This just in: pay-per-click marketing (PPC) is a very effective marketing strategy. Thank you. Good night.
Alright, we know it’s a great way tactic to gain exposure for our companies and generate new leads from online prospects that are searching for our services or. The bummer for many of us is that it can be complicated. Well, no longer! I’m going to let you in on the ABC’s of effective PPC ad campaigns, so you can leverage this medium easily and to your great benefit.
Ad Extensions
Google gives you six ad extensions that will help you to more effectively communicate your brand without adding to the character limit that is set by Google. PPC ads have strict character restrictions, but these extensions are great for presenting your brand in a few words.
These are the ad extensions:
- Location: Show the prospect your location by linking to Google Maps. This will show them our location and allow them to get directions.
- Products: This extension will show the prospect your products/services and their prices.
- Site Links: This extension will allow you to show the prospect more than one page of your website, which means you have more than one chance to capture their attention.
- Phone Number: This displays your phone number beneath your ad, and makes it a click-to-call number for mobile searchers.
- Social Media: Displays the number of +1s your Google+ page has. Building social media credibility is key and you only have a very short time to display that.
- Seller Rating: This extension displays to prospects the rating your customers have given you on Google (but Google only displays the rating if it is 4 or 5 stars).
Be Consistent With Your PPC Process
You must ensure that your PPC campaign is consistent! This will make sure that you don’t lose prospects along the way. If your ad and landing pages don’t match or you have a different message on each page, the prospect will leave your site and likely move to your competitor’s. Why? You are messing with the internal sales conversation they were having with your brand. That feels unprofessional or disorganized when you’re on the purchasing side of the exchange, and it is not something you are included to deal with. Rather, create a consistent flow from ad to landing page to call-to-action, etc. Prospects will feel engaged and comfortable throughout the process and you will build trust with them with each new step.
Call Response Optimization
You want to include your phone number with your ad because you want them to call —believe me. You see, you only pay for a PPC ad when a prospect clicks on your ad. So, if someone just calls you after seeing your ad, you just got a free lead. Yes, please.
Divide Keywords into Niche Groups
One of the most effective things you can do for your PPC campaign is categorize your keywords. For instance, a jewelry company will group keywords like “jewelry cleaning” into one group and “jewelry retailer” in another group. These groups allow you to display the most relevant ads for your prospects, depending on what they are searching for.
Google will determine your Quality Score based on how helpful they believe your ads are to those who are seeing them. Google make judgments based on two parameters:
- How relevant the ad is to the user’s search term.
- The amount of clicks the ad is generating.
Higher quality scores get more perks. You will get better ad placement, which means the best real estate on websites, and higher ranking for search ads. More prospects will see your ads!
And that’s really it. If you remember your ABC’s, you’ll be enjoying the benefits of a well-oiled PPC marketing campaign. Go you!
Joy Gendusa is the owner and CEO of direct mail marketing firm, PostcardMania. PostcardMania has expanded to offer its clients more services including website and landing page design and development and local search engine optimization advice.
