Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing can be a daunting and time-consuming task for an advertiser. There is no sure way to guarantee success, but keeping these essential principles in mind will get you that much closer to that ever-elusive goal.
1. Select the right keywords – When creating a PPC marketing campaign, keyword selection is often the first task at hand and too often is not given proper consideration by advertisers targeting only the obvious high volume keywords. Complex keyword combinations of three, four, or more words often receive the highest click-through rates and have the highest site conversion rates. These specific search terms may have lower search volumes than some of the more generic search phrases for your product or service, but the lack of competition on these not-so-obvious terms doesn’t just mean fewer competing sites for your visitor to click potential, but that often means lower pay-per-click costs as well. Also, don’t forget the common misspellings for those keywords, as the same benefits apply.
2. Choose the best search engines – Not all search engines are created equal. Depending on your market, some search engines may work better than others. For example, some studies have suggested that Google AdWords dominates the majority of B2B search volume. While this may be true, care must be taken not to ignore the lower volume, but high quality traffic that can be obtained through other engines, like Yahoo in this case. Second-tier engines, while often looked down on, can also be a source of high-quality, low-cost traffic. One must take the time to carefully test and monitor a variety of these sub engines to find that “diamond in the rough.” Blogs and message boards are full of opinions about which engines work and which don’t. Although they can be a good source of information, one should always exercise caution and carefully test these engines for oneself. You may be surprised with what you find.
3. Write effective ad copy – Although obvious, it can’t be overstated enough, write good ad copy. Beyond improving your writing skills, an often overlooked technique is evaluating the effectiveness of your ad copy once published. After carefully adhering to all known copywriting techniques, advertisers too often proudly submit their ads, never to see them again. Take the time to assess the click-through rates for each of your ads. You may be able to identify offers, buzzwords, or descriptions that seem to work better than others. You may find that the gem of an ad you spent so much time creating may not attract the attention of that tried-and-true ad you discarded.
4. Select the right landing pages – Okay, this is obvious too, but how many times have you clicked on a paid ad only to be left wondering why the hell you were sent to the page you are on? Seekers are an impatient bunch, and if they can’t immediately find what they’re looking for, you’ve lost them. Your website can change frequently, so when it does, don’t forget to think about where you’re sending that paid traffic to.
5. Establish success metrics – Whatever the desired action for your site visitor, be sure to set a success metric for it. Whether it’s generating email signups, producing leads, or selling widgets, every action should have a set metric to determine success. How much are you willing to pay for that lead? What is your target ROI for the sale of that widget? Without accurate metrics, you have no way of evaluating the success of your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns overall, down to the effectiveness of the particular search engines they’re running on or the keywords you’re using.
6. Track and measure everything – This is really a compilation of all the above mentioned principles. The success of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a combination of a variety of complex factors. Without diligent measurement and tracking of each measurable, identifying what works and what doesn’t comes down to nothing more than guesswork. Test, measure, evaluate and repeat is the mantra of the day in the world of online marketing.
Sounds like a lot of work, you say? Well, it is, but it’s worth the time to carefully test, measure, and evaluate your campaigns. If you simply don’t have the time, inclination, or experience to tackle the process, your best bet is to hire a pay-per-click marketing professional to do it for you. Either way, the benefits will be worth it.
