6 Questions to Ask When Launching a PPC Marketing Campaign

Launching a PPC marketing campaign can be a great way to drive qualified traffic, generate leads and increase sales when done right.

Pay-per-click (PPC) remains one of the most cost-effective forms of online advertising. It lives up to its namesake by allowing advertisers to create and display ads, charging the advertiser for each click. Before jumping head-first into a new PPC campaign, though, you should ask yourself the following questions.

#1) What’s My Goal?

What do you hope to accomplish when launching a PPC marketing campaign? For most advertisers, it’s additional sales and revenue. However, some advertisers may use PPC to gain additional exposure for their respective brand, in which case you’ll want to include your brand name somewhere in your ad copy.

 

General goals like sales and increased brand exposure are one thing, but then you should begin to develop unique PPC goals to improve your business performance. Some examples of this might be:

 

1. Tracking leads via a click to completed form.
2. Bringing your cost per conversion (CPC) down or below a specific point.
3. Setting an expected amount of targeted leads per month.
4. Isolating your PPC call leads to set targeted goals.
5. Making sure that your business is highlighted in the top position for specific queries.
6. Average PPC visitor time on the website is more than the time spent by organic site visitors.
7. Maintaining top visibility in search engines along with your key competitors.
8. Targeting mobile users only.

 

It’s important to set goals for your PPC marketing campaign so that you can measure whether or not your investment is working effectively.

#2) How Will I Track Conversions?

The secret to running a successful PPC campaign lies in your ability to track conversions. In other words, you need to know which keywords customers are searching for to find your ads. If all of your converting customers are searching for a particular keyword, it’s probably a good idea to increase your bid price on that keyword so your ad will rank higher and generate more traffic.

Resources To Help:

Finding out which keywords work for you requires a lot of performance review to make sure you’re actually meeting your goals. Here are some resources to help you get started in setting up your conversion tracking and analytics research:

 

1. Setting up Conversion Tracking for Your Website
2. Assessing Your Performance
3. Importing Google Analytics goals and transaction into Adwords

 

 

#3) Do I Have a Dedicated Landing Page?

While there’s no rule stating that you must use a landing page with your PPC campaigns, doing so will almost certainly prove beneficial. A landing page allows advertisers to create a more relevant connection between their PPC ads and the page on which visitors land. And best of all, you can split test multiple variations of your landing page to see what works and what doesn’t. So if you’re looking to maximize your ROI, consider using a dedicated landing page for your PPC campaigns instead of your “traditional” website/page.

 

If you’ve ever wondered, “if only there was a formula to help me create my PPC landing page…”, well, you’re in luck! Here is a great template that can be modified to fit your business provided by smartsheet.com:

#4) What’s My Budget?

Of course, you should also have a budget in mind when launching a new PPC campaign. It doesn’t have to be exact, but rather decide how much you are willing to spend per day on PPC advertising. Budgets can vary drastically from one advertiser to the next, so stick with the budget that works for YOUR needs.

 

A study by WordStream found that Small businesses on an average spend $1,200 per month on PPC. While it’s true that spending under budget can sacrifice opportunity, overages can be devastating in other ways. Click Here for some tips to avoid being part of an Adwords budget horror story.

 

#5) Which Keywords Will My Ads Target?

The right keywords are critical to the success of a PPC marketing campaign. When creating your campaign, think about your target demographic and the keywords they would be searching to find your product or service. I’m not going to go in-depth on keyword research because WordStream pretty much has the definitive guide for you here.

 

#6) What’s My Quality Score?

Both Google Adwords and Bing Ads now use a Quality Score system to determine the relevancy of ads. Ranging from 1 to 10, it affects both your click cost and ad rank, which is why it’s important to optimize your PPC campaigns for the highest possible Quality Score.

 

Your Quality Score depends on multiple factors, including:

• Your click-through rate (CTR).
• The relevance of each keyword to its ad group.
• Landing page quality and relevance.
• The relevance of your ad text.
• Your historical AdWords account performance.

 

How to improve your PPC quality score:

 

• Keyword Research – review main keywords, but seek long-tail opportunities that can contribute to the bulk of your overall traffic.
• Keyword Organization – Split your keywords into tight, organized groups that can be more effectively tied to individual ad campaigns.
• Refining Ad Text – Test out PPC ad copy that is more targeted to your individual ad groups. More effective ads get higher CTR, one of the best ways to improve Quality Score.
• Optimizing Landing Pages – Follow landing page best practices to create pages that connect directly with your ad groups and provide a cohesive experience for visitors, from keyword to conversion.
• Adding Negative Keywords – Continuously research, identify, and exclude irrelevant search terms that are wasting your budget.

 

 

I’m sure that you have many questions if you’re new to PPC campaigns, but by answering the 6 questions listed above you’ll be on your way to setting up a successful PPC campaign in no time at all. Remember the key to maintaining a successful PPC campaign is to continue your research, and optimization, because this landscape changes constantly.

 

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