In the online advertising and direct response marketing world we are all trying to hit some moving targets and it can become a real challenge especially if the client is not as experienced as we are in the marketing game. Let’s face it not every marketing campaign we execute on will work well or work at all. The key is to test for as low a cost as possible and drive as many impressions and clicks or calls to our business and figure out what works. The plan is then to do more of what works and kill or change what does not work.

As a recent client said to me, “Jim it all sounds good but…..how will I know -fill in the blank-?” The true answer is we won’t know until we actually execute. What we can share with you is generic data and conversion rates with similar projects. This data hopefully will assist you in making a more informed decision.

Below is a short note recently written to a client requesting their understanding and participation in a lead generation web project that includes a new website overhaul and a professional PPC campaign. The website will be prepared and optimized for SEO but SEO is not a focus as it is a long term play and the client has a requirement for immediate results.

Just to set your expectations on this project:

1. I am going to require some writing from you (about 5-10 pages about 400-700 words per page) I will tell you what to write about
2. The assumption is we are thinking the cost per click is about $5 per click. If this estimate is off it could get more expensive quickly. But our experience tells us we are probably correct.
3. You are going to have to answer the phone on the first or second ring
4. We are expecting to generate 200 website visits for the first month
5. Out of the 200 visits we think we will get 3-5% call rate (If we are off on this then costs go up to get more calls).
6. We are expecting half of the calls to be unqualified, the other half we are expecting you to close them on a “free 20 -30 minute consultation.” If you can do this then you can qualify and sell them to make sure that they are a paying client
7. We will need to run this project for 3 months. After 3 months we will re-assess. If you want to continue forward after 3 months we will formalize with a 6 month contract.

This will be an intense project and I am expecting you to follow my lead. I am confident we will have success. The hardest part is keeping the phone ringing and the good news there is it only takes money to do so. If that is done everything else should take care of it self.