree on the translation of a CAPTCHA
Only 31.2% of the time will 3 users agree on the translation of an audio
CAPTCHA



With around 1% of the audience currently using audio CAPTCHA, this is
potentially a huge market to lose.

So what is the solution?

There is a time and a place for CAPTCHA. For some sites, it may be
unavoidable. However, any solution that is extremely effective rapidly becomes
widely used, and as such, becomes a target for hackers.


There are some really simple solutions already out there that will help to
reduce the amount of spam you receive but won't interfere with your user
experience.

Akismet

Akismet provides an effective defence that has no impact upon your users. It
comes as a variety of plugins and is generally easy to implement on your site.
Akismet monitors millions of sites, constantly learning new methods to beat
comment spam.

The honeypot technique

Essentially, the honeypot technique is used to hide a field on a form from the
user. If this field is then filled in, the chances are pretty high it was by a
machine. The major downside to this method is that the form could be
accidentally completed by a visually impaired user. Therefore, it might be
useful to also label the field with something such as, "If you are human, don't
fill in this field".


We still ultimately have the problem that whatever we do to ensure a user
doesn't fill in the form, a malicious script could perform its own
interpretations by learning which labels mean that a field should be left alone.


However, the key benefit to this method is that the user isn't getting
punished by being asked to complete something that is irrelevant to their
actions.

Is it time you ditched your CAPTCHA?

I think we need to focus on what creates a better experience for users by
asking ourselves the following questions:



Is the amount of spam you are receiving really worth potentially losing
conversions?
If the answer is yes, is your CAPTCHA friendly to all users, including those
who are visually impaired?
CAPTCHAs are for robots, not for humans. Unfortunately, anything one person
can code to try and prevent robots from entering a site is something another can
find a way through. The real consideration is, are we just shoving our problem
with spam onto our customers?


When it comes down to it, CAPTCHAs lead to a negative experience on our
sites. They frustrate users, damage conversion rates, and they are not
particularly friendly to visually impaired users. Most of all, it is shifting
our problem onto our users. That's definitely not right. Getting rid of CAPTCHAs
will not only improve our users' experiences, but it will also improve the web
as a whole. This should be the beginning of the end of the CAPTCHA. If you have
a CAPTCHA, I urge you to remove it now!




What do you think?


Image credits


http://gizmodo.com/5980361/ticketmaster-is-dumping-awful-captchas


http://www.richgossweiler.com/projects/rotcaptcha/rotcaptcha.pdf


http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Bang_Head_Here_25.jpg

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Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'The 12 Common Denominators of Internet Millionaires'

Have you ever wondered how certain individuals are able to break-out and make millions from the internet? Are you curious what really separates them from the average majority?

Lastly, what if I told you that 99% of rich online entrepreneurs had 12 things in common AND if you modeled them, your path to 7 figures was inevitable.

Do I have your attention yet?

Good… You’re going to find this blog incredibly revealing.

When I began my internet entrepreneur journey in late 2005, I wish I would’ve known these secrets I’m going to share with you today.

It would’ve saved me countless months of frustration.

Without delay, here are the 12 common denominators of internet millionaires:

1. They’re Crystal Clear on What They Want

Most millionaires I’ve become friends with mapped-out their ideal life LONG before it ever came to be. They didn’t write-down and set goals for what they “thought” they could get either.

They put down on paper what they really wanted in life. This encompassed all areas (business, material, health, relationships, spiritual, etc.). Specificity is king, too.

Just saying “I want to make more” doesn’t do anything to attract your ideal life. Why? It’s unattainable. There’s no defined, exact figure. It can’t be reverse engineered.

How much do you really want to make? How much does it cost to live the life you’ve always imagined?

Seriously, make a chart, get specific, and map-out everything you want for you and the family. Also, include how much it costs. Then when you have a grand total / month, you NOW have a clear picture.

2. They Start an Online Business Around Their Passion

To make a cool 7 figures from the internet, you need to absolutely love what you do. I mean, you have to be freekin IRRATIONALLY passionate about the business!

When you’re just starting-out, don’t be surprised to find you’re putting in 10-12 hour days.

In order to do this day-in and day-out, you must love what you do. In fact, even though you’re getting things accomplished, it might not even feel like work.

ALL of the internet millionaires I’ve met started businesses around things they were passionate about. They found solutions to problems that other people faced. That set the stage for vast prosperity and abundance.

3. They Network with Other Internet Millionaires

Every 7 figure earner I know is in a high-level mastermind group where they interact with other millionaires. They have coaches because they’re always searching to improve their results and make a greater impact.

Seasoned millionaires can provide objective feedback and find overlooked holes or additional profit centers. They give PROVEN advice that’s worked in their own business.

Of course, these mastermind groups are not cheap and some are by invitation only. However, the investment you make can come back 10-14 fold in a few weeks. I’m living proof.

When you network with other A-players and top earners, fast business growth is inevitable. These guys don’t think like everyone else, hence the reason they’re in the top 1%!

Networking, modeling, and heeding millionaire advice can TRANSFORM your life for obvious reasons.

4. They Hire Their Weaknesses

Wealthy internet entrepreneurs hire people SMARTER than they are to execute their visions. They know what they’re good at and delegate everything else. You’ll never see them trying to learn everything, attempting to be a jack of all trades.

Millionaires also know that TIME is the one thing you can never get back.

Time is more valuable than money, so they hire people for things they’re not good at or aren’t a productive use of their time, such as household chores.

Work ON the business, become resourceful, and be the creative driver. Don’t work “in” the business.

5. They Take Massive, Focused Action Daily

I’ve never met a lazy internet millionaire even though you don’t have to look too far online to find folks that try to sell this idea. Seven figure earners make a list of goals / tasks to accomplish each day.

Then, they work hard and stay focused for the allotted time-frame.

They don’t expect someone will save them (government, lucky star, lottery, etc…). They also don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis or waiting for the “perfect” time.

The action millionaires take is massive, consistent, and unrelenting.

6. They Understand it’s NOT About The Tactics

It always blows my mind how many internet entrepreneurs trade their job in corporate America only to become a slave to their online business. Here’s what I mean. There’s no shortage of marketing tactics or busy stuff you “could be doing” on the web.

God knows many social media gurus love to teach the latest and greatest strategy, giving you more shit to do.

The reality is, there’s no one magic bullet to getting all the traffic and sales you can handle. If you don’t have a solid foundation and if your website doesn’t convert traffic into sales, you’ll continue to struggle for peanuts.

At the end of the day, sales conversion is the metric of all metrics. This is what gets you paid like a rockstar.

7. They Know Their Email List is Their Biggest Asset

Ask any internet marketer that’s sold millions of dollars worth of products and services what their most valuable business asset is. Don’t be shocked when they tell you it’s their email list(s) that they’ve built from scratch.

You won’t hear them talking too much about Facebook fans, YouTube subscribers, LinkedIn connections, etc. They understand social media is just one of many mediums to get qualified, prospective customers onto their email list.

Your email list is the one thing that Google or Facebook cannot take away from you. There’s so many ways to deliver value and monetize it as well. The money is in the list and it’s your lifeblood online.

8. They Know How to Sell

This one single skill-set is what separates the internet elite from the average majority. Mastering the art of selling can add another zero (or two) to your bottom line. Why is this? Here’s the deal.

You could have the best product / service in the world, but if you can’t actually get someone to take their credit card out and invest in what you’re offering… it doesn’t matter.

Let’s be clear.

When I refer to selling, I’m talking about educating an already interested person in such a way where they take the next step immediately. You elicit a direct response.

The consumer sees the value, they get the benefits, they understand the product, and they believe it will get them the result they’re seeking. This compels them to buy now.

9. They Educate Themselves on How to Be More Successful

Right now, if you were to walk into an internet millionaire’s home, you’d probably find an extensive library of books regarding personal growth, development, and biographies.

Wealthy people are always learning from others that have had great success (in all areas of life). You won’t find tabloids, entertainment magazines, and novels sitting on the table like what the average person reads.

Nor will you find them spending hours on end in front of the Tel-Lie-Vision.

10. They’re Not Afraid to Take Risks

Most individuals are incredibly afraid of failure and rejection. They avoid situations that make them uncomfortable / uncertain at all costs. The majority prefer to be in their safe-house, hence a big reason why they live a mediocre life, never realizing what they’re truly capable of.

Internet millionaires don’t mind uncertainty or unknown territory. In fact, they’re always pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. They understand this is how personal growth and dramatic life breakthroughs happen.

The upper class look at risk differently, too.

They live without regrets and don’t let the “what if (something negative) happens” scare them. Risk is a part of life. It’s far riskier to remain static, never fulfilling your maximum potential.

11. They’re Always Paying it Forward

Internet millionaires have a burning desire to contribute, make a difference, and leave a strong legacy. This is what motivates and drives most, not the money.

What’s interesting here is their habit of giving usually begins long before material wealth is accumulated. It’s almost as if the universe rewards massive giving with more prosperity and abundance.

The best feeling in the world comes when you’re on-purpose paying it forward.

12. They Create Multiple Streams of Passive Income

Every single millionaire I’ve become friends with, interviewed, or met at a seminar has multiple sources of passive income. This is money that gets deposited in the bank without them having to even think about it or do additional work.

The top 1% build their internet empire like the Parthenon.

If one pillar goes down, there are several other pillars supporting the main structure. They’ve set their businesses up in such a way that they couldn’t stop the money pouring-in even if they tried.

This concept is critical to understand and implement.

In the information publishing business (the biz we’re in), there are several ways to establish consistent flows of recurring, effortless revenue. Everything from ebooks, dvd trainings, coaching programs, software, membership sites, consulting, speaking, iPhone apps, and more.

If you seriously want to create multiple streams of passive income or if you already have one, but are not seeing the results you know you’re capable of, I have great news.

You have the opportunity to work one-on-one and get my most complete training on all aspects of creating a 7-figure internet empire. Two application-based options are available.

Find out if you qualify for private one-on-one coaching or the Total Immersion Day experience today.

Hopefully, you found this post valuable and it opened your eyes to the common habits and practices of internet millionaires. Wealth IS truly predictable if things are done in a certain way.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below to share with the community…

–

Did you like this post? Click the Facebook "like" button below and share it with your friends.

Related Blog Posts:

Before You Start an Online Business, Watch This FIRST!

Prada Branding Secrets for Entrepreneurs

3 Ways to Add an EXTRA $100,000 in Recurring Income this Year

Is Philanthropy Part of Your Social Media Strategy?

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Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'Enhanced Campaigns: What Geographical Targeting With Bid Modifiers Can Do For You'

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Now that July 22 has come and gone, let's take a moment to look at one of the more promising new Enhanced Campaign features: geographical (location) targeting with bid modifiers.

You're probably thinking, "But we've always been able to target a specific location or state, even before Enhanced Campaigns." And you are right, location-based targeting did exist before Enhanced Campaigns. But now there is a new function called Bid Modifiers to better enable geographic-based targeting. Before Enhanced Campaigns, if you wanted to target a specific state/city/zip code/region, you would have to create an entirely new campaign unique to that targeted area. This often turned into a lengthy and time-consuming task, especially if more than one location needed to be targeted. Now, with Bid Modifiers, we can set bidding adjustments for specific locations within each campaign. Big timesaver!

How to Enable Location Targeting in Enhanced Campaigns

To enable this function you must first add the desired locations to the campaign by going into the Settings Tab. From there you will need to click the Locations button and then go to "Edit Locations":

Next we add in our locations and hit save:

After adding in our locations we now see the Bid Modifier section for each location:

From here we can now set the bid adjustment for each location.

Some Tips for Geotargeting with Bid Modifiers in Enhanced Campaigns

If there is a location where the campaign is performing well or that you specifically want to target, you would set a positive bid adjustment. So say we want to target California more heavily than the United States as a whole: By setting a +10% bid adjustment we are telling AdWords to increase our Maximum CPC bid in California by 10%. This means if an ad group has a Maximum CPC of $3.00, with the bid modifier the Maximum CPC for California now becomes $3.30.

The inverse works as well. Say we want to lower bids in California (because clicks in that location aren't worth as much), we could set a -10% bid adjustment. If the ad group's Maximum CPC is $3.00, then with the negative bid adjustment it becomes $2.70.

This new Bid Modification feature in AdWords allows for a much more granular level of management within each campaign, and can provide very positive results – as I am about to demonstrate.

Case Study: Better Results with Bid Modifier Geotargeting

Below are some results from a client of mine who sells plumbing fixtures, filters, and water tanks through their online retail store. The top 5 converting states for this client make up 42% of their year-to-date (2013) revenue, showing the importance of bid modifiers. By targeting these top 5 states with a +30% bid adjustment, as well as making smaller adjustments to other states, we were able to greatly improve the overall metrics of the account from June 2012 to June 2013.

These were the metrics in June 2012 before bid modifiers were enabled on the account:

The metrics look pretty good, but they could be better! Here is the same account in June 2013, when bid modifiers were used:

Notice the improvement!

• The cost per conversion dropped 27.4% from $14.16 to $10.28
• Conversions grew 57.76% from 1,127 to 1,778,
• Click-through rate (CTR) increased 12.71%, from 1.81% to 2.04%.

To accomplish this, we adjusted the bids to increase in the areas that were converting well at a low cost per conversion and decreased bids in the areas that were either poorly converting or converting at too high a cost.

Congratulations, you now know how to geographically target with bid modifiers! Go forth and be prosperous!

 

 

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

You may view the latest post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WordStreamBlog/~3/_ITX_0QSdCo/geotargeting-with-bid-modifiers You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are posted. Best regards, Build Backlinks Online peter.clarke@designed-for-success.com

[Build Backlinks Online] When Funny Becomes Inferno a Cautionary Tale of Social Media Humor Gone Wrong

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'When Funny Becomes Inferno a
Cautionary Tale of Social Media Humor Gone Wrong'

An alert Convince & Convert fan sent me a Twitter direct message this week,
alerting me to a gaping, self-inflicted social media wound bleeding all over the
Facebook page of the Evansville, Indiana airport. The status update in question
has been removed, but I grabbed some screen shots before admins realized they
had no career [...]When Funny Becomes Inferno a Cautionary Tale of Social Media
Humor Gone Wrong is a post from: Convince and Convert: Social Media Strategy and
Content Marketing Strategy


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[Build Backlinks Online] Why Is the Customer Always Right?

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'Why Is the Customer Always
Right?'

Customer service has proven to be a very difficult part of business for me.
Selling online digital products has proven to have it's own challenges. The
reality is no matter what marketing service you use, it will not make your blog
a success. Your writ...

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Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'The PPC Guide for Beginners, Part 2: Setting Your PPC Goals'

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This is Part 2 in a 5-part series. Read the rest of the series here:

• The PPC Guide for Beginners, Part 1

Okay. So, you are hopeful that a pay-per-click marketing campaign, correctly organized, could help jumpstart sales and bring in a sorely needed boost in revenue. You've heard about others who have succeeded with PPC, now you want to know whether the expenditures necessary to get your project on board would provide sufficient return on investment (ROI).

Let's talk about that – starting from the beginning.

What are the right goals for a PPC marketing campaign?

Everyone needs a goal – a destination. Sure, it can be fun to simply hop in the car and start driving … not knowing or caring where you end up or when you get there. Our busy lives don't allow that luxury often, though. Most of the time, our journeys require a good deal of planning.

via Patxi Izkue

That is especially true in business. Those who know the results they seek, and have a system in place to measure progress, are way ahead of any less-prepared competition.

Take a few minutes to think about what you hope to see happen in a PPC campaign. The bottom line, for most businesses, is sales – so how many ways can you think of that a concerted effort at PPC could help move your products or services?

• Do you utilize an online shopping cart for taking orders? Would it be helpful if more people found out about your company and visited your site? It's tough to beat a sales method that offers 24/7 access, is always smiling, and can have orders waiting for you when you get to the office in the morning (maybe even already shipped and on the way to your happy customers). Pay-per-click can help you realize that dream. The right strategy can bring you more business fast. But it all begins with goals.
• Are you trying to get better known, hoping to tie your name to your business focus? There was a time when anyone who wanted a soft drink needed a "coke" – even if the real desire was for a root beer. Coca-Cola became so entrenched in the minds of consumers that the name became ubiquitous. What if every potential buyer of automobiles in Dallas, Texas (for instance) thought of your business first when it was time for a new car or truck? Pay-per-click can help build your brand by consistently keeping your message in front of targeted consumers.
• Does your business work from leads? Do you have a sales force hungry for names and numbers of people interested in the things they are commissioned to sell? By focusing on lead generation, you can boost the number of inquiries entering your sales funnel and rapidly build your list of qualified prospects.

These are examples of strategic goals. The nuts and bolts of your PPC marketing campaign will consist of tactics – specific actions taken to improve your  click-through rate (CTR), grow your list of targeted keywords, and reduce your cost per conversion – but your goals must be clearly defined and understood by everyone on your PPC team before tactics can be effectively implemented.

Richard Farr, CEO of ConversionMax, says that someone just starting out with online PPC advertising should determine which goals "act as good leading indicators before the big ones will probably happen." Does your sales path require potential customers to watch a video, for instance, before requesting a quote? Then one of your first goals should be to get the right people to watch that video.

You see, it all begins with goals.

Now, let's have some fun.

What does NASA have to do with pay-per-click advertising?

When I was a business college undergraduate, I had the good fortune of sitting in on a series of classes given by a professor who had worked with the Apollo program at NASA. He was in the mission control center when astronaut Jim Lovell announced that the Apollo 13 crew "had a problem."

During one of our sessions, the professor turned to the class and asked, "How does NASA know when they have a problem?"

That's a good question – and, for that matter, how do you and I know when we have a problem? The answer is both simple and profound. Don't miss the significance: NASA defines a "problem" as a "deviation from a standard" – a gap between the expected situation and the current situation. Before you can have a problem, you must have expectations.

No goals. No problems.

Before you get going down the wrong road with that, though, let's consider how it plays out in the world of business.

Let's say you have determined it is essential for your company to realize gross sales of at least $50,000 this week (way too high for some, way too low for others … but let's say). You tally up the results on Friday and determine sales topped out at $10,000 for the week.

Do you have a problem?

One must, of course, set an acceptable deviation from the standard – but an 80% drop from sales expectations would likely qualify as a problem in anyone's book.

Let's take our thinking one step further: Once you realize you have a problem, what can you do about it?

How does NASA solve a problem?

The next part of the professor's story is so simple it can easily be set aside. Don't do that. There is a nugget here that can make all the difference in your business (or personal) life.

Here's the kicker:  Every problem contains its own solution.

When NASA detects a problem – a deviation from a standard – they determine the gap. For them, perhaps a certain pump is reading 20 psi, but it should be showing 35 psi. The gap, then, is 15 psi.

Your PPC marketing goal is different, but the concept is the same. You must describe the current situation ($10,000 in sales this week) and compare it to the expected or desired situation ($50,000 in sales this week). You then ask this critical question: How can we move from where we are to where we want to be?

In other words: "How can we close the gap?"

via Matthew Simantov

Rocket your PPC results by setting smart goals

Goals, standards, objectives – call them what you will, but they are essential to every successful journey. If you don't know where you want to go, you can't determine whether you are getting closer or further away. And once you have determined your goals, be sure to set acceptable deviations. That will give you a trigger point to tell you when some type of action is required.

The crew of Apollo 13 knew something had to be done. That set off a string of events that, first, determined the gap (a threat to the oxygen supply) and, then, a way to close it.

For most organizations, sales revenue is the oxygen supply. Without sufficient cash coming in, the business will, at some point, not be able to survive. Don't worry about all the intricacies and tweaks and theories of PPC right now. Break your situation down into its simplest denominators and organize them by priority. Determine where you are and where you want to go. Take a look at the gap between those two positions and envision the events and processes that must occur for the gap to be closed.

It is often helpful to work backwards, saying "We need $50,000 in sales this week. For that to happen, we must make presentations to 100 qualified customers. For that to happen, we must generate 500 targeted leads …" you get the picture.

Then ask one question: How can a PPC campaign help me get from here to there?

In the next installment of this series, we will talk about what to do with a click once you have it. After all, PPC isn't just one event. It is a series of events leading to the desired result. And it all begins, yes it does, with setting the right goals.

This is a guest post by Don Sturgill, a freelance writer and speaker from Bend, Oregon—PPC capital of the world. Don is the author of The Roadmap to Freedom, a work focused on helping entrepreneurs reach their dreams.

This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.

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