Introduction to Cost Per Click

For Google AdSense advertising, effective keyword analysis is backbone of your endeavors. Without good key analysis research skills, you are just shooting in the proverbial dark.

We have already discussed in some depth how to determine the supply and demand for a keyword/keyword phrase using the 'R/S' (results/searches) ratio. The 'R/S' ratio is nothing more that an indicator of how easy it is to dominate a keyword/keyword phrase. The lower the number, the easier it will be to penetrate that market. If you need some more detail on this, read some of my earlier posts.

We also have discussed in an earlier post, that even though a keyword/keyword may have a low 'R/S' ratio, it may be because there is a low demand for that keyword/keyword phrase. Therefore, you have to establish a floor, a minimum volume of monthly traffic - say 5,000 to 10,000.

Okay, now we are ready to embark on the next topic: Selecting the 'Right' Keywords.

Let's give a little Google Adwords/AdSense background here - as best I understand it.

Google Adwords - when you open a browser and go to www.google.com and search a keyword, such as 'train', on the left, with a white background, you will see the 'normal' Google search engine, spidered, results. On the left, at the very top, in a shaded section and on the right you will see Google Adwords selections.

Advertisers bid on keywords, like 'train', and they tell Google that they are willing to pay a certain amount to get ranked at a certain position on the page. The more they are willing to bid for the keyword, the higher the position their ad will be on Google.

The cost per click for 'train' for the #1 spot on Google is $1.24. That means that the advertiser, every time they get a click, pays Google $1.24.

Simple enough.

On the other side is Google AdSense:

Google AdSense is a vehicle where Google and a website owner partner up and display Google Adwords ads on a web page. So, let's say you have Google AdSense set up on your website page. A visitor comes to your site page, and clicks on a Google AdSense ad link - what happens? Well, assuming that the visitor clicked on the top link (links that are ranked higher on the page are worth more), the advertiser is charged $1.24 by Google (the bid amount for that keyword). Then Google splits a portion of that $1.24 with you, the site owner. The exact amount is product of calculations that Google does. But the idea is, the more expensive the keyword to the Google Adwords advertiser, the more you get paid. Do you see the connection?

So what does this mean for you, an AdSense participant? You want to optimize your site pages on keywords that have a high amount of traffic (searches), a low amount of competition (results) and that have a high Cost Per Click (CPC). If you get all three of these, you have a winner.

Signing up for Google Adwords
https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=16768. Reference Document.

Basically, you are going to create an account for the purpose of research for AdSense. When Google Adwords prompts you to enter in ad information, don't be concerned about the ad running - it won't run until you actually fund the account.

http://google.com/adsense

Sign up now "Click to Begin" button

Starter Edition radio link and continue button
1. location and language - choose you location and language
2. write your ad:
What site will your ad link to? http://www.bogussite.com
What will your ad say?

This is a great product
This is line # 1
This is line # 2

3. Choose keywords: bogus

4. Choose your currency: Choose your currency

5. Set you budget: $30/month

Click the "Continue" button

Setup Account

Email: -- your real email address

Password: - a real password

Click on "Continue" Button

You will receive an email confirmation from Google Adwords. Click on the link in the email.

Okay, now go to this link: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

For our example:

Enter one keyword or phrase per line: trains
Choose data to display: "Cost and ad position estimates"
How much would you be willing to pay per click (Max CPC): 10.00

Click on "Get More Keywords" button.

What you will see is a list of keywords and each associated cost per click.

Now you know how much an advertiser is paying for a keyword. Why settle for a keyword worth $.05 per click when you get one for $5.00 per click. Do you see what I mean?

You want to build your pages around this higher CPC keywords.

Okay, that's enough for today on that.


Assignment

Sign up for your Google Adwords account

Perform searches on your favorite keywords/keyword phrases and try to identify those that have the lowest R/S ratio, with a good amount of traffic and with a high CPC

Activities for http://Kitten-Pictures.com since my last post:

Was solicited by 3 or 4 websites for link exchanges via link metro (www.linkmetro.com) - and I accepted.

Posted new photo

Search Engine Rankings for Keyword Phrase "Kitten Pictures" on http:Kitten-Pictures.com since my last post:

www.alltheweb.com - 0
www.altavista.com - 0
www.google.co.uk - 0
www.google.com - 0
www.google.de - 0
www.msn.com - 41 (unchanged from last time)
www.yahoo.com - 0


Search Engine Rankings for Keyword Phrase "Kitten Pictures" on http://kitten-pictures.blogspot.com (this site redirects to http://Kitten-Pictures.com)

www.alltheweb.com - 0
www.altavista.com - 0
www.google.co.uk - 0
www.google.com - 0
www.google.de - 0
www.msn.com - 3 (The same as yesterday)
www.yahoo.com - 0


Questions? Comments?

I welcome them. You can either post the question in the comments section at the bottom of this posting, or you can email me at Stan -@- StanBeck.com. Please feel free to tell others about this blog and/or my Kitten Pictures site.


Until next time…

Make it a great day!