For those trying out pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for the first time, getting started can seem as simple as choosing a few keywords, writing ads, and watching the results pour in. For veterans and industry professionals, though, building a successful PPC campaign involves three crucial stages.
Today, I want to give you a quick overview of each one so you can follow a proven formula for search advertising success. Here are the three steps to making your PPC campaign a profitable one…
Step 1: Keyword and Market Research
Before you place your first PPC ad, it’s imperative you know which segment of the market you are trying to target. You should know who your buyers are, what they search for, and what they are hoping to find. Without that information, you’re just shooting in the dark.
When you understand your target audience, you can perform in-depth keyword research. That won’t just help you to uncover more sales opportunities, but also to narrow your bids to those search terms likely to yield sales. Why bother placing ads on keywords that won’t lead to conversions? You wouldn’t, which is why all profitable PPC campaigns start with a little bit of homework.
Step 2: Focused Ads and Bids
Once you know whom you want your ads to reach and which search terms you can target them with, the next step is to run tightly focused ads. Because every click costs you money, you want your offers to appeal directly to your most likely buyers, even if that means they aren’t compelling to other searchers.
Additionally, you should be strategic with your bids. A lot of newer marketers simply aim for the top search position all the time. That’s a good way to get more paid search traffic, but it isn’t necessarily efficient. Your bid should be set up to maximize the number of good visits you can get from every dollar you spend as part of your PPC campaign.
Step 3: Refining Your Campaigns
Even with smart research and a laser focus on your ads and bid positions, there is likely to be room for improvement once your PPC campaign gets started. That’s where testing, revisions, and regular analytics checkups come into play.
The best marketers manage their PPC campaigns on an ongoing basis. No matter how good their initial instincts or research might be, they keep working to get more clicks, more conversions, and better messaging at every step along the way. Your PPC campaign shouldn’t ever really be finished, it should just keep getting better and more profitable over time.
It’s never been easier to set up a PPC campaign and get it running on Google or another search engine. However, if you intend to show a profit and maximize your ROI I hope you’ll follow the three basic steps I’ve outlined today. They’ll keep you on the right track and stop you from wasting money from your marketing budget.
Or, if you’d like help from an expert marketing team who can create profitable and sustainable PPC campaigns for you, contact Biondo Creative today for a free website and advertising account review!