Pay per click (PPC) is a discipline which can be tangled with misunderstanding, amateurish fumbles, and many wasted budgets, so what do you need in order to create a valid, sustainable, long-term advantage using PPC?
Not so long ago the internet was merely a figment of the imagination. Now, an evolutionary idea that has become a goldmine revolutionising the way businesses operate and communicate with their customers. This leads us to ponder the thought of how on earth businesses survived before the evolution of the Dot-Com Boom, known to most as the world wide web or the internet.
Let’s take Christmas as a good example. It’s best to start your PPC campaign early in order to get into the forefront of your customers’ minds when it comes to the festive period. Craig Gaylon, a senior PPC expert and media specialist states that “the hot period for the holiday season typically begins the day after Halloween, with traffic levels increasing during the first week of November.”
In 2011, John Lewis, Waitrose, Debenhams and Boots all reported a 4 to 6% increase in sales in the five-week period leading up to Christmas. Website traffic for Not On The High Street performed the best overall, with its peak performance being in July, a month you wouldn’t expect people to think about Christmas; more about what to take on holiday next month.
But you’re probably thinking: how did these brands do it, what do I need to do? Well, it’s hard, but certainly not impossible. Here are a few PPC tips to put you ahead of the game, putting you in the driver’s seat.
It’s all about the keywords
Do some basic keyword research; serve purpose to your PPC campaign. Google AdWords is a free online marketing tool; great PPC software that allows you to do a broad search finding keywords that are deemed relevant by Google’s algorithms. This can include misspelled or grammatical errors that are close to your selected keyword. You should also be looking at using negative keywords in your campaign to avoid spending money on unqualified clicks.
Avoid bidding on branded keywords if you have a unique brand name or you are an international internet sensation. Either way, you are therefore most likely already dominating the SERP (search engine result page) so why spend your budget bidding on it to stop others using it?
Don’t be afraid to look back
The best thing about online marketing is that you can amend campaigns while they are in full swing. Think of it as progressing, continually optimising to deliver the strongest results. Spend 10 minutes of your day checking up on your campaign. Make sure your campaign is being tracked via analytics; this way you can look at specific metrics that can help you optimise your campaign and future campaigns. You will be enlightened with useful information; what keywords are performing well and those deemed useless. You will be able to fine tune your bidding as well as keeping an eye on expensive keywords before they get out of control.
The landing page is important, so don’t ignore it
As mentioned before, it goes both ways. The landing page is equally as important as your campaign. You can have the most fantastic, effective PPC ad but if you’re taking PPC leads to a landing page that is disjointed, confusing, and isn’t working in conjunction with your PPC ad, then you are just going to lose out on potential online website conversions thus wasting your money. It’s all about the user experience, making them want to stay on the page, browsing, even better, buying.
Here at Optimus, we really do appreciate the value that should be added when it comes to creating successful marketing campaigns. By ignoring these 3 PPC basics, however, small or minute you feel they are, it could have a dramatic impact on your campaign’s success. So make sure you take note of these 3 PPC tips, you will be delightfully enlightened by the results.