We all know that Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) can be a highly effective form of Internet Marketing with proven results. However, it doesn’t come without its own set of challenges. There are a few things you should keep an eye on when dealing with PPC campaigns in order to make the most you can out of this marketing arena: account structure, completion and bidding as well as how your ads are written.
Account structure and settings are a key component to a successful PPC campaign. A campaign that is set up in a very general way will cost you unnecessary dollars. The more concise your account structure is the better these accounts will perform. Most search engine platforms are set up with a top tier (campaign), second tier (adgroup) and the final tier (keywords & ads). Having everything thrown into one campaign with no real separation will cause the search engines to not be able to find relevancy between your keywords and ads and in turn not rank you when someone does a search query for your keywords. There are also account settings within each of the search engine platforms that have an impact on how, when and where your results are displayed, which could negatively impact the performance of your campaigns.
How you and your competition are bidding on your keywords is another factor that can be challenging to manage in your PPC campaigns. Some competitors have really deep pockets and are willing to spend the money to out bid you. Getting into a “bidding war” is never a good idea, but I have often seen it happen. You don’t always have to be the highest bidder to see a return on your investment and drive the leads you want. You want to be able to use your budget as effectively as possible and have your ads displaying as long as possible, so you need to keep this in mind when setting up your bids and managing your budgets. More focused keywords can also help lower your cost and often times do not have as much competition bidding on them.
Poor ad copy is a major pitfall in PPC marketing. The first thing the searcher sees is your ad. This is what makes them decide to visit your store or not. Poorly written ads can be the death of a PPC campaign. Good ads are clear and concise with a call to action for the consumer. Discounting the importance of how well your ad is written can be detrimental to the overall effectiveness of your PPC marketing strategies and in the end wind up costing you money that could have been used more effectively.
PPC can be a very lucrative form of advertising if done correctly. However, there are things to watch out for and keep an eye on. These campaigns benefit from having knowledgeable people watching these accounts continuously and making adjustments on an ongoing basis. Because of the versatility of PPC marketing, problems can be quickly corrected if they are caught and in the end saving you time and money.
Contact Active Web Group today to get started on your Pay per Click Advertising Campaign!
