by Maxine Stirling

With pay per click (PPC) advertising, you will likely need every trick in your bag to stay ahead of the competition. As the PPC landscape has become increasingly competitive, it is becoming harder than ever to run cost-efficient campaigns within saturated markets. But utilizing some of the following bid management strategies will help you gain the edge back on your competition.

First of all, don’t get caught up in the moment and spend more than your budget allocates. This is probably the quickest and easiest way to erase any potential profit you might have brought in. PPC is a game of patience, and you must exercise it if you want to stick around long enough to reap the rewards. Remember that new players will always enter the game, and may get a bit carried away with their bids out of ignorance or lack of discipline. Don’t join in unless it is a very calculated decision. There are always fluctuations in the pay per click game, so you need to pick you spots.

Next, you should not bid to get in the top spot, now matter how big your budget. Unless you are the undisputed leader in your industry, or are attempting to become the undisputed leader in your industry, bidding for the top spot is a quick way to erase your margins. You should let your ad sell your service, not the spot you are in. Plus, many people click on the top spot without thinking too much about the contents of the ad. This is the last thing you want, because you are lowering the quality of your leads. If you’re going to pay for a click, you want to make sure it’s for someone legitimately interested in what you sell. This should be the guiding light of your PPC bid management techniques.

There is another technique called bid jamming that you may consider utilizing. This calls for you to “jam” the bid of your competitor by bidding one cent less than their bid. Because a PPC service operates in the same way as an online auction site, you only pay one cent more than your closest competitor – not your actual bid. So if your competitor bids .49 per click and you bid .32 per click, your competitor pays .33 per click to hold the top spot. By bidding .48 per click, you can force them to pay full price for their bids.

These are a few simple pay per click bid management techniques that you can use in order to gain a competitive advantage in your PPC advertising campaign. Use a little patience, and you will place smarter and more effective bids.

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