Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is an important part of your digital marketing plan and has really come a long way in recent years.
3 Things Every PPC Campaign Needs
In order to make sure your PPC campaign is as good as it possibly can be, you need to make sure that you’re monitoring the campaign for effectiveness and that your campaign isn’t missing anything important. Below is a list of 3 things this is often overlooked.
1. Conversion Tracking
First things first, you need to be tracking the number of “conversions” you get. “Conversion,” in case you aren’t aware, is just a fancy way of saying that you get a person to do one or more of the things you intended for them to do as a result of your PPC campaign.
So, something as simple as clicking on an email that you send is considered a conversion. When it comes to a PPC campaign, having someone click on your ad, download your eBook, or sign up for your newsletter are all common conversions.
If you’re not tracking the number of conversions you’re getting, then you have no way of knowing whether your PPC campaign is successful or not, meaning you are just blindly paying money and hoping your efforts are paying off.
There are a number of conversion tracking tools available; you just have to find one that works for you. Most just use Google Analytics and/or Google Tag Manager.
2. Negative Keywords
Another important thing you should be doing is specifying negative keywords in your PPC campaign. Negative keywords are keywords that you do not want to lead people to your site.
If you sell upscale clothing, for example, it just makes sense for the search engines to think terms like “jeans” and “shorts” are related to your site. However, if you only sell high quality, expensive clothing, i.e. no jeans, it’s not helpful for those keywords to lead to your site. If they do, it still counts as a click and wasted money for you.
You can stop these types of problems by specifying negative keywords when you set up your PPC campaign.
BTW … you should update your negative keywords from time to time for your ad campaigns. Here is a negative keyword tool (Thanks WordStream) to get you started.
3. Attention Grabbing Images
People are much more visual than they use to be. In fact, ads and content that feature at least one attention grabbing image are much more likely to get clicked on than ads and content that don’t.
The images you choose should be relevant to what the ad is about and not just a generic image. Taking photos of your business, the products or maybe even your services in action would make great images to include in your PPC campaign. Don’t forget that people are scanning through ads, so make sure your image contains colors which tend to catch the eye.
You should be sure to choose a compelling image that encompasses your brand and gets people interested in clicking on your ad to find out more about your business. If you do this, your PPC campaign will likely be a lot more successful.
When you make sure to include these simple steps as a part of your PPC campaign it will save you money and bring your target audience to your site. Both of which is what makes for a successful campaign for your business and your customer.
What have you done in your PPC campaigns that has helped them be successful? Please share with us below!
