PPC Advertising

Secrets to a Successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Campaign

Secrets to a Successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Campaign 10 Comments

Tara Hornor has found her passion writing on topics of branding, web and graphic design, photography, marketing, and advertising. She is Senior Editor for CreativeContentExperts.com, a business that specializes in link building, content creation, and more. Check out @TaraHornor on Twitter for more graphic design and marketing advice.


Pay Per Click AdvertisingOne of the more daunting marketing tasks is that of managing a successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaign. It happens to be one of those areas that is both an art and a science; many would agree that it requires a bit more time and effort than, say, a postcard printing campaign or a direct email campaign.

The technical side of setting up and running the campaign can ruin the best of days. So the key is to plan and build it right the first time, minimizing major changes mid-campaign.


To better ensure a less painful start, read through the tips below for creating a successful PPC advertising campaign.

Conduct Thorough Research

Identify what your business requires to achieve the goals necessary for success. Create a list of these goals and ask if it is possible to reach them. Prioritize the worth behind each action taken by your company. Ask yourself questions to crystalize the purpose of your PPC advertising campaign.

What actions do you want your visitor to make on your website?

What are the different values of each possible action a visitor can make on the webpage?

Analyze Your Target Audience

First, ask yourself specific questions related to your ideal customer’s characteristics and attributes.

-Who would you consider your target base?

-Do they require your product or service and why? What type of lifestyles do they engage in?

-What is the mean income in this group?

You may need to gather demographics and other marketing related information on your target audience.

Next, put yourself in your target group’s place and try to imagine what you would type into a search bar if you were looking for your products or services. Then create a list of negative words and phrases you can block; basically, come up with search terms that lead to your website but come from searchers who are not looking for your site. Blocking negative searches increases the quality of searches landing on your site and yields the highest level of positive results as possible while lowering costs.

Utilize Keyword Tools

Some of these resources include Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker, and WordStream. It is important to find the correct keywords to run your pay-per-click advertising campaign. Your online business will not benefit from anything less in regards to this type of advertising.

These programs are designed to locate keywords and specific phrases that are relevant to your target audience. Take your list of keywords and create your ad campaign around them. Break up your keywords into specific advertisement groups and begin to create a structured advertising base.

Build Landing Pages

The initial page your visitors land on must immediately introduce them to your product or service. It must be clear and engaging and draw them in without requiring too much of their time to decipher the message. The most effective landing pages have a very clear call to action (such as a large button that says “Get an Estimate” or “Free Trial”), only include the one message for which they were created, and keep designs to a minimal.

Only a few landing pages can get away with being the same URL as the homepage of the website; most landing pages should be completely separate from your main URL for best results. The reason? A home page often comes with too many distractions; with so many navigational options, those who clicked on your ad will most likely become distracted or confused as to how to complete your offer if your landing page is your homepage.

Keep an Eye on Your Investment

Your account is completely financed by yourself or small business so make sure you monitor your PPC advertising campaign and that it renders the results you are looking for. If your ROI (Return on Investment) is not high, then consider changing your strategy, updating your keyword list, or seeking help from a professional PPC Team.

Being Honest is Beneficial

Don’t attempt to trick visitors into landing on your site. Not only is this action highly unethical but it will generally work against your efforts to expand your client base and create negative publicity for your website. Each search engine has specific rules. If your website doesn’t follow these rules, then it won’t function. Therefore, make sure you research the rules, understand their function, and adhere to them. Your PPC advertising campaign will be much more successful if you do.

Tara Hornor has found her passion writing on topics of branding, web and graphic design, photography, marketing, and advertising. She is Senior Editor for CreativeContentExperts.com, a business that specializes in link building, content creation, and more. Check out @TaraHornor on Twitter for more graphic design and marketing advice.

10 comments

  1. Research and Honesty – well said Tara, it’s essential that PPC is researched correctly and then there is no need to resort to unorthodox methods to gain clickthroughs. Your potential new customers won’t respect you if you cheat from the outset of the relationship.

  2. I agree, one of the most crucial part in a campaign is knowing your market and who to target. Along with the right keywords, it will tell you what the market is looking for. Always getting into the shoes of the consumer.

    1. I like that…”getting into the shoes of the customer.” A good way to look at it.

  3. PPC is not something I do much of these days. But it is still important to hear what still works and how we need to be well researched and prepared.

    Thanks for the info,

    Beth 🙂

  4. PPC and FB ads are 2 stratgies I would like to try out to build my list.
    Thank you for these tips;)
    What is the cost of a smat PPC result driven targeted campaign?
    Thanks
    Patricia

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