I just read the disturbing results of a joint study on the performance of search marketing firms. Jupiter Research and iProspect surveyed 636 qualified search marketers and 224 search agencies, and found that:
• Most internet marketing firms look at web site traffic or search engine rankings, rather than business results such as ROI (return on investment) or total sales generated from search engine leads.
• Fewer than 40% of search engine marketers are evaluated on ROI or total sales.
• Only 1 out of 7 search marketers measure overall ROI of combined SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay per click) campaigns.
• Most marketers cannot separate the individual ROI of the two different channels - 45% said they cannot determine whether SEO or PPC provides a higher ROI.
Is there a philosophy behind your business’s approach to pay per click (PPC)? The picture painted by my consultant peers is that most companies think you just choose a bunch of keywords, set a monthly budget, and then pay it. Fine-tuning for higher profits hasn’t occurred to them.
For other companies, there may be some thought behind it. Some believe that expansion, higher revenues, and customer acquisition outweigh nearly any cost. But the last 6 years of hard knocks entrepreneurship have drilled some different business basics into my soul.
I believe every advertising campaign should break even or profit on its own merit. This conviction grew while I was investing my own money in my business efforts. Now I work for someone else (feelgoodstore.com) as an internet marketer, and one of our major revenue sources is pay per click. I understand their money isn't limitless, and I treat it as if it’s my own- I don’t take ad spending lightly.

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