This is Six Steps to Running an Effective PPC Campaign – Part Two. To read the first three steps in running an effective PPC Campaign, check out Six Steps to Running an Effective PPC Campaign – Part One!
4. Write an outstanding ad copy
There’s no way around it. If you want your PPC marketing to be at all effective, you’ll need to have ad copy that is not only great, but outstanding.
In order to do that, your ad copy can be broken down into three different parts: the headline, the body of the ad, and your company’s URL.
When it comes to writing your headline, there are also two strategies that you can employ. And again, the one you choose will depend on what you want to get out of your marketing campaign and what strategy you think will work best for you.
The first strategy is to fill your headline with as many keywords as possible.
For example:
Your headline could be “Florist in Omaha, Nebraska” which could be an entire keyword or phrase in itself. This could get you higher listing results and it could get you a lot of clicks. But it might not get you a lot of conversions, and remember, conversions are king.
If it’s conversions that you’re after, including a call to action in your headline is usually most recommended.
So without focusing on keywords your headline could be, “Call the best, call us!” and then include your keywords within the ad body, which will be visible directly underneath the headline. This is more reader-friendly than it is search engine-friendly, and will get you better earnings faster.
Again, whichever strategy you choose will depend on what’s best for your campaign and your company. Remember whichever one you use though, you only have 25 characters in your headline.
Once you have an outstanding headline you can then move onto the ad body, for which you’ll have 70 characters to create the perfect ad.
This isn’t a lot of space to use, so make sure that you include three vital elements: a sale or promotion, a call to action, and a focus on benefits, not features.
First, talk about the sale or promotion.
There’s nothing people love more than a sale or a discount, especially when they’re already searching for your keyword. Making sure that you include the fact that you have one will capture people’s attention and have them read further, click on your ad and hopefully, use your business.
Next is your call to action, and this is especially important if you didn’t include on in your headline.
What customers are supposed to do next might be clear to you, but after fewer than 100 characters, it might not be clear to them. Tell them to “Act now!” or “Call us today!” or “Contact us for a free sample!”
Something that tells them the next steps they should take and how to do it.
Thirdly, in your overall ad copy, make sure you focus on benefits, not features.
This means that you don’t simply list all of the products you have for sale, but what benefit those products can bring to the customer. Don’t just tell them that you have roses, tulips, and carnations. Tell them that you can also deliver them overnight, to make sure they arrive in time for that special someone’s birthday. Focusing on benefits with so little space can be difficult, so you’ll have to get creative on this one!
There’s one more thing you need to include in your ad copy and that’s a link to your website. Luckily, this one requires no creativity and very little strategies.
If you have a number of different websites that you’re using, you might have to consider which URL to list, but that’s the only choice you’ll need to make here. The only consideration you’ll need to think about when entering your URL is the landing page it will take visitors to; because this also needs to be outstanding.
5. Create an outstanding landing page
A good landing page is almost as essential to an effective PPC campaign as keywords are; but they’re not nearly as difficult to create.
Your landing page is the page visitors “land” on after they click on your ad.
And really, it’s just an expansion of your ad.
Because of that, you want to include all of the same elements you included in your ad, but you also want to expand on them. Still tell them what your promotion is, but tell them more about it (how long the offer’s on for, what products exactly are included, etc.)
You also want to include a call to action, but you also want to expand on that. So instead of just “Contact us!” you might say something like, “Call us today and we’ll be happy to discuss your wedding photo needs and send you a free quote that will include our limited time discount offer.”
Remember when creating your landing pages that, while you might be able to use them for SEO purposes as well, they’re largely more reader-based than they are search engine-based.
Because of this, you need to make sure that your landing pages are created for your readers and that they’re pages readers actually want to spend a few minutes on. Make sure the design is aesthetically-pleasing, that your offer is clear, and that the content is friendly and approachable. All of these elements will make for an outstanding landing page.
6. Track your PPC campaigns
You’ve chosen your keywords; and you’ve even bid on them. You’ve created an outstanding ad and an outstanding landing page. You’ve even created content to support your keywords, and your ads are now up and running.
Think you’re done?
Whenever you’re running a PPC campaign, you’re never done; because you must constantly monitor, regulate, and track the results of your campaign.
And if those results don’t match up with what your intended goals were, you have to go back and try with different keywords, different landing pages, and maybe even different offers.
Tracking is essential to any PPC campaign; maybe even more essential.
Because if you can’t track it and you don’t know what results you’re getting from your campaigns (if any!) everything else is a moot point.
Your marketing consultant will have an entire arsenal of tracking tools up their sleeve; one you can use is Google Analytics. This is another free tool you can use when you sign up with Google AdWords and it will compare across the board for you how often your landing page was viewed, how many people signed up or converted, and how many clicks your ads received.
Once you’re tracking your campaigns, you really are done the bulk of the work; except for when you need to go back to square one and rework it.
In order for PPC marketing to be effective, it takes extensive keyword research, creating and recreating the perfect ad, and constantly changing and changing again different ad strategies, different PPC networks, and continuously tracking those results.
First, become an expert so that you understand how PPC works and what might be the best strategies for you. Then, hire another expert that works in the field to actually carry out the work for you.
Would you like more information about Pay-Per-Click Marketing? Ask us!