Pump Up Your PPC Campaign

As marketers, we have seen the importance and benefits of sponsored/paid searches, better known as pay per click. A PPC campaign is useful in doing two things: a) increasing traffic to your site and b) increasing sales. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong, in order for a PPC campaign to run successfully, you need to be actively analyzing the campaign’s performance and making sure you are getting the biggest bang for your buck. Pay per click campaigns are not something you set and forget.

The first step in maximizing your PPC campaign is to monitor keyword and ad group performance based on quality score (look for a 6 or higher), click-through-rates (1% is ideal) and ad position. If you notice your numbers are not where you’d like, it is time to make some changes. However, we want to do more than create ads to attract current customers, we want to grab the attention of potential customers as well.

Are you using the right language?

Using appropriate language to increase sales is different than using language to generate user engagement. Be sure to keep this in mind as you are creating or optimizing your ads.

Call to Action: The easiest way to get a customer to act is to tell them what you want them to do. A CTA will increase the chances that a searcher will click on the ad and visit your site.

• Promotional Offers
• Buy Now
• Call Today

Relevant Keywords: Although relevant keywords should be a top priority when creating a display or search ad, there are steps you can take to maximize their power.

• Review the performance of your keywords often
• Group keywords in tighter, niche groups. This will increase CTR and the QS
• Replace keywords that do not perform well with new keyword variants
• Add negative keywords – this will exclude your ads from ranking for terms that do not apply to your business

Targeted Copy: Use the copy of your landing pages to appeal to a targeted audience using relevant keywords. By targeting a narrow audience, the quantity of clicks may decrease but you will see an increase in their quality. Having properly optimized landing pages helps to decrease your cost per click and increase quality score.

• Update copy of landing pages often – replace outdated copy with fresh content
• If landing page content changes, don’t forget to update your ads

Landing Page Experience: You want the searcher to have a good experience when they land on your page from an ad. Once a searcher has landed on your page, you want to keep them on your site by doing the following:

• Supply the searcher with original, useful content
• Create a trusting environment (explain products/services in depth)
• Easy navigation on all platforms (mobile, desktop and tablet)
• Pages load quickly – don’t leave your customer waiting

Keep in mind that all three of these metrics should be tied together. If your landing page doesn’t match up with the keywords in your ad, you will see an increase in the bounce rate. In turn, lowering the landing page experience and ultimately lowering your quality score and ad rank.

Think Outside of the Text Box

After optimizing your content to appeal to a more specific group, look beyond the text. We have moved past the times when we could attract searchers with a few compelling words. AdWords has stepped up its game by allowing for Ad Extensions. With so many choices during a simple Google search, give your ads a competitive edge.

Ad Extensions: By utilizing any number of extensions, you increase the chances a searcher will click on your ad. Extensions allow you to provide more information to a searcher aside from the ad’s text such as:

• Phone Number: Direct call button (mobile)
• Address and Location: By connecting your Google Business page
• Hours of Operation

You can also add in other extensions that will appeal to a searcher over a plain, text based ad.

• App and Button extensions
• Site Links- Links directed at specific pages to help better direct a searcher. Site links can improve CTR by close to 30%

AdWords offers other extensions that will add features like user ratings, reviews and social share data to name a few.

Track Your Traffic

Geographical Targeting: By setting a geographical location, you are able to optimize your PPC campaign to either include or exclude certain locations. Like negative keywords, you can set negative locations so your ads will not show in areas that have no relevance to your business. On the flip side, AdWords also allows you to set targeted locations in which those are the only places your ad will show.

After you have explored and begun to utilize what adword extensions have to offer,  look beyond the platform. If your website is set up with Google Analytics, you can combine the two platforms to better understand where the traffic is coming from, where it is going and where you lost them.

We understand that this may be a little overwhelming and time consuming. At Biznet, we are digital marketing experts and are more than happy to lend a helping hand in operating and maximizing your digital dollar. Check out what Biznet  can do for you and your business today.