Cathy,

I use pay per click with google and yahoo.  I don't remember what I pay per but I have it set up to max out at $180 per month on each.  It generates a lot more visits and some fill out home search criteria.  I have had a few transactions as a result.  The bad news is that other agents could click on it and end up spending your money.  You'll have to look at your stats before you try it and check them again after a few months of having it in place.  Then see if it is turning into leads through home search requests or direct email activity.

Michael

www.LivingKnoxville.com

www.Yeauger.com

www.TNMichael.com

MichaelY@remax.net

(865) 387-3001

Hi Cathy,

I expressed my opinion on using pay-per-click in messages #17, 23, and 26 on this thread

http://p2a.point2.com/message_board/view_topic.asp?ParentID=56689

I am a big fan of PPC and 90% of my leads come from my web site.

Recent statistics say 82% of home buyers start with their research on the internet and 63% of those engage the services of the first realtor they contact.

It pays to be on the first page of search results.

regards

Kim

http://www.kimcollens.com

I'm a big believer in pay-per-click as a tactical mean of generating traffic -- the internet is my main means of generating new business.  But, pay-per-click is not the long term strategy of bringing traffic to my site.  Let me explain.

The long term strategic focus is to generate organic (i.e. free) traffic through Search Engine Optimization for specific keywords on different webpages on my site.  Thus, someone searching for "<City> <State> Homes" keyword would find my site indexed on the major search site at no monetary cost to me.

I'll pay-per-click for that keyword only until the search engines give my site page one organic placement for it.

As a quick hit strategy, I do an analysis of what keywords are most often used and what keywords competitor websites have been optimized for.  Then will try to optimize pages on my site for those which are used fairly frequently but have minimal competition (thus making it easier to gain "free" organic page one placement).

There are lots of threads on SEO on this site ... and, some ebooks ... and, it's fun to watch your site gain visibility because of your work.

I started using PPC about 3 weeks ago and have been happy with the results.  Three solid leads (2 of which are now active clients) and a few contacts on drip mail.  I budgeted about $5 per day, and average about 6 clicks a day.  I recommend you listen to some of the Point2 coaching archives at http://p2a.point2.com/coaching/coachingArchive.asp, particulary one by Cherie Young that walks you through the setup process on Google.

There was a post on agents on line about a broker who made all his agents click other sites 50x per day. The ppc system is flawed because it could be used by unethical people in this manner.

I used it but was was sceptical about the clicks. With a blog and web page you can be on top easily enough why pay. An active rain blog post with key words in it like mytown houses will get googled in one day or less and can show up on page 1 of google. Plus if you spread out your key words into a long tail you will cover way more ground at no cost and give the customers something interesting to read which should turn into leads.

Scott - we monitor our visitors by IP address daily and watch for excessive clicks from any one visitor.  

Nick - nice web site but I noticed a typographical error in your menu and the phrase " FREE Comparitive Market Analysis ..."  (comparitive should be spelled comparative)

Kim

We've discussed this in the thread you mentioned, but I think its worth revisiting.  I'm still having a rather significant discrepancy regarding HITS.  Google has charged me for roughly 20 hits, but ultra stats shows only 2 hits from Google.  Are your Point 2 stats and Google charges consistent?  Anyone else you uses PPC, care to share the accuracy of your ultra stats/Google hits?

Kathy I have used PPC for three years and although I am working on organic I have only had limited results. I spend about $500 per month on my PPC with and average cost per click of 15 cents. You can set your daily or monthly budget anywhere. The cost per click is determined on google by your results. The more click throughs you get he lower you cost per click. I have had good results and talked with an SEO company this week and I could save money by letting them manage my site for organic placement but I am affraid to fix what isn't broke. If I start changing my tags and content for organic I could run the cost up on my PPC since my cost per click is below the avarage. There are some words that can cost over $1.00 per click. I eliminate them from my ads. It takes a while to get the right words that produce the best results but my clicks now have turned into good clients and my return on my investment is great. It still requires good SEO but not as much work as organic. Organic is the best since most people will click on organic before a paid ad but I still like the PPC and it will get you traffic. You just have to make sure your site can grab some of them and you can turn those prospects into clients.

Sorry Cathy not Kathy

Doug, I don't usually compare the Google/UltrStats hits but here is mine for the month of March

Google per Google = 1,194

Google per UltraStats = 1,271

I suspect the difference is that Google per Google is pay-per-clicks only but UltraStats is counting all referrals including organic.

During the month of March I had 48 new P2A prospects register.

And for the year 2006 I had 527 prospects register on my web site ... resulting in 47 ends ... great year!

Kim

Awesome!  Good for you!  Thanks for sharing your stats.  At least your ultrastats are higher than your Google per Google, as they should because its inclusive.  Mine is reversed and the ultrastats show practically NO hits but Google says they're there.  I don't know, maybe its a technical issue.  

I don't use PPC.  I did about 2 years ago when I was manager of another company and didn't see any significant worth in getting prospects. When I started my own company, I paid someone to submit my site to various engines and did see some changes there but I didn't renew.  Since not renewing, I have not seen a decline in my traffic.  I do put my website address on everything paper from business cards, to signs, to ads,....everything!  Most of my traffic is going to come from that.  West Texas, nice as it is, isn't exactly a "destination location" like some places are.  I have modest numbers but I'm happy with them so far. Keep in mind that there are only 3 of us in my company.

Here is a P2 executive report for my site.  

Point2 Membership Comparisons

Unique Visits       354            

Page Views       1199            

Listing Views  (only your listings)      126      

All Listing Views (Handshake™ listings incl.)      163

Point2 Homes Listing Views      23

New Prospects      12  

WOW! What a lot of imformation to take in, but for me it sounds like something I should try in the future.

Oh, forgot to add the YTD prospects or as I call them affectionately until they become more valuable....suspects.  

YTD 437 have signed up on the list.  Now that I have another body to help maybe I can get more of these turned into $$$.

Doug My point 2 stats are always less than google. So far this year google shows about 1,500 more hits than point 2 stats. It still is providing a good return on investment but I think I am helping out google too! I have not found a better return on advertising dollars than this.

PPC Better than nothing, but natural search placement MUCH better.

Did any of you try the steps in my free eBook?

Hello Cathy,

  I pay a professional to manage my PPC campaign, and have had "ok" success with it. I have been cash flow positive on it on the actual leads that I can tract from it. There may be other leads that call us rather than sign up or email, so the numbers could be even better?

If you are considering a professional company I will be more than happy to share my contact information for the company I use, but will not plug them here as I don't want my local competition having immediate access to them. I love them, great service and attention to my needs.

Right now I am budgeting on average $400 to $800 a month depending on what or who I am trying to attract and from where.

I average about 20 to 30 cents per click with their management fee included, which is much lower than the 70 cents to $1.25 you will often pay for going at it yourself. Sure click fraud is something to consider, but would you rather be getting click fraud at 20-30 cents or .75 to $1.25?     My clients appreciate it as well, especially when I show them the traffic their listing is getting. So it even helps in listing presentations!

Brady Pevehouse

Central Florida

Cathy, I'm a big believer in PPC, but agree with Nick.  Goal should be to become more organic.

Big fan of PPC with new listings.  I guarantee top 5 placement with Google/Yahoo.  Ex title: New Listing in X-City.  Surfers seem to like clicking through, and my "direct" sales are higher.

Good luck!

I use PPC and am pleased with the results. However, there is more to PPC than first realized. In order to get good results you have to research keywords, watch and analyze results, create the most effective ad, create a call-to-action landing page, bid right, etc.

Just my humble opinion.