How to Optimize Pay Per Click for a Successful Ad Campaign
Of all the ways to advertise on the internet, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are the most efficient and direct. Though it does take time and effort to perfect them, they are an effective way to reach the customers who are actively seeking your product or service.
Compared to pre-internet marketing, PPC is most like paying for the upgraded business listing in the yellow pages. Remember when people visited the phone book to look for a specific service or product? The businesses that paid to have prominent ads, rather than a simple business listing were more likely to get the sale. By investing in the extra space and leveraging it with information most customers want to know, they simplified the sales journey and generated more business.
Even though the internet has replaced the phone book as the first place customers search for a product or service, businesses need to apply the same principles to being prominent on the page. If you have invested in the advertising space available, and your ad offers the information that your potential customers need to know, you have a great chance of making that sale.
Pay Per Click Campaigns Are Flexible, Dynamic, and Responsive
Unlike the old yellow pages, your PPC ads rapidly produce data about their effectiveness. The old print ad remained static for a full year, and it was difficult to tell how it did against the other advertisers on the page. The data derived from PPC campaigns is a treasure trove of information that can help you determine if you have the right budget, keywords, timing, or compelling copy to make the sale.
This is where optimization comes in. PPC campaigns are not a “set it and forget it” solution. Business owners and marketing managers must continually track the data and tweak the campaigns to bring in the best return on investment. Internet marketing does take more focus and time than the yellow pages once did, but the leads are also better qualified, which means the revenue is also much higher.
How often you review your PPC campaigns for optimization will depend on several factors. If you have very little wiggle room in your budget, then the campaign will require more attention. If you are just getting a foothold in your market, it’s important to keep an eye on the data to make sure every campaign is moving the needle. Conversely, if your business is more established, and you have a solid conversion rate, it may be a good idea to stretch out the review intervals a bit to avoid over-analyzing and tweaking for the sake of tweaking.
Examine PPC Data to Optimize Campaigns
Each PPC ad has several components which can be individually customized to achieve the best click rates. The text of the ad itself, keywords and negative keywords, geography, and ad extensions are among these components, and it is crucial to get comfortable analyzing them for effectiveness.
Interestingly enough, these four components would have been just as important back in the old yellow pages ads as well. Solid marketing principles never go out of style! The ad copy must be clear, concise, and compelling to attract a potential customer’s click. Keywords, negative keywords, and geography are very important for making sure the person who does respond to the ad is a qualified, or likely to buy, lead. Remember that with the PPC model, you’re paying for the clicks, so the hope is that every paid click results in revenue. Keywords help the ad show up based on what someone types into the search bar, and negative keywords make sure the ad does not show up when it shouldn’t. Geography is vital for location-based businesses. It is always frustrating to find that some of your budget is being eaten up by people who are not in your geographic service area.
Ad extensions are the extra bits of information that spread the net a tiny bit wider to capture customers who need to know just a little bit more. These extensions may highlight something about your service model, offer a snippet of website information, or tell potential customers about your reputation on social media or Google. This component motivates many hesitant leads to click on the ad and start their customer journey.
Optimization Improves Return on Investment in Digital Marketing
Optimization involves more than the ads themselves. Businesses need to make sure that leads who do click on the ad land on a high-quality website that runs well and guides them further into the sales journey. If your PPC ad campaign is generating a lot of clicks that are not converting into sales, it may be time to review your other digital assets to find out where the disconnect is occurring. Often, a few simple tweaks to a landing page, web copy, or site mechanics will smooth the way to better sales.
Are your PPC campaigns running away with your budget, but without you? Getting them back under control will make a serious impact on your marketing budget and effectiveness. If you’re struggling to read and analyze the data, contact Mottofy Marketing for an initial consultation. We will review your existing campaigns and help you move forward with optimized campaigns that generate high-quality leads.
