Facebook provides a lot of fantastic opportunities for online marketers, but there are also a lot of pitfalls. Here are some guidelines that can help you get started with Facebook PPC Advertising.

We can get clicks starting at 10 cents per click on Facebook. Those of you who were around in the early days of Google AdWords will understand just how profitable that can be.  To our great advantage there is very little competition now and we can get high quality traffic if we do some research.

Target keywords that people use to describe themselves

With Facebook PPC advertising, you can target very specific keywords. However, these are not the same kind of keywords you’d use in Google AdWords campaigns. With Facebook, you need to consider the words people use to describe themselves, their interests and their hobbies. Instead of targeting a search term, you’re going to be using descriptive terms. In my experience, people search Google to solve a problem. Whereas people browse Facebook to check out Facebook pages and to mingle with friends online. This is an important distinction and must be considered when choosing keywords to target for your campaigns.

To read more on this topic: Pre-Qualify Clicks on Facebook

A picture is worth a thousand words

Your image is everything with Facebook PPC advertising. Select 4 or 5 good images that grab your attention and are related (even vaguely) to your topic. Ensure there are people in your image if possible. Of course, you’ll need to test all different kinds of images to see what converts best for you, but one thing I can say is that I try to use people in my ads. More specifically, I’ve found images of smiling, happy women to be very successful for most campaigns I’ve run.

Understand the rules of the game

Be careful. Follow the rules. Understand the Facebook terms and conditions and follow them or your account will be banned. I’m not saying this just to scare you. I want you to know that Facebook are very serious about breaches of their terms. To be successful on Facebook we must follow the rules they have set and be very aware they are very different than Google.  The good news is that if you follow the rules, you can design great ads that will draw high quality customers to your offer/product/service.

Facebook’s advertising rules are different than Google’s. Facebook requires ads to be engaging but not too slick, sexy, or misleading. Your ad text cannot contain trademarked terms or be too shocking or offensive.  Facebook requires that we place an image on all ads, and you can use text in your image. So, get creative with Photoshop if you can.

Click-thru rate is king with Facebook PPC

CTR (Click thru rate) is king on Facebook PPC. They won’t allow an ad with a low CTR to run on their site for very long. It’s in our best interest to test many different versions of our ads, images, and headline till we find a few that convert like gangbusters.  If your CTR can stay high, you’re going to do well. If not, they will disable your ad without warning.

Facebook requires that the ads always remain relevant and interesting to their viewers. If your CTR is not as high as needed after 2 days look closely at the keywords used in your ad to determine if they are really relevant, compelling and not offensive in anyway. I suggest you get creative with your ad copy and your keywords. Think outside the box and come up with some unique combinations to get a killer ad. It’s fun once you get going!

Tips to profit with killer ad copy

Try writing your headlines in the form of a question. Perhaps you can make a bold statement. Whatever your headline, be sure it grabs the reader’s attention quickly so they read the rest of your ad copy and click through to your landing page.

Use an image that tells a story and grabs their attention. If you’re using a photo of someone, try using a smiling face or your image should represent your message and have text on it.

Avoid these mistakes & save time

You can’t use all capital letters or promise “free” stuff when there isn’t anything free. Be careful with email and zip submit offers – Facebook are now frowning on the promotion of these.  When you’re writing headlines and ad copy, remember to use upper and lower case letters and be careful with your spelling. Avoid using slang, abbreviations or code words. Facebook does not permit the use of irrelevant images, symbols or anything offensive.

Watch it or lose it

Facebook PPC is risky and you have the potential to lose all your money very quickly. Be smart and follow these tips carefully. Once you’ve got your ads all set up, you absolutely must watch your campaigns very closely. Set very low daily budgets and don’t leave your computer when you’re testing a new campaign. Traffic comes through extremely fast and before you know it, your budget has been spent.

Facebook PPC Advertising is a dangerous, but exciting game and you’ve got to take it seriously to make money. I got started with Facebook PPC by learning the step by step methods being taught right now at Affiliit – an excellent training forum. I recommend you go there if you want to learn more.

You can also read more Facebook PPC Advertising Tips here.

If you’re up for the Facebook PPC challenge, let me know by sharing your thoughts, ideas, questions in the comments section below!

(**Please note, the links in this post to Flippa.com are not affliate links**)

Profit from unfinished projects.

I have started many projects over the past year, and most of them were never finished. I am pretty sure this happens with a lot of internet marketers, so I hope I’m not alone. One project I started involved an iPod review site. I was pretty excited about it at the beginning and I spent a lot of time customizing the site, writing articles, getting links, etc.

But then, other things came along, and I lost focus. I started up another project, and then another. Does this happen to you too? My beloved iPod site drifted to the back burner. Luckily, I had done enough work on it that it began to rank highly in the search engines and earn some money through the Google AdSense program & the Amazon Associates program.

Flippa.com provides a safe, secure place to buy and sell websites.

Now, the time has come for me to let go of my iPod review site. The best place to sell your website is most certainly Flippa.com. Their system makes it safe and easy for buyers and sellers to transact securely.

If you haven’t checked it out, I encourage you to do so. Buying and selling websites is a profitable venture that you can engage online. With so many people doing business online, you can also invest on buying underdeveloped websites, enhance them and sell them. Online real estate is becoming more valuable as time goes on.

If you have some web design skills or even some programming skills, you can enhance the look of a website, make it appealing to potential buyers and make money when you sell it. Even with a small budget, you can take advantage of this moneymaking opportunity.

My site just sold for $380.

I’ve listed my iPod review site and I was so nervous. I feel close to my sites because I’ve spent so much time working on them. But, was I able to prove that I had spent time on it?

Some things that potential buyers are looking for are traffic, domain age, backlinks, and income. I’m learning that a big key to success is being able to provide documented proof of these 4 key factors. I wasn’t keeping track of these things for my iPod site and I could not provide proof. So I highly recommend to anyone considering selling a website at Flippa to document your stats before listing. It will have a big impact on the final purchase price.

Save time and buy an established website.

There are a lot of fantastic websites that you can buy. Every day people are selling high quality blogs, review sites, forums, job boards, social networking sites and established online businesses. If you are looking to enter a niche, or grow your presence in a niche, you’d be smart to check Flippa and see if there is an established site for sale. Buy that site and you have instantly improved your chances of success at market leadership.

Earn extra cash by flipping websites.

One thing that you can do to make the most out of buying and selling websites is to buy cheap sites, improve them with a little web designing and optimization and selling it at a higher price. Like selling real estate properties, improving the site to make it more appealing to clients in terms of design and being search engine friendly, can indeed help a lot in reselling it at a good price.

You can make more profits selling websites if you choose a good niche or topic. Your choice is important because the ‘money-making ability’ of your site can depend on the market. High-paying niches are those that attract high-paying ads. I recommend you use Market Samurai to determine the potential value of a niche, keyword phrase, or a domain name.

When it comes to design and appeal, you can make the site more appealing to buyers simply by adding pictures, a custom header graphic, and a new premium wordpress theme. This can make your site much more valuable to buyers.

Selling websites is easy.

I know there are a lot of people like me out there. You had a great idea, deicded to buy a domain name, and then you let it sit there for ages. If you have unused domain names or unloved blogs taking up space in your portfolio, consider creating sites and selling them with Flippa. Research shows that by simply installing WordPress and adding a few unique posts, you can double or triple the value of a domain name. Now, I’m not saying that simply selling domain names isn’t profitable. I am not a “domainer”. But if you have sites doing nothing, it can’t hurt you to try selling one or two for some extra cash.

When I started tweeting about my website sale, many people commented that they were eager to try selling a site of their own. If this is your situation, I encourage you to go for it. You really have nothing to lose. It’s a fun process & it only costs $19 to list your site for sale at Flippa. I paid for a few  “featured listing” upgrades and that was an additional cost. Overall, I think the upgrades were worth the investment. I got a lot of traffic to my auction, and ended up with a good result.

Have you bought or sold a website? What has been your experience?

I love what I do. I am passionate about Internet marketing and helping others learn internet marketing. Here are some pretty basic steps to getting yourself on track as an Internet Marketer. Remember: I am here to help you along the way. You can find me on Twitter (@PpcMom) or on my Facebook Page almost every day. 

Learn Internet Marketing Step One: Find a Good Training Program

You need to learn Internet marketing skills through a good training program. 

I know a lot of people say they learned everything on their own and they didn’t need a training program. That’s cool – and that obviously worked for them. But it didn’t work for me. I love being a part of a larger group – learning together, and being able to ask questions as we go along. 

Here at PpcMom.com I actively promote and support both Affiliit.com and Ppc-Coach.com as fantastic training programs. If you have any questions about either of these reputable sites, I am happy to help you decide which (if any) of these may suit your needs.

**Please note: I will earn a small commission if you use any of the links on this site to join Ppc-Coach or Affilit**

I suggest you find a training program that will teach you the best practice methods of generating traffic  and how to convert that traffic into sales. This should include learning SEO techniques as well as how to use PPC effectively. 

When you learn Internet marketing through a legitimate training forum, you gain the skills & the knowledge you need to expand your web presence, build an online business, and earn a solid living online. Knowledge is power. 

Learn Internet Marketing Step Two: Learn How to Get Traffic

The first thing you need to learn in Internet marketing is how to drive traffic to your offer. Notice: I did not say that you have to learn how to build a website. In fact, I earned many thousands of dollars before I ever had a website of my own – and you can do it too. Traffic is king.

There are two main ways to get traffic: PPC (Pay Per Click Ads) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

An experienced Internet marketer knows how to drive pay per click traffic to products and services. And it’s even better if you know how to get free traffic. This can take a long time to learn, but it’s worth it in the long run. SEO takes a great amount of skill to master, but a beginner can see quick results in a matter of days with the right advice. 

I strongly advise new internet marketers to learn both PPC and SEO techniques. PPC is great for instant income. SEO can provide a longer term stable income stream.

Learn Internet Marketing Step Three: Work Hard

This is NOT a get rich quick scheme. Internet marketing is a legitimate business model and you can earn a full time living if you follow a step by step plan and work hard. Now, when I say “work hard”, I really just mean that you have to love it. I eat, sleep, and breathe internet marketing, and I have for over 18 months now. I truly love what I do and I just can’t seem to stop myself from working. You’ve got to find this passion somewhere inside of you. Find that passion & ignite it. 

To become successful online, you not only need to learn Internet marketing, but you need to dive in to the advanced strategies as well. There are many different strategies out there to make money online such as AdSense, AdWords, Facebook PPC, Facebook Pages, SEO, PPV ads, article marketing, setting up a blog, keyword research, finding a good niche to market, building a list of email subscribers, writing e-books and short reports, and taking advantage of viral marketing. 

These are just some of the many techniques you will encounter on your journey to learn internet marketing. Thank you for letting me be a part of it!

Focus on a success plan. Invest in your own learning. Never give up.

Internet Marketers, we need to get smarter.

Most of us cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars on advertising, branding, logos, and web design.  We can’t rely on word of mouth, or SEO to bring in fast cash. We’ve all lost money on PPC campaigns, and we’re running out of options to start and grow our businesses.

If you’re anything like me, you have ventured into the “4 Hour Work Week” style of information products in an effort to create ongoing, passive income.  Info products are a fantastic way to share your knowledge with people who really need it.

The big marketing questions still remain :

1. How do you stand out from the crowd?
2. How do you convince customers you are legitimate and trustworthy?
3. How do you come up with new and effective marketing ideas that won’t eat up your limited budget and resources?

Building your brand is the initial step of promoting your information product effectively.

How can we create and build our brand image without spending a fortune?

The answer?

Logo design with 99designs.

By having an attractive brand image, you can gradually win the trust of your target market and attract them to employ your services and buy your products. High quality logo design is the most crucial part of building your brand identity. Large businesses can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for this. However, with 99designs, even small operators like us can get the same results.

At 99designs, you set the parameters for your contest. You clearly state the kind of logo you require, and you set the prize money. Then, designers from across the globe will begin submitting designs for you to rate or eliminate.  And, it’s SO much fun!

I’ve just run my very first logo design contest at 99designs, and it has been a huge success! I am thrilled with the results and had hundreds of amazing logos to choose from.  The best thing about this process for me was the overwhelming number of usable options that were delivered. I easily could have used about 100 of the submissions.

You can view my contest for a “Chickens Guide” info product logo design here.

Now, I could have gone to a designer and worked one on one to have a design created. But the key problem is you’re working with 1 designer and 1 concept. With 99designs, I was working with over 80 designers and had hundreds of different concepts submitted. The end result is that I now have a very high quality logo design that captures exactly the image I needed.

It’s the #1 rule of branding: If your product or business logo is of high quality, you will be perceived as a quality business.

Have you used 99designs? What is your experience with logo design?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

The best part is – it’s FREE!

Generating traffic is a huge issue for all of us, ins’t it? Do you pay for PPC traffic? Do you spend hours building links and social bookmarks? We need to increase traffic to our websites so we can test offers, get high search engine rankings, make sales, and build customer lists.

Targeted web traffic is essential for online business.

We all need web traffic. There is a way that doesn’t cost any money, and has been proven to be extremely effective. Lynn Terry discusses this in detail in a recent post at ClickNewz.com :

Increasing Blog Traffic

In this article, Lynn discusses proven methods to get:
- super targeted, responsive visitors
- increased affiliate sales
- high quality inbound links to your site
- higher search engine rankings

When it comes to building a business online, you can subscribe to the “Buy my $2000 product” camp, or you can follow simple, common sense advice. There are plenty of people willing to sell us big ticket products. But the truth is, you can get targeted web traffic without breaking the bank. Lynn will show you how.

Lynn shares real-world methods that work.

Check out Lynn’s blog & you’ll learn more about this business than you ever imagined. She’s an inspiration!

So many people say they want to learn internet marketing. They “dream” of it. They “hope” for it. They imagine huge wads of money arriving at their doorstep each and every day!

Everywhere you look you will see proof that millions of people everywhere are dreaming the same dream. That proof appears in the form of all kinds of Google ads popping at you everywhere you look. These ads are promising hope and possibility. They’re telling you that you can make a fortune by using their system, selling their products, or creating instant money making websites.

Whatever the offer is, they eventually convince hundreds of people to buy it. I know many of you reading this now have bought products that promised you the world. I receive emails about them almost every day.

What happens after you buy something like that?

30 days later, you’re still staring at your computer screen thinking…” I need to find an answer, because this last product didn’t work like I wanted, I’m sure I can find something easier…” Unfortunately, this cycle repeats itself over and over for many people. These people often feel “ripped off” or that internet marketing is a scam and no one really makes any money.

They may start to wonder…”Will I ever learn Internet Marketing? Will I ever make any money online?” Here is the truth, “The way you’re going, you’ll never make a dime…” I know it’s harsh, but I believe it’s true. If you are looking to a Guru or a Miracle Product to help you learn internet marketing, you are on the wrong track.

Will I Learn Internet Marketing?

If you are struggling to learn internet marketing or to make any amount of money online, there are usually key reasons:

1. LACK OF FOCUS:  you have no direction and you are trying to make everything work all at once. (This has been a big problem for me!!) Everybody needs a mentor who can show you what to do and what not to do, so find yourself a good internet marketing mentor! And once you find someone who is successful and willing to share information with you, hang onto them! An experienced mentor willing to give their time to you, is a very rare thing and should be treasured.

2. LACK OF KNOWLEDGE: If you don’t know what you are doing, you won’t make money for long (if at all). It pays to know the technical side of internet marketing. Either learn it all on your own, or check out one of the high quality training sites around. I recommend AffiliIT as I believe their training to be fantastic for beginners to advanced. It’s a great place to learn internet marketing. Really, there is no excuse!

3. LAZINESS: This one kills people the most! There are many variables as to why a person is lazy. Sometimes they’re used to a 9-5 type office job where they start and finish at a set time. Often times these people prefer to slouch on the couch in their spare time. Lazy people have a hard time at the startup phase of an internet marketing business because it takes a lot of focus, effort, and time to build a successful online business.

4. LACK OF MOTIVATION: If you don’t have a deep need to do someting, you probably won’t do it. If you are happy and comfortable with the way things are, you want better things but you don’t need them. In my experience, you need a deep down burning desire to accomplish something and learn internet marketing. If you don’t have that internal drive, need, or fire, get it, find it and search for it.

Many of you have racked up a lot of debt and pain trying to learn internet marketing and I am confident with a few changes you can start on a new path. Perhaps you can take a good look at your situation and decide what the issue really is. What is holding you back from success?  Why every course you buy just sits on the shelf? What can you do differently today to make a change in your life?

If you have been struggling for a long time, perhaps this is the year for you to FOCUS, LEARN, and TAKE ACTION??

Keep reading for more tips to learn internet marketing.

I hope this is your year! Good luck to you!!

Register Here for this FREE Training Call

with PPCMom & Paul Cooley of Surefire Business Strategies

Are you struggling with your online efforts? Have you considered using Pay Per Click advertising, but you’re not sure where to begin?

This exclusive PPC Strategy Call Will Cover the Basics of PPC Advertising.

Let’s face it, you can have the best product in the world or the coolest looking affiliate website on the internet, but it means nothing if you aren’t getting any Traffic!

Many Traffic tactics and methods on the net can be very time consuming and you have to wait to see results. But using tools like Google Adwords, you can get instant traffic to your site or sales page. This is a great way to test the effectiveness of your product, service, landing page, and ad copy.

I would like to invite you to a free call with Paul Cooley and myself, where we will be discussing Pay Per Click Advertising. During this Free Call you will discover what PPC is and how you can be bringing in Tons of Traffic to your site, but you will also have a chance to have your questions about PPC Strategies answered!

REGISTER FOR THIS FREE CALL BY CLICKING HERE

PS – If you can’t make the time of the call, the recording will be available for registered members only. It’s free, so join us!

See You There!

I made that statement on Twitter a few weeks ago. Experienced affiliates will know what I am talking about. There are tons of affiliate networks out there trying their hardest to get affiliates to run traffic with them. When you start doing big numbers, you get more and more attention.

It is very important to know which networks you can trust and which you cannot. I write this post from the heart. This is NOT a paid review. I want you to know that I have worked with many affiliate networks and have had troubles with most of them.

When I say “trouble”, I mean the common troubles that most affiliates have with networks. Such as: they didn’t pay me on time, (two well known networks still haven’t paid me months later), some don’t answer my emails, others promise things and never deliver, some are all hype and no substance, etc. I’ve even had one very prominent network stalk me via one of my affiliate sites! Eek! They’re not ALL bad, of course. But it can be tough to know which are good and which are not.

In this post I am going to share my own personal experiences with the one network that has helped me the most this year – EWA.

EWA Network Review by PPCMom

EWA Network is run by Ryan Eagle and Harrison Gervitz. Both of these guys are successful affiliates themselves. They understand the offers, the market, and the business better than anyone I know.

It’s one thing to understand the market or to be a successful affiliate. But it’s an entirely different thing to be able to explain it to others. And that is exactly what sets EWA apart from the rest.

“What offers should I run?”

The weekly “epic” training emails are amazing! Each week we receive detailed instructions, guidelines, and recommendations on what offers to promote, where to promote them, and specifically HOW to promote them to be successful. They have covered Dating, Facebook, Plenty of Fish, Games/Downloads, Grants & Biz Opps, and so much more! Seriously, these guides are awesome!

“When do I get paid?”

Another big drama in affiliate marketing is “payment terms”. Most networks will pay you Net 60, Net 30, or Net 15 unless you are doing high volumes. How is a new affiliate meant to turn out high volumes when they have to pay Facebook every single day? Then you wait 45 days to get paid from the network?? It just doesn’t work.

EWA supports you with weekly payouts regardless of volume. Imagine what that can do to your bottom line. It’s powerful.

As an affiliate, what do you want?

• You want to get paid on time.
• You want advice and support.
• You want competitive payouts on the best converting offers.

EWA have all three areas covered completely.

1) I have been paid on time, every time.
2) The “epic” training guides are priceless!
3) I’ve always gotten the highest payouts from EWA.

I want to thank Ryan, Harrison, Tom & the team at EWA Network for what they’ve done for me personally and professionally.

They have been instrumental in my success and the success of so many others. Thank you, for believing in me back in the day, for opening up opportunities for new affiliates, and for being real, being helpful, and supportive of my business throughout 2009.

You can join EWA Private Network  http://www.ewanetwork.com/join

P.S. Have you had any EWA Network experiences you can share?

Thank you all for submitting your PPC questions here. I’m loving this project!

So many of your questions relate to losing money!  No one wants to lose money – and it’s an easy thing to do with PPC. So, you’re right to be wary of it. There are some simple steps you can take to reduce your risk.

In this series, I am going to walk you through one method I use to ensure that I don’t lose too much money on my campaigns. So that’s a good place to start, don’t you think?

I’ve just recorded a little Audio Boo for you….Enjoy!

In this series, we are going to:

• Have a budget – a budget of $10 a day or $25 a day will be fine to start with.
• Make a plan – we are going to be very clear about our plan
• Stick to our plan – we will not get sidetracked or emotional about our plan – this is business!
• Complete our homework – Yes – homework! I’ve assigned you a task in my Audio Boo….here’s a little hint….

Try AWeber Email Marketing Risk-Free

P.S. There’s still time to submit your PPC questions! But time is running out….if you have a question, please comment below and I will answer it in an upcoming episode or here on the blog! So, go ahead….leave your question for PPCMom below!

So many people seem baffled about PPC advertising. Everywhere I go it seems people are losing money on PPC ads. Is this you? Are you struggling to break even or find success with your PPC ads? Don’t worry! You’re not alone! And there is help available.

As you may know, my PPC journey began about this time last year. And I have to say that I LOVE PPC!!  This year, I have devoted almost every waking hour of my life to learning the business of Pay Per Click marketing online. This in no way makes me an expert. However, I do know some things, and I’d love to share what I know here with all of you who may be just starting out.

Where do you find real help with PPC?

I am a strong advocate of learning your trade properly. For that reason, I recommend you take a good look at the high quality training sites that are around. I am a member of most of these forums. There are a few ads for my favorite forums over on the right hand side of this page. If you click on one of those ads and join a forum, I will earn a small commission for referring you to the site.

I will always refer you to these forums if you are serious about learning how to use PPC to earn an income. I don’t mind if you don’t want to use my referral link – that’s totally up to you. I truly believe that is the best way for you to really learn a new skill.

Private questions? Tweet Me!

Also, if you have a private question, and you don’t feel comfortable asking here in the comments, please feel free to send me an email, or a “tweet” using the little boxes up there on the right and I will do my best to help you.

Some questions I have been asked recently:

• Does Yahoo still allow polls for CPA offers?
• How many ads to I need to test a campaign?
• Is Yahoo a total waste of time for PPC?
• I have been slapped from Google, what are my options?
• Where is the best place to learn Facebook advertising?

Please ask your questions in the comments section below….

Go ahead! Let the fun begin!