Paid marketing such as Pay Per Click Advertising differs a lot from search engine optimisation as it returns results quickly. You can also control your campaign rather than waiting to see what happens. The catch is that you have to pay for it, but you will get results and you can even set your budget and keep a watchful eye on things ensuring that you don't overspend.
If you would like to compare Pay Per Click Advertising methods to others please check out our blog post 'PPC Advertising VS non PPC advertising'.
You start off with selecting keywords along with your maximum budget that you are prepared to pay for clicks through to your website. When people search for your chosen keywords in a search engine, your ad will be displayed on the results pages. If a user chooses to click on your ad, you will be charged per that click. the following tips will apply to Google mainly, as it is the most influential search engine out there at the moment. This does not mean that our advice is exclusive to Google, it can be applied elsewhere.
1. Research what you want to do
Knowing your competition is the first step to your campaign. It wouldn't be wise to put yourself up against strong competition, as they would have more dominance on the Internet. PPC campaigns is an area which is always evolving, so watch out for advancements and news on the subject.
2. Play by the rules
Hard work needs to go into an add to make a great add. Bare in mind that there are certain rules and restrictions that you need to adhere to. For example there are just 25 characters available for the headline, 35 per each of the two descriptions, and 25 for the URL display. In regards to other search engines rules for PPC ads, Bing is very similar, where as Yahoo and Miva have more character allowance. Which ever search engine you decide to advertise on, you will find more information.
3. Experiment a little
Trying different ideas can hugely benefit your campaign, you will quickly learn what works for you. For example;
4. Google Quality Score - get used to it
If your ad is on Google then you'll have to get used to The Google Quality Score. It calculates your advert's quality, and then indicates in which order they will be displayed. So why is it useful? Well, if you have a good quality score then you should be able to get the same great results by spending less money. The following key aspects are considered in the Google Quality Score;
5. Pimp your landing pages
Don't be a disappointment for your visitors! If you've achieved traffic through your PPC campaigns, the last thing you want to be doing is deterring potential customers because of irrelevant, poor landing pages. Google will evaluate your landing pages about ocne a month to ensure that your content is in order.
6. Match making
Depending on which search engine you're using, there will be again different rules for which ads will be triggered by which search terms. It is possible to control keywords phrase matches on Google, but there is an art to getting the balance between exact matches, broad matches, negative matching etc. The more you understand the process, the more chance you will have at coming out on top.
7. Aim for poll position
The higher your Pay Per Click Advertising campaign is on Google, the more traffic and higher CTR you will have. The amount that you bid is the biggest factor in determining which position your ad will get.
8. Budget
Once you've done all your research and PPC learning, you can then decide what budget you would like to set. You should decide on your maximum amounts either per day or monthly. Look at what your competitors are doing too.
9. ROI check
It's advisable to calculate what your return on investment will be for you PPC advertising campaign. As you read around the marketing method you will notice that it can be easy to overspend or even to suffer from a misjudged low budget.
10. Get analytical
Once you've got your Pay Per Click Advertising campaign up and running, there will be analytics and reports to study. These are extremely helpful, and it's worthwhile taking time to understand what they're telling you as it could be the difference between a successful campaign and a flop.
11. Beware of click fraud
About 10% of clicks can be fraud, from people that click on adds with no intention of buying anything from you. There are some of your competitors out there that may try click fraud with you. Google do provide options such as report where they will tell you what they have filtered as invalid via a report, then giving you the opportunity to exclude the IP address of your competitors.
12. If it works - spend
If you manage to get your Pay Per Click Advertising campaign techniques right, the best thing that you can do is spend more. Finding a great formula is unique to your campaign, so once you uncover it, don't ignore it. An investment should be on the cards if you want to take advantage of success.
13. Keep an eye on the competition
With PPC advertising, there is a large element of dependency upon the competition. Your competitors activity should be watched closely, as you don't want to fall behind if they're spending a little bit more, or simply doing things a little bit differently.
14. Brand protection
Once you establish your brand you need to protect it especially with people searching for it on the Internet. Things are always changing in this area so check that you're up to date with the latest rules and regulations. We have some helpful tips on our blog post "Trademark your business the right way"
Why not checkout our Pay Per Click Services, or alternatively give us a call to find out more.
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