Whether you have just opened the doors to your business or are looking to re-engage past customers, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a great way for you to reach your target audience and increase sales – if they’re done right. While even the most knowledgeable digital marketer will need to make tweaks and adjustments along the way to ensure a Google ad campaign is successful, there are things that you can do from the get-go to make sure your ads help you reach your marketing goals.
1. Plan your campaign
You may be excited to hurry up and get your campaigns going so you can start seeing results, but we hate to break it to you – if you don’t do some planning first, there’s no way you can expect to reach your goals. So, what does this planning look like?
First, it’s determining what exactly you want to promote with your ads. While you may want to advertise every single item you carry or every service your company performs, we suggest focusing on a select few for both your budget and your sanity.
Then, it’s getting to know your target audience and the best way to reach them. For instance, those in need of plumbers tend to head to a search engine when they are in need of their services, making it logical that a local plumber would want to run search ads so they show up at the top of search engine results. The best way to reach customers for the owner of a clothing boutique may be to use eye-catching images of their clothing in a Display campaign. Whatever you do, just make sure your strategy makes sense for those who may be interested in your products or services.
2. Conduct keyword research
If a Search campaign is the route you decide to take, it’s time to sit down and conduct a little keyword research. Doing keyword research is vital, as using the wrong keywords can cause you to waste your valuable marketing dollars. Google has some great free tools for you to use like their Keyword Planner, which allows you to look at how often a keyword is searched and how much it costs to use. There are also free tools out there where you can get great suggestions for long and short-tail keywords based on your products, services, or website.
3. Optimize for mobile
Almost half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, making it crucial that your PPC ads, no matter what kind, are optimized for them. Add in a mobile extension so that people that are out and about while on their phones can easily find your business. There are also other extensions that prove beneficial to mobile users, including callout extensions and location extensions.
4. Pay attention to your Quality Score
Google provides a handy metric called the Quality Score, which is calculated in part by your ad’s relevance, click-through rate (CTR) and landing page quality. The higher your ad’s Quality Score, the more likely it is that your Google ads will be shown, and the cost for showing them will be lower. Along with your Quality Score, Google provides recommendations for raising your score, with many you can apply with one simple click.
5. Closely consider your landing page
When setting up your ads, don’t just link each one to your company’s homepage and call it good. Make sure that each ad is paired up with a page within your website that is specifically about that product or service and that it’s ready to convert them into a customer. As mentioned above, Google takes your ad’s landing page in account when calculating your Quality Score, so making sure that your ads and landing pages line up is critical to your PPC success.
6. Set up some tracking
How do you know if your ad is doing well if you can’t see what happens after it’s clicked on? Putting tracking measures in place to show just how many people convert once they click your ad is crucial when determining your campaign’s return on ad spend (ROAS) to see if your ads are REALLY working for you. Because really, what good are a bunch of impressions and clicks if they don’t lead to any actual sales or leads?
Ready to hop on the PPC train but need some help? The digital marketing team at Midwest Marketing can strategize, implement, and optimize a campaign that is perfect for reaching your goals. Contact us today!
