You should have your keywords mapped out before you try to launch an ad campaign. Targeting long-tail keyword phrases will help you find the most targeted traffic, but you shouldn’t eliminate prime keywords, either. There are many pay-per-click (PPC) search engines, but Google AdWords is the most well-known of the bunch.
If you spread your campaign out among different networks, you’ll get a better ROI (return on your investment).
Commission Junction (CJ) is another pay-per-click search engine, but most people only think of them as affiliate marketing hubs. CJ is an extension of Value Click, so make sure you check out their PPC opportunities.
Contents
What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC)?
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a type of online advertising in which an advertiser pays a publisher each time an advertisement link is “clicked.” PPC is also known as the cost-per-click (CPC) model. The pay-per-click model is mostly provided by search engines (such as Google) and social networks (e.g., Facebook). The most common platforms for PPC advertising are Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Twitter Ads.
How the PPC Model Works
Keywords are crucial to the pay-per-click strategy. Online adverts (also known as sponsored links) appear in search engines, for example, only when someone searches for a keyword relating to the product or service being marketed. As a result, businesses who rely on pay-per-click advertising models research and analyse the keywords that are most relevant to their products or services. Investing in suitable keywords can result in more clicks and, ultimately, better revenues.
The PPC strategy is thought to benefit both marketers and publishers. The strategy is helpful for advertisers because it allows them to advertise products or services to a specific audience that is actively searching for related material.
Furthermore, a well-designed PPC advertising campaign allows an advertiser to save a significant amount of money because the value of each potential consumer visit (click) surpasses the cost of the click paid to a publisher.
The pay-per-click model is a key source of revenue for publications. Consider Google and Facebook, both of which offer free services to their clients (free web searches and social networking). Online businesses can monetize their free products by leveraging online advertising, notably the pay-per-click (PPC) model.
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is the world’s most popular PPC advertising solution. Businesses can use the Ads platform to generate ads that display on Google’s search engine and other Google domains.
Google Ads uses a pay-per-click model, in which users bid on keywords and get charged for each click on their adverts.
When a search is conducted, Google searches its pool of Ads advertisers and selects a group of winners to appear in the premium ad space on its search results page.
The “winners” are determined by a number of factors, including the quality and relevance of their keywords and ad campaigns, as well as the size of their keyword bids.
Other PPC Engines Include:
- GoClick
- Enhance Interactive (Ah-Ha)
- MIVA
- Kanoodle
- Value Click Media (FastClick)
- Yahoo! Sponsored Search (Overture)
The same money-saving techniques you apply to your Google AdWords account can be applied to the other search engines. Here’s how to get started with Google AdWords:
Step 1: Get a Google AdWords account.
The account will cost you $5.00 one time. Then everything from there on out is based on how much you pay per click through for the keywords and phrases you’ve bid on.
Register for an account at: Google AdWords and make sure you get the Standard edition, not the Starter one.
Step 2: Target Your Customers
Choose between English or another language and pick whether you want to target your consumers by Countries and territories or something more narrowed-down if you have a local slant to your niche.
If you choose Countries, then you’ll need to select which countries you plan to have your ads shown in. Choose every country that speaks the same language.
Step 3: Create an Ad
Google makes you stick to some size specifications. You’ll need to enter the following information:
1) Headline (Max 25 characters)
2) Description line 1 (Max 35 characters)
3) Description line 2 (Max 35 characters)
4) Display URL (Max 35 characters)
5) Destination URL (Max 1024 characters)
If you’re using Pay Per Click for affiliate marketing, then it’s best to make your destination URL a page with a squeeze box on it so that you can capture your visitors’ names and email addresses before funneling them on to the product owner’s website.
Try to be clear, but clever with your headlines and descriptions. You don’t want to be so vague that no one bothers clicking through on your ad, but don’t be so clear that you’re boring.
Some affiliates will even use a headline that blasts the product as a way of getting people to click on the ad, since they’ll want to see anything negative before they make a buying decision.
However, your review will only slightly bash it, while you provide a solution for whatever was wrong with the product, and then give a strong endorsement to it to help close the sale and earn your commission.
Step 4: Enter Your List of Keywords
It’s important that you split your keywords up into narrow targeted lists so that you can develop ads that work best for each list. For instance, you might have one campaign running with only the product name in it or variations of it, along with the author’s name.
If you were running a PPC campaign about Baby Naming, promoting a Baby Naming eBook, then you might separate your campaigns into things like: Christian Baby Names, Girl’s (or Boy’s) Baby Names, Trendy Baby Names, and so on. That lets you create ad headlines that work for each group – such as:
• Top Baby Names for 2007
• Biblical Baby Names
• Baby Names for Girls
Step 5: Set Your Pricing
This is where you want to be careful. So many people try bidding top dollar for keywords to beat out the competition, but they can’t afford the bill that comes with it. Whatever limits you set your campaign for – Google will use them up.
So if you say you can afford to spend $100 per day, that’s what you’ll be forking over at the end of the day if your ad converts into clicks. Don’t assume the clicks will turn into sales, either.
You may only get a 1% conversion rate, so if you’re selling a $47 eBook, and you’ve priced your keyword clicks at $5, you’ve just spent $500 to make $47. Be smart about it.
After you track, test, and tweak your ads and keyword lists, you can see what’s performing best and then up the ante for those particular campaigns, if you want to. The highest bidder doesn’t always get top spot anyway – Google has a Quality formula they use to determine who ranks best, so make your landing page and your ad as good as it can be. Here are some tips for making a great headline or description for your PPC ad:
• Ask questions like, “Tired of Being Broke?”
• Experiment with white space ads where you don’t use up all available characters.
• Use dynamic coding to make your keyword appear in the ad. So using “Finally! {keyword: Diet Magic}” will appear like this: Finally! Diet Magic
Now let’s move on to how you can harness all of this traffic and analyze it so that you can make it ten times better!
Managing Your PPC Campaigns
Once you’ve created your new campaigns, you’ll need to manage them on a regular basis to ensure they remain effective. In fact, one of the biggest predictors of account success is consistent account activity. You should be constantly reviewing your account’s performance and making the following changes to optimize your campaigns:
PPC Keywords: Increase the reach of your PPC advertisements by including keywords related to your business.
Add Negative Keywords: Use negative keywords to boost campaign relevancy and prevent wasted spending.
Split Ad Groups: Increase your CTR and Quality Score by breaking your ad groups into smaller, more relevant ad groups, which allows you to develop more focused ad content and landing pages.
Review Costly PPC Keywords: Review pricey, under-performing keywords and shut them off if necessary.
Refine Landing Pages: To increase conversion rates, modify the content and calls-to-action (CTAs) on your landing pages to correspond with certain search searches. Don’t direct all of your visitors to the same page.
Conclusion: Learn the Basics of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing
PPC marketing with Google Advertising is especially beneficial since, being the most prominent search engine, Google receives large volumes of traffic and so delivers the most impressions and clicks to your ads. The frequency with which your PPC ads appear is determined by the keywords and match types you choose. While a variety of elements influence the performance of your PPC advertising campaign, you may achieve a lot by focusing on:
Keyword Relevance – Creating relevant PPC keyword lists, keyword groups, and ad content.
Landing Page Quality — Creating optimized landing pages with compelling, relevant content and a clear call-to-action that is suited to individual search queries.
Quality Score – Google’s ranking of the quality and relevancy of your keywords, landing pages, and PPC campaigns is known as Quality Score. Advertisers with higher Quality Scores receive more ad clicks for a lesser cost.
Creative ad wording is essential, and if you’re advertising on the display network, you can use a tool like our free Smart Ads Creator to produce designer-quality ads that will entice users to click.
