Small Internet Business Advertising Budget

[dionng]

Hi everyone, I would like to know what is the advertising budget for a small internet business. I am running a small homebased internet business, most of my products are offer thru my web site....so I am using "pay-per-click" thru overture and google adwords. They are effective but quite costly. Is there a rule such as how many % of total sales should spend on advertisment? Is 20% of total sales too much or too less? If anyone could give some advises or comments, I would appreciate that. Thanks in advance!

Dion

[I, Brian]

At the end of the day, if your marketing is targeted then it's nt a cost so much as an investment.

2c.

[twosmalldogs]

getting the customers there is a major part but if your site is crappy then they just leave.....average viewer spends 30 seconds looking before leaving or staying

your site is your salesman, store and cashier

>>>oh I did not go to your site so I am not saying your site is crappy<<<

[ronwedd]

I dont think there is a rule such as the one you refer to in your post. It depends on what you are selling, your target market, and the perceived value of your goods.

Your biggest challenge is to get people to your site, encourage them to buy, and to entice them to return again.

A good method of tracking the effectiveness of your ads is to compare the cost of the ad versus the revenue the ad brings in - if you can measure such stats - then make a decision as to whether you are getting a good return on the cost/investment.

There are plenty of other tricks to entice new visitors such as joining lots of forums, providing exchange links, building an opt-in email list that you can market to, providing up to date and valuable information etc etc.

regards

[kalvinhobs]

Originally Posted by twosmalldogs

getting the customers there is a major part but if your site is crappy then they just leave.....average viewer spends 30 seconds looking before leaving or staying

your site is your salesman, store and cashier

I agree.Even before the content, the homepage design gives the first impression to the potential client. I never spend a single cent in a badly designed online store, it makes me feel they are running their business in the same careless style and I think that trouble will come if I stay there anymore.

[nsusa]

It's less how much money you spend on advertising, but what the return rate or conversion rate of your advertising is. $2K spend on the right medium in the right market might bring you better results than spending $200 on untargeted ads.

Christoph

[variocity]

I always tell people spend what you can. You only learn what converts best when a campiagn is running.

Along with your keywords try direct mail. You can easily send out as few as 50 postcards a month.

[Shelley]

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[Databuilder]

For an online store it is very important to establish a relationship. You should consider establishing an opt-in list that you can send a newsletter or announcements to. Offer a free gift, a report, or something in return for an e-mail address that you can keep sending to. If they don't buy on the first visit, you need a way to make the offer again, or better yet, a different offer.

Just be clear that you will be e-mailing them and will never sell, rent or give their e-mail address to anyone. Give them a way to opt-out.

Jason

Three free months of hosting
http://databuilders.net

[kellymccausey]

A PPC campaign, when done well, should cost you less and less as time goes by. There is quite a finesse to it.

Some simple tips are to always have multiple ads running for different keywords groups and always have two different ads running for each group so that you can observe which ad performs best - then tweak the underperformer and watch for results. So you'll always be improving. And of course, with Google, the better an ad does, the better placement it gives you and you spend less per click.

Have you ever read a good book about PPC? There are some good one's out there.