Chasing The Wrong Thing: Standing Up For PPC

I got a call today from someone who inquired about our SEO packages. Before he could commit to getting a solid solution he tried to defend his position on PPC and why it was "working". Now I got to tell you that this particular prospect was blowing $1000 bucks a month and getting a shoddy ROI.

Thats $12,000 a year out the window.

I must also add that this guy hadn't sold anything to date despite this hefty price tag. As if he was defending his actions he was trying to convince me that his PPC efforts were.... "pretty good" and that he may not even need organic SEO. I wasn't buying it.

WHAT ARE HITS?
I had to go over this twice today with two different people. But it basically breaks down like this. You may have 20,000 hits a day. At least, that is what your traffic counter claims right? Wrong. What you are REALLY looking at is a tab of how many elements were reviewed by a search engine spider. That means every graphic element is counted as a "hit". So if you got a gallery on one of your pages with 50 images - one visitor goes to your page and every one of those pictures will register as a "hit".

HITS = HOW IDIOTS TRACK TRAFFIC

So you can have 10,000 hits a day. Maybe what it really comes down to in most cases is 500 unique visitors are going through your web pages and not buying anything but looking for content. Each time the pages are opened the full graphic count registers as a large hit count. Sadly, this is how a lot of companies look at their web traffic. They just aren't in the know.

The Other Type of Traffic
Just because you are getting hits doesn't mean that the people who stumble onto your site, (in most cases - especially if you are using PPC tactics) are simply not qualified to be a customer. The trick to getting GOOD traffic is to make sure your web site pops up into the right corners of the web where your niche audiences are hanging out in. This could be a variety of areas but not limited to:

* WIKIS
* Directories
* Portals
* Regional Directories
* Review Sites
* Message Boards
* But More Importantly.... Good Use of PR.

Traffic is just traffic unless its singled out and has some directive. You need to have the appropriate type of people pop up on your site as they are more likely to buy something that you are selling. Keep in mind that if you ignore this fact you are really playing darts in the dark.

Posted by Cantu on Oct. 3, 2007 at 9:26 PM