Preference falls to Professional PPC

Even with all of the tools, PPC information, and guides (much more than five years ago), interest in do-it-yourself PPC is declining rapidly. This makes sense, because of the cost of making mistakes when setting up campaigns or altering keywords. Still, I am surprised every year by the drop in interest by managers and companies searching for information on PPC campaigns.

Looking at the trends chart, one might be tempted to believe that PPC information has saturated and that those who are interested have found their sources of information, so they are no longer searching as much as they use to – which is exactly why I juxtaposed the trends with Leadership, and Teamwork… two areas which if saturation, as described were to occur, would certainly occur in those topics.

I predicted that this would continue to fall a few years ago. PPC activity is simply too expensive to play with until you stumble upon a good formula. A little ignorance can burn deep into an account before it is caught

Additions for your PPC Library

Most experienced PPC professionals will tell you that a 3-4% lead generation from a PPC campaign is the norm. I’m going to tell you the same thing, however, there are times when I have made 10%, which amazed me, since before that moment I didn’t even believe that was possible.

I discovered and digested a few great books which have raised my personal average up to 5-7% on the PPC campaigns I create, and since I get paid by my success rate, that is a really good statistic to see increase (the clients find it fulfilling as well).

The first book I’ll hook you up with is called… Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions. I was once going to write a book on Landing Pages, but after reading this one, I realized that most of the ideas I would have put between the covers were addressed in this book.  Tim Ash breaches a few more esoteric areas than I would have gone into, but the main meat is a great book. Well worth the money, many people have told me.

The second book is Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. This book deals with the way ads and landing pages should read, and why they should read that way. It is a book to get creative with, and probably the best book on the subject I have read since the Best Selling Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (another fantastic book). These books deal with WHY we say YES to things… why we click, and why we don’t… which is equally important. If you are into any type of marketing or sales, these two are required reading.

The most effective tools I’ve used so far, whose ideas came straight from these pages are:

1. Reciprocity … find that moment to connect (chp 5-7  of Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive talk extensively about this idea)
2. Collect as little information from the user as possible, and collect the contact information last.
3. And, believe it or not, use Photoshop to enlarge the pupils of the eyes on the people in the design. I know it sounds weird, but it works. Holy cow it works (that’s one of the tactics that pushed me up to 15% on a campaign.)

You probably know this, but Google Analytics has an amazing A-Z testing machine, which rocks my world. Learn it, love it, use it, because the cash you save and the profits you glean are yours.

Motivation: Boats and Helicopters

Once, there was an old man, who sat on his front porch, watching the flood waters rise in his town. A boat came by and offered to help him to the aid station. He told the man in the boat that God had his back, and thus didn’t need any help from him. “Help someone who needs help.” He told the boat man.

The boat man went away, and the waters continued to rise. Eventually the old man was watching them rise from the second floor window. At this point another man in another boat arrived and urged the old man to get into the boat, informing him that the waters would continue to rise. “Help someone who needs your help.” The old man said, “God is looking out for me.”

After a time the boat man went away. The waters of the flood continued to rise. The old man was soon on his roof, hanging on to the chimney. It was then that a helicopter spotted him and rescuers urged him to put on the harness, and they could take him to safety. The flood waters, they told him, were going to continue to rise!

“Help someone who needs your help. I’m fine.” The old man told them. “God is looking out for me.”

After urging and urging, the helicopter flew off, helping others. The flood waters continued to rise. The old man drowned.

Up at the gates of Heaven, the old man stood, confused. St. Peter was trying to find his name in the book, and it wasn’t there. “I don’t understand.” Said the old man. “All through the flood I kept the faith.”

“Flood?” St. Peter asked, flipping the pages of the book to the back section, entitled Miracles. “I don’t understand either. We sent two boats and a helicopter.”

How many boats and helicopters have you sent away this week? How many times have you asked God, why he was not helping you?

Cause and Effect

Shallow People believe in luck. Wise and Strong people believe in cause and effect — Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Victim mentality asks in the morning “I wonder what is in store for me today.” instead of “What do I want to cause to happen today?”

Today, determine yourself as a Cause, and not an Effect.

We slip into the mentality of the victim so easily because the logic makes sense to us — the job lays us off, the boy friend cheats, the girl friend leaves, the taxes are raised, the house catches fire — and we respond to these events with the belief that something has happened to us, rather than something has happened. Every event is an opportunity – and one of those opportunities is to be the victim of the event, rather than simply a witness of the event.

When the boy friend cheated, we can internalize this as us being the cause if we wish, but it will be a painful internalization for several reasons, the first and most painful being that we are trying to internalize something which doesn’t belong inside of us.

When the house caught fire, we can say that this happened to us, or to the house. Some people prefer to burn — sounds silly but it is true.

Be aware of what you decide to be. The opportunities available for every event are many — always more than three. Before you decide, make sure you are aware of at least three of those opportunities before you decide which you will grasp.

Success and Comfort

success and comfort is where you find it

Awareness

Motivation Awareness Success

Causa y Efecto

Las personas superficiales creen en la suerte. Los sabios y fuertes creen en causa y efecto - Ralph Waldo Emerson

La mentalidad de víctima pide a la mañana “¿Me pregunto lo que está reservado para mí hoy?“ en lugar de “¿Qué es lo que quiero hacer a pasar hoy?“

Hoy en día, se determine como causa, y no de un efecto.

To Motivate, get past the victim mentality

Criticizing Upper Management is tempting as a middle manager. Some middle managers and team leaders do this to make a bond with their crew. Making a bond with a victim mentality however is never an effective method of leadership. Such action sends three clear messages to the team:

1. The organization can’t be trusted
2. Management really is against the team
3. Our team leader/manager is weak and powerless

These are not messages anyone wants to hear from a leader.

Two things are bad for the heart – running uphill and running down people. – Bernard Gimbel

Approaching the victim in someone else gives that person reason and excuse to remain a victim of the situation they are in. Bond instead with the their true selves, the self that is the Cause, the self that Acts on Purpose, and you will get from them their true value.

Victims can not be motivated. The victim mentality huddles together, instead of bonding together. They use others as shields, instead of extensions.

To lead is to see past the victim mentality and bond with the leader inside others.