Pay-per-click advertising is one of those things small business owners may or may not know very much about. And with the recent changes by Google, many businesses are scratching their heads asking,“What is all the fuss about and how can it benefit my company’s advertising?”

Pay-per-click as defined by Hubspot is: 

An advertising technique in which an advertiser puts an ad in an advertising venue and pays that venue each time a visitor clicks on his/her ad. Google AdWords is a classic example of this.*

Facebook and LinkedIn Ads work in the same way. *It’s important to note that Google AdWords has been recently updated to Enhanced Campaigns. Learn more from Google and what to do with the changes so far. Google’s new Enhanced Campaigns will help advertisers reach people with the right ad, at the right time, day, and device. This provides more fluid campaigns that reach across the board, but as Google mentioned, will take several weeks to fully roll out.

To create a successful PPC campaign, there are steps that need to be taken beforehand, especially if a small business is looking to invest in this type of advertising. PPC is not the cheapest technique, but if done correctly, makes a difference in how many visitors and leads received on a website in addition to other techniques such as SEO, link building, and social media marketing.

Here Are Some Basic Guidelines: 

Determine a Budget

Budgets range depending on the type of business and how much that business is willing to spend. A typical PPC budget is from $100 all the way up to $10,000. Set aside an amount you can keep on a consistent basis, which will make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Choose Keywords Wisely

Depending on the budget, choosing keywords should be the top priority. A new Google update was confirmed this morning that the Google Keyword Tool is dead – the tool that was allowing businesses to find out which keywords to target. The new keyword guide is something called, Keyword Planner, which is a combination of both the original Keyword Tool and Traffic Estimator, according to Google. Learn more about the new Keyword Planner here. Experts speculate that the new Keyword Planner might not help with spotting any “low-hanging fruit,” (keywords that drive high traffic) and will probably make it more difficult to discover keyword trends overall. As this unfolds, we’ll keep you updated with workarounds for this, just sit tight. 

Keywords to consider are: brand name, competitive keywords, long-tail keywords, geo-qualifiers (important for local businesses), and negative keywords. 

Craft “Sparkly” Ad Copy

Once you’ve picked out your keywords, creating copy for the PPC campaigns and connected landing pages could be the toughest part, unless you have a very talented copywriter. If you approach it in a systematic, strategic way, however, this has the ability to bring your campaigns far. Do some research on competitors to get a jumping point. Discover one thing that differentiates you from the pack and highlight that. And consider writing a more creative CTA than the usual “buy now” or “click here”. Get creative to catch a visitor’s attention. Other things to consider:

  • Be clear and easy to understand
  • Clearly spell out the product or service benefit
  • Be fun, imaginative, and creative (“Being interesting” fuels curiosity and drives more clicks.)

Once you’ve created your creative copy, you can supplement it with Google Ad Extensions which are free and allow you add in links to certain pages on your website, location or contact information, promos or deals, and so on.

Winning copy doesn’t stop at the just creating the campaigns, either. You’ll need just as compelling copy for your landing pages to attract visitors to sign up and learn more. Place yourself in your customers’ shoes to connect the dots on how they discover, connect, and act on what you’re selling. This will make it easier for you to construct the right words to capture their attention.

Have a “Watch and See” Attitude  

It’s important that you watch campaigns and take note of what’s working and what’s not. This will help you save money as well as improve the effectiveness of your campaigns. Certain types of data to note:

  • Clicks
  • Impressions
  • Click-through-rates (CTR = clicks/impressions)
  • Budget
  • Number of conversions
  • Conversion rate (conversion/clicks)
  • Cost per conversion, per order, and per lead

Seeing Results With PPC 

After setup of PPC, a business will usually see results almost instantly. However, the technique does require some constant management to ensure that the budget given is not money wasted. One thing to keep in mind, if the money flow stops, the results also stop, so it’s important to carve out a budget for it. Many businesses find this a good thing, however, and prefer PPC over other techniques because it allows them to tinker, experiment, and catch whatever curve balls thrown their way by search engines.

Want to get started with PPC campaigns, but need a little more guidance? Learn more about Small Screen Producer’s approach to Search Engine Marketing. 

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About Small Screen Producer

Small Screen Producer is a full service, marketing firm located in Houston, Texas that specializes in online digital media marketing through a 4-step process. Step 1: WE PLAN a custom web presence strategy for your business through website design and development, mobile development, social media account creation and branding. STEP 2: We then POSITION your brand through Pay-Per-Click advertising and search engine optimize tactics that include on-page and off-page SEO that are Google and Bing approved. STEP 3: We then PROMOTE your brand using an Inbound marketing strategy or a content marketing strategy to help you accomplish your marketing goals. We do this through blogging, video production, infographics, call-to-actions, landing pages, and free educational offers. We help you build trust and rapport with your customer base. STEP 4: We then PROTECT your brand’s web presence with a reputation management program that monitors social media and on line reviews. Get started today with a free online marketing assessment of your company’s web presence. Your company deserves it.