Are you looking for ways to increase your revenue? Boost your sales? Increase brand awareness? If planned and executed well, Pay-Per-Click Marketing can help you reach these goals. In fact, it is not uncommon for some businesses to contribute most of their sales to PPC Marketing, so the potential is there to improve your bottom line radically.
We will use Google AdWords to explain the process of launching a new PPC Campaign. However, there are many other options such as Bing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- Start with a Plan – what is your primary goal? Are you trying to promote your business, generate more leads, increase sales? If your goal is to promote your business, then traffic numbers are important. On the other hand, if you are trying to increase Sales, then the conversion rate is more important. Finally, if you are having a hard time coming up with a primary goal, set a Sales target and work backward. For example: “Increase weekly sales by $______. To achieve this goal we need ___ leads and a conversation rate of ___”.
- Research – Put yourself in the shoes of the potential customer. What keywords and phrases will they search? Search with those phrases and keywords and see who is advertising. How are they advertising? What is their value proposition?
- Create a Landing Page – while not necessary, we highly recommend creating a campaign specific Landing Page. Especially, if you are looking to optimize your conversation rate. Just pointing an Ad to your Homepage or Contact Us form will usually result in a poor ROI.
- Sign up for Google AdWords – https://adwords.google.com/um/Welcome/Home?sf=bb&escape=expert#ac
- Select an appropriate Campaign Type:
- Search Ads – Ad appears in Search Results
- Display Ads – Ad appears across Gmail, Blogger, Youtube, Search results, etc.
- Video Ads – Ad appears on YouTube
- App Ads – Campaign type to promote your App (Android or iOS)
- If you are just starting, we recommend going with “Search Ads / Search Network Only”. Search Ads traffic is typically higher quality, and it’s easier to track performance
- Set Location – pick an appropriate location based on your market and shipping options. Don’t forget to exclude locations, if your product/service is not available in all states, cities, etc.
- Writing an Ad – Before you write an Ad, think about your unique selling proposition. You need to distinguish yourself from the competition. Also, always write an Ad with benefits first and features/promotion second. Statistically, Ads written in this way outperform any other variation. For example, Headline – “Stay Warm with Waterproof Gloves“. Description – “Warm and Waterproof Gloves. Huge Selection. Save 25%. Free Shipping for a Limited Time!”
- Set Keywords – avoid one-word keywords (e.g. Gloves). Be specific (e.g. Waterproof Gloves for Men, Waterproof Gloves for Women, Water-resistant Gloves, Waterproof Work Gloves, etc.). Don’t forget to include negative keywords – will not show your Ad for any search containing these negative terms (e.g. Children – if you don’t sell gloves for children).
- Set a Daily Budget – your budget should be driven by your goals andindustry. However, irrespective of your business size we recommend starting small until you have some data to analyze (at least two weeks).
- Set Default Bid (Maximum cost per click) – your cost per click amount should be driven by your business and industry. For example, if you are in the Legal Industry, expect to pay $5 or more per click. While Travel industry can range been $1 to $2 per click.
- Monitor your Ad Campaign – Keep a close eye on Clicks, Impressions, CTR (Click Through Rate), Avg. CPC (Cost Per Click), and Avg. Position. If your Ad is not performing to your expectations, it may be time to change the Headline, Description, Keywords, or revisit your unique selling proposition.
PPC marketing can be an excellent option for businesses struggling to get their product or service to surface in Google Search Results (organic search). On the other hand, don’t expect PPC Marketing miracles if your product is undesirable or you’re in an extremely crowded marketplace. As with most marketing channels, your campaign success will depend on many factors (strength of your selling proposition, competition, market conditions, etc ), and not just a channel itself.
