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Whether you’re a freelance writer, designer, architect, or local contractor, PPC advertising is one of the most effective, affordable, and versatile marketing strategies that can increase website traffic and your profits.
Although there are many “marketing secrets” out there that today, there are still some strategies that are actual secrets when it comes to PPC campaigns. Some simple, yet actionable strategies can make the difference between a good PPC campaign and a highly effective one.
Separate Desktop and Mobile Strategies
When designing your PPC campaign, do it with both the mobile and desktop user in mind. Remember that there are fundamental differences between the two; so make sure that you fully acknowledge and understand those differences. Mobile use is growing, which means you should start considering this aspect and adjusting your campaigns for the mobile user first.
People are spending increasingly more time on their mobile devices. Most of their buying decisions are made using their mobile phones. However, people have different search habits depending on the device they’re using: desktop or smartphone. For example, as opposed to mobile users, desktop users spend three times longer on sites, view more pages, and carefully research information and products.
When people want to find immediate information on a topic, they go to their smartphones rather than to their desktops. Mobile users want information that is presented in a simple, approachable way. For lengthier tasks or more complex processes, people still rely on laptops or desktops.
What could you do with that information? Considering the fact that people use their mobile devices to do their research on a company or certain product, and afterwards, when it comes to making the big decision and purchasing the product of interest, they jump to their laptops, you could reinforce and emphasize the relevant information and user experience for each of these cases.
With PPC campaigns, you have to optimize both your mobile PPC advertising and your desktop approach. However, adapt your strategy depending on the type of products that you have in your portfolio. Shoppers of products that need more consideration (read “expensive”) before making the purchase are more likely to do their research almost entirely on their desktops.
Smart Landing Pages
All of your PPC campaigns will point the user back to your website, so you have to consider building strong, smart landing pages. Also, you have to decide where each ad will point the user on your website. Consider the following when designing smart landing pages for your PPC campaigns.
- Your landing page should be relevant to the ad. If you advertise a big discount through your ad and the landing page doesn’t feature any sort of discounts, you’ll most likely annoy your potential customers and make them frustrated. They’re very likely to never click one of your ads in the future. Therefore, always make sure that the landing page matches the ad.
- Be mindful of the end result that you aim for with your ads. Of course, you want to design ads that motivate people to click, but you should also think further. What do you want to achieve in the end? Do you just want to make them hang on your website for a while and visit various pages or do you want them to purchase something? Do you want them to sign up for your email newsletter? Carefully assess these matters and decide which is the best action that you could take.
Sometimes, what you already have on your website will suffice to reach your end goal, in other cases, you’ll have to design new landing pages to match your ads.
Targeting the Right Keywords
Starting off your PPC campaigns with thorough keyword research is something you should consider first. While keyword research is something that probably pops up in your mind when discussing search engine marketing, it’s also a valuable asset in PPC campaigns, as seen at this company.
Using the right keywords in your ads will help ensure that your ads will show up specifically when potential buyers are searching for products that you sell, and performing a keyword research will help you figure out several variables. First, it will help you identify the very specific language and phrasing used by your target audience when they’re searching for products or topics similar to those sold and discussed by your company.
Remember the fact that PPC marketing involves a bidding process. Figuring out which keywords are relevant and also have the best value-to-cost will help you in the long run.
Never Snooze Tracking
PPC tracking is simply the act of evaluating the performance of your PPC campaign and making adjustments so it shows higher performance rates in the future. This is the only way you can tell if your ads are truly making a difference or you’re only throwing money out the window. Keep a close eye on the following metrics for the expected results:
- Cost per click
- Cost per conversion
- Click through rates
- Total costs of your campaign
- Overall quality scores
Certain software products and tools will help you figure out all the metrics above easily and more accurately, so you won’t have to spend enormous amounts of time investigating them.
Ads with Social Proof Boost Trust
Customers’ purchase decisions are influenced by social proof. Social proof is simply the buyer’s tendency of relying on other’s opinions or behaviors to make their own decisions before making a purchase.
Whit that in mind, you can use customer reviews as the main focus of your PPC campaigns. This is incredibly effective when it comes to social media ads, such as Facebooks Ads, Instagram Ads, Promoted Pins, and so on.
The best way to do boost your ad’s social proof is to use images or videos of the products or services that are discussed in the related testimonials. The higher the number of reactions you have for each ad, the higher the social proof, and thus, the higher the trust levels of potential buyers.
