Optimize your pay per click (PPC) campaign

Throughout any sales process, advertising has taken place somewhere along the line to convert a prospect into a customer. With the Internet’s near-instantaneous sales process, you have to be on top of the advertising game or your prospects will go elsewhere faster than the blink of an eye or a click of the back button.

Internet advertising has become big business; Only Google has managed to take a multi-million dollar share of the pay per click or PPC industry. However, if you are reading this article you already know. The premise here is how to create good ad copy and avoid costly mistakes within your PPC campaign, a checklist so to speak, from keywords to tracking.

pay per click keywords

The goal of this article is to lower your overall cost per acquisition or CPA, also known as cost per action. The first thing to do would be to develop a very broad base of keywords or search terms related to the products or services that you offer. You can use online tools to research your keywords, such as Overture’s Keyword Picker Tool or WordTracker. After selecting your keywords, you’ll need to create the hardest part of the PPC campaign process, your ad copy.

Pay Per Click Ad Copy

Google AdWords is currently the leader in the PPC game. In fact, the creator, Overture, now Yahoo Search Marketing, has recently changed the display of their ads to have a more “Google-like” look. Currently, the long description ads synonymous with Yahoo Search Marketing have been truncated to better compete with Google Adwords.

That said, I’ll stick to the basics of Google AdWords here for my examples. First, you’ll want to create an ad group for each keyword. Next, create 3-9 ads per keyword. The key here is to test, test, and test until you’re running an ad that has a high click-through rate, and second, a high conversion rate. Again, your goal is the lowest possible CPA. When testing, don’t use your opinion on what you think your customers want. Use the ad with the best data that represents the highest CTR and conversion, even if the ad is not something you think is very good, always follow the numbers.

Ad copy is a funnel process, from attention grabber to call to action. There are 4 display lines in Google AdWords ads:

1. Title – The attention grabber – 25 characters max.

2. Description line 1 – Talk about the product or service offered – 35 characters max.

3. Description line 2 – Call to action – 35 characters max.

4. Show URL: 35 characters maximum

Tip: Make sure the ad copy you’re creating is relevant to the keywords you’re creating copy for.

Pay Per Click Landing Pages

This is the page where prospects become prospects, the page where the prospect is persuaded about your product or service. The tips here are easy to explain, don’t send all your prospects to the same landing page for every keyword or ad. Your landing page must be relevant to your ad. So, if your ad was targeted at tires and sends the potential customer to the home page talking about everything from seat covers to dashboard covers, you will lose the potential customer, resulting in a low conversion rate. . If your ad is about tires, send the prospect to your tires page. You have about three seconds to grab your visitors’ attention, so make sure the landing page is right or they’ll come back and click on a competitor’s ad to find what they’re looking for.

You’ll also want to make sure your landing page loads correctly in all browsers. Although your landing page may appear in Internet Explorer, it may not load correctly in Mozilla Firefox. The page should load as fast as possible, avoid using a lot of large graphics and flash elements.

Less is more when it comes to landing page content. Place your call to action at the bottom of the page and make sure your landing page provides what the prospect is looking for in a clear, easy-to-read format. Use your 800 phone number if you have one for your business. You may not have a toll-free number. If you don’t have one that’s okay, use your regular phone number.

Paid Search Tracking

Tracking can be done simply by using the free tools provided by Google. The Conversion Tracker within Google AdWords can be used to track conversion rates for each keyword. Google Analytics is free and good for monitoring which keywords and which ads are converting best. Other tools that charge a fee include Did-it, KeywordMax, and Atlas One-Point.

Be realistic about conversion rates and click-through rates. Don’t expect unrealistic returns. Realistic click-through rates are 1% – 2% and realistic conversion rates are 1-2%, but any conversion rate below 3% is considered low when your PPC campaign is managed properly. I have personally achieved conversion rates of up to 44% with click-through rates of 1.8%. I’ve also had 21% click-through rates with 6% conversion rates. Stick with what works based on your stats, not your opinion.

Truth in Numbers

The best method is to use what works for your business in the most profitable way. By applying the above techniques, you could improve your campaign. However, the performance of your PPC campaign relies on keyword-focused ad copy relevant to your business, short and sweet landing pages that not only load quickly but give the prospect what they want, and of course last, a good follow up so you can see what works. and what not, focusing on the numbers, not on your opinion.