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What Are You Doing To Stay Ahead Of The Pack?
A short while ago I attended Perry Marshall’s Ultra-Advanced Pay Per Click Marketing Seminar in Maui, Hawaii.
The price of admission was $5,000.
Plus flights and accommodation.
Plus a minimum requirement of $5,000/mo in Google AdWords spend in order to qualify to be in the room.
Was it worth it? You betcha. This is the type of advanced training that gives us – and our clients – an edge over competitors who are happy with being ‘good’ as opposed to ‘GREAT’.
7 years ago, I told subscribers, “you cannot afford NOT to be using AdWords. The ROI is phenomenal.”
We had customers whose marketing costs were a tiny 0.2% of sales. Zero-point-two percent!!
Fast-forward to today and the situation is very different. It’s no longer ‘money for jam’.
While many companies are doing VERY well from the Internet (some we are lucky enough to call our clients), you have to really WORK to get ahead and stay ahead of the pack.
There’s a big mass of companies who are marketing on the net and are “keeping the lights on”, but are certainly not making a killing.
Clicks are more expensive than ever. The organic search engines are more competitive….
It’s harder to get people to respond or sign up to receive information – even if you give it away…
Prospects want more value and proof “up front” before they’ll trust you with your business…
Yep, the water level is rising, and if you don’t stay ahead of the pack, you’ll drown.
In fact, I recently consulted with a business owner recently who had always done well out of Google AdWords, until the last little while. He wasn’t doing anything differently, and that was the problem.
While his web marketing stood still, the cost per click in his market quietly rose from $1 per click to $8 per click over a couple of years, and his account went from ‘profitable’ to ‘bleeding cash’. It was only at that point he realised something had to be done… and fast!
So the question I want to ask you is: what are you doing to stay ahead of the pack in your industry, and on the Internet?
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To stay ahead of the pack, I try to be flexible enough so I can keep up with the times and with what customers want. It would not be useful to stick to old-school method. The internet is a constant change, so it’s best to go with the flow.
Comment by Andrew@BloggingGuide — May 12, 2010 #
I monitor my AW campaign frequently to see if my postion has dropped and try to find out why.
Most often it is others bidding much higher than me but then I try to refine my keyword portfolio to include more longtail words/phrases.
Comment by Blumenversand — May 12, 2010 #
A couple of years ago it really was that easy just put up a site do some link building and boom you rank pretty well. Nowadays is so different and there is so much information around which is outdated.
I am mainly focusing on organic search and see the constant changes in the algorithm. I try to keep myself informed about the newest developments and don’t mind spending money for it.
Actually with all the changes you really who is in this whole internet marketing stuff for real and who is just a tourist.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Comment by Alex @ Zahnaufheller — May 13, 2010 #
I haven’t ever tried any type of adwords, pay per click campaigns.
My philosophy has been that since I am a web design, coder consultant that I should be able to get the organic searches. But lots of competition.
I received a $100 card from google. Maybe I should try it out.
Sounds like you had a near $10,000 trip there, glad to hear that it was worth it.
Comment by SuperStar — May 13, 2010 #
I would say the best thing is to stay updated with the latest technology and the latest trends in the Online world!
This helps us know what our customers are actually looking forward and it helps uo gain the idea bout the market..
Comment by Rohit Sane @ Tech Freak — May 14, 2010 #
Taking up new tasks and do some research to stay ahead of the pack. We don’t just stick on what we are doing basically but making efforts to be advance as the same as the internet evolves as times goes by.
Comment by sheldon — May 18, 2010 #
Hi Will,
So far I have not used Adwords or PPC so I cannot really speak much about that.
When I decide to use it I’ll look for the best new information available and maybe even hire your company if the price is right.
Thanks for the info in the post. Prices are really going up like crazy from what you write. I had an idea that everything going up but I didn’t think that cost of clicks would be going up to such a degree.
Vance
Comment by Vance Sova — May 18, 2010 #
Do you have a recommended article on what TO do to stay ahead of the pack? That’d be great! Thank you.
Comment by Robin Alley — May 18, 2010 #
Wow, this is really good of you and it looks like you’re making a real difference. I had been thinking about starting to contribute to Kiva soon, and you’ve encouraged me do it even more.
Comment by Teknoloji — May 18, 2010 #
Let’s start by acknowledging that, depending on the product, some media are better suited than others and that relying on one single tactic to generate revenue is always risky.
The PPC (pay per click) bidding system is bound to reach a point where it is impossible to make a profit anymore. Bids keep rising, thus costs will eventually exceed revenue. Anticipating that point one should develop different tactics well in advance.
If you have not done so already, it may be worth your while to assess possibilities like SEO (search engine optimization, aka the art of getting high positions in organic search engine result pages), social media (rapidly rising as a promotional tool) like twitter and youtube, television and newspapers (still very strong media).
Comment by Seo Stan — May 20, 2010 #
That’s the one crazy thing about web marketing – it’s still the wild west. One change in a search engine’s algorithm can throw you from ranking on page 1, to not ranking at all. It’s important to stay current on what the search engines are valuing, and adapt your marketing strategy to this criteria.
Comment by online schools — May 21, 2010 #
The market is always changing. The stuff that worked 3 years ago would be a failure today. That’s why I always allocate at least 10% of my time to do research, find new trends, test stuff, etc.
Comment by Spray Foam Insulation — May 27, 2010 #
I monitor my AW campaign frequently to see if my postion has dropped and try to find out why.
Most often it is others bidding much higher than me but then I try to refine my keyword portfolio to include more longtail words/phrases.
Comment by status — May 27, 2010 #
You are quoting figures I can only dream of having right now. I understand the importance of staying ahead of the pack, just need to find my own unique way of doing it, Sally
Comment by Sally — May 27, 2010 #
Web marketing is very brutal and cut throat but those who rise to the top make insane money. Great post, thanks!
Comment by Hover Coupon — June 7, 2010 #
It really is necessary to constantly be adjusting your strategy based on changes in the market. No one gets anywhere standing still, Of course, it takes time and energy to keep up with the changing times, but there’ no other way to avoid being left behind.
Comment by Park transfer — June 8, 2010 #
I guess I invest a lot, both time and money and I’m always on the lookout for new groundbreaking opportunities. I also try to work with very competent persons so that I can evolve my business.
Comment by The Best of Phoenix — June 9, 2010 #
PPC advertising is best and fastest way to get targeted traffic but as know that advertiser is always looking for lower cost while the publisher is looking for more. I would always recommend to pay some attention on SEO rather than focus only on PPC advertising
Comment by Calvin — June 13, 2010 #
The easiest way to stay ahead of the competition is to first indentify them and then observe them. Let them bear the cost of development and innovation and then copy their success.
You do not want to be leaders of the pack, but you do want to be up in the front with them.
It is the old joke about the two people coming across an angry bear in the woods. One starts to pull off his heavy boots, while the asks “Why are you doing that?”. “To help me run faster!”. His friend replies ” You cannot out run a bear!”. The other one explains, “I do not have to run faster than the bear, I just have to run faster than you”.
You just need to be a little better than your nearest competitor.
Another significant area is the sale process itself. Some people that earn 100%, 200%, 300% more than you, are not that much better at doing it than you, it is just they are doing something different, a small difference but in a key area.
You need to consistantly go over your sales process, looking for those little key leverage points you can tweak and measure. Run the old method/sales page/customer response alongside a new method for a while, constantly measuring and quantifying.
Choose the method that works the best, move to the next leverage point. When, you have worked through the whole sales process, go back to the beginning and start again. There is always room for improvement.
See what your competitors are doing better than you, constantly improve your sales process.
I hope this has given you all something to think about and that it helps.
best wishes
John Wilkes
Comment by John Wilkes — June 15, 2010 #
Good to hear that the seminar was worth the money. Yes are right AW has become expensive if you compare to some years ago, so I try to stay ahead with so much new knowledge as possible – It is hard but it is worth it.
Comment by Billeje — June 18, 2010 #
Some good reads here. Alot of relevant information based on what I am currently going through. It would seem that the competition is dumping more money into their campaigns and high bid limits and it forced me to be more creative to the point where I create many more campaigns and actually tracked them right down to the point of sale to see if they actually had a ROI. No more shots in the dark.
Comment by Max — June 19, 2010 #
Could it really get to the point where the bids are so high that it just wont be worth it for everyone?
Comment by Donna L — June 20, 2010 #
“While his web marketing stood still, the cost per click in his market quietly rose from $1 per click to $8 per click over a couple of years, and his account went from ‘profitable’ to ‘bleeding cash’.” – Wow!!
I have to agree with Rohit Sane. It’s important to be constantly adapting with the latest technology and social media trends in order to keep your customers interested. Many companies are already looking to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and all other social media networking to keep ahead.
Comment by Luke — June 23, 2010 #
My advise be to test everything. Stay up to date with the lastest trends and test everything! I also make a point of not following to many people online. It will only confuse you and you wont implement anything. Rather follow 1 or 2 people who you know stay on top of the trends and implement and test whatever they say as fast as you can.
Comment by Werner — June 29, 2010 #
I’ve been experimenting mainly with social networking, social bookmarking, directories, etc. It looks like I’ll have to give Adwords a more serious look, though.
Comment by Jason Y — July 7, 2010 #
Great suggestions and examples, especially for a newbie like myself who lacks a natural sense of web design.
Comment by Affiliate Recruiter — July 30, 2010 #
To stay ahead of the pack I keep up to date with the current issues in my niche and also continuously look for opportunities to reach out to my target audience.
Keeping current with the capabilities of the internet is also a very important area I follow closely.
Comment by Josh — July 30, 2010 #
It’s funny to know that clicks is expensive since I’m a click happy and keeps on signing up to anything i think has a valuable information that they can provide me. Social media networking sites are the best way to get clickers on your sites coz most of them are just a bored one like me who keeps on clicking anything just to say that you’re doing something interesting online.
Comment by Maya — July 31, 2010 #
I am mainly focusing on organic search and see the constant changes in the algorithm. I try to keep myself informed about the newest developments and don’t mind spending money for it.Bookmarked and sharing for friends.
Comment by oracle training — August 19, 2010 #