PPC - Do it Yourself?

Many of our clients current, or have in the past, run pay-per-click campaigns. It's pretty common that we hear from new clients, "I tried that before, it was a huge waste of money." I agree that when someone without a clear understanding of how the big PPC programs work, and how much they should spend per click without losing money, tries to run their own account, then the obvious outcome is a big goose egg.

So if you are considering pay-per-click advertising as a part of your overall medical marketing plan, should you try to do it yourself? As much as I would like my company to do it for you, you can be successful mananging your own PPC account if you:

1. Check your ego at the door. Ego bidding, insisting on being in the top spot even if that means paying $12 per click, will bankrupt your practice. Know what you can afford to spend to acquire a new patient, figure out about how many clicks it takes to get that new patient, and then don't bid any higher. My recommendation, if you average $5000 per procedure, is to not bid more than $4 per click for REGIONALLY QUALIFIED traffic.
2. Target your region tightly. Sure, people will fly for a procedure with a great surgeon. But those people are few and far between. Spend your precious PPC dollars to target patients in your immediate market. All three of the top search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN, can help you only display your ads to people sitting near your practice.
3. Focus tight, scope broad. Start by focusing on a smaller set of procedures and bid on the largest possible set of related keyword phrases. Often you will find you can get away with bidding less for very detail phrases.
4. Take time with the writing. Google in particular will rank your ads higher than someone who is bidding more than you if your ads are clicked more often. Why would someone click your ads over another? If they are well written or suggest an incentive to click, that's one reason. Or, if your name is locally recognized, that's another.
5. Track track track. Make sure your site and lead capture forms are going to signal you when you get new inquiries from your PPC activities. Google offers a free tool that you can add to your lead capture pages to measure conversions!

Of course there is a lot more to it, but if you can master these 5 points you will be off to a great start.

Have a great weekend,

Ryan