Pay Per Click (or PPC) advertising can be a very effective way to drive traffic to your blog or website if you follow a few common sense rules. Surprisingly, many advertisers either don’t realize there is a technique to advertising or think that saving money by skimping on ad quality is a smart move.
This article shows you how to avoid some common pitfalls that many pay-per-click marketers fall into, as well as proven tips to maximize your revenue from your PPC campaigns.
The best type of PPC advertising
When you first consider PPC ads, you’ll see several selling points for those ads. How to know which are the most effective? First, you can take a look at some of the larger outlets and see what kind of customers they serve.
Google, Yahoo and other big web denizens have developed PPC programs that generally show very good returns. By using your own search engine sites and partner sites to deliver your ad to your target audience, your ad will reach potential visitors who are genuinely interested in your product or service.
These potential customers will click on your ad because they have been looking for that product or something related to it. PPC is a very effective advertising tool and there are many options available to suit your unique advertising needs.
If you have a product or service that is very niche, you may want to use a metasearch tool that combines a number of search engines and other online sources targeting particular categories or topics of interest.
This way, you can further narrow your ad to target as close to your potential audience as possible. If you sell specialty items, such as antique dolls, specialized hand tools, rare books, or other items that appeal to a certain specialized niche, you should consider placing most of your ads with this type of search tool.
Writing your PPC ad
It is important to write an ad that captures the viewer’s attention. While you don’t want to yell at them, you need to make your ad stand out from others and make them want to see what you have to offer.
Again, take the time to study successful ads (the successful ones are those that tend to stick around for a long time). If you think you can’t write an attention-grabbing ad, hire a professional copywriter or copywriter; it will be money well spent and the cost is minimal compared to the earnings you can make from a high converting ad.
Choose your keywords carefully and make sure they are the ones people use when searching for your product or service. A good way is to study a popular page similar to your product and right-click on it. Use the “display page source” to see your meta tags and get an idea of the keywords a successful merchant uses. You’ll see words and phrases to give you an idea of how to use keywords to attract searchers.
What kind of ad catches your eye? Does it annoy you when you open a page and see a flashing banner or are you drawn to it? Your ad will appear in someone’s search results section, usually on the side of the page along with other advertisers. In order for your ad to stand out, you’ll need to study others in the same niche as yours and objectively decide which type would appeal to you or people you know. You can then use similar skins in your own ads.
Planning your campaign
When planning your PPC campaign, you need to calculate your advertising budget and how much risk you can tolerate. Will you budget a certain amount for advertising and stop for the month it runs out, or deposit funds and set limits by week or month?
Next, prepare your site for the traffic it will receive! Is the content exciting and enticing? Does it present the visitor with something better than what they have seen on sites with similar products or services?
Your goal is not just to sell your product or service, but also to capture your visitors’ email so you can follow up with them and build relationships. Another great idea is to keep your visitors coming back by providing them with interesting content on a consistent basis. If you sell silk flowers, for example, you could keep people coming back to your site by offering interesting articles on flower arrangements, choosing accessories, or the best way to care for flowers and keep them fresh. The more visitors that return, the more chances they have to buy!
It’s ready to advertise!
When you’ve written one or two ads that you think are eye-catching and attractive, open an account with a PPC search engine. They will require basic contact information and you will need to fund your account.
There’s usually no charge for an account and funds aren’t used until you bid on the search words you think are best for you. As your ads are clicked and you get traffic, your funds are depleted and advertising comes to an end. You can then add funds for more advertising or stop for a while.
You can get outstanding results with PPC advertising if you pay attention to what your target audience is looking for and keep your website fresh and interesting. Remember, your earnings are directly related to the quality of your product, a fresh and interesting website, and attractive ads that make people want to see what you offer.