1. Check your ego! Sometimes it's tempting to get into a bidding battle, just for the pure competition...don't do it! It's not worth it.

2. Calculate your return ob investment on the items you are advertising. If you only make a dollar or two per sale, it may not be worth starting a pay-per-click campaign.

3. Calculate your conversion rate. Check your website statistics and find out how many clicks it takes to make a sale. This will help you determine how much you can afford to pay per click. 

Let's say you have an item that gives you $15 profit. It takes you 100 clicks to get a sale. This means you could bid 15 cents per click to break even. Of course, a targeted pay-per-click campaign will likely give you a better conversion rate, so keep that in mind.

4. Make a budget and stick with it. If you can't afford more than 7 cents per click, don't bid higher. There are always more targeted keywords to be found. And remember, even if you aren't on the first page, you will still get clicks. Perhaps, not as often...but you will still get clicks even if you are 3 pages in, especially on frequently searched phrases.

5. Make or use special landing pages for your campaigns. If you have an online gift shop with a variety of items and you are bidding on "blueberry scented candles", don't send them to your home page. They may not be able to find the blueberry scented candles and that's what they are looking for.