PPC Best Practices:
Free PPC Advice for You
- Make Your Keywords Specific - The more you focus on the "long tail keywords," the less you're going to pay per click. These keywords will likely have better positions and higher CTR's as well! The key is to have MANY long tail keywords, since the number of clicks will be lower on these.
- Bid On Your Own Name - Don't forget to bid on the company name or product names in keyword phrases. For example, "dog toy" becomes "Kong dog toy." Don't be afraid to call Google and report if competitors use your trademark in an ad.
- Matching Strategies - Once a campaign is up and running, always be sure to add exact and phrase matches for your best performing keywords. Use negative keywords when feasible to decrease your ad from being shown when its not applicable to the search.
- Content Network - If you are going to allow your campaigns to be searched on the content network, do not separate out these campaigns from your search campaigns. The content network will leverage from the success of your current search campaigns.
- Don't Shoot for #1 - One of THE best ranks in paid search is being #3 (top left side for Google). Use AdWord's "Position Preferences" to automate your bidding for a 2-8 position. This will allow you to be on the first 2 pages, without paying the high CPC for the first position, or lowering your CTR by being on page 6!
- PPC Ad Copy - Don't be boring! Look at what your competition is saying and find a way to be unique. Have a call to action. If you have a PPC campaign specific phone number, try to sneak it in the copy. Keep the listed web URL generic for branding purposes.
- Landing Pages - Refer to landing page best practices. Be sure that your landing page repeats what is said on in the ad and is relevant to your selected keywords. A PPC landing page should have a form and one clear funnel. The less navigation and options for the visitor the better.
- Tracking - Be sure to have tracking in place to ensure that your campaigns are effective. Tracking can be through AdWords or through Omniture Search Center. Track all Visits, Clicks, CPC, RevPC, and conversion rates to use for reporting. None of these statistics should be used alone to evaluate a campaign. Chart many or all of these statistics to have the BIG picture of how the campaign is working.
- Reporting - Use reports to make DATA-Driven decisions. Sales and revenue reports as well as the statistics tracked above should guide all PPC budget decisions.
- Treat campaigns as "Living Campaigns" - Use tracking and reporting to drive PPC activities. Work monthly to reduce CPC. Look at reports and shift budget dollars to maximize the RevPC.
And, as always, seek the advice a a professional PPC advertising firm. Don't go it alone! Please use our form for an evaluation of your current PPC strategies.