PPC (pay per click) is managed by AdWords. It’s a strategy applied by many marketers to help boost business. A PPC campaign involves listing for a selection of keywords when someone makes a search on Google. Different to organic listings that are normally earned over time by having a SEO optimised website, PPC can be a great way to get your website on the first page of Google in an instant, but you have to pay to do this and you’re often competing against other similar businesses wanting to list the same keyword so it’s important that your PPC Campaign is firing on all cylinders, so to speak.
Here are some great tips for a powerful PPC campaign:
Account Structure – This is the crux to a successful campaign. You should have an AdWords account that contains campaigns; these campaigns should then contain ad groups and within these ad groups you should have ads. For example, if you are advertising shoes… shoes should be your campaign and your ad groups could then be broken into the different types of shoes you might have; one ad group for boots with separate keywords and one ad group for heels with separate keywords… you get the gist. Keeping your PPC campaigns organised is the foundation to success.
Goals – Identify what you are hoping to achieve with your PCC campaign. Are you looking to drive traffic to a web page? Perhaps you want to get more newsletter signups, or maybe even get more people to call your business directly? Setting a clear goal for your campaign is vital for measuring a campaign’s success. Plus, it will influence what text you are going to use in your ad text.
Budget – This is something you should put some serious thought into before setting your ads live, as it’s very easy for your budget to get exhausted quickly. Essentially you will be bidding against other PPC users for the keyword you want to appear for, so if you want the best chances of listing on page one results, then you will have to take it into consideration that you might have to pay a little more. You should also think about your return on investment. Is one product or service that you are selling going to have a higher return on investment than another. If so, you might want to invest slightly more heavily in this ad group. It’s always a good idea to have an idea of how long you are going to run the campaign for, so it’s worthwhile setting a campaign end date, otherwise your campaign will keep running and google will keep taking your money.
Audience – You can really get into the nitty gritty with your ad targeting to ensure your ad is seen by people who are most likely to engage with your advert and convert into a customer. On setting up your ad, you should consider who is your target customer, where do they live, what are they interested in and so on. It might also be useful to think of some exclusions, for example, who you don’t want your ad to appear to. If you only deliver to a specific postcode area you should make sure that other locations are excluded.
Ad Testing – As the old saying goes, “one size doesn’t fit all” and that same principle applies to PPC. You should test different ad variants to see if one ad is more successful than the other. You might change the ad copy, the call to action and other variables. Check in on your ads in a few days and then turn off the ads that aren’t performing as well as others.
Of course, there are many more features that the sophisticated AdWords tool offers, if you can nail these five then you are off to a good start. If you need any help with your PPC campaigns, contact Carrick today.
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