Trimming Your PPC Fat

In order to meet your conversion objectives in a pay per click campaign with AdWords, it will be of critical importance to manage the costs of your campaign. Controlling spending throughout your campaign occurs at a number of levels. You can make a small number of manual changes that can cut your costs. A more practical solution though is to employ automatic software— particularly software that has control over bid management—as these programs are able to automatically adjust costs for keywords.

First you will want to determine your costs on the level of the campaign. If your campaign is utilizing both Google’s ad networks as well as its content networks, then you will want to set up a campaign that exclusively targets the search aspect and a duplicate campaign that focuses on the content side. Creating these separate campaigns will allow to you control spending for each one separately, so you can find optimum costs that maximize the utility of each campaign. In your content based campaigns it is also important to use exclusions for both site and category terms that will prevent your click dollars being spent by putting your ads on unrelated websites.

When your campaign has gotten started and you are seeing some results, you will want to analyze the data coming back on your top performing keywords, and adjust their spending so that you can see even more returns on them. In addition to this, you can also add new query match formats for your existing and underperforming keywords to boost their functionality, allowing you to develop a unique bid for every match type that you are using.

Be sure to monitor the quality scores of all of your keywords. Stop using terms that have zero conversions and/or low quality scores, as they are essentially wasting your time and money. Remember, that your keyword’s quality score will affect its cost per click and its estimate in bids for the first page. Quality Score also affects the ranking of your ad and its eligibility to be featured in an ad auction.

When you are working with an insurmountable number of key words, it is simply not possible to manage them by hand, you will require the assistance of software to help manage your spending for each of your selected terms. The following list details a number of management tools that will help you to adjust your campaign spending in the most efficient manner possible:

• Acquisio SEARCH. This is a top of the line, well programmed pay per click bid management tool. It is able to offer suggestions on which keywords should be paused, alerts you by email to keywords that are given low quality scores, and allows you to set programmable cost per click values for your keywords.
• Clickable. This tool is able to offer performance enhancing recommendations for your campaign. It will indicate calculated and reasonable bid increases on high performing keywords, a reduction of bids on your lower performing keywords, or alerting you when keywords have not met their first page estimates.
• DoubleClick DART Search. This tool is able to automatically bid on any of your keywords a maximum of twelve times daily. You can create a bid strategy that is executed based on a variety of factors concerning your keywords.
• Omniture SearchCenter. This tool offers the standard bid management tactics that you find in such software which includes portfolio based or rules based routines. This tool also features day-parting, but this comes standard with almost any modern pay per click engine.
• Podium adCore. This tool can adjust your bids on a wide level and will allow you to remove underperforming words that do not meet specific performance requirements.

Though these tools sound like they will have your campaign running itself, it will still require regular human intervention, if only to collect your earnings. Though these tools will help maximize your profits, they still require solid human generated ideas to be truly effective. If you give your campaign the human touch that it needs and employ the tools above, your campaign will really start gaining steam and really getting your ads out there!

A Model Site for Getting to the Point

Sometimes while investigating sites and industries I am struck by the simplicity of a site ranking well.  It’s often the case that the largest sites with complex linking structures and visually appealing content management systems rank at the top for competitive terms.

There is more than one way to accomplish the goal of ranking well.  A concise, straight to the point site, can do very well.  TeenModelStar.com is a site with few pages, but seems to be a top ranked site for terms such as teen model.  The lesson here is:  keep it simple, if simple is all that your visitors require.

Fix A Failing Pay Per Click Campaign

PPC campaigns are a common source of revenue, on today’s internet. Unfortunately, nearly 80% of new advertisers never see a return on their initial investment and eventually drop out. Here is what they are doing wrong and what can be done to fix it:

Use Keywords: Many new advertisers fail because they ignore the basis of all search engine results – keywords. A targeted keyword phrase should be inserted in every one of your headlines, for each advertisement and preferably something that entices the visitor to click on the ad.

Target Your Landing Pages: Instead of creating links that lead back your homepage, set up a landing page that is targeted for specific users. This should provide the visitor with all the information they need and spares them of navigating through your site to find it.

Stay Away from Multiple Campaigns: Using too many campaigns can be your biggest downfall. In fact, there is really no need to take this route unless you are marketing two or more different products, or targeting different regions. By sticking with a single campaign, you can invest more time into making it successful.

5 Pay Per Clicks Hints

PPC campaigns are often challenging, as that important ad could be one of many competing for the same attention. Here are a few tips to help you trigger your campaign:

# 1 – Present a question - even impulse can be triggered by curiosity. Place a question in your PPC headline and take advantage of that curiosity, by trying to relate on a personal level.

# 2 – Add some humor – everyone likes to laugh. Scripting your ad copy in a manner that draws some positive emotion is more likely to get a response.

# 3 – Go regional - depending on your niche demographics, you could make your ads more appealing, by including the name of a particular city or state. The ad will appear more relevant to the visitor and possibly inspire them to click it.

#4 – Tell a story – instead of using an all-out advertising approach, your PPC campaign could be more effective with a captivating storyline. This creates empathy and often parallels with the visitor’s own experience.

#5 – Call to action – some of the most successful PPC campaigns are those using a call to action. This could be something as simple as “subscribe here” or “download free e-book.”

Create Landing Pages That Work With Your Pay Per Click Ads

The landing page is one of the most efficient ways to power your online business. Unlike a homepage, it should be specifically designed to meet the needs of the visitor, to whom you’re looking to pitch your product or service. When used effectively, this simple web page can make your campaign much more successful.

Optimizing Your Pages

It’s a good rule of thumb to generate consistency over the entire campaign. If a visitor enters the keyword phrase “spare parts” into a search engine and are lead to your site, that term should be displayed in the PPC headline and more importantly, on your landing page. In order to keep the visitor around and complete the conversion, you need to make sure the page is designed in a manner that serves the purpose.

A well designed landing page should contain the following elements:

- Product titles and images that are visible and easily accessible

- A buy or subscribe button that is visible and easily accessible

- A simple design that doesn’t distract or confuse the visitor

- A vivid description of your purpose and what the visitor can achieve, by doing business with you.