Does CPC have a residual effect?

I run a small website www.anybumper.com and I ventured off into CPC advertising a few months ago. It's working out OK, the CPA is just a little less than the net profit of the products i'm selling, so it's worth investing in CPC ads. What I want to know is there a residual effect to the CPC advertising? If I were to quit today with CPC, I know sales would fall, but would they fall to the level pre CPC? I feel like I created a beast that I will have to feed by going the CPC route.

I was actually reading a book about landing page optimization last night. The author discussed this question at length.

Once someone sees your site or product, no matter how they discovered it, you have made an impression. The impression you made might be immeasurably small, but it's still an impression. Impressions accumulate and eventually add up to sales.

My guess is that you have seen a Coke or Pepsi ad ten times today, but you couldn't accurately recall where you saw a single ad. Still, you'll buy one of them with your lunch today. Impressions ad up to sales.

Coke and Pepsi still advertise. I think you are going to need to continue advertising at least until you surpass them in annual sales. Good luck!

Advice: If you are losing money on your CPC, you need to change your strategy. Advertising should make you money, not cost money.

I started my CPC strategy six months ago. I was spending $300 to earn $50. After reading several good books on CPC, I focused my message and advertising. I am now spending $10 to earn that same $50.

Yes there is a residual effect for sure!

• but why not try to deal with it?
• if you have a CPC/PPC ad I suppose you wanna sell something, and thus you have a primary conversion - sale
• if your LP has a secondary conversion like data collection - provide a free ebook for those who give you an e-mail adress
• this way those who are interested in your company may provide some contact and keep in touch (even if they are not interested in the advertised product)