Pay per Click Tips – Our Top 10
Our top 10 PPC tips are designed for small business owners who are new to this form of advertising.
It’s easy to waste a lot of time and money on PPC if you don’t know what you’re doing, but following the tips below will keep you on the right track;
- Choosing the right keywords
It’s easy to get caught up in chasing the keywords with the highest search volumes, but everyone else is doing the same thing.
By taking the time to research possible keywords thoroughly you will be able to identify ‘long tail’ keywords which have a lower cost per click to you, less competition, but could have a very high conversion rate and give you a great ROI.
- Set a realistic budget
In order to stand a chance of getting some enquiries/orders, you’ll need to set a realistic budget for your PPC campaigns. For example if you’re bidding on a number of keywords with a cost per click of around £1, setting a daily budget of £5 will not buy you many clicks or allow you to gather much data on how effective your adverts are.
- Choosing the right keyword matching options
There are 4 keyword matching options within Google Adwords which are described by Google on the following link: keyword matching types
It’s good to experiment with different keyword matching options and analyse the results to see what’s performing best and delivering the best return on your investment.
- Relevance is king
When you come to set up your campaigns it’s wise to just use a few tightly grouped keywords in each ad group. This allows you to keep your PPC adverts targeted and relevant.
If you lump all your keywords together into one ad group it then becomes impossible to write advert text that’s aimed specifically at people looking for a certain keyword or phrase. Small, highly focused ad groups tend to work best in PPC campaigns.
- Use keywords in your advert text
When someone types a word or phrase into a search engine they want to find relevant results. In terms of PPC you should use the keywords or phrase for each particular ad group in the title and body of your advert text where possible.
For example if someone enters “London Plasterer” into Google, they are more likely to click on a PPC advert with this term in the title and/or body text as Google highlights matching text in bold so that it stands out.
- How to write your advert text
As well as writing a keyword rich title, it’s important to try and get your USP in your advert text if possible, which could be price or free next day delivery for example.
Including a call to action is also a good idea and even something as simple as “order online now” can make a big difference in the number of people who read your advert and then click through to your site.
Don’t spam your advert text with the same keywords and phrases over and over as this will be frowned upon by Google and well as your target audience.
- Target your market effectively
Google Adwords has a function called geo-targeting which can save you a lot of money in terms of your PPC spend. For example, if you know that 95% of your customers are from a specific geographical area then it makes sense to target this area through your PPC advertising rather than making it UK or worldwide.
- Directing traffic
As we’ve already mentioned in tip#3, relevance is king and that applies to where you direct your PPC traffic to as well. If someone types “Dunlop tennis racket” into Google and sees that in your advert text, then they will rightly expect to be taken to a page with information on Dunlop tennis rackets rather than a homepage which lists lots of different brands and other tennis products.
- Don’t get involved in bidding wars
Many people who use PPC get obsessed with being in the number 1 position for their chosen keywords and phrases, thinking that they’re somehow gaining an advantage on their competitors.
When businesses keep increasing their keyword bids to try and outdo each other, the end result is that the price rises and you end up paying more than you should. It’s widely accepted that positions 3-5 are the best converting when it comes to PPC so don’t think being number 1 is the Holy Grail.
- Keep an eye on your competitors
Every so often you should take screenshots of search engine results pages to get a record of who else is using PPC to bid on the same words and phrases as you.
Monitoring these results can let you see your competitors’ strategies and what text they’re using on their adverts to try and entice people.
It’s also wise to do a search on your brand name (if applicable) to see if any competitors are bidding on it and trying to steal your traffic.
If you’re new to PPC advertising you may want to read a beginner’s guide to pay per click
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