Internet Marketing Blog » pay per click campaign

Getting Your Pay Per Click Ads Right

Alan — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 08:08:09 +0000

When a PPC account has been running for some time it pays to review the ads and the account in general to ensure it is achieving what it should. An audit of the PPC ads and those of other businesses in the market is a good starting point but once you have highlighted the good performers and the poor performers where do you go from there? Here are some tips to writing successful ads:

Review the account

Take time to look at the account in general. Look at new ideas – for example, if your headlines are all statements currently, try out some questions. When rewriting ads consider what attracts someone to your brand over a competitor brand. Look at it from the consumers’ point of view. Make sure the text is benefit driven and use elements such as customer service, quality, range as key selling points as these matter to customers.

Use more than one benefit

Add in more than one benefit if possible, but don’t go overboard. Strike a fine balance.

Look at headlines like a billboard

Think about the type of ads that grab your attention whether on TV, billboards or in the paper. Add that logic to your own PPC ads. Make it clear why your product is better than others.

Add in a call-to-action

Be clear about what you want the customer to do. Should they download a guide, request more information or view a certain product? They should know what awaits them on the landing page.

At Click Consult we offer expert PPC account management and can help you will all your pay per click campaigns.

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Using Ad Group Separation To Identify Your Target Audience

Laura — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:00:21 +0000

Although you’ll never get relevant PPC traffic from all your keywords there will be times when a broader keyword surprises by converting. This can happen when the keyword is matched to a site holding an audience that doesn’t exactly fit your normal profile but still returns you some excellent results.

An example of this would be if your business was a fashion design school and you were using keywords such as ‘fashion designing’ and ‘fashion design’ in the ad groups. These are likely to show your ad on fashion advice websites, fashion design game sites, and anything else related to fashion design and fashion. These may or may not convert well for your ad but its still worth introducing these types of keyword to your pay per click campaigns as the audiences on these sites may prove to be a suitable audience in the long term. By testing these keywords you can inadvertently discover new target audiences that respond well to your ads.

It is also a good idea to separate the above types of keywords from others, such as ‘fashion design college’ and ‘fashion design school’, as Google recognises them as different things and they will attract different sites.

There have been some new options for predetermined audience targeting, which are available for some PPC advertisers now. These help you to target specifically the audience you seek rather than relying on a complicated algorithm to match keywords to sites with relevant content.

At Click Consult we have an expert team who can help you to develop winning PPC campaigns.

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Keep Track Of Your PPC Account Data

Laura — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:55:18 +0000

One of the positive aspects of PPC campaign management is that pay per click advertising is easily tracked and monitored. By linking your PPC account to a data program such as Google Analytics you will instantly widen your available data so that you can really get to grips with who your user is and how this target audience find your ads.

Having data is one thing, but it means little if you don’t analyse it. Be proactive as using data can help you stay ahead of shifts in the account and will also highlight any opportunities.

At keyword level look at your performance history

You may have good account performance, but it may not be as good as it could be. Regardless of how well you perform, you can always achieve greater heights by checking your keywords to identify patterns and shifts at a more detailed level. Do a comparison of the top performing keywords looking at this month to the previous month. Keeping month-to-month accounts of your keyword results will help you to isolate any industry changes as well as changes to your user profile and their buying behaviour.

Compare year on year data

To get a wider picture you need to access a larger amount of data. You can do this by pulling out your monthly key metrics and displaying it all on one page. Go back to get a handle on any trends over that time.

At web marketing company Click Consult, we can help support your PPC account management with feedback and analysis.

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Quality Score Explained

Click Consult — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:09:42 +0000

The Quality Score is used by Google to influence the cost per click I(CPC) and the ranking of PPC ads shown on search results. This variable score is automatically calculated each time the keywords used in the ads are matched to a search query. The Quality Score can impact:

- The CPC of keywords used
- How high a first page bid estimation is for a particular keyword
- If a keyword is deemed eligible to be included in an auction and how the ad will be ranked.

How do you improve your quality score?

Increase the Click Through Rate (CTR) – by raising the CTR you can significantly increase the quality score for the keywords. Always write several ads per ad group and test constantly to arrive at a better performing pay per click ad. This will have the effect of attracting a more targeted audience and will increase the chances of conversions.

Negative keywords – Add negative keywords to improve your campaign or ad group. If your ad is targeting those looking for new books within the subject area of economic then negative keywords such as ‘second hand books‘, ‘used books’ and ‘art books’ for example would be good. Continue this exercise until your traffic is fully targeted on brand new economics books, resulting in high conversions and a higher quality score.

Test and update – Constantly test and refine you PPC ads. Run reports, update keywords and add negatives.

At web marketing company Click Consult, we can offer an expert team to help support you and your pay per click campaign.

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Beat The PPC Killers

Alan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:00:52 +0000

With any PPC campaign it can be a challenge to keep a tight reign on all the different elements. No matter how proactive you are as a pay per click manager you may still find there are parts of the account that are hindering a top performance. The best time to tackle these silent PPC killers is when the account is doing well as at these times they can be even trickier to identify.

Bad campaign settings

When you first set up a pay per click campaign you no doubt double check your settings. However, if you have set up multiple campaigns at once or you add new campaigns on a regular basis you can easily miss something. This doesn’t mean the campaign is beyond repair but it can mean it’s not achieving its full potential. Check that the following is set up correctly:

Bidding and Budget
Networks, devices and extensions
Location targeting
Positions preference and delivery method
Ad rotation, ad delivery and frequency capping

Review your campaigns quickly and if you find something out of sorts you can remedy it in just a couple of clicks.

Review ad text split tests

You should constantly test your ad texts to ensure high click throughs. However if you have a few tests that you have overlooked to check as the account is doing well now is the time to get back to it. Run an ad text report to identify underperforming ads making sure you have valid sample sizes so that you accurately identify the good and bad.

At Click Consult we can provide guidance on all your pay per click search marketing campaigns.

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More PPC killers

Alan — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:30:52 +0000

When your pay per click account is ticking over nicely it’s time to get probing to root out any silent PPC killers that may be hindering the performance of your accounts. At this time a proactive pay per click manager best uses their time looking for things that may have been neglected:

Identify poor keyword performers hidden in ad groups

If you have a high performing account, that is something to be proud of. There may not be any ad groups that look like they may need tweaking due to inadequate performance but you may still have some rouge keywords lurking that generate traffic but are slow to convert. Run a keyword report to flush them out and adjust the ad groups accordingly.

Irrelevant search queries need ousting

Think about running a search query performance report if you use broad match or broad phrase. This report is a simple one that will identify any negative keywords thus honing your pay per click campaign. Make this a priority and report on a monthly basis to keep an eye on queries that match keywords.

Sites with low conversions on content network

Overall the content network may be running smoothly but if you take a closer look you’ll no doubt spot a few sites that have a high cost per conversion. In the same way poor performing keywords may hinder an otherwise good campaign, so can poor performing sites.

At Click Consult we offer expert advice on PPC campaigning and search marketing management.

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What To Consider When Working With AdCenter

Alan — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:00:51 +0000

Just how can you use adCenter tools to optimise your PPC accounts? This desktop tool can be very effective for editing and optimising pay per click campaigns. Here are some things to consider:

When you export your entire account is downloaded. This is different to Adwords Editor where you can pick and choose the campaigns you download. With adCenter you will be downloading everything every time. However when it comes to uploading you don’t have to include every account but do make sure you have plenty of information to identify the level at which you are editing.

The CSV file cannot exceed more than 10,000 rows. Although there are no official guidelines on this, 10,000 has been quoted by reps on this subject. In the main it’s more effective to break the account up by campaigns anyway and to upload them separately.

Multiple rows can be edited at the same time. You can select multiple choices when looking at the account data whether this is errors, pending changes or indeed the entire account. When changing between levels such as ad groups, campaign or keywords, the view you have selected won’t hold. Bear this in mind so you are looking at accurate data.

Pay attention to your CSV import file layout. There can be fewer errors when using an export file rather than an online template when importing. Make sure the headers remain in the same order and are named identically to get a successful import.

At Click Consult we can help you with all your pay per click account management and wider web marketing techniques.

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Set PPC Goals At The Start Of The Month

Laura — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:00:51 +0000

At the beginning of each month you should set yourself new pay per click goals. This may seem self explanatory; everyone needs to set core objectives and goals to ensure that month on month you remain focused on your PPC campaigns. If there are no clear and concise directives then you can quickly wander off track.

Both at the end of the month and the start you should look to evaluate how well your PPC efforts are going and reassess where you are aiming to be.

Don’t just ponder these ideas. Actively write them down. If you put pen to paper you are more likely to achieve the goals you set yourself. You also need to document the steps that you will need to take to get there. This is also true of setting goals for PPC campaigns.If you want to increase conversions but have little budget left, you need to detail that you will be achieving this by lowering the cost-per-click and the cost-per-conversion. This will help you to increase traffic whilst spreading the budget further.

Think about your main goals. Do you want to increase conversions or clicks? Do you want to reduce the cost-per-click? Do you need to increase revenue or is your main focus enhancing the click through rate?

It may be that you want to do everything but take time to write down what the core objective is each month. Then create a map to ensure you meet that objective.

At Click Consult we are experts in PPC account management and web marketing campaigns.

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Get Out Of The PPC Box For New Opportunities

Alan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:00:41 +0000

If you are feeling a little uninspired and jaded after managing a PPC account for some time then it’s time to look for ways of injecting some passion back into the job. Boredom leads quickly to neglect and by neglecting your pay per click campaigns you can start to lose profits.

Think about landing page testing. You don’t just have to focus on ad texts and keywords. Often people are wary of redesigning a website but most will be open to a one-page design project. By using increased conversion rates as your justification for allocating spending to this area you should get the go ahead.

Take time to look at the website without your PPC hat on. You may find that there are improvements that can be made in the content, web structure or the product selection. Perhaps your site needs to think about social media. All these elements can open up new PPC opportunities.

With new content you can gain ideas for fresh ad text and new landing page messaging. By adding new products you will need to research new keywords. By looking at social media you can understand better what customers want from you which will help you to target your ads more specifically. By meeting their expectations you have a better chance of success in every aspect of online marketing and looking outside of PPC will provide new possibilities for your campaigns.

At Click Consult we can work in consultation with you to identify new PPC opportunities for your business.

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Getting A Winning Quality Score

Alan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:00:23 +0000

Higher click through rates tend to go hand-in-hand with higher quality scores on PPC accounts. If you are looking for ways to drive your quality score higher, there are some simple steps you can take:

Keep your PPC Account

Some people may advise ditching an account if it’s not performing well but unfortunately this is only an option if the quality score is at rock bottom. If you stop an account you not only lose the poor history but also the good history, which can take years to recoup.

Delete poor performing ads and keywords

Delete any poor performing ads or keywords as they will adversely affect your quality score. This allows for a tidier account with only those keywords that perform well producing high click through rates.

Monitor keyword selection

The success of your keywords is intrinsically linked to the quality score. If your keywords do not relate to your ads well, and then the ads don’t relate well to the landing pages you will get a low quality score. There must be keywords on the landing pages so double check.

Improve the loading time of landing pages

As a quality score also relates to the user experience, if the loading time is slow you will get a bad score. Make sure landing pages can load quickly no matter what the platform.

If you are getting a quality score of 7 or below then follow the above tips to see improvements. They won’t happen overnight but over time you will see some great changes.

At Click Consult we are experts in PPC account management and at creating an effective web marketing campaign.

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