Today, I want to share my top 10 pay per click tips for network marketers.
In case you aren’t familiar with pay per click advertising, also referred to as PPC, do a quick Google search right now for any subject. On the top and right side of the screen (for your search results) you will see little ads. These are known as pay per click ads.
Basically, advertisers create an ad, pick specific keywords, and determine how much they will pay for each click. When anyone types in one of their keywords into the search engines, their ad appears (assuming they outbid the other advertisers). When someone actually clicks on their ad, they are charged a fee, based on how much they bid for the keyword.
Pay per Click advertising can be a very effective way to promote a business. It can also be very costly if you don’t know what you are doing. Like anything else in life, PPC is a learned skill. If you take the time and money to master it, you can generate an endless flow of leads for your network marketing business 24/7.
For the purpose of this article I am going to assume that you have a basic understanding of pay per click advertising, and want to get started and be successful with it.
Why Use Pay Per Click Advertising?
I love pay per click advertising. I use it daily. Here are my favorite reasons to use it:
- Have people approach you first
- Generate leads 24/7
- Reach people you might not have otherwise met
- Target people from any city, state, or country
- Connect with people who are actively searching online for what you are offering
- Put your prospecting efforts on auto-pilot
- Generate low-cost leads
Should it be your only lead generation strategy? Of course not. Should it be one of the many tools in your marketing tool box? I think so.
Top 10 Pay Per Click Tips for Network Marketers
Listed below you will find my top 10 pay per click tips for network marketers. They are listed in no particular order. Enjoy.
# 1: Create a Game-Plan
One of the big keys to success in any business is to set up a game-plan, right from day one. This “game-plan” is your overall business strategy. It covers your goals, vision, and strategy for your business.
In addition to your business plan, you also need a written game-plan for your marketing and pay per click marketing efforts. You should write this down on paper, refer to it daily, and make changes as necessary.
Don’t do any other step on this list (not even set up your PPC account) until you complete this step. Your game plan should clearly identify your goals, your budget, your daily action steps, your target market, your offer, your funnel, an analysis of your competition, potential opportunities, etc.
Everyone needs a goal, so does PPC advertising.
Without a definite and measurable goal, you cannot optimize your PPC Campaigns.
Your campaign goals are the foundation of your optimization process.
That is why you need to ensure that you have a roadmap to follow before starting with PPC advertising.
It is important to remember that you should have measurable PPC campaign goals because only then will you be able to know if you have attained your goals or not.
# 2: Educate Yourself About Pay Per Click Advertising
My next tip is to educate yourself about PPC, before you get started. Read a few books on the subject or take an online course. Hire a business coach specializing in PPC. There are also some great videos on YouTube about pay-per-click, to teach you the ropes. I’d start there. It’s free!
The small amount of money and time you invest on the front end will pay huge dividends on the back end. Of course, you’ll still learn as you go, but you need some basic fundamental knowledge about PPC, before you get started.
At a minimum, check out these books:
# 3: Don’t Lead With Your Business Opportunity
Whatever you do, if you are a network marketer, do not lead with your business opportunity. EVER. This is quite perhaps the fastest way to go broke with your PPC marketing efforts!
Rather than promoting your business opportunity with PPC, do yourself a favor and promote a generic training product, affiliate offer, or system instead. You will lead with that offer and then offer your network marketing business opportunity on the back end.
Another option is to give away something for free first, such as a free report or eBook, and use the two-step selling process. This is the strategy that I use and recommend. Basically, I give away free information and I let that information sell my prospect on my opportunity!
# 4: Start Small
Whatever you do, start small and test everything you do. Even if you have plenty of cash you can spend on advertising, don’t waste it.
With your first pay per click experiment, set a budget of $10. Once your first experiment is done take what you learned and do a $15 PPC experiment. Keep repeating this process and gradually keep increasing the amounts you spend, until you find something that converts well.
This will keep you from wasting money. By the time you do this ten or fifteen times you should have something that works. At that point in time you can increase your budget and roll out your major marketing campaign.
# 5: Always Send People to a Capture Page First
When you advertise with PPC, your goal is to generate leads first, rather than try to make a sale. Rather than sending people directly to a sales page, you want to send them to a capture page first. That way you can collect their name, email, and contact information, so you can build your list.
Once they opt-in, you can have your auto-responder redirect them to your sales page or one time offer. If you’re just going to send people a sales page or replicated website, you are going to lose a lot of money with pay per click advertising.
# 6: Track Your Results
You must track and measure everything you do. Keep track of what is working and what isn’t working. Know your cost per click, conversion rate, cost per lead, cost per sale, etc. Know which keywords convert the best.
Keep this information in an Excel Spreadsheet or in a dedicated notebook so you can refer to it often. Keep tracking your PPC and never stop. The numbers never lie. Always look for ways to improve your conversions!
# 7: Split Test
Whenever you are running ads on a PPC network, do yourself a favor and split-test. This is the process of running two different ads at once to see which ad outperforms the other. Sometimes even changing one word in your ad can produce a HUGE improvement in your results.
Once you you’ve found an ad that outperforms your other ad, get rid of the poor performing one, and then test your best ad against a new ad. Keep repeating this process and never stop. Before you know it you will have a winning ad that converts like hot cakes.
As a business starting out, you probably won’t feel the need for testing as you are just trying to get content up on the platforms, but do not make the mistake of accepting mediocrity when it comes to ad performance!
Many businesses just want to find an ad that performs decently and move on, but by taking the extra step to split test your social ads, you are maximizing your efficiency and decreasing your cost per click.
If you have a better performing ad (with higher click-through rates), your cost per click typically goes down, your impressions typically go up, AND you’ll typically convert more of that traffic into sales.
# 8: Stick to One PPC Platform at a Time
There are lots of different PPC networks online. Some of the common ones include Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.
I suggest you only use one PPC platform a time, especially during the first six months. While the different PPC networks all have things in common, they are all different. If you spread yourself too thin, you will dilute your efforts.
For the first 90 to 180-days, pick one platform and use nothing else. Master it. Learn everything you can about it. Once you get good results, and have everything set up on auto-pilot, you can branch off and use the other PPC networks.
# 9: Use One of the Major PPC Networks
My next tip today is to use of the major networks. I highly suggest you start out with either Facebook, Google or MSN Ad Center/Bing. These are the big players in the PPC world. For most of you, Facebook will be your best bet. Google simply isn’t MLM friendly. Personally, I only use Microsoft.
Don’t make the mistake of using a third rate PPC network, either. You simply won’t do well with it. Focus on the big boys. They have most of the traffic anyway.
# 10: Learn, Tweak & Persist
Success takes time. Your key is to fail fast and learn quickly. Keep failing, keep learning, keep testing, and keep tweaking what you do.
Every time you fail, take what you learn and apply it in your next PPC campaign. Make it a goal to fail as often as you can, but never to make the same mistake twice.
It will take you 90 to 180-days of consistent work to figure things out and get good results with your pay per click advertising. Don’t worry if you aren’t getting good results right away. Keep pressing forward.
Bonus Tip: Outsource
As a special bonus tip, one of my best pay per click tips for network marketers is to outsource your PPC campaign. There are many different online marketing companies that will handle your PPC efforts for you, for a nominal fee. While it will cost you more money upfront, it is a great way to get started, especially if you have no desire to learn PPC advertising yourself (or don’t have the time).
Final Thoughts
In summary, these are my top 10 pay per click tips for network marketers. By following this advice you should succeed with pay per click advertising.
Success boils down to having a game plan, educating yourself, taking action, learning from your mistakes, and persisting. If you get started with PPC advertising, keep learning, and never quit. You should have things figured out pretty well within 90 to 180-days. Once you do that, you can start building your network marketing business on complete auto-pilot.
What are your thoughts? What are your best pay per click tips for network marketers? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.
Suggested Reading
- How to Build Your MLM Business Online
- How to Generate Leads on Facebook
- Top 34 Lead Generation Tips and Strategies
Disclaimer: You can lose money with PPC advertising. Individual results will vary. I cannot guarantee you will achieve success.
Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
P.S. Learn how to grow a successful network marketing business. Secret tips, training, and practical ideas. Free training delivered by email.
I used pay per click years ago before it was popular and I was lot with what i was doing. Now that I am seeing it all over, like Facebook for example, I am considering using it again. I would like to gain more traffic and it seems a great tool to use for this.
When done right, Facebook PPC is very very powerful.
Pay per click can be an advantage or a disadvantage. I have read comments showing both here. I agree with Chuck in that you need to always keep testing. Start small and take prospects to a capture page. There are very few circumstances in which you should take them directly to a sales page. I can see where you would if you were offering an item that could not be passed up I.E.- a car for $50 or something of the sort. Most MLMs don’t offer that so a capture page is best. You will then have emails and can use your auto responder.
Good post Chuck!
I have a love/hate relationship with PPC. It does work though.
I must also mention Chuck that there are also PPS programs too. Pay Per Sale or Pay Per Lead guarantees that you get a sign up or sale from the click. This stops those scoundrels who are clicking just to make money and will never sign up. I have used Share A Sale, ClickBank, and Ad Click Media. They are all great plans and Share A Sale handles ads for some of the top corporations.
Just a thought you may want to try and test.
I like your tip #9.. Choosing effective keywords and keyword relevance with your landing page are also two basic and most effective tips for PPC bid management… thanks to share your thoughts on PPC marketing..
You definitely need to pick the right keywords and focus on the right audience. Your offer and the people you share your offer with are the two most important success factors.
Hey Chuck. I know this is an older post, but I have been brushing up on PPC and came across your post. I have been cautious with PPC personally. I also believing in the importance of tracking and measuring. That’s part of the reason I have been moving slowly. I feel I need to really continue to study and become better educated before venturing out. Almost there!
PPC can be very expensive if you don’t know what you are doing, however, once you learn the ropes and find something that works, it’s the easiest and fastest way to get leads and make money online.
Here’s my best pay per click tips for network marketers.
1. Use Facebook
2. Study everything you can about Facebook ads
3. Start small and test your results
4. Promote something other than your business opportunity
5. Keep making incremental improvements
I hope that helps.
Many people do not realize that you don’t even need to start with paying for advertisement on Facebook.
I recommend setting up a page that draws people. As a book author, I set up a page called Books In Or On Puerto Rico. I then get people to visit my blogs or other writing platforms. I can also send them directly to “special deals” on the books I have authored.
None of this cost me a dime; just time.
I don’t disagree with advertising on Facebook, but you can start off this way and get some good ideas on where to move with your advertising.
The same system I am using could be used in many platforms. You could use your Facebook page to lead others directly to your capture page. For that matter, you could, in many ways, make your Facebook page a Capture Page.
Just my two cents and hopefully it will help many.
This is a great strategy to get more leads on Facebook. Thanks for the comment.
I hate pay per click. I have never done anything but lose money with the idea. I’ve tried Google, Bing and Facebook, but I can never make any sales.
I would recommend pay per click if you aren’t leading with your primary MLM Company. Doing that will make you go broke first. Instead, I suggest you promote a leads program, system or service and then back end people with your business. I sell custom blog themes and then back end people with my business opportunity. I sponsor a lot of people this way, without hassle, and I make money from my theme business.
Good points, Travis. I’m glad you’ve achieved success with pay per click advertising.
Tip #3: Start Small is a very good tip to offer to others. I have seen many people start large and then end up losing a lot because it did not work out for them. Even if you have the money to spare, you don’t want to lose money if you do not have to do so. Starting small allows you the chance to test things as. If it works, then you keep working your way up by setting larger goals. This way, if you don’t succeed when you start small you won’t be losing a lot and you can regroup early on.
All advertising, including pay per click advertising should be methodical. You should never wing it. Do a small test and evaluate your results. Tweak your campaign and do another test. Learn from your mistakes and tweak it again. Keep doing this until you get a good conversion rate. Once that happens you can spend the big dollars and roll out your major PPC campaign.
Chuck