How to Manage Pay per Click Ads

Organic Search Engine Optimization can take many months, depending on competitive factors, to achieve top organic results.  If you are not willing or able to wait for these results, you are a strong candidate for Pay per Click (PPC) Advertising.  PPC has the strong advantages of (1) immediacy – your ads can appear virtually the same day you start right on the first page of the 3 major search engines of Google, Bing and Yahoo and (2) you don’t have to do anything to your website to get started other than creating a few landing pages.  At the same time, PPC is still keyword-targeted so that your ad only appears when those searchers are searching for those keywords you are targeting.  Further, you can display your ad at certain times of the day and in certain geographic locations … down to the zip code level.

So, in terms of advertising, in the strictest sense of the word, Pay per Click ad campaigns are quickly becoming the ‘it’ way to advertise your business. Based on the premise that you only pay for people who click on an ad that directs them to your site, it can be an effective way to garner visibility for your service or product. Unfortunately, like anything, if your PPC campaign isn’t properly monitored, it can quickly get out of hand. Carefully monitoring and management of your campaign is critical if you want to receive all the benefits of a PPC campaign…

One of the best ways to manage your campaign is to outsource it to a company that specializes in managing PPC advertising. Because there is a lot of work and expertise involved with a highly functioning campaign, it’s often best to leave it to the professionals. A good team will focus on several key aspects. You can, of course, handle the management yourself utilizing several tools that are available on the Internet. These tools are sometimes free. Either way, be sure that your management program carefully reviews the following key items.

Account Set-up and Registration: Your pay per click ad campaign should be registered with one of the major search engines that support PPC. Google, Bing, Yahoo and others are available for your use.

Keyword Management and Research: Keyword research and management form the basis of every successful PPC campaign. It isn’t enough to pick words that seem popular and relevant to your campaign. Either you or your Internet Marketing Company or Consultant must carefully research and analyze keywords to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck. Regularly utilizing a service like Google Adwords is an excellent way to do this. You should also utilize a tool to track your keywords. This will allow you to see what is working for your campaign and what isn’t. Part of a good management program will mean making adjustments to keywords as needed.

Adtext:  This is the textual display of your ad that will be displayed when searchers enter the keyword(s) you are targeting.  Your Adtext must be highly relevant to the keyword and must click through to a highly relevant landing page.  You can vary your Adtext to reflect individual keywords or groups of keywords.  Obviously it is important to test and monitor this consistently; make adjustments, monitor and so on.

Landing Page: Your landing page is nothing more than the page users ‘land’ on when they click on one of your ads. For this reason, it is crucial that your page is intelligently designed, creatively set-up and your site is always CONVERTING.  Your landing page must include a strong call to action. This is where you will convince your potential customers that they need your product or service; that what you offer stands out from your competition. Your management program should include regularly updating your landing page to include new content.

Like anything, your pay per click program must be managed. Setting it up and letting it run on its own is a guaranteed way to fail. Instead, spend the time to monitor it properly or hire an accomplished Search Engine Marketing firm to do so for you. Your business will see the benefits in increased, traffic, sales and ROI.

Contact us to review your PPC Advertising Campaign.