Posted by admin in By Jenna Ryan – March 2006 – The Marketing Shop.com
Pay-per-click. The term is oozing into the collective consciousness of the world–everybody wants a piece of the action. With good reason. Done correctly, pay-per-click or PPC as it is called, is an incredible way to make a quick buck and sell your goods, products and sevices online fast. Question is, how do you do it without losing your hide? It can get pretty expensive trying to get to the top of competitive keyword phrases going for upwards of $5 – $10 per click! This article will give a few of my best secrets for making the most of your pay-per-click campaigns.
Pay-Per-Click Secret #1
LANDING PAGES RULE
Would you go to battle without a gun? The movies without a sweater? A restaurant without your wallet? Heck no! Likewise, never do a pay-per-click campaign without an effective, well thought out landing page strategy. The landing page serves as a funnel to pull the website visitor into the process and get them to do what you want them to do. There is enough to be said about landing pages to warrant an entire article, but for now just know these things about landing pages:
Landing pages must be specific. Do not try to have people land on a page with 20 something things to consider. If you’re going for the key phrase “baseball widgets,” then your landing page better deal with “baseball widgets,” and that should be all. all. all. Don’t clutter people’s brains with rigormarole. Be specific.
Landing pages should offer one click to purchase. Have you ever wanted to buy something online, but the pathway to buy was mystifying? This is a horrendous disjustice, especially when it’s done in conjunction with pay-per-click. If you’re paying $5 per click, make it easy for your prospects to get what they want. Get out of the way immediately. Nothing on your site should be more than one click away from reach of your visitors.
Pay-Per-Click Secret #2
LESS IS MORE
When faced with creating a pay-per-click campaign, the tendency is to scarf down the whole buffet in one sitting. You want it all. all. all. This gluttenous approach to building a pay-per-click campaign will starve your wallet while making your expenses fat. You may even give up too soon, thinking pay-per-click is “too expensive.” Mind your manners, will you!?!? Take one bite at a time, put your fork down. Chew, chew, chew. Once you’ve swallowed, take another bite, yes chew, chew, chew. Pretty soon you’ll have a complete pay-per-click campaign, without having to widen your belt.
Quick Tips for Increasing PPC Conversion Rates
Break your PPC into mini campaigns. Start off with five keyword phrases. (I mean it, JUST FIVE. I promise you cannot handle more than that at first.
Don’t jumble dozens of words into one campaign. Each keyword phrase should be it’s own separate campaign. The results you gain from being thorough in this way will be worth the extra time and effort.
Match keywords throughout each mini-campaign. The title of your campaign should match the keyword phrase you are targeting. Likewise, the title of your landing page should match the keyword phrase that you are targeting. Beyond that, you should have matching keyword text all throughout the landing page(s).
Pay-Per-Click Secrets #3
SET A BUDGET
Give yourself a definite budget that you will spend for the month on pay-per-click. Sales in any capacity, including online is a numbers game. If you’re not getting results with $250, and you stop your PPC campaign and give up, you will ruin your numbers. Chances are good that at $255 you would have redeemed the entire campaign with one sale (this varies depending on your product, but you get my point). Set a budget and then let-it-go to the end. At the end, make your adjustments and tweaks carefully.
Pay-Per-Click Secret #4
PERSONALIZE YOUR SITE
One of the quickest ways to get a higher conversion rate and higher web ROI is through use of personalization. Your website is more of an interactive media outlet than is your printed marketing collateral. Using impersonal web copy makes your site appear cold and uninviting. Humanize your website with photos of real human beings–you for instance–talking in conversational tone. Speaking directly to the website visitor (not a group), in first person is a surefire way to help people relate with you online. Try it. You will see that personalizing your website will increase its effectiveness by as much as 50%. I kid you not.
Pay-Per-Click Secret #5
CHILL OUT
If you have good landing pages, and you’re campaign is small and manageable with high quality mini-campaigns, your keywords are matching, your site is personalized, and your budget is set, sit back and relax. Go take a vacation and come back to an in-box full of sales or leads to attend to. Once you do the things outlined in this article, you will begin to see results…so much in fact that you’ll have to turn the darn thing off until you hire more sales reps or support staff.
