Starting a new pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaign can be both a stressful and exciting time. If you don’t know the exact strategy to create an effective campaign, then your business won’t optimize all the benefits of PPC ads. Effective PPC advertising can be an amazing tool to use to reach the goals you have in mind.
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Starting a PPC Campaign
Before creating a campaign, it is important to go over a few of the basics to help your business not fall into easy mistakes. In this form of advertising, other businesses are competing for the same ad space as you. It is important to know exactly how to beat the competition and get your advertisements in front of the right people. If you have been searching around in the digital advertising world, you may have noticed there are quite a few acronyms.
What is PPC?
Pay-per-click advertising is a way to advertise your business to your target audience. Unlike traditional advertising, you only pay when your advertisement is clicked on. PPC ads use target advertising to only show your ad to people who might interact with it. You pay for ad space based on the keywords you select. After you select keywords and a bidding price, your ad is ready to be seen. When your ad is clicked on, you pay a fee. It sounds easy, but it is definitely more complicated than that. You need to be strategic with how you use PPC ads, especially because search engines are involved.
Cost-Per-Click
After your campaign is running, you should measure how effective it is. Using cost-per-click, or CPC can help you measure this. To figure this out you can use this simple formula.
(Total Money Spent) ÷ (Total Clicks) = Cost-Per-Click
Conversion Rate
Another important aspect of PPC ads is the conversion rate. This is measuring the user’s actions taken because of your advertisement. Conversion depends on what your goals are. For now, all you need to know is that you want a high conversion rate, because that means action is being taken on your advertisement.
PPC and CTR
CTR stands for click-through-rate. As an advisor, you want this rate to be high. The rate is based on how many times people see your advertisement and then click on it. This affects how your ads rank in search engines, even if you have the highest bid for that spot. With a low CTR, it will affect your advertisement, no matter how much you are willing to bid. Don’t base your whole campaign around your CTR though. Every business is different. You need to focus on the performance and optimization of your ad, rather than the actual rate.
Should I use PPC Advertising?
Make sure this is the route you and your company want to go. This kind of advertisement is an investment that requires continually spending money, even if it isn’t a lot each time. Every click is a fee your company has to pay. There are many ways to grow your company with digital advertisement, but PPC ads allow for a quick increase in traffic, sales, and other goals your company might have in mind. It is important to remember they will only keep coming in as you pay for the advertisement. Many businesses use PPC and SEO (search engine optimization) together as a part of their digital advertising strategy. PPC works for the short-term paid increase, while SEO aims for a long-term organic increase.
5 Steps for Pay-Per-Click Campaigns
Making an effective PPC campaign comes with knowing where to start. If you have used PPC campaigns in the past and didn’t reach the goal you wanted to achieve, use the steps below to help make this campaign better. Are PPC ads new for you? These steps will help lead your ad to hit the right audience.
Are your Goals SMART?
Before starting, you need to have specific goals in mind. SMART goals allow your business to make sure they are thinking through their advertisement fully. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Making sure your goals are laid out this way can help set the focus for the next steps to create your ad campaign.
Measuring Ads
There are many ways to measure your ads. If you are using Google, then Google Analytics will allow you to see exactly how your ads are being viewed. You want your conversion rate to be high because that means action is being taken through your ad. This all depends on the goals you have in mind. You might want people to sign up for your email list, visit your website, make a purchase, schedule a meeting, or browse your blog. That is how you can measure how effective your ad really is. Did you reach the goals you had in mind when creating the campaign? This is a question to keep coming back to, even while the campaign is running.
Understand What Works
Every company is different. Some tactics that work for one, don’t work for another. If you tracked your past campaigns, look back and see what worked and what didn’t. Use that to help guide this campaign. There could be specific keywords, search engines, or even social media platforms that work better for you. Using past information to help guide this campaign will be an advantage to your business.
Select the Right Keywords
Keywords are so important when it comes to PPC ads. The ads get shown based on the keywords you have selected. You don’t just have to select the keywords you want to compete for, you can also select the keywords where you don’t want your advertisement to pop up. These are called negative keywords. These allow for your target audience to become more specific.
Short VS Long Tail Keywords
Along with knowing your audience, you should know how they search. There is a debate about whether long or short-tail keywords are best for ROI. Most people will view your advertisement on their smartphones. To optimize your PPC ad, make the advertisement aimed towards smartphones, but also how your audience types on their smartphones. Do they search whole sentences, or do they search for short phrases? Knowing how your audience searches can help your business decide which way to go. The longer the keyword is, the more specifically you can narrow down who your audience. Narrowing your audience can also lead to a higher CTR. Even though that isn’t everything for your campaign, it can help more people see your ad based on the algorithm.
Small Business Advice
Another aspect of keywords is the more common the keyword, the higher the price. If you are a smaller business, it is important to note and research keywords before associating them with your ads. If your goal is to get more clicks on your ads, you can use popular keywords but that won’t give you the best ROI. What is the point of your ad if your target audience isn’t viewing it? If you are wanting to maximize your advertisement, using very specific keywords will help gather a smaller group to see your ads, but this group will be more likely to act on your advertisement.
Ad Copy
The ad copy of your advertisement is what is going to draw the customer to your website. Make sure you are engaging with your words, images, or video. The headline should grab your audience’s attention. Use very active words to help the message come across. Some people’s price point draws customers in and for others it can be the imagery. Use what your business thinks is unique to help stand out amongst the many ads users see every day.
Add an Ad Extension
An ad extension allows for your ad to have additional information. This can make your ad more valuable and it is free. You can set these up manually or use an automated version. The additional information that you can add are resources like a website, address, store rating, and other useful information for a user to see. This could make the user more likely to click on your ad over another.
Create an Effective PPC Campaign Now!
Creating a PPC campaign allows your brand to be noticeable. Many businesses use PPC to market, but don’t know how to strategically use it for their company. At SEO Design Chicago, we have a team of experts who will formulate an ad campaign created for the specific needs and outcomes your business goals. We meet you where your business is, and we can help guide you to the best ROI with your PPC advertisement.
FAQs
- How do I run an effective PPC campaign?
- Is PPC for every business?
- How important is CTR with PPC ads?
- What can I do to measure my PPC ads?
- How can I improve my PPC performance?
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