7 Most Important Elements in a Successful PPC Campaign

7 Most Important Elements in a Successful PPC Campaign

Struggling to boost your business’s visibility and reach your target customers?

Falling behind your competitors in the SERPs can be frustrating and, frankly, exhausting. You invest time, blood, sweat and the proverbial tears into making an impact in your sector. But you still can’t quite reach the top.

That’s where an effective PPC campaign comes in.

But you still need to put the right pieces into place before you can expect to see real results. What does that mean?

Let’s explore the 7 most important elements in any successful PPC campaign.

1. Getting Your Budget Right

Just because you may not be able to afford the same large-scale PPC options as bigger brands doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact. .Any reliable digital marketing team offering PPC serviceswill make a bespoke PPC campaign work with your budget.

But you should finalize your budget before you get started. Understand how much you can afford to spend on paid ads each day and what you should realistically expect in return for your investment.

This will help you maximize the money available to you.

2. Proper Keyword Research

Effective keyword research means defining the search terms your audience will use when looking for relevant products/services.

It’s not about cramming so many keywords into your ad copy it becomes hard to read. It’s about matching your ad to the phrases your ideal customers enter into search engines.

You need to take the time to consider the most popular keywords and phrases for your business. Don’t rush into the most competitive ones until you know exactly how to use them to your advantage. Often, it’s best to start small and experiment until you find your PPC feet.

3. Engaging Ad Copy

Words matter. It’s that simple.

Creating PPC ads with poor text reduces the potential to catch prospects’ eye as they scour results pages. Your ad may get lost among so many well-written alternatives.

Every word counts. Use numbers to break the text up (‘50% off’, ‘save $100’) and add sitelinks to promote key sections of your site. Make it easier for potential customers to see why your business is the smartest choice to solve their problem.

4. Relevant Landing Pages that Deliver on Promises

When a user clicks on your ad, they want to learn more about the advertised products or services. Any items or sales promoted must be covered in the landing page to hold their interest. 

But focus each page on one offer only — too many can decrease your conversion rate by over 200 percent.

Imagine how frustrated you’d feel if you clicked on an ad and found it had essentially lied to you. Would you forgive the brand and stay on its site? Or would you click back and try one of the other ads instead?

That’s why any landing pages attached to your ads must deliver. Taking customers’ trust for granted is one of the biggest PPC mistakesyou can make.

Make sure they’re well-written, clean and show the visitor what’s expected of them. Should they provide their email address to download their free ebook? Can they go directly to the relevant product page by clicking a button?

Remember: your landing page should lead the prospect to the next step of their customer journey with effortless fluidity.

5. Testing Different Ads

A/B testing is a tried-and-true method for creating the most effective PPC ads.

What does that mean? It’s simple. Create two ads with slight differences in the following features:

• ad text

• call to action (CTA)

• sitelinks

• headlines

You may want to try different voices or offers. You might vary your layout or vocabulary. Run both ads for a set period (two weeks, say) and analyze their performance to identify the most successful option.

You can learn a lot about your target audience’s preferences and search habits with split testing. Over time, your Click-Through-Rates should improve as you hone your ads and boost their relevance.

6. Defining Target Locations

You can’t afford to waste time and money targeting customers in areas beyond your reach.

Perhaps you run a small restaurant with a loyal local following. Maybe you operate a growing enterprise from your home and ship goods to buyers within Canada only.

Whatever your business, whatever your limitations, be realistic about your reach. Your PPC campaign should be tailored to target buyers within the most relevant locations only. You can narrow your focus and invest in doing more with less.

And don’t think you can’t take advantage of great options as a company catering to local customers exclusively. 97 percent of userssearch online to find local companies, after all.

You can include your locations on Google Maps, add a click-to-call button to encourage interaction and showcase customer reviews to inspire confidence.

7. Performance Measurement and Adaptation

You can’t just create PPC ads and leave them out there unchanged.

You need to monitor their activity, analyze performance and determine how effective they are. The following metrics are fundamental to any successful PPC campaign:

• Quality Score (the higher yours is, the lower your costs)

• Cost Per Click

• Conversion Rate

• Average position

• Click-Through-Rate

Using these metrics to assess your PPC ads’ performance will help you refine them in years to come. You need to keep adapting your ads to maximize your reach and boost your ROI consistently.

Otherwise, you could be missing out on valuable opportunities to convert users into loyal customers. You might find that certain ideas you had about engaging your audience at the start of your campaign turn out to be inaccurate. You may end up taking a different path than you expected with your PPC ads but discover exciting new benefits as a result.

Conclusion

Launching and maintaining a successful PPC campaign is a challenge for any business, even if you think you know how paid ads work.

Working with a professional digital marketing team ensures your ads are tailored to your business and your target audience.

Reputation Mart’s experts have helped an extensive list of businesses achieve outstanding results through bespoke PPC campaigns, so just get in touch todayto learn what we can do for you!

Already working with a PPC expert? No problem. Call now and we will analyse your campaign’s performance, will identify waste and will provide actionable plan to address the issue, fast.