A good amount of clients we work with have already tried to create a PPC strategy on their own. With managing new hires, to payroll, entrepreneurs realize there is only so much they can do in one day. This post is for those that are new to AdWords and want to educate themselves on some of the fundamentals.
More Keywords, More Money: The first thing clients think of when creating campaigns and ad groups is to use as many keywords as possible. The most important part of AdWords is to create tight campaigns. Our first suggestion would be to try and figure out what keywords your customers are searching for. In addition, understand your industry and the categories of your concept to create a list of targeted keywords. We aren’t suggesting a minimal campaign, but one that is targeted and focused will always return a better CTR (click through rate). For example, if you choose a lot of keywords that are not fully relevant to your website, customers will visit and leave immediately. This results in more clicks to your site, but a higher bounce rate since customers will not be interested in what you are offering. The end result: more dollars out of your pocket.
My Homepage is the Best Page Ever! One of the most common mistakes we see is when clients send all traffic to their homepage. Yes, we agree the homepage is the front door to your online store, but with the typical customer spending less than three seconds on a page, you may want to give them exactly what they are looking for. Therefore, creating specific landing pages or, in other words optimizing for the four personas, directing a customer to exactly what the ad describes is the best way to decrease the bounce rate and increase sales or brand awareness. For example, let’s say you are trying to sell pecan pies and you want people to directly see a product page that describes the pie, and how you can deliver it all over the US. Rather than sending them to your online store that describes your restaurant; and then having them search through the navigation bar to online delivery; then to the pecan pie page - you should really use the URL specific to the pecan pie page. Most customers will only click 3 times through a site before they completely lose interest. Give a scent that is strong, and your customers will follow. And trust me, we love the smell of pecan pies.
Who Cares about the Competition? Sometimes as entrepreneurs, we are so focused on our own business, that we forget the competitors in our space and what they are doing to take a chunk of our business. One of the best ways to grasp what other competitors are doing in the space is using the Google Keyword Tool. Select the “site-related keywords” filter and enter the competitor’s website to pull their information. At the same time, you should visit your competitor’s sites to get an impression of what their brand represents and how much content they have on their site. If you ever need help with your PPC strategy, PPC Ad Writing, or anything PPC advertising related, our PPC expert can help answer any of your questions. Let us know what you think in the comment box below.
