When you browse the net and study the numerous websites and blogs, you will notice that most of these sites have PPC (pay per click) ads displayed on them. PPC ads (Google Adsense being the most popular) is one of the ways webmasters use to generate income from their sites. However, webmasters have used PPC ads indiscriminately, without considering the suitability of this type of income generator. There are instances where PPC ads should not be used on your site.
If you have read my earlier posts, one of the initial thing you need to do before you start a website is to decide the goals you aim to acheive through your website. This is really important as the methods and strategies you employ is very much determined by these goals.
If your goal is to sell a product or a service then I highly recommend you don’t use PPC advertising to generate income. I have a very good reason for this. You want visitors to your website to buy your product or use your service. Remember that PPC ads like Google adsense are contextual. This means it will show ads relevant to the content of the webpage. Now if your webpage is about a certain product you are selling, then the PPC ads will actually show ads related to the product you are selling. Most often than not the ads will be from your competitors. By presenting the visitors to your site an option to click on the PPC ads, you are actually driving the visitor away from your site before you even have a chance to show the visitor your product or service. You have lost a potential customer. You spend time, money and effort to get the visitors to your website and then you drive them away through the PPC ads. This really does not make any sense.
What you should be doing is to try keep the visitor on your site for as long as you can, so that, you have the opportunity to convince the visitor to purchase the product you are trying to sell. You can do this in many ways including having testimonials, offering discounts, video tutorial on how to use your product and so on.
The same logics applies to affiliate marketing sites and membership sites. When you are trying to generate an income through affiliate ads or through membership fees, it would be silly to give your visitor an opportunity to leave your site immediately. Explore different strategies to showcase your product or service and entice your visitor to stay on and browse your website. This will give you an opportunity to help the visitor to decide to purchase your product or service.
I am not saying that you completely do away with PPC ads. You need to consider how suitable it will be for your site. If you have a blog or site that is only giving information to the visitor like ezine or article sites, then it is completely relevant and fine to have PPC ads.
I hope I have made many webmasters aware that they need to consider carefully and delibrately before deciding on the methods they have or need to employ to generate income from their websites.
Best wishes.
Gopala
P.S. If you have a wesbite or planning to start a website and would like some guidance and help in making your website more effective, then I suggest you subscribe to my newsletter. I will be more than happy to help you.
Don’t drive your visitors away!
