Everyone knows that PPC marketing is a good option for driving traffic to an ecommerce website, but many business owners make the mistake of assuming that Adwords can’t help their local business. This means that they’re missing out on some great marketing opportunities.
Google Adwords can be of help to most businesses, as long as they have websites, and a clear goal for what they want to achieve with their advertising campaign.
Online Marketing Basics
If you’re not sure what you want your website to do for you, then the first thing you’ll need to do is consult with an SEO agency to figure out the best course of action. If you sell products on your website, then your goal is probably quite simple: you want to get more sales. If your site is of a different nature – perhaps promoting a club, a restaurant, or something similar, then your goal is probably not to sell merchandise. Instead, you should be focusing on creating engagement.
Designing an Effective PPC Campaign
With PPC marketing, you don’t pay every time an advertisement is shown. You pay only when your link is clicked on. This can be used to your advantage if you create good ad copy that will only attract the attention of genuinely interested visitors or buyers.
Combining well-written ad copy with careful localization, negative campaigns, and careful budget management can net amazing results.
- Localization: Why pay to have visitors from Germany if you’re advertising a nightclub in London?
- Negative campaigns: Most people simply buy keywords, so their ad for a used car dealership will be shown when people search for “buy Ford car”. You could save money on poorly targeted clicks if you use a negative campaign to ensure that your advertisement is not shown when people search for “buy NEW ford car”.
- Keyword selection: Base your keyword selection not just on search volume, but also on relevance. A few low cost, niche keywords are better than highly contested generic ones that won’t convert.
- Budget management: Stagger your budget to make sure you don’t run out of money in the first day or two of your campaign.
However, if your site is poorly designed, then even the best PPC campaign won’t help you. An Adwords consultant will attract the right visitors to your website, but it is your job to make sure that your website converts effectively.
A good SEO agency will help you to figure out how to design your site so that the most important pages are seen. When you work with an Adwords consultant, they will help you to come up with a campaign that involves a strong “call to action”, so that your prospective customers come to your page for the right reasons, and do what it is you paid for them to come to your site to do.
If you decide to experiment with PPC marketing, then start small, and do plenty of research on keywords before you spend any money.
I agree when you say that a poorly designed website won’t give you best results inspite of good SEO or a good ppc campaign. Faced this issue personally with a client. Had to change the clients website. Total makeover!