Interested in getting results with pay-per-click marketing or optimizing your active PPC campaigns? In this blog post, the first in my 8-part blog post series, I cover just that.
If you haven’t considered this Internet advertising model for driving direct traffic to your website or landing pages, you might be missing out on capturing users most interested in what you have to offer. On the other hand, if you have considered this Internet marketing channel, but have not done thorough research and testing, you might be wasting advertising dollars without seeing the results you are seeking.
So, let’s get started…
Diversify Keyword Research Tools. Make sure you use a few different tools for paid keyword research to get a good view of what others are searching for and what keywords your competition may be bidding on. Some examples of tools include SpyFu, iSpionage, and Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Many of these tools provide suggestions for keyword you may not have considered and reporting varies.
Cast Wide vs. Long Tail. If you are just starting out, you might want to cast a larger net with keywords. If you are a local business, you will want to search in a specific geographic location. As you start to weed out low performing keywords, look for long-tail keywords that might have less competition, but a high number of searches. Make sure when building keyword lists, you consider match types.
Optimize Copy for What Matters. You have a short amount of space to get your point across, so you need to optimize your ad copy. Get your focus keyword in the ad somewhere, even if not fitting in headline; mention the business name; highlight the value or benefit of what you offer; include a strong call to action; and make sure the ad copy is relevant to landing page user is being sent to.
Include Ad Extensions. Since you are limited on ad copy, you want to make sure you include sitelink, location, call, and other ad extensions to give the viewer a little more information to positively differentiate your ads from competitors. This will also help you occupy a little more online “real estate” space.
Utilize Negative Keywords. By incorporating negative keywords, you might be able to save from spending on clicks for keywords that aren’t related to your products or action you want the user to take. Think contextually, there is a difference between someone looking to buy new red shoes vs. find an outfit to match red shoes they already have. By being specific with intent of what you do or don’t want, you can lower page bounce rates.
Split Ad Groups. You can improve click-through rate (CTR) and quality score at the same time if your ad groups are smaller and more relevant. Don’t try to include every keyword imaginable one might search for your product or service.
Choose the Right Bidding Strategy. There is a lot that goes into choosing how much you want to spend or bid for a placement. It is good to bid a little over what your competition is, at the very least. Keep in mind the audience reach based on your bid. Unless you are a PPC guru, you probably don’t want manual bidding.
Test Before You Spend. It is okay to start out with just one or two campaigns, perhaps testing one landing page against the homepage of your website. Sure, the more you have to spend and test from the get-go, the faster you can determine what is working and what is not, to optimize sooner for maximum results — but if you don’t have a large budget to work with, this can be risky.
Determine Target Audience Need. The question isn’t what are the top performing keywords; the question is what are the top performing keywords with my audience. There may be a number of benefits or values your product or service can provide. Find out which topics and keywords resonate the most with those likely to convert.
Ask an Expert. Even if you plan on eventually managing your own PPC campaigns, you might want to start off with learning from a PPC consultant or having an agency like McClain Concepts assist with your efforts. Make sure you are honest with your skills in this area, or it could end up costing you more than your efforts return.
Businesses are drawn to pay-per-click marketing, because it gets quicker results than search engine optimization (SEO). For those unfamiliar, SEO is organically optimizing to get a page listed in top results on Page 1 of search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo) results.
Even though pay-per-click is great for faster results, I don’t want to discredit SEO. A strategy that has a combination of the two can be highly effective in getting traffic results for both short-term and long-term. If you want to get your search engine marketing in good shape, visit my consulting page to schedule an appointment.
