|
Streamline your pay-per-click (PPC) campaign
How to create good ad-copy and avoid costly mistakes within
your Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaign.
The goal is to reduce your overall cost per acquisition within Google Adwords,
Yahoo Search Marketing and other paid advertising platforms.
Throughout any sales process advertising has taken place somewhere along
the line to convert a prospect into a customer. With the nearly instantaneous
sales process of the internet, you need to be at the top of the advertising
game or your prospects will go elsewhere quicker than the blink of an
eye or click of a back button.
Advertising on the internet has become big business; Google alone has
managed to take a multi-billion dollar stake in the Pay per Click or
PPC Industry. However, if you are reading this article you already know
that. The premise here is how to create good ad-copy and avoid costly
mistakes within your PPC campaign, a checklist so to speak from keywords
to tracking.
Pay-per-Click Keywords
The objective for this article is to bring down the overall cost per
acquisition or CPA, also known as cost per action. The first thing to
do would be to develop a very broad base of keywords or search terms
related to your products or services you are offering. You can make use
of online tools to research your keywords such as Overture’s Keyword
Selector tool or WordTracker. After you select your keywords, you’ll
need to create the hardest part of the PPC campaign process, your ad-copy.
Pay-per-Click Ad-Copy
Google Adwords is currently the leader in the PPC game. Matter of fact,
the originator, Overture, now Yahoo Search Marketing, has recently changed
their ad displays to be more “Google-like” in appearance.
Presently, the long descriptive ads synonymous with Yahoo Search Marketing
have been truncated to better compete with Google Adwords.
With that stated, I’ll stick to the fundamentals of Google Adwords
herein for my examples. First, you will want to create one ad-group for
each keyword. Next, create around 3-9 ads per keyword. The key here is
to test, test, and test until you are running an ad that had both a high
Click Through Rate and secondly a high Conversion Rate. Again your objective
is lowest possible CPA. When you test, don’t use your opinion on
what you think your customers want. Use the ad with the best data representing
CTR and highest conversion even if the ad is not something you feel is
very good, always go by the numbers.
Ad-copy is a funnel process, from the attention getter to the call to
action. There are 4 display lines in Google Adwords ads: 1. Title –The
attention Grabber – 25 Characters Max 2. Description Line 1 – Talk
about the product or service offered – 35 Characters Max 3. Description
Line 2 – Call to action - 35 Characters Max 4. Display URL - 35
Characters Max
Tip: Ensure the ad-copy that you are creating is relevant to the keywords
that you are creating the copy for.
Pay-per-Click Landing Pages This is the page where prospects turn into
leads, the page where the lead is persuaded about your product or service.
The tips here are easy to explain, do not send all your prospects to
the same landing page for each keyword or ad. Your landing page needs
to be relevant to your ad. So, if your ad was targeting tires and your
ad sends the prospect to the homepage talking about everything from seat
covers to dash covers you will lose the prospect which will result in
a low conversion rate. If your ad is about tires, send the prospect to
your tires page. You have roughly three seconds to grab the attention
of your visitors so ensure the landing page is the correct one or they
will go back and click on a competing ad to find what they are looking
for.
You will also want to ensure your landing page loads correctly in all
browsers. Although your landing page may appear within Internet Explorer,
it may not load correctly within Mozilla Firefox. The page will need
to load as quickly as possible, stay away from using a lot of large graphics
and flash elements.
Less is more in regards to content on a landing page. Have your call
to action at the bottom of the page and ensure your landing page is giving
what the prospect is looking for in a clear and easy to read format.
Make use of your 800 phone number if you have one for your business.
You may not have a toll-free number. If you don’t have one that
is fine, use your regular phone number.
Paid Search Tracking Tracking can be done simply by using the free tools
provided by Google. Conversion Tracker within Google Adwords can be used
to track Conversion Rates for each keyword. Google Analytics is free
and is good for monitoring which keywords and which ads are converting
best. Other tools that charge a fee are Did-it, KeywordMax and Atlas
One-Point.
Be realistic about conversion rates and click through rates. Do not
expect unrealistic returns. Realistic click through rates are 1% - 2%
and realistic conversion rates are 1-2%, but anything below 3% for conversion
rates is considered low when your PPC campaign is managed correctly.
I’ve personally achieved conversion rates as high as 44% with click
through rates at 1.8%. I have also had Click Through rates of 21% with
conversion rates at 6%. Stick with what works according to your statistics,
not according to your opinion.
Truth in Numbers The best method is to use what works for your business
in the most cost effective manner. By applying the techniques above,
you could improve your campaign. However, how well your PPC campaign
performs is based on keyword centric ad-copy relevant to your business,
short and sweet landing pages that not only load quickly but that give
the prospect what they want, and lastly good tracking so you can see
what works and what doesn’t by focusing on the numbers, not your
opinion.
About the author
Warren Pattison is the Director of Search for Elixir Systems, a full
service search engine marketing company specializing in organic search
engine optimization services, online public relations management
and paid search or PPC management. For more information visit http://www.elixirsystems.com |
» Change
your mind about an eBay bid?
We have all made choices in life that two seconds later
we know we should take back. Especially when there is money involved
this can become a problem.
» A
simple way to create 7 effective autoresponder messages
Email is the Net's most powerful marketing tool. And autoresponders
are the best idea yet for marketing with email.
» 7
ways to drive laser-targeted traffic to your website
Getting people who matter to see one’s website
is a difficult undertaking if he tries to consider the fact that
there are rivals everywhere waiting to pin him down.
» Website
valuation: Why standard website pricing methods will emerge
The market of buying and selling developed websites is
becoming more and more liquid each day.
» One
way links are better than reciprocal links
You probably know by now that where your website ranks in
the search engine rankings dramatically affects how many visitors you
have to your site. Did you also know that you can change where your
site is ranked by being proactive and getting as many one way links
to your site as possible?
» How
to make visitors stay at your website
The very first thing which you should provide the visitors
with is some free interesting reading material.
» How
to make your visitors click your ads
Here is a simple solution; Convert your banner advertisement
to look like a text advertisement!
» Offline
advertising should be a part of your online strategy
Day by day, online business has become more & more
complicated and competitive.
» How
to sell traffic
Selling the traffic arriving at your site is a good method
to increase profits from your portal.
» Make
money from online auctions
Online auctions have the best benefit of a vast platform.
Your product is viewed by loads of people & hence there is
more possibility of finding a suitable bidder.
» Groupware
explained in easy terms
Groupware is a term used frequently to describe collaborative
software. Groupware is application software that integrates work
on a single project by several concurrent users at separated random
workstations.
» Timely
back up can save you from disasters
Few things which people often back up are e-mail addresses,
bank records, photographs, personal records, software’s,
music etc.
» Why
should one go for autoresponders
Autoresponders are programs which get automatically
executed in particular situations.
» Become
your own boss - Start your own online business today
A survey conducted by SBA states that two third of new
business survives at least two year and about forty four percent
survives at least four year.
» Express
your thoughts - Creating your own blog!
What exactly is a blog? Technically speaking it is a
journal or a newsletter which is regularly updated and can be used
by any one.
» Pop-up
ads - To be or not to be?
According to a study conducted by the Bunnyfoot University, “The
Efficacy of Pop-ups and the Resulting Effect on Brands” Internet
users feel harangues and harassed by pop-up ads.
» Why
content is king on the Internet
The advantages that Internet holds over the rest of
the other communication mediums should not wasted because of
the inability to find a comprehensive plan that will bind all
these faculties together.
» 10
niche marketing tips
In our increasingly driven consumer economies, the average
customer is bombarded by choices. With increased saturation of the
market, companies look towards niche marketing to search new, ever-evolving
and sophisticated consumers.
» Using
free traffic exchange
These days internet has emerged as both, a market and
hub for marketing. Unlike the ‘brick and mortar’ world
where large manufacturers manage to squeeze out the market bases
of smaller companies, the internet provides haven like the free
traffic exchange.
» Ten
ways to drive traffic to your website
Developing a web site and then letting it grow is
like planting a tree and then nurturing it.
» Marketing
through keyword articles
One of the most effective tools of Internet marketing
is the use of keyword articles.
» Want
to make money online? Market a service to businesses
Don walked across the street from his house to mine to
announce he had finally retired. "But I'm not ready for the
golf course," he said. "I want to make a living on the
Internet. What can I sell?"
» Web
site design mistakes - Database parameters in URLs
Creating a web site takes thought, planning and execution.
Unfortunately, many designs are dead in the water before they are
even published as far as search engine optimization is concerned.
Whatever you do, avoid these critical mistakes.
» Alexa
Toolbar - The ultimate internet tool
There are numerous tools available on the Internet to
assist online businesses. A valuable tool that you should use is
the Alexa Toolbar. Even better, this tool is free.
» Web
site design mistakes
Some wise human once said "Learn from the mistakes
of others. There isn't nearly enough time to make them all yourself."
Hence this article. Here are five of the most annoying and common
web design mistakes.
» Abandonment
- Why visitors don't turn into customers
Every good Internet business understands the value of
conversions versus hits received. Far too often, businesses become
fixated on the hits they are receiving instead of monitoring their
hit to sale conversion rate.
» Creative
search engine optimization - A case study
Search engine optimization this and search engine optimization
that. You read and hear about it all day, but what about your site?
|
|
Tools & services to enhance your online
business |
|
» Site
Build It!
Over 100,000 small businesses of all kinds outperform
larger, well-financed competitors. Read about this all-in-one site-building-hosting-marketing
system of tools that delivers results.
» Secrets
To Their Success
Take a private tour of two "Mom & Pop"
web sites every month that earn $100,000+ a year... and discover
the exact step-by-step strategies they have personally used to generate
these massive profits. |
|
|
|