Absolutely no conversions!

[MrGisriel]

Hi, I am new on the forum but after reading a few post and threads I am intrigued. See, here is the problem, I have tried 2 PPC, 7search and epilot. Both with no results and absolutely no purchases. We have talked with many people about our Pharmacy site, www.pharmacyprescriptionstore.com and all say it looks and is operating great. I have no idea what could be wrong? Does anyone else have a "drug" or pharmacy site? Any suggestions? PLEASE HELP! (note: on the 7search we spent $250 500 clicks, no sales. epilot: $100 300 clicks, no sales).

[Qal]

Thats Sad, really.

You should seriously consider Yahoo Search Marketing (Overture) or FindWhat at this stage, for that type of business. It might seem a bit expensive, but its worth every cent.

[mcanerin]

I'm the SEO for one of the largest and most successful online pharmacies around, so I imagine I'm qualified. Most of their success is due to the fact they are a great company, but I'm hoping at least some of it is due to my efforts ;)

Though I'm not sure I should help a competitor. I'll keep it basic for now.

First and foremost - if you are getting clicks but no conversions, then there are two immediate possibilities:

1. Your leads are not properly qualified - or -
2. You site isn't converting.

Your ad spend seems low. The online pharmacy biz is very competitive, and there is a good chance that many of the clicks you got were your competitors looking to see who the new guy was. Naturally, they would not convert. Yes, there are more than 500 that would do this.

I'm not saying that's the case, but if your spend is less than what it takes to deal with the window shoppers and competitors, then you simply will not get any qualified clicks, even with a great ad.

The other possible issue is that you may be using the wrong PPC sites. Different people use different engines - experiment with the big ones, for a start.

As to the second point, it doesn't matter how nice your site looks, it matters how competitive your prices are and how strong your call to action is. For obvious reasons I won't do direct comparisions, but I would work on stronger text. These customers shop around a LOT, and they have huge numbers of choices. You need to grab their attention and keep it, either with prices or by appealing to some other preceived need or desire.

Take a look at your competition. A hard look. Better yet, have those same people that said your site looks nice look at them, as well. Chances are, they will say the same. You would be better off showing someone 5 sites, including yours, and not telling them which one is yours (people are always nicer to their friends). Then listen very closely and non-defensively.

That's probably as helpful as I can get, ethically. Good luck.

Ian

[MrGisriel]

Thanks Alot for your help Ian.

What is your site that you oversee (pharm.)?

Also what do you belive is a good budget for one of these sites?

What PPC do you use?

What is the URL (of your site)?

I compared prices with the closest comp. and I am lower, alot lower (in the eyes of a customer)- $10-$20 lower. Please help me figure out this mess. Just wondering as your in the buisness, approx how many visitors will it take to make a purchase (ratio)?

Thanks for all of your support and Know-how,

Derek Gisriel

[MrGisriel]

What PPC does anyone suggest for this type of school?

Thanks,
Derek

[krisval]

I have no experience with pharmacy, but I do with ePilot and 7search. First things first, I stopped using both of those companies as well as everyone except for Google and Overture. Way too much fraud. I received refunds from both of those companies after showing my log files. If it isn't fraudulant, the traffic usually come from sites using pop-unders, spyware, expired domains, or all of the above. NOT SEARCH. Have you ever seen the ads from these companies on top portals?

I suggest that you look for a legitimate company offering Banner Ads and possibly pops. You'll get at least the same quality of traffic and if you buy in bulk, you can get discounts which may make your ROI work. Pops can tick people off so be selective.

Forgot, one suggestion on PPC goclick.com. They have an ROS optin where you can get decent traffic between .05-.10 / click. Not vey targeted and some is completely bogus, but there is some legitimate US traffic. When you discount the bad traffic, plan on your actual cost to be at least double and then you can back into your ROI.

[MrGisriel]

So would you reccommend Overture? I know google has tight limits on rx (have to have squaretrade cert.) sites, do you know if this is true with Overture?

Thanks

[MrGisriel]

Would any1 reccomend Overture in the RX field? I know Google is tight on RX sites.

[Alarr]

Hi!

I don't want to seem overly critical, but I just took a look at the site. Here is what concerns me...

If you buy from the site and checkout, you go to a different Web site and the look-and-feel of the site is lost.

Personally, I would never buy from a site that uses third-party programs that have a differnet URL. From a marketing perspective this is a disaster. I think people are especially sensitive with perscriptions since drugs account for a large part of Spam.

This is just me... I'm not like everyone else. I should also note that I have never bought drugs online.

-Alarr

[massa]

>I should also note that I have never bought drugs online.<

Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't buy mine there either.

[hello2paul]

Mr Grisiel - hi :)

Hmmm....lets talk about design/content for a moment:

1. You are not my : "... favorite online pills store..." - I've only just got here - how do I know you're my favourite store?

2. "Pills store..." - you've now just cheapened & confused the whole purpose of your website. You are an online pharmacy, right? There are plenty of "pills website" - don't group yourself with them.

3. The whole top banner looks so generic - like it's popped out of oe those "page making" software programmes.

4. The two old dears staring at the laptop in that fingerprint shaped image doesn't exactly fill me with brimming confidence to buy off your website. If they are supposed to represent "US Licensed pharmacies. US licensed physicians" I'd say you have a mis-match in text & visuals.

5. On the presumption that a lot of your vistors may be sick, elderly you might want to increase font size, and have a clearer "mission statement" on your front page as to who you are and what you are about.

6. Go here: Web Page Analyser (http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/) - it'll give you some pointers towards page size & loading time. This is important because many of your elderly, sick customers probably don't have broadband, and wonder what on earth is happenig in the 38.41 seconds it takes to load your page on a 56K modem.

All the above is meant to be critical - but helpful. It's a useful website you have there. I just think you need to think a little deeper & wider about the design of the site first - and then worry about PPC etc aftwerwards.

[webslinger422]

I agree with everything hello2paul wrote. Your site needs a little tweeking. The foundation is there, you just need a little more effective window dressing.

[MikeDammann]

When we have a client with a limited budget, I advise them to use Yahoo! Search Marketing, but find a variety of less competitive terms first and bid on those. Spread it out. It takes more time, but you can make some great sales with terms that the bigger players overlook. When you focus on finding those, and keep on bidding, your ROI will be more than worth the effort you've put in.

Most ppc engines have disappointed me, but Yahoo! Search Marketing is one that I highly recommend.

Mike