Getting Results with PPC Advertising

PPC Advertising is a skill which requires mastering but there’s no reason why anyone from outside the internet marketing world cannot master it given the right advice.
Follow our step-by-step guide below to learn how to get results with your PPC Advertising.

Choosing Your Keywords

Choosing Keywords – Be Specific

One-word keywords are searched for most frequently but also have the most competition and are consequently the most expensive. Avoid general terms such as ‘marketing’ or ‘gifts’ and instead target more specific keyword phrases such as ‘low cost marketing ideas’ or ‘gifts for boys’ – they may receive less traffic but your cost per click will be considerably lower.

Use the Negative Keyword Tool

One often neglected way of increasing your click-through rate and reducing untargeted traffic is to use the negative keyword tool. Enter individual keywords that you don’t wish to be found for. For example, if you’re selling a product you may not wish to appear in the search results when someone enters ‘free’ – therefore add ‘free’ to your negative keywords.

Location Targeting

If you target UK consumers only target UK people. Similarly if you can only cater for people in a certain town or within a certain distance of your location specify this to receive more highly targeted traffic.

The Advert Text

Write Different Ads for Different Keywords

If you’re an online store selling a variety of products set up different ads with different keywords for each product. Link the advert directly to individual product pages rather than the homepage – this takes potential customers straight to what they are interested in, resulting in a higher conversion rate.

Include Keywords as Title Text

Include the keywords that people are searching by in your ad title text. Too many companies include their company name in the title – this doesn’t describe what the user is looking for and will result in a lower click-through rate.

Use Title Words in the Ad Description

Don’t be afraid to repeat some of the title text in the description below – research shows that descriptions that include words from the title obtain click-through rates of up to 50% higher than those that don’t.

Always Run More Than One Advert

Every individual keyword campaign that you have running with only one advert is a wasted opportunity. You should always run at least two different ads at any one time, testing different titles and/or descriptions. Often a slightly different title can produce significantly higher click-through rates.

Setting up a Campaign

Set a Budget and a Cost Per Click Limit

Always set a daily budget and a cost per click limit or huge expenses can be accumulated over a very short time. A reasonable cost per click will depend on the competition but as a general rule start in the region of £0.10 – £0.15 per click, a figure that you can increase over time once your keywords have been tested and optimised. Similarly, always start with a small overall budget and increase it over time once you have a good idea of the ideal keywords and cost per click.

Turn the Content Network Off To Begin With

There’s a huge debate regarding the relative merits of advertising on the Google content network, but in general it’s best to initially turn it off. Once you have your campaign optimised for the search network you can then begin to test advertising in the content network.

Track More Than Just Click-Throughs

With Google you can track more than just click-throughs, yet many people don’t take advantage of this. Ultimately you’re likely to be interested in resulting sales or registrations. Therefore track these actions through using Google’s free tracking tools – it’s just a case of inserting HTML code into the relevant page(s) on your website.

Additional Tips

Avoid the Number 1 Position

Don’t become obsessed with seeing your ad ranked number one in the sponsored links. Ads ranked at number 1 receive more traffic but also considerably more untargeted traffic – being ranked third for example is likely to be far more cost-effective.

Don’t Be Afraid of Reducing Click-Through Rates

You can write a great appealing advert description but if it doesn’t describe your product properly then you’ll be receiving many untargeted click-throughs. If you’re trying to make a sale don’t include the word ‘free’ – in fact, why not go one step further and include the price in your ad description.

Don’t Forget You Can Pause Campaigns

New websites in particular often have initial teething problems, perhaps with functionality errors or temporary down time. Don’t needlessly waste money attracting visitors to a website that isn’t ready – remember that you can always pause pay per click campaigns.

Looking Beyond PPC Click-Throughs

Look Beyond PPC to your Landing Page

It’s all very well writing the best ad description and bringing the most cost-effective traffic but if you haven’t tested your landing page then you’re probably losing out on many potential customers. Try out different pages to see what works best.

Test, Test and Test Again

Finally, constantly review the performance of your ads, keywords and landing pages. Continually try out new ad text and landing pages – over time you’ll be able to improve your cost-effectiveness by up to 500%.