Beginner’s guide to Paid Search marketing tactics

In order to survive in a highly competitive marketplace, you need to be found online at the top of search results. If, however, your resources do not permit or you can not afford to wait for SEO to take you up to the desired level, you need to spend money to reach that position. In other words, you need to conduct a pay-per-click ad campaign that would surely lead you to the top of search results pretty fast. But, wait a minute; this does not mean spending a lot of money to achieve that position. In fact, money is spent only when somebody clicks on the ad and not otherwise. To be more precise, pay-per-click (also known as cost per click) is an internet advertising model that directs traffic to websites where advertisers pay the website owner only when the ad is clicked.

However, here are a few tips to help you grasp the intricacies of this unique method of getting traffic to your website at a fairly nominal cost.

Have well defined conversion goals

Prior to setting up your pay-per-click campaign, you need to identify the type of goal that you intend to achieve through this process. In other words, what action do you expect your visitors to take when they land on your website? Average conversion goals include completing lead capture form (without which lead generation would not be possible); gaining newsletter subscribers, receiving business calls, or completing online purchase. Finalizing these predetermined goals will help generate appropriate keywords, as also create ad copy related to the above issue/issues.

Selecting the PPC platform

Since there are quite a few platforms such as Google, Yahoo, Bing network and Facebook, you need to select one that suits your purpose best. Your selection also entails the cost factor, where Google charges maximum for providing highest search volume. Compared to Google, Yahoo and Bing network have

lower average cost per click, but the search volume is not that high also.

Facebook offers very precise targeting options, but the users are not actively searching for the products or services being offered. It is always best to test multiple platforms, or consult with a pay per click management company to figure out the best plan.

Conduct thorough keyword research

Your keyword selection can make or mar your PPC campaign and so you need to research about it thoroughly and well. In fact, you need to spend time and energy to identify the right keyword that will complement your defined conversion goals. With PPC you can target buyer keyword, not sundry generic keyword as that will end up costing dollars sans the result you are waiting for.

 As luck would have it, many PPC managers take the wrong approach with their pay-per-click keyword research, using tools that leave valuable keywords in the lurch. In addition, large-scale paid search campaigns based on extensive pay-per-click keyword lists become increasingly difficult to organize and manage.

Fortunately, WordStream’s pay-per-click keyword management software makes it possible to not only stay on top of data, but put that data to use to sculpt high-performance, cost-effective PPC campaigns. Read more to learn about the importance of proper pay-per-click keyword research and how WordStream can help you walk through the process.

 Ascertain your PPC budget

Setting your initial budget is a formidable task for new advertisers. One of the most important issues related to PPC budget involves testing the effectiveness of pay-per-click as a marketing channel for your business. For this reason, you want to start by getting a sense of how much you’ll be paying for each click. This will give you a sense of the total costs to drive a reasonable amount of traffic to your website through paid search. AdWords’ free traffic estimator is a solid resource for this step. The tool is never 100% accurate, but you can get a good feel for how you might fare in terms of costs per click in different positions.

 Create Targeted ad copy

Your ad needs to attract the attention of the individual conducting the search. Just because you have high bids and your ads are showing up on top it doesn’t mean that they will automatically receive clicks. Your ad title as well as the description and display URL should all include the keyword that brought the individual to your ad. This is why it is so important to create very targeted ad groups. Create several versions and eliminate the ones that perform well and allocate more of the budget to those ads that are resulting in conversions.

Your Landing Pages should be relevant

Apart from doing anything else, you must make sure that your landing pages are highly relevant to the ad copy. There are companies that create great ad copy and target the right keywords but ruefully send the visitor to their home page or a landing page that isn’t relevant to the ad that was clicked on.

If you are advertising a specific product in your ad then make sure the person clicking on the ad is brought to a landing page that offers the exact product and allows him/her to quickly make a purchase or inquiry. Sending a prospective buyer to a general page will make a mess of it.

 

Conclusion

PPC advertising requires consistent testing and optimization to keep the campaign performing all the time. Also, do not consider the campaign to run smoothly on its own without a break. You will need to constantly test different ad copy, keywords, bidding strategies, and landing pages in order to keep the campaign turning a ROI. Running a PPC campaign is a full time job that needs constant attention and care..