PPC (Pay-Per-Click) can be a little daunting for anyone, particularly if you're completely new to the industry. Many small businesses have gambled on PPC marketing and, because they didn't understand it as well as they should have done, it has cost them a great deal of money and offered little in the way of returns.
If you are certain that you want to undertake your own PPC campaign, then you need to ensure that you know what you are doing, and how you can actually make the most of your campaign without wasting your entire marketing budget.
What Is PPC Advertising?
Simply, Pay-Per-Click is a form of online marketing which sees the advertiser paying nothing unless the advert is actually clicked on by a user. You can customise your add to present the message you want, and it will appear on the search engine results for relevant search queries and keywords.
You need to decide how much you are willing to pay for every click, and this is where so many people get it wrong, either going too cheap, too expensive or allowing their entire budget to be run out in a matter of hours, leaving nothing for the rest of the month.
Make The Most Out Of Your Pay-Per-Click Digital Marketing!
The very best PPC marketers have their own strategy for planning and enacting PPC campaigns of all sizes and for a variety of different products. Here at Promote, we tend to lean towards a seven-step strategy which continues throughout the length of the campaign to ensure that we are attracting the right kind of customer and encouraging high levels of conversion, rather than simply wasting our client's budget and achieving little in the way of ROI.
The Seven-Steps Of A Solid PPC Marketing Campaign
- Identify – The very first step in the PPC campaign is identifying which products you want to actually advertise. It can be tempting to offer an entire range, and many people do, but it is usually best to focus on specific products within your overall range.
Search for similar products on Google to see which models your competitors are focusing on, and you can either try to combat them by focusing on the same/similar products, or choose different products from your range.
- Research – You can use Google's AdWords, or other services, to research the best keywords for your products. It is also useful to research negative keywords to ensure that only relevant traffic is arriving at your site. When it comes to SEO, you'll be more concerned with keywords that you need to target, but in PPC it is just as important to be aware of the words you need to avoid as well.
If you're trying your very first PPC campaign, you can use broad matches to try and understand what the market itself is currently doing and what users are looking for. You can use broad matches to find negative terms as well. Once you understand which terms you want to actively avoid, you'll be ready to start building your campaign.
- Build – You'll need to split your chosen products into different sections, and each one will turn into a campaign of its own, with its own associated ad groups. Ad groups are, essentially, just a collection of keywords and advertisements.
The basics of a good PPC campaign should contain at least 10 different ad groups, but ideally you want as many as 50, or even more, to ensure that you campaign is targeted towards the most specific searcher possible. The more relevant the keywords and the ad-copy in each ad group, the higher the CTR (Click-Through Rate) is likely to be.
The better the CTR, the more likely you are to be rewarded by Google as they will often lower the amount you are required to pay whilst simultaneously increasing your natural ad positions on the SERP itself.
Ideally, you also want to focus on specific, long-tail keywords which are hugely targeted at specific searches and answering the needs of customers.
- Create – Each of the products you are presenting through PPC should have its own personalised landing page, with a very clear “buy" button and a nice, informative description. It is absolutely essential that the ad leads straight to the page and that all the content works alongside each other in order to provide a cohesive identity.
It only really takes people between 3 and 4 seconds to make a retail decision, and you need to ensure that you do everything right in order to appeal to this short decision making time.
- Vary – Pay-Per-Click campaigns allow you to have several different variations of ads, so you can have dedicated text ads to increase your CTR. By creating a variety of advertisements, you can monitor those which do cause the user to click and those which don't.
- Report – Use Google's Analytics to help you look in-depth at your SEO and PPC keyword choices. Remember to pay attention to your bounce-rates in particular, as they are the thing costing you the most amount of money. This is valuable information which you can actively use to evolve your pay per click campaign.
For example, if you are achieving a high CTR but a high bounce-rate, then it is your landing page which is putting your consumers off.
- Refine – The most important part of your PPC campaign, and the key to making it a real success, is to ensure that you constantly refine your campaign and ensure that it evolves to meet the needs of your potential customers. Use your Analytics to keep an eye on your campaign and ensure that you are always targeting the most relevant of long-tail keywords.
Make The Most Of Your PPC Online Advertising With Professional Help
Here at Promote, we offer a diverse range of digital marketing services to ensure that you can enjoy the complete benefits of an effective online advertising campaign. If you're unsure whether you need professional PPC services, check out our blog post on signs that you need help with PPC.
For more information on our diverse range of digital marketing services, including our industry-leading PPC training course, get in touch with our team today on 0118 380 1002.
