o he types that in.

He finally finds almost exactly what he wants on his third search (again you may get a click), but it's still not quiet right. He wants his 'round blue widget' as soon as possible, he wants to be able to go out and pick one up locally.

So now he types in his fourth keyphrase attempt at finding what he wants 'round blue widget florida' (chances are you're not advertis

Many Pay Per Click advertisers source their PPC keyword list based on the number of searches for a particular keyword or keyphrase.

They'll grab the top 100 keywords or choose the keywords with the most searches. More searches equals more traffic and in turn more sales / leads right?

They will then edit and format their list deleting irrelevant keywords as they go. Then they nip over to their favourite Pay Per Click search engine and drop their list into a campaign and away they go.

What's wrong with this scenario?

Without getting two in-depth, for one if you take the top 100 keywords the chances are you are going to hit some serious competition. Every guy and his dog are doing this. They're all bidding for the same keywords and driving up the Pay Per Click costs.

Secondly the second pitfall is that they're probably targeting prospects that are at the start of the buying / application cycle.

What do I mean by that?

Prospects tend to start their search with a broad term; particularly those that are not so search engine savvy. They will go down a particular path. Here's a simple example; our prospect lives in Key West, Florida and he's looking for a 'widget'. He does a search on widget. At this point looking at the results (you may get a click on your ad), he realises that he's not looking for a 'widget' at all. He's looking for a 'blue widget'.

So he refines his search, 'blue widget' the results pop up and he checks through them (again you may get a click), and realises it's not a 'blue widget' he wants but a 'round blue widget'. So he types that in.

He finally finds almost exactly what he wants on his third search (again you may get a click), but it's still not quiet right. He wants his 'round blue widget' as soon as possible, he wants to be able to go out and pick one up locally.

So now he types in his fourth keyphrase attempt at finding what he wants 'round blue widget florida' (chances are you're not advertis

their favourite Pay Per Click search engine and drop their list into a campaign and away they go.

What's wrong with this scenario?

Without getting two in-depth, for one if you take the top 100 keywords the chances are you are going to hit some serious competition. Every guy and his dog are doing this. They're all bidding for the same keywords and driving up the Pay Per Click costs.

Secondly the second pitfall is that they're probably targeting prospects that are at the start of the buying / application cycle.

What do I mean by that?

Prospects tend to start their search with a broad term; particularly those that are not so search engine savvy. They will go down a particular path. Here's a simple example; our prospect lives in Key West, Florida and he's looking for a 'widget'. He does a search on widget. At this point looking at the results (you may get a click on your ad), he realises that he's not looking for a 'widget' at all. He's looking for a 'blue widget'.

So he refines his search, 'blue widget' the results pop up and he checks through them (again you may get a click), and realises it's not a 'blue widget' he wants but a 'round blue widget'. So he types that in.

He finally finds almost exactly what he wants on his third search (again you may get a click), but it's still not quiet right. He wants his 'round blue widget' as soon as possible, he wants to be able to go out and pick one up locally.

So now he types in his fourth keyphrase attempt at finding what he wants 'round blue widget florida' (chances are you're not advertis

Secondly the second pitfall is that they're probably targeting prospects that are at the start of the buying / application cycle.

What do I mean by that?

Prospects tend to start their search with a broad term; particularly those that are not so search engine savvy. They will go down a particular path. Here's a simple example; our prospect lives in Key West, Florida and he's looking for a 'widget'. He does a search on widget. At this point looking at the results (you may get a click on your ad), he realises that he's not looking for a 'widget' at all. He's looking for a 'blue widget'.

So he refines his search, 'blue widget' the results pop up and he checks through them (again you may get a click), and realises it's not a 'blue widget' he wants but a 'round blue widget'. So he types that in.

He finally finds almost exactly what he wants on his third search (again you may get a click), but it's still not quiet right. He wants his 'round blue widget' as soon as possible, he wants to be able to go out and pick one up locally.

So now he types in his fourth keyphrase attempt at finding what he wants 'round blue widget florida' (chances are you're not advertis

or a 'widget'. He does a search on widget. At this point looking at the results (you may get a click on your ad), he realises that he's not looking for a 'widget' at all. He's looking for a 'blue widget'.

So he refines his search, 'blue widget' the results pop up and he checks through them (again you may get a click), and realises it's not a 'blue widget' he wants but a 'round blue widget'. So he types that in.

He finally finds almost exactly what he wants on his third search (again you may get a click), but it's still not quiet right. He wants his 'round blue widget' as soon as possible, he wants to be able to go out and pick one up locally.

So now he types in his fourth keyphrase attempt at finding what he wants 'round blue widget florida' (chances are you're not advertis

o he types that in.

He finally finds almost exactly what he wants on his third search (again you may get a click), but it's still not quiet right. He wants his 'round blue widget' as soon as possible, he wants to be able to go out and pick one up locally.

So now he types in his fourth keyphrase attempt at finding what he wants 'round blue widget florida' (chances are you're not advertising on that phrase so you're not going to get a click here). But Florida is a big place. Now I'm sure you can guess what's coming next.

Yup in goes 'round blue widget key west florida' (Now there's even less chance that you're advertising on this phrase). But guess what this is the point at which our prospect is most ready to become a customer. Five searches after his initial attempt at finding the product he was after.

Now this is a very simple example and it's possible that a specific site offering 'round blue widget key west florida' could of turned up in the initial search and presented a shortcut. But in most cases this doesn't happen and our prospect wouldn't necessarily be ready for it if it did.

Why? Because our prospect in most cases NEEDS to go through the above routine to actually mentally realise what exactly it is that he wants.

I'm sure you've done it yourself on numerous occasions. I know I have. You enter a broad phrase, reject the results and refine your keyword, rinse and repeat until you've nailed the phrase that brings up the right results.

Now if you are advertising on those first few search 'loops' you are almost definately loosing money. Dig a little deeper and consider refining your Pay Per Click keyword lists to target your prospects more accurately. By doing this you will not only save on click costs but raise your CTR and your profits.