Pay per click advertising isn't just for large companies, it's an excellent tool for new and small businesses. It can be cheaper than social media marketing adverts. Here are the headlines that you need to know to start your first campaign today. And if you'd like to know how this tactic can help your own business, we'd love to talk, over a coffee in person at one of the lovely cafes in Shrewsbury, or over Email in the office. Arrange a chat with Web and Socials.
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Landing Pages
2. Keywords
3. Quality Score
4. Advertising Style
5. Monitoring the 4 basic metrics
6. Conclusion
Introduction
In the rapid digital world, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising has become a powerful tool for businesses to reach their target audience. However, the idea of running PPC campaigns can be daunting, especially for those who are new to it, or fear the cost.
There is some good news, it doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact it can be cheaper than social media advertising and could cost you less than £50 to realise tangible results.
A quick reminder of the difference between organic searches and PPC. Organic optimisation allows you to be found on a search engine, directly as a result of performance and content of your website, but you are fighting against all other sites out there on the web. Paid search allows you to pay for placement of your website in the search results. This payment is actually an auction, where you bid for placement in the search engine results. Semrush are a great source of information if you want to research this further.
Landing Pages
Before I go through the stages of PPC, let me explain the importance of a good landing page, not just important but essential.
The success of a PPC campaign relies on the effectiveness of your landing pages. These are the web pages where users are directed after clicking your advert. You need to ensure that your landing page is tailored to match the advert's message and should provide a seamless user experience. Keep this page concise, visually appealing, and optimised for conversions.
Remember the landing page isnt necessarily your home page. It can be a newly built page that encourages the visitor to take the required action.
A small marketing trick that many of the big hitters do is run a A/B test. In short, they are testing out which landing page performs best. This requires monitoring of the page analytics, but can be very good benificial.
Hubspot gives us great advice (as they usually do) that to ensure the page is optimised and gives a good user expeirence (UX) you should consider A/B testing with different landing pages at an early part of the campaign.
2. Keywords
Ok, that was a bit back to front, but I wanted to make sure you realised the importance of the landing page. So now that you have built your landing page ready, lets take a look at what we call Keywords.
Keywords are vital, both for organic tactics and paid. If you dont have an idea of the keywords you should be using then check with sites such as Moz and SEMrush.
Keywords are the backbone of any PPC campaign. Research and select relevant keywords that align with your business objectives and target audience. Focus on 3 or 4 keywords in a phrase (known as long-tail keywords) that have lower competition and higher conversion potential. Google Keyword Planner is also useful to identify suitable keywords within your budget.
Very niche phrases are likely to be a lot cheaper than the common words or phrases used by your competitors. And because they are unusual, a lot less people will be fighting for them, therefore keeping the costs of the auction low.
3. Quality Score
Google assigns a Quality Score to each keyword in your PPC campaign, which impacts your adverts visibility and cost-per-click. Aim to improve your Quality Score by creating a relevant advert, optimising landing pages, and ensuring a positive user experience. A higher Quality Score can lead to lower costs and better advert placements.
But what is a quality score?
Here's a breakdown of the four main factors that typically influence Quality Score:
Keyword relevance relates to the extent to which your keyword matches the search query. Your advert should be highly relevant to the keywords you're targeting.
Advert relevance is the alignment between your ad copy and the user's search query. Your ad should clearly address what the user is looking for and match their expectations.
Landing page experience is the quality and relevance of the landing page that users are directed to after clicking on your ad. It should provide valuable and relevant information related to the ad and offer a seamless user experience.
Expected click-through rate (CTR) is not something that you can affect. But if visitos are clicking your advert that means that its relevant to their search. Google likes that you like it, and its algorythm rewards it.
Google assigns a Quality Score to each keyword in your PPC campaign on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. A higher Quality Score typically leads to lower costs-per-click (CPC) and better ad positions.
4. Advertising Style
Choose the right advertising style based on your campaign goals and target audience. Craft compelling words and phrases (known ad Ad copy) that highlights your unique selling points and encourages clicks.
There are character limits for the headings and the description of the advert.
In this example we will use an AirBnB style holiday let being promoted;
Heading 1 – Accommodation for 2 in Shrewsbury
Heading 2 – Boutique town centre flat
Heading 3 – Book your stay today
Description 1 – 15% of the advertised price on Booking and Airbnb, guaranteed
Description 2 – Rated Exceptional on Booking with 9.6 stars, AirBnB superhost
5. Monitoring the 4 Basic Metrics
To gauge the success of your PPC campaign, monitor four fundamental metrics: Click-Through Rate (CTR), Conversion Rate, Cost-Per-Click (CPC), and Return on Investment (ROI). Use the analytic tools like Google Analytics to track these metrics and make data-driven changes and optimisations accordingly.
6. Conclusion
Running a successful PPC campaign on a tight budget is achievable with the right strategies and tools in place. Take a little time to think through your target audience, the words you will use in the heading and description, your potential quaility score, and of course prepare your landing page. Here at Web and Socials we'd be delighted to help you prepare specific landing pages.
You can put a limit on your spend, which I suggest is £50 for your first campaign. With a low amount you will mimimise the risk that it is a failure,
"Taking no risk will end up being your biggest risk" Steven Bartlett.
Remember the insights and experience gained from this initial campaign can pave the way for future success as you refine your strategies and scale your efforts. So please do give it a go, and let me know in the comments how it went.
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