As I work away in my medium sized agency in the middle of America, working with one of the our Pay Per Click (PPC) E-commerce clients, I am reminded of a game that I played in grade school called Lemonade Stand. Looking at it now I notice the similarities it has to the PPC accounts I run.
The goal of Lemonade stand was to make as much money as possible within a 30-day period. The player had complete control over every aspect of the business including cost of goods, pricing, purchasing supplies and budget.
There of course was a big unknown, and that was the weather. That unknown could make or break your day. If the weather was hot and sunny a lemonade stand operator could raise the price and still maintain volume and ultimately make more money. If it were raining and cold, a player would be lucky to break even.
This is not unlike running a PPC campaign. Being a Search Manager I have control over my cost per click, keywords, ad-copy, and managing my clients budget. Of course my big unknown is search volume. Search volume is what will ultimately drive sales volume. Factors that influence search volume:
- Seasonality of the product
- What engines the campaigns are running on
- What keywords are bought
- The Quality Score – how relevant your keyword is to your ad group and to a user’s search query
- Max Cost Per Click
The list goes on and on. Without search volume, I am sitting at my lemonade stand in the rain and watching my ice cubes melt. With it, however, I am a lemonade tycoon!
-Dan Tisser - Sr. Search Marketing Manager
Tags: Dan Tisser, lemonade stand, Pay Per Click, PPC, Search Engine Marketing, SEM
But how is PPC Like Oregon Trail?
You have died of dysentery and buying crappy traffic.