Article - ppc versus organic listings

Earlier today, this article snippet appeared in the fabulous photo gifts inbox about pay per click versus organic listings with regard to conversion to sales rates.

"Keywords bought on a pay-per-click basis at search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft MSN had a median conversion rate of 3.4 percent, compared with 3.13 percent for unpaid results to search queries [...] Both forms of search were far above the overall conversion rate of about 2 percent for most e-commerce sites."

Recently, Purple 13 (the digital photo art of Mandy Collins) embarked on a modest pay per click campaign. It had three main purposes.

1) To raise awareness of Purple 13, Mandy's art and therefore increase sales.
2) To back up an advertising campaign that was running in Living Etc magazine.
3) As a dummy run for when Fabulous Photo Gifts launched and would use pay-per-click as part of its marketing strategy.

All 3 objectives were successfully completed. However, it was interesting to note that the increased sales via the increased exposure could not be directly attributed to the pay per click. Rather, as part of the purchasing decision.

Perhaps customers saw the advert. Much later when browsing, they remember the Purple 13 but not the full address so conduct a search and see the sponsored listing.

My point is this. I don't think its enough to just have pay per click marketing for most online products or services. The 'selling message' needs to be re-enforced with good organic listings and if possible, other media marketing.

Consider adding a "where did you hear of us?" drop down selection menu as part of your checkout procedure but don't make it compulsory otherwise customers will leave your site rather than supply the information and complete the transaction.

Purple 13 Webmaster