About PPCsmith.com

Hello and welcome! I'm Lorelle Smith, president and founder of PPCsmith.com.

I started out in late 1997 helping micro-small businesses establish their first Internet presence. Web design turned out not to be my forte, but I found a better niche early on. What small-biz owners really needed was for their sites to be found in the search engines.

For several years I studied search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and practiced them on my own and my clients' websites with such success that I felt qualified to hang out my SEO shingle.

But I grew frustrated at the amount of misinformation the typical website owner had swallowed. Sometimes I couldn't convince them that certain techniques could get them demoted or even banned in the search engines.

The ones who did believe me required far too much one-on-one SEO education, leaving less time to do the actual optimization work they were paying for.

When GoTo.com (now Overture/Yahoo) started selling pay-per-click (PPC) ads at 5¢ a click, I knew it was the start of something big. Then along came Google with an even better PPC program, one that ranked ads according to how often they were clicked rather than how much the advertiser bid.

Then bids went much higher, pricing my clients out of the PPC game, and for a few years I focused on SEO again.

Then a great thing happened. I had the good fortune to attend an intermediate/advanced AdWords class in Seattle. Finally the gaps in my knowledge were filled in, and I left the class eager to bring my PPC knowledge back to my clients.

Finally, I had learned the secrets of how to make a PPC campaign not just successful, but profitable.

And, this being a tech biz, the learning never really stops. I belong to several online discussion groups where I learn about the latest PPC secrets and continue to refine my knowledge.

One thing I have come to believe is that it's crucial for small-biz advertisers to get expert help setting up PPC campaigns.

Unfortunately, most do-it-yourselfers leave the Google default options checked, not realizing this often causes runaway spending. They don't know how to set up tracking URLs so that performance can be measured from the first click all the way to the resulting sale — or lack thereof.

January 1, 2008 marks 10 years since I started my Internet marketing business. A lot has changed online, but I still am committed to helping smaller companies find success with the search engines.

Big companies have entire marketing departments to sell their products and services, but who helps "the little guy"?

PPCsmith.com to the rescue!

To hire us as your PPC manager, or to arrange for a free consultation, please fill out this questionnaire.