Strategies for maximum pay-per-click success

In the following article, I'm going to lead you through a simple step-by-step process that will show you how to collect the numbers you need to calculate the value of a visitor to your web site, using a special three part formula, and how to use this information to purchase targeted advertising in the pay-per-click search engines.

Step 1
Compile a list of statistics that includes your unique visitors, total sales, gross revenue, and total expenses for a set period of time

Before you'll be able to start calculating the worth of your visitors and what you can afford to pay for advertising, you'll need some key figures; chiefly total number of sales, gross revenue, total expenses, and unique visitors for a set period of time.

A. Total number of sales

This figure is easy to calculate, you probably keep a close eye on your sales totals anyway. Just add up the number of sales you have made over a set period of time. For example, this month you may have sold 73 widgets. So your total number of sales equals 73.

B. Gross revenue

Here's another figure that you probably already have at your fingertips. After all, what business owner doesn't keep track of their gross revenue? If you sold 73 widgets for £10 each this month, your gross revenue would be £730.

C. Total expenses

This is an important figure that many new business owners neglect because, honestly, it's just more fun to calculate gross revenue. However, until you know your total expenses, you won't be able to accurately calculate your net revenue, your "in the pocket" profits!

To guarantee that your business always generates a profit, your gross revenue should always be greater than your total expenses. So sit down and start adding up all of the expenses that you deal with to produce, package, and deliver your product or service. This figure should also include all of your operating costs for a set period of time.

D. Unique visitors

Frequently confused with "hits" (which refers to the number of times each file that makes up a particular web page has been requested from your web host's server), "unique visitors" refers to the number of different people who visited your site. And it's the most important measure of web site traffic!

To calculate the number of unique visitors to your web site, you'll need to contact your web host to get your server logs. (For those of you who don't know what a "server log" is, it's simply a file that records each time someone requests one of your web pages and the files associated with it; and it's literally a gold mine of data!)

Your web host should be able to provide you with your server logs. In fact, they may already have log analysis software that will convert your server logs into easy-to-read reports, graphs, and charts. If not, though, you can download your own log analysis software by searching "log analyzers" at Download.com.

WARNING! If you decide to research and test log analysis software, be careful to look for those that offer "unique visitors" as part of their reports, not just "user sessions." One visitor may return to your site numerous times (user sessions), so to be certain your calculations are accurate, you must know "unique visitors."

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