If you're new to pay per click (PPC) advertising platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, they can come across as a little daunting. One wrong keyword or keyword slip, and you could end up spending your entire monthly budget in the space of one day!
However, PPC platforms don't have to be scary. Here are our top five tips for navigating PPC and ensuring your advertising efforts bring you a healthy return on investment! And if you want to learn more about how PPC works, check out this article published by IgniteVisibility.com.
1. Know your keyword types
Did you know there are four different keyword types you can use in your campaigns? These include:
Exact match types are good for ensuring only people searching for specific terms come to your website, but they can result in limited traffic.
Broad match keywords will result in more traffic, but you can end up spending more money bringing visitors to the website that may not be interested in your product or service. However, you can implement 'negative' keywords which mean if visitors search for a specific keyword, they won't see your ad. We'd recommend using a mix of different keyword types to see what works best for you.
2. Work on your ad copy
Your adverts are what encourage people to visit your website, so you need to make sure the content is as enticing as possible.
Think about the benefits your product or service will bring to your prospective customer and how it will solve their problems. You don't have a lot of characters, so make every word count! We recommend having at least three ads for every ad group. Review your ads regularly, pause the least effective ads and introduce brand new ad copy until you have the perfect ad!
3. Keep your ad groups small
It's easy to put all f your search terms in one big ad group, but this can result in a low click-through rate. If you have smaller ad groups with fewer keywords, you can target your ad copy and landing pages much better! Even better, look at Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAG). This is where you have one keyword in an ad group, and it can boost your ad's click-through rate by an incredible 28%!
4. Don't forget your website
When visitors come to your website, you need to make sure they stay there. If people click on your website, can't find what they are after and click straight out, this is known as 'pogo sticking', and it can potentially mean you pay more for your ads. Make sure your pages load quickly, the content is straightforward and easy to understand, and you have lots of internal links.
5. Check your campaigns at least once a week
Imagine you have planted lots of beautiful flowers in a garden. If you don't prune and water them regularly, then your garden won't stay beautiful for long. Your PPC ad campaign is the same!
Once you have set up your campaigns, you need to revisit them as often as possible. If you don't, your competitors could outrank you, and you could slowly see your ads slip down the search engine rankings.
Check in to tweak your ad copy and keywords every once in a while to maximize your conversions.