Pay Per Click Advertising - Running a Successful Campaign
Pay Per Click Advertising offers the most effective form of Internet advertising available. PPC Advertising works because of its highly targeted reach, the control and flexibility it offers you and because its effectiveness and return is measurable.
The intention of this guide is to give you some tips on how to maximise the effectiveness of your Google Adwords campaign. Google offers several choices within its Adwords system as to where you adverts will display - just within its search network, or on other third websites (content network), and various payment methods - cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per thousand impression (CPM). Where you choose to display your ads will depend on the aim of your campaign - customer acquisition, brand awareness etc. For the purposes of this guide, we will be focusing on search campaigns on a CPC basis.
Google uses a bid + performance PPC model, meaning that your advert's placement is dependent not just on your maximimum bid, but also on its quality score. The Quality Score is a combination of factors but includes a measure of click through rate (CTR) and the relevance of landing page to the targetted phrase.
The good news for advertisers is that this bid + performance PPC model means the more effective you can make your ads, the less you will pay in the longer term for each click - you can even pay less per click than competing ads below you in the search results!
Because Google uses a Quality Score that is determined by your campaign's historical performance, it is essential that you setup your campaign properly from the very start.
Below are our top tips for maximising the effectiveness of your campaign and maximising your ROI.
How to maximise the effectiveness of your campaign.
AdGroups
Separate closely related phrases into separate Ad Groups in order to ensure your ad copy can be as relevant and targeted as possible to those phrases.
Phrases
Use broad, phrase and exact match for your phrases. This enables you to cover all phrase combinations that someone may search for, and you will pay less for the more targeted phrase.
Ad Copy
Use the keyword or phrase in your ad copy. The phrase will be highlighted in the search results and your ad will consequently convert better.
Call to Action
Include a Call to Action in your ad copy - tell people what to do and why they should do it.
Split Test Ad Copy
Test the effectiveness of your copy - run at least two versions of ad copy in parallel, while having the ads delivered in equal rotation. Once you have enough data, change the less effective ad, and test again.
Relevance
Think relevancy and then think relevancy again - it is a crucial part of your Quality Score. Is your ad copy relevant to the phrase? Are you sending people to a relevant landing page? Are you using the keyword in the display URL?
Differentiate Ads
Differentiate your ads from the competition. Your ad title gets 75% of a searcher's attention - make sure it stands out.
Click Through Rate (CTR)
Work hard to build a good click through rate from the very start of your campaign - building a good history is crucial in reducing your click charges.
Ad Scheduling
At what time of day do you get the best conversion rate on your ads? Use the Ad Scheduling feature to display your ads at the most effective time.
Position Preference
Use Position Preference to choose where you want your ads displayed. Do you really want your ads displayed in position 10 where your CTR will suffer? What is the sweet spot that gives you maximium conversion?
Landing Pages
Test the effectiveness of your Landing Pages - split test variations, make changes, test again.
Continuous Testing
Finally, test, test and test again. In everything you do - ad title, ad copy, phrase match, scheduling, position preference, landing pages etc - test them all and find the most effective combination.
What Next?
As you can see, there is far more to running an effective PPC Campaign than simply opening an Adwords account and adding one long list of phrases with one advert.
If, after reading this, you think that your campaign would perform better by being managed externally, then SearchPath can help. Our highly experienced, and Google accredited professionals, will optimise your campaign to ensure we maximise your return on investment and deliver the most highly targeted visitors possible to your site.
Boost your business with SearchPath Paid Advertising Service - contact SearchPath on +44 (0)1285 643496.
