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PPC – DIY

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Paid search advertising (PPC) is one of the fastest ways to get on the first page of a competitive search engine or social network or website and drive highly qualified usage to your website - IF done correctly. If done incorrectly it is a tremendous waste of time, efforts, and spend.

Search engines, display networks, and social media have different tools, each with their own nuances.

If you are new to PPC then on-boarding a PPC management company is highly recommended. If you reach out to Internet Consulting, Inc. we will be happy to manage your campaign or provide PPC management company recommendations.

Many marketing management companies are terrific, however many are not reputable and/or suffer from fast growth or employee turnover problems that result in your programs being designed and managed by inexperienced personnel. It is also critical you understand PPC management companies fees. Fees can range from a flat fee to charging based on percentage of spend. What initial set-up and ongoing services are provided (and what are these costs)?

Here is a list of some of the details you need to consider:

  • Initial keyword research (including competitor keyword research).
  • Campaign implementation destination (Google, Bing, Ask.com, FaceBook, YouTube for video, and so on).
  • Understanding the bidding processes, and budget, for each destination.
  • Specific ad text (this is important for conversions = click through rate).
  • Ad development and testing.
  • Destination URL's and Landing Page Evaluations.
  • Geographic regions targeted
  • Negative keyword evaluation and implementation. Negative keywords are critical to reduce nuisance usage - for example if you sell "springs" you don't want to come up for "hot springs national park" ... or if you sell "custom springs" you probably don't want to come up for "mattress springs" or possibly not even "springs" - but "custom springs" and many of your exact long-tail strings that include material type, dimensions, technical attributes, and so on could significantly reduce your ad spend while increasing your conversions.
  • Make sure understand the opt-out features of syndicated networks that put your ads on non-relevant reseller websites or in geographic regions you don't serve.
  • Scheduling ads during time of operation for your business in time zones is also important.
  • You should also be setting up multiple campaigns but making sure these campaigns are not competing with each other.
  • Are costs based on CPC (cost-per-click) CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions)?
  • Reporting set up (Are you tracking conversions or just traffic? Are you implementing call monitoring so you can listen to the phone calls? What is the ongoing collaboration process to review the reporting and integrate data-driven expertise into the PPC campaigns?).

You should have a strong understanding of how paid search auctions work, clearly defined conversion goals, select the PPC platforms that are the right fit for receiving a solid ROI for your terms, do your due diligence competitor research, determine your PPC budget, create great content, make sure your landing pages are relevant to your ads, and continue to test and optimize your campaigns for the ongoing successful evolution of your paid search presence.

If you are familiar with PPC then there are PPC advertising software automation tools that help identify keywords/phrases, channel keywords/phrases to appropriate groups, create effective text ads, publish your ads, monitor bids and budgets, analyze click through rate and impression share, and more.

To further increase your PPC ROI it is recommended to integrate marketing automation campaigns to lead nurture prospects that don't convert. (See the marketing automation section in this Internet Consulting, Inc. website for further details). It is also recommended that you have an SEO strategy (See SEO section in this website for more details).

Here is a link to a good summary article from Search Engine Watch that details some bid management tools, competitive intelligence tools, and affiliate monitoring:

https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2338594/18-must-have-paid-tools-for-ppc-success

The following are some good PPC Advertising tools:

Search Advertising

Pay Per Click, or Sponsored Ads, or PPC, is paying for ads to be placed next to relevant content on search engines, social media sites, and/or other websites. Ad spots are sold in a auction. You are only charged when your ads are clicked. The below are the two dominant search engine PPC platforms: