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Although Google and Yahoo claim that managing a Pay per Click campaign is easy, we strongly disagree. Sure, opening an account, choosing some keywords, and setting up a budget is a piece of cake. But making more money than the campaign is costing you is a real challenge.
This article will provide you with a great insight on some advanced techniques that we use for our own clients. Three out of five people that start a Pay per Click campaign lose money and every single one of our clients makes money; so we must be doing something right. Pay attention and get ready for the most useful article you will ever read on PPC campaign management.
Concentrate on the Segments of the Market that You Can Serve
Make sure that you are very specific about how you can solve a need. For example, one of our clients is an English school in Denver. They offer accent reduction courses for foreign executives that want to sound more American. When they were managing their own campaign they were losing a lot of money going after the keyword “accent reduction”. The reason was that people wanted to get rid of their accents in a lot of different ways (cassettes, CDs, computer software, teleseminars, and one-on-one phone consultations) but our client offers classes on the subject. We did three things about it: we started using keywords like “accent reduction class” instead of just “accent reduction”, we changed the ad to something like “Accent Reduction Class in Denver, CO”, and we used negative keywords (software, phone, book, CD, cassette, etc.) to filter out unqualified prospects.
Create a Landing Page for Each of Your Top Keywords
Figure out what keywords get you most of the traffic. If you have 1,000 keywords in your campaign, chances are that 10 of them are getting 90% of the traffic. Create a landing page for each one of them. Driving all your PPC traffic to your home page is probably the most common mistakes that people make.
Optimize Your Campaign for CR (Conversion Rate), not CTR (Click-Through Rate)
CTR is the number of times your ad is clicked for every 100 times it is displayed. The CR is the number of visitors that complete a goal on your website (place an order, download your whitepaper, sign up for your newsletter, or whatever you expect them to do.) CTR is a very important metric for two reasons: Google will display your ad in a higher position if your CTR is high and a high CTR also means that you are getting more traffic. The problem with taking CTR as your main metric is that people might visit your website and not convert, which means that you are wasting a lot of money attracting them. Google Analytics allows you to set up goals and see the conversion rate and ROI for each of your keywords. If a keyword is converting really well, try increasing its bid; if it’s converting poorly, get rid of it.
Use Long-Tail Keywords
A long-tail keyword is the opposite of a general keyword. For example, “cars” is a broad keyword and “2002 Honda Accord” is a long-tail keyword. A specific term doesn’t have as many searches as broad terms but it will cost you a lot less and will bring you much more qualified prospects. Someone searching for “cars” is not very likely to become a paying customer any time soon. But someone searching for “buy 2002 Honda Accord in Chicago” is.
Use Locations, Brands, and Models
Let’s go back to the cars example. Bidding for the term “cars” will cost you a lot and bring you a great percentage of unqualified visitors. So why not break down the market based on the areas you serve, brands, and models you offer? For example: Honda Accord Chicago, Honda Accord New York, Honda Civic Chicago, Ford Mustang Austin, and so on.
Use Negative Keywords
Some negative keywords are obvious. If you offer high-end web design services you probably need these negative keywords: free, cheap, affordable, and low cost. But sometimes you might be missing some less common negative keywords. Set up your Analytics with advanced filters to find out the real search terms that people are using. This way you will find out that your ad is showing for search terms like “web design book”, “professional web design in Miami” (and you are located in Utah), or “how to learn web design”.
Use DKI (Dynamic Keyword Insertion)
This is by far the best way to boost CTRs. DKI is a technique that allows you to insert the keyword that the person searched for in the headline of the ad. Ads with the keyword in the headline are highlighted by Google and get a lot more clicks than ads without it. This is how you do it in Google AdWords: {KeyWordefault Keyword}, where “Default Keyword” is the headline that should be shown in case that the search string is over 25 characters long.
Put the Benefits in the First Line and the Features in the Second
Tell people how they can benefit from what you offer. Instead of:
Online Marketing Agency
Social Media, Search Engine Optimization,
Pay per Click, and Conversion Boosting.
www.Website.com
try this:
Online Marketing Agency
Get 500 Qualified Visits per Day.
Customized Plan. Results Guaranteed.
www.Website.com
The first ad is focused on what the company does while the second ad focuses on what they can do FOR YOU.
Split-Test Ads
Always have two ads competing with each other. After both have gotten 30+ clicks, pick up the winner and write a new ad to try to beat it. Don’t settle for a good ad, it can always be better. Many times changing one single word can boost the CTR by more than 50%. Make sure you only test one thing at a time. If you test two things at once, you won’t be able to tell which one caused the difference in the CTR. Set up your account so your ads show evenly and never let Google pick your winner ad.
Explore Other Options
Google AdWords is great but it is not the only option. Try Yahoo! Search Marketing, MSN AdCenter, and Ask ASL.
Use Coupon Codes
When you open a new account, all the PPC services offer you free money to get started. It can be anywhere from $25 to $100 in free clicks. I won’t post any coupon code here because it will expire as soon as everybody starts using it, but do your homework; search for something like “AdWords coupon code” and you will find tons of links.
Avoid the #1 Spot
The #1 spot is the one with the most clicks but also with the lowest conversion rate. People often click without reading the ad first and that will cost you money. Place your ad between positions 2 and 5 to optimize your conversion rate.
Include Buying Words
Words like “buy iPod Touch”, “purchase iPod Touch”, “order iPod Touch”, “iPod Touch store”, and “buy iPod Touch online” have less searches than “iPod Touch” but people searching for them are a lot more likely to buy the item.
Geo-Target Your Ads
Pay per Click providers let you choose where you want your ad to be displayed. So if you only serve the Los Angeles area, make sure that your ad is not showing for the rest of the world.
Bid on Your Competitors Names and Products
Bidding on your competitors’ names and products can be a very effective way to get qualified clicks. Leverage all their branding efforts and write a creative ad that shows why you are a better option.
Write Great Ads
Some ads are up to 10 times more effective than others. These are some of the techniques that work best: use powerful words (guaranteed, killer, proven, quick, fast, easy), ask questions that the readers can identify with (“Do You Want to Speak English Like an American?”, “Are You Tired of Repeating Yourself?”), and keep your copy simple and straight to the point.
Avoid Salesy Ads
Don’t use all caps or exclamation marks and make your copy believable. Ads like “LEARN HOW I LOST 100 POUNDS IN 4 DAYS. CLICK HERE NOW!!!!” are a huge “no, no”.
Use Your Ads to Pre-Qualify Prospects
Because you are paying for each click you get, you want to make sure that you only get qualified traffic. If your services are more expensive than the average, include the price in the ad. If you only serve your city, include that in the ad too. “Web Design in Austin, TX – Make Your Company Stand Out. – Custom Designs Starting at $4,000.” is a good example.
Go After Common Misspellings
Misspellings are great because almost nobody bids on them and therefore they are very inexpensive. You will be surprised at how many people misspell words.
Don’t Start a Campaign Bidding Too Low
If your bids are too low, your ad will show at the bottom of the page (if it shows at all) and you will create a very poor CTR history, which will cost you more in the long term because a high CTR lets you get high positions with a lower bid. It is always better to start bidding high and then decrease the bids if necessary and not the other way around.
Structure Your Campaigns Right
Don’t just throw all your keywords in one ad group. Divide them into different campaigns and ad groups so it’s easier to optimize the campaign later. If a keyword is getting a lot of traffic, give it its own ad group. Remember that 90% of your traffic will most likely come from a handful of keywords so watch that elite group very closely.
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