Pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns are extensively used by digital marketers to attract new customers, generate more leads, and drive sales. However, these campaigns can be tedious and expensive if not executed successfully. If you have found yourself spending too much time on a PPC ads campaign, you are not alone! With that being said, a good return on your investment can make all this effort worthwhile.
Here are some effective tips to help you make the maximum out of your PPC campaign.
10 Tips for Planning Successful PPC Ads
- “Keyword” is the key
The keywords you choose can make a difference in the success of your PPC ads campaign as your ad will appear in front of the right people. This means you need to update your keyword list regularly—analyze which keywords are performing for you to save your budget. You should also explore negative keywords to your advantage. These keywords prevent your PPC ads from appearing for the selected words and thus, irrelevant queries. Moreover, with negative keywords, you can optimize your campaign to attract relevant, serious customers who will convert and help you save money.
- Targetted landing pages
Not only your ad but the landing page is also a critical part of a PPC ads campaign. Make sure your landing page connects to your ad and visitors get relevant and continued information. Avoid unnecessary details as a non-targeted page can stary your targeted customers, resulting in wastage of your budget. Moreover, if your business caters to different local regions, then you should consider localised landing pages for more impact! This will help you target the right people, at the right time and place, make the experience of visitors more relevant and personalized, as well as help you optimize performance for maximum ROI.
- Long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords can be utilized for a higher conversion rate. How? These keywords are 3—4 words long phrases that describe the product or service. For instance, a black dress can be narrowed down to a knee-length black dress for specific matching results. More importantly, it can work to your advantage because many marketers still do not use long-tail keywords for their PPC ads campaigns. This means fewer people bidding on your chosen keywords and reduced cost per click! You can also try adding sale intent words such as buy, price of, where to buy, etc. to attract customers who are ready to make a purchase.
- Ad extensions
Make good use of ad extensions if you are not already including site links, review, callout, etc. These free ad-on can help you give more information to your target audience—what your site is like, what customers have to say about you, what specific or relevant pages they can visit directly, as well as the option to call or contact you directly.
- A/B testing
For a campaign’s success, it’s not luck but effective testing, analysis, and optimization. That is why A/B testing can help you identify what’s working for you. Although you can test multiple ads, it is recommended to use only one variable at a time for you to collect meaningful data. Since buying decisions or interests of the target audience are affected by various factors, you can test various elements to see which one gives you the maximum conversion. You can use Google Experiments for Google Ads optimization too. For instance, you can create versions of landing pages with different headlines, offer dates, designs, etc.
- The power of content
Since ads work based on their appearance in search engine results, your words can have a huge impact on your PPC ads campaign. If you are getting a hold of things, you can hire creative and experienced copywriters for your campaigns. Your copywriting skills will vary for a B2B and B2C audience. You need to differentiate from your competition to reach your ideal customer. Focus on whether you are doing a promotion for a limited period, offering free shipping, or adding huge value.
Maximize the impact of call-to-action with terms like “free consultation, “free download, know more, etc. Most importantly, use the power of words to nudge your target audience to take the next step. You can also use the sense of urgency or scarcity in your copy. For instance, the sale ends in X hours, the offer is valid until Y, only Z seats left, valid only for 24 hours, etc. You can use this FOMO effect smartly on your landing pages too!
- Workout a retargeting strategy
Remarketing or retargeting is a very effective way to convert leads into customers, especially those who are somewhat aware of your business but were not ready to make a purchase earlier or in case you were not able to capture their contact details. For such a campaign, you can target visitors who have visited your or your competitor’s site, who have bought one product or service from you earlier, or had initial interaction or contact with you. Since most people won’t make a buying decision the first time, retargeting can acts as an action-oriented reminder.
- Identify effective channels
You need to figure out which channels give you the maximum conversion. For instance, you may start with running your campaign on multiple platforms including social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn as well as search engines. However, eventually, you will get to know which of these are getting you the most conversions. This will help you to smartly reallocate your PPC ads budget for running a successful campaign and improved ROI.
- In the nick of time
Apart from geo-targeting your ads, you can also play with time targeting! All you need to do is analyze your performance metrics to know at what time are your ads getting the most conversion. For instance, if you receive 200 clicks on an ad at 5:00 pm but no conversions, then you may try restricting your ad impressions during that time to save money.
- Accessible and secure website
This may sound very basic but a secure and accessible website can help users navigate and browse through the information. Consider the aesthetics, design, font, paragraph breaks, media formats such as videos and images, etc of your website. You can choose HTTPS instead of HTTP as Google penalizes unsecured websites, impacting your PPC ads campaign. You will also want to have a website that loads quickly to avoid abandoning visitors.
Whether you are an experienced or amateur digital marketer, it is important to analyze and optimize for the successful execution of your PPC ads campaign. Experiment with these strategies to identify which ones help boost your sale and get your clicks rolling!
