If only pay-per-click campaigns were as easy as a snap of the finger, then every web page could strike it rich at the first try. Unfortunately, pay-per-click (PPC) isn’t that simple. While the actions required to participate in many search engine PPC programs don’t take a genius to figure out the steps, the true marketer understands what it takes to achieve a response rate worth bragging about. Can the ordinary web page owner do it herself? Perhaps yes, if luck is on her side. But, do you really want to leave your campaign to luck?
Many large search engines offer comprehensive PPC plans. For instance, Yahoo Search Marketing Solution (also known as
Overture) and Google Adwords, take you through the steps of creating, submitting and activating your advertisement. In a matter of minutes through Google Adwords, your PPC campaign can be approved and working. Yahoo, on the other hand, takes a little longer since actual people, not a computer program, do its review process. Upon launching, your campaign isn’t automatically seen by every searcher. Instead, your ad must climb up into a position that makes it most visible.
The quickest way to climb into a good position is to bear in mind some basic tips prior to launching your PPC campaign:
- Identify your target customers and their likes and
dislikes. Knowing this gives you insight on how they search online for services and products and how they react to certain phrases and keywords.
- Track your keywords. Don’t jam-pack your PPC with every conceivable keyword. Pick keywords with the strongest appeal. Implement tracking systems, like Yahoo Search Marketing Solution and Google Adwords, that carry out this task.
- Maximize the small space inside an ad by first split-testing your keywords. Do research by testing keywords and phrases in search engine results. Pick only the best keyword or phrase results.
- Don’t mistake traffic with performance. You may attract heavy traffic to your site through a PPC but you might not get desired performance. Are you clear on the action you want? Performance is when your visitors take the action you are seeking. You need to strive for performance as well as traffic. With better performance than your competitors, you can afford to buy higher PPC ad positions. You’ll get more visitors, and they are more likely to take action.
- Link your campaign to “landing pages”. Direct clicks on certain keywords to a specific page on your website. Clicks on a certain keyword or phrase puts the visitor in a population that is seeking specific material. Studies indicate that a visitor’s call to action is much higher upon landing on a page that is most relevant to the visitor.
A great return on your investment (ROI) is the goal of a PPC campaign. When it comes to creating a great PPC campaign, learning to set up a PPC ad is only one part of the picture; the other part is incorporating strategic planning. To discover simpler and more successful ways to carry out a winning PPC campaign, go to www.1dmom.com/archive.
Copyright 2005 Riki Trafford. All rights reserved.
Riki Trafford is the webmaster and operator of Direct MO Marketing which offers low cost keyword-targetted web traffic. For comments and questions visit his web site: http://www.1dmom.com/
Filed Under: Paid Advertising
September 4th, 2007
