Optimizing PPC Performance
PPC or Pay per click is an advertising method used to direct traffic to websites when the ad is clicked. These ads are displayed as a part of the organic searches in the search engine results page when a keyword matches the advertiser’s keyword list. The advertisers have to pay the search engine when the ad is clicked and the amount to be paid is termed as Pay per click. Optimizing your PPC ads will ensure more conversion rate and an increase in the sales.
Ways to optimize PPC Performance
Creating A Well Structured Account:
A well planned Adwords account is easier to organize and manage. Too many ad groups and keywords can make it hard for you to control your ad campaigns. It is recommended to create ad groups after a proper research of the keywords.
Creating Ad Groups without planning can lead to several campaigns directing to a single category. Using the same keywords in different ad groups can result in many ad groups targeting a single product. Google displays your ad for a specific keyword and using similar keywords in several ad groups or campaigns is not effective.
It can be a hard task to keep track of your ads if your account is not well structured. Add names to your campaigns and ad groups and ensure that each ad targets only one product. Limiting the ads in your ad groups is beneficial. Google checks the click through rate and displays ads that perform well.
Refine Your Keywords:
Keywords play a major role in the success of your ad campaign. Select keywords based on the type of campaign. If you are running an ad for conversions, use keywords that are specific and require customers to complete an action. If your ad is meant to create brand awareness use general keywords.
Make a list of the keywords with high performance, this depends on your goals and the factors for your campaign’s success. The performance of the keywords can be measured by the number of conversions and the click-through rate. The next step is to create ad groups based on these keywords. You can go for different key phrases and create relevant ads specific to the keywords. It is better to opt for the exact keywords than a keyword with broad match as the returns are high and also you get to know what exactly your customer is looking for.
It is unnecessary wastage of money on keywords that are not relevant to your offering. These are referred as negative keywords. Keeping a tab on the negative keywords and making a list of them is essential to reduce your expenses and get better results. Some broad search keywords that you are using might not be useful as your brand does not provide those products. Using tools from WordStream, you can filter the negative keywords.
There may be keywords that are not giving the desired results. These are the keywords with poor performance. If you are using keywords for a long time, but the results are not satisfying you can remove these keywords from your ads. Let your ads run for some time before deciding which keywords’ performance is poor. Keywords that have a low search volume, that do not have a high bid amount can be avoided. Also keywords whose match type are too broad are not worth spending your money on.
Optimize Ads and Ad Text:
Depending on the type of campaign, you can go for either a text or image option. The following elements need to be considered for better optimization of ads. Select a suitable headline relevant to your product category. Use keywords in the ad title that are relevant to your business to get more users to click your ad. The description should be simple and brief. Write your ad text based on your keywords to make it appealing and to attract more traffic. Give the correct display and destination URLs. Select the appropriate image if going for the image ad. Choose from a variety of image options that are available. Create your ad with a good call to action that directs the users to the relevant landing page. Testing your ad regularly and making small changes will help your ad perform better.
Steps to Improve your PPC Conversion Rates
Set Goals:
To increase conversion rates you need to know your current rate and make appropriate goals for better results. The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the number of clicks. If your current conversion rate is 1 per 1000 visits trying for 1 per 100 visits the next month may not be a good goal. Instead, set goals that are reachable and plan how to reach those goals. Having a clear idea of where you are now and where you want to be will help you to decide on your future plans. If you are close to your goals for example, 5% from your conversion rates, you may need to make a few changes, but if it’s a big goal say 50% less than the desired conversion rate, then you need to make a new plan altogether. There are no good or bad months for goals and keeping in mind the account size helps to keep track of the growth over a long period of time. Paying attention to long-term goals will give improved results for your PPC campaigns.
Align your Ad copy and offers:
A common mistake in PPC is not aligning the ad with the offers. Users click on your ad as they are interested in the offer only to be taken to a different landing page that doesn’t have the proposed offer. Ads that take the user to a page which is not working or to pages with offers that have expired will repel the users. You cannot expect conversions this way. Align your ad with the correct landing page to increase the conversions and make more sales.
Improve Landing Pages:
You can use tools like Unbounce and Optimizely to test the effectiveness of your landing pages. You don’t have to be familiar with web designing or development to conduct these tests. The tools help you make simple tests that recommend minor changes to be done to your landing pages which shows a lot of improvement in the results.
Using the tool you can tweak your headlines to make them more interesting to the visitors. You can choose from different call to action buttons. You can select a call to action button based on whether you want your visitor to submit or get more info. You can also choose colors for the buttons to make them more appealing and increase clicks. Make your landing pages user friendly by making changes to the navigation options on the page. This way you can see a rise in the conversion rate.
Understand your customer needs:
It is beneficial to know the requirements of your customers to understand what they are looking for in order to convert them. Even the landing pages should be designed according to the offer made. Providing your customers a great user experience when they come to your site will improve the conversion rate. It works well to get feedback from the users by adding a survey form to the landing pages or by emailing them and asking them to comment. Creating ads according to your customer’s needs can get you a better conversion rate.