You could say that PPC Management is the opposite of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), even though the data and search fields are similarly organized. However, whereas SEO theory favors valuable content and is matched up according to a variety of algorithm factors, PPC (Pay Per Click) is more straightforward. You get to forgo some of the process of SEO, including writing pages and pages of content, just to convince the search engines that you are a reputable and in-depth site.
PPC ads are characterized by the “sponsored links” with text / graphic ads that appear on the sidebar, in contrast to SEO which appears in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) 1-10. These are very noticeable and sometimes they are noticed first even before the #1 SEO result, because of their convenient placement and very specific keyword term.
How PPC Works
The good news is that PPC campaigning allows you to simply pay a fee for a guaranteed placement on the keyword of your choice. You don’t have to fight the good fight of trying to constantly please Google and land on the #1 spot each and every time. Instead, you simply choose the keyword you like, create a text ad (or graphical ad), and a corresponding landing page where you can send the traffic who clicks your ad.
The way the system works is that you pay for each advertisement that is clicked, not for conversions or even impressions. You enter a competitive bid “per click” and then pay for people to land on your page, no doubt proud of your landing page, text ad and linking information, since this is your official “5 minute” presentation to your new lead.
Right away, you can see that this places an extra emphasis on keyword quality, that is the right keyword that your customers are most likely to type in for their online search. The keyword cannot be too vague, because (1) that will increase the level of competition probably beyond what you can afford – let’s face it, “online store” is everyone’s favorite word, including mega corporations; (2) it’s not going to endear your TARGET audience to your website, since your customers are not doubt looking for something very specific instead of a broad one or two word search.
You don’t get charged by impression—that is, how many times people see your ad displayed. However, most sites like Google do eventually suspend your keyword selection if you have a high number of impressions but no clicks. This may not be costing you anything but it is costing the search engine company and not proving to be profitable to either of you.
Just as in SEO, the more targeted and specific your keyword searches the better you do on CONVERSION. No, you may not get as heavy overall traffic as you would with a broader search but you do get better quality leads that convert to sales more easily.
Naturally, you must determine a budget that works for you since all of these clicks will add up quickly and cost you a good investment. You especially have to watch out for high priced keywords that do not get leads in return. True, you may be doing well with brand awareness if you have a considerable number of impressions but ultimately you cannot afford to keep buying keywords that do not convert. Some keywords are actually so expensive that EVEN IF THEY DO CONVERT, most marketers will drop them if they exceed the budget.
What’s nice about a PPC campaign is that you can put a cap on these keyword budgets and make sure you don’t go over a certain amount of clicks per day. If you can only afford $5 a day, then you put that and you pay up to $5, at which point your ads will stop displaying for the rest of the day.
The Landing Page
The landing page of a PPC campaign is an important part of the process, since this literally the sales pitch. You can’t sell anything with just a text ad. As soon as someone clicks on your ad the pressure is on—you have to convert using an attractive landing page (not necessarily a homepage) and then including call to actions, a strong incentive-based page of copy demonstrating the value of the product, and an easy to user interface.
Since you will use a number of keyword searches, prepare to create many landing pages, all of which will have its own unique approach to using the keyword in question as well as connecting it with the keyword text ad. Discrepancy between the keyword in the ad and the landing page is one common reason why users navigate away from the page.
Remember that in PPC, arguably more than in SEO, you have to ensure the traffic to your site is quality traffic. Large volumes of traffic that don’t earn you sales really do you no favors. Sometimes getting leads may be the priority rather than actual sales, but it’s up to you to maximize your clicks and make them cost effective.
In general landing pages tend to be resource pages that provide helpful content and possess engaging headlines, powerful copy, interesting visuals and some type of credibility established (usually testimonials).
Resources Open to You
It’s nice to know that you have free tools at your disposal. Using a tool like Google Adwords Planner can help you search for keywords that are relevant and popular and niche-popular for that matter. Don’t just go by your instinct. Try to search for keywords that are meaningful to your industry and business, while also being popular searches on the Internet. You can also make sure these words are used by your competition and analyze how well they perform, and where they are used on the page.
Sometimes managing a good campaign involves using the popular keyword a certain number of times, but naturally, as well as using the keyword in the meta descriptions and in headlines.
Analyzing the Click Through Rate
The CTR ratio tells you how often people click on an ad and go through to your site. Obviously a high CTR is a good sign and all in all, this is what matters to the likes of Google, Bing, and all other search engines and social media website. And yes, your “Quality Score” (especially with Google) is partly determined by the click-through rate.
This does not mean however that a high-click through rate always means success for you. If your keywords get high clicks but don’t generate leads or direct sales it’s bad for profitability. Research the right keywords is very important.
The Latest News
Recent changes to Google’s PPC Ad Words system are important to note, since they may affect the way you plan your campaign. Google no longer automatically awards the top spot in its sponsored research results based on bidding price. You have to earn it by having quality ads, quality landing pages and keeping a high quality score throughout the campaign.
You can also get penalized if your page is not geared towards proper Google standards, such as in avoiding black hat practices (like keyword stuffing, too many irrelevant links, and the like).
Other factors in Quality Score include:
- Maintaining a good history of ads that perform well (so don’t keep starting over or moving)
- Keyword matching in landing page and text ad
- Making sure you keep only the best performing ads, not all including the underperforming ones
The Strategy You Need to Win
The strategy is not just to come up with a lot of keyword possibilities—the strategy is to understand your goals and your target audience. Clearly defined goals only helps, so that you won’t be scrambling for ideas when you get a hit and when you have an underperforming keyword. Focus on building brand and on achieving measurable results, taking into account leads, CTRs and sales conversions. If you do receive plenty of email signups, are they following through with newsletters?
If the answer is no, it may be time to start rethinking various parts of the campaign, since all of these aspects are linked together.
It is best to have one campaign targeting one product category and one group targeting a single theme. In other words, keep it well organized and don’t jump too far all over the map. Keep it simple and structured.
Don’t forget to include a link back to your homepage. While a landing page may be all that you need to sell a product, you may also need a little bit extra “talking to” for a sale to happen. This is why linking back to your homepage and providing a number of pages can be helpful for that last minute conversion.
The next step is to track closely what sells and then identify these patterns so you can repeat more of the same. Sell more of the specific product that sells. Increase the budget of the campaign that is selling the best. If sales are being reported then analyze what keywords are working and what landing pages seem the most popular.
It’s not as easy to analyze the pages and ads that don’t work, but you can study the results to see if there are any patterns. Analyze the competition (within your industry) to see what they are doing differently. Maybe there’s an industry reason why certain keywords are not used. Have you investigated all possibilities?
Local Targeting
While you know by now that niche audience targeting works best, don’t forget the importance of geotargeting—that is limiting your audience to people who are more inclined to buy locally. For example, if you have a store in England but receive lots of traffic from the United States (or vice versa) that’s not productive and that’s basically wasted click-throughs.
Why not tailor your ads to only reach people in a given location, since your nearest customers are your most likely to buy. This can even work across countries, especially if other countries do not speak your native language and descriptions of the product may be lost in translation.
Similarly, don’t run any ads on mobile devices if you haven’t configured your site to display correctly, as poorly designed pages could incur a penalty.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are often ignored, because some companies think that nobody actually bothers to negative or filter search. Many users are not learning to subtract words from their search results to get rid of matches that are irrelevant. You can set it to where your ads do not appear for irrelevant keyword searches that add another word to the keyword search which confuses the product or industry. This prevents you paying for traffic that you don’t need. Add negative keywords regularly as this will help in budgeting.
Analyze the Call to Action
Lastly, if everything sees in place, then make sure poorly constructed content isn’t the issue. It’s not enough to spell correctly and have proper grammar—you need writing that sells. Copywriting engages the emotion, provides valuable information and gives incentive to buy. It also includes a call to action, not just at the end but also on each “scroll page section”, so that users are frequently reminded to take action according to the helpful information they see.
You’re not always going to hit a homerun when it comes to sales. It takes practice and it takes carefully researching your audience. However, it can be done and now more than ever more companies are getting in on the action, even Facebook which now has its own brand of PPC ads, with a landing “post” instead of a page. This is clearly a major area of focus for all serious marketers, but it’s not to be used INSTEAD of SEO—but with it, along with social media. A combination of all these factors will help keep your campaign successful.
If you’d like more information on PPC campaign management, visit a PPC management service to learn more about how to incite visitors to take action.
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