This post comes to us from the BoomTown blog:

In order to get the most out of a CRM, you need a solid game plan for online lead generation. Managed PPC advertising has been and continues to be a very successful channel for many of our BoomTown clients.

Our goal in managing PPC advertising for our clients is to make achieving success as easy as possible, and the best start to a successful campaign is asking three simple questions:

1. What is my ONE goal?

For most folks it all boils down to playing the numbers game. More lead volume means more opportunities to get closings. When you set a goal for lead volume, your campaign should always be directly focused on achieving it.

A common mistake is to try and achieve two goals that conflict with each other. An example would be trying to achieve the lowest cost per lead (CPL) while also maintaining top position for a particular keyword or market. Sure, top placement stands out for branding purposes, but it certainly is not the best or cheapest way to achieve a lower CPL. By trying to serve both goals, one of them will always suffer. Take Gary Keller and Jay Papasan's advice and focus on your ONE thing.

2. Where do I want to sell real estate?

A seemingly simple question that can sometimes be complicated to answer. Simplify things by just thinking about where you would like to, and physically can do, business. When it comes to choosing areas to target one can easily think in terms of four tiers:

1. Major cities and metro areas
2. Smaller cities and areas
3. Sides of town (north, west, east, etc) and boroughs
4. School districts, communities, and buildings (such as a condo complex)

Moving down each tier, you see an exponentially smaller amount of available search traffic and, thus, less opportunities to get leads and serve the goals we set in question one. This is why we strongly recommend sticking with the top three tiers (preferably just the top two) in order to get more out of PPC.

Remember--more searches means more clicks, more leads, and more closings. Play the numbers and don't limit the growth potential of your business. If you're looking to laser target and build your brand in a small or very niche area, that's a great strategy, but not the most effective one for your lead generation budget.

3. What's my budget?

Your online lead generation budget is crucial to achieving your lead generation goals. This determines the amount of potential leads and users your campaigns will bring into your site. Combined with the proper targeting from question two, most clients always have the opportunity to increase their lead volume simply by increasing their budget.

Whether you've been running online campaigns for years or are a total newbie, asking yourself the three questions above, and sticking with your lead generation goals is key to achieving success with PPC.