PPC Management with AdWords has become a must for any business that wants to drive relevant traffic to their website. However, this demand has increased the price for clicks, therefore it is now more important than ever to make sure you are getting your money’s worth with each campaign.
The point of this article is to show you how to do PPC search engine internet marketing using AdWords successfully. There are 10 pillars that every successful AdWords PPC campaign must have and in this article I’m going to show you what they are.
1. Do Not Bid On Your Brand
People who search for your brand already know what they want so you want to avoid bidding on your brand. It is most likely that people searching for your brand have already compared your website to other brands and they are likely to ignore yours.
It makes sense to bid on your own keywords but you should only do it if you have enough money in your PPC marketing budget to do so. If you have a tight budget then avoid it for now.
2. Strategise The Use Of Keywords Match Types
Google gives you a range of options for testing keywords in the AdWords keyword tool such as broad match, broad match modifier, phrase, and exact keywords. Make sure that you are testing all of these keywords so that you can find the best ones to bid on, and don’t forget to use broad, phrase, and exact match negative keywords to eliminate any unsuitable keyword variations.
You need to make sure that you have a compelling list of negative keywords so that Google will not run your ads for relevant variations of your keywords such as synonyms and misspellings. This way Google will show your advertising messages for the keywords you want.
Make sure that you are using “broad match modifier” keywords so then you can find relevant long tail keywords for your campaigns. Doing this will allow you to show up for any search query that includes your keywords, independently from their order in the search query.
“Phrase match” keywords will only trigger your ads if a searcher looks for a search term that is equal to your keyword or has your keywords in the same order. This is great for long tail variations of your most successful keywords.
What I recommend you do is use a combination of keyword match types to guarantee best ROI. Doing this will give you the best chance of success with keywords for your AdWords PPC campaign.
3. Group Keywords In Tight, Relevant AdGroups
You want to be doing your best to reduce the costs of your campaign and the best way to do this is by increasing the CTR (Click Through Rate) and quality score. This is why it’s so important to have the right keywords selected for your campaign. You need to make sure that any keyword terms you use are extremely specific and relevant to any users search because this will improve the CTR.
When grouping keywords you want to make sure they are grouped in the proper way. You need to think about how keywords can relate among them. For example try grouping keywords by a call to action or by service. When doing this make sure you avoid duplicates and use custom advertising texts for each AdGroup.
4. Negative Keywords are Fundamental to Succeed
It is vitally important to make sure you don’t waste your budget on irrelevant keywords and to do this you need to make sure you tell Google when not to show your ad.
This is when negative keywords come into the picture. Negative keywords will ensure that there are certain keywords that your ad will not show up for. This is very important to make sure that you are getting the best value for your dollar. For example if you have a paying service you don’t want your ad to show up for the word FREE. You want to make sure that your ad only shows up for the exact search terms you want.
There are several ways to find negative keywords. Easiest way is to monitor the search query report and to monitor which terms you are showing up for. Then you use this information to find negative keywords that you don’t want to show up for.
5. Split Test Advertising Messages for Better Results
If you would like to generate great long term results then you need to use ad copy split testing in your PPC marketing. I recommend testing one element at a time among headlines, description lines, and display URL. This will make it easier to identify winning variations in all parts of your ads.
You must always be using two ads at a time because then you can see which ad is performing better than the other. Focus on the CTR and conversion rates for best results and then take it from there. Make sure you don’t just focus on profits. Focusing on profits is important but you also need to be focusing on the long term benefits of a good CTR.
6. Being Number One is Not Always Profitable: Test Ad Positions
Being number one on the page doesn’t necessarily mean that this is going to be the most profitable. Generally, there are different types of people that tend to click on ads that are at the top and bottom of a page. People who click on the ads at the top of the page tend to be quick decision makers whilst people clicking on the bottom page tend to be more conservative with their spending. The latter generally compare more options before making a decision.
What you also need to do is find out how your ads perform at different positions. This is because it is expensive for your ad to be on the first position and it also doesn’t necessarily mean the most profits. It is pointless to spend a lot of money so you can be first but then not make the profits you want. This is why it’s so important to test your ad at different positions and from there you can work out what your best ROI is from you PPC advertising.
7. Do Not Promise Miracles, But Focus on Realistic Results
You need to make sure you are focusing on generating great results from your PPC campaign. The way you can do this is by starting small with your budget and making sure it is set up to minimise showing up for irrelevant keywords. Starting small will take longer to optimise your PPC campaign for great results but it’s the best way to get started.
It is best that you start on focused keywords and go broader with the successful AdGroups. This will ensure that you grow your budget and your results simultaneously.
8. Send Users to the Best Landing Pages for the Ad They Clicked On
There is a huge mistake many businesses are making when it comes to sending people to a website. This mistake is one you need to avoid and it is sending people to the home page of a website rather than a custom landing page. You need to remember that the point of using AdWords PPC marketing is to increase profits so you need to be sending people to a landing page that will convert. If you’re not sending them to a landing page so they can potentially buy your product or service then what’s the point?
9. Know the Lifetime Value of Consumers
You need to keep in mind your long term earning potential from each customer. Keeping this in mind is crucial because then you can determine how much you are willing to pay with your PPC advertising to get this earning in your business. If there is one thing you need to keep in mind, it is the Lifetime Value (LTV) of each consumer.
This is more important than you realise because it actually affects your budget. If you fail to calculate your LTV of consumers then you will estimate your PPC marketing budget incorrectly.
10. Outsmart Competitors
It is important to study what your competitors are doing so then you can analyse where they’re making mistakes and then capitalise on them.
It won’t cost you a lot of money to do this either. All you need to do is create a list of your top keywords and look up in the AdWords preview tool what ads your competitors are using. Next step is to look at your auctions insights to gauge which websites are sharing the Google Search Page with you.
In Conclusion
Overall, AdWords is a great way to increase profits for your business through PPC advertising. This isn’t something that you can just jump straight into though. If you do that you’ll end up spending all of your budget without getting the results you want. That is the point of this article, to show you how best to set up your AdWords campaign so you get the kind of results that are beneficial for your business.
If you follow these 10 PPC marketing pillars that I have outlined then you’ll be doing better than all of your competitors who are using an AdWords PPC campaign haphazardly.
What are the kind of results you’ve achieved with an AdWords campaign?