 When it comes to improving your PPC campaigns, you can take one of two approaches - the 'common' approach, or the 'common sense' approach.
The common approach is to simply buy a ton of keywords and then sit back and wait for the traffic (and the money) to start rolling in. But savvy marketers know that isn't really how it works.
In this article, I'm going to outline a slightly different approach to PPC campaign improvement - that 'common sense' approach I mentioned a moment ago - giving you step-by-step details on how to get the most from your PPC efforts.
Lyris HQ's Common Sense Approach to Improving PPC Performance
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Analyze your PPC campaigns
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Find your top-performing PPC campaigns
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Fix your under-performing PPC campaigns
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Reanalyze your PPC campaigns
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Weed out under-performing PPC campaigns (again)
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Create a schedule
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Keep an eye on the web
1. Analyze your PPC campaigns
You can't improve what you don't measure. You need to analyze your web site traffic to determine which of your PPC campaigns are effective, which campaigns have potential, which campaigns aren't performing and which may actually be suffering from the effects of click fraud.
Just looking at the report from your PPC provider is not enough—it's only part of the picture. To effectively analyze your campaigns, you must also analyze your web site traffic. This involves making sure that each campaign has a unique URL—either by linking to a unique landing page or by using a tracking parameter. Then, use your web analytics tool to segment your visitors according to which campaign they came from. By looking at the differences between campaigns, you can discern which campaigns are performing well, and which need to be improved (or possibly eliminated).
2. Find your top-performing PPC campaigns
Your top-performing campaigns are going to be some of the easiest to spot. Indicators of top-performing campaigns are highest total revenue by campaign, highest conversion rate by campaign and ROAS ("return on ad spend"—total revenue divided by total cost). You should also look for campaigns with the most pages viewed, and longest time on site (on average per visitor).
3. Fix your under-performing PPC campaigns
Once you begin your analysis, you'll likely be able to see why the top-performing campaigns are doing well. You then want to replicate that success by applying what's working to those campaigns that are struggling a bit. This will improve your ROI, and will keep you from having campaigns disabled because they weren't meeting the 0.5% click through rate threshold.
Top-performing campaigns are typically successful because they do an excellent job of meeting visitors' expectations. You can improve poorly-performing campaigns in a couple of ways—one of which is by not making visitors search again. Think about it like this—your visitor has already indicated their interest by searching for something via Google, Yahoo! or another search engine—they don't want to have to search all over again when they get to your site. So, unless your campaign is specifically to provide information about your company or simply improve your brand visibility, don't send them to your home page. Instead, create custom landing pages for each campaign that meet visitors' expectations, based on what keywords each campaign is targeting.
Another common factor behind PPC campaign success is descriptive campaign content. Be sure to use the keyword in the headline combined with an action or emotion type word. Also if your products have a unique feature, e.g. red spaghetti strap dress, make sure to include those descriptive words in your heading.
4. Reanalyze your PPC campaigns
Now that you've made changes, let your campaigns run for a few days or weeks, and then reanalyze to find out if your changes had the positive effects that you expected. Again, don't just look at the report provided by your advertising service—use your web analytics to see what's actually working, and take appropriate action.
5. Weed out your under-performing PPC campaigns (again)
Cut your losses! There are a few ways to determine which campaigns stay and which go. You will find that no matter what you tried, some campaigns just were not effective at all. You can turn those campaigns off—unless your PPC provider has already done that for you.
Alternatively, there are some campaigns that are doing just okay. For this, you need to look a little deeper. For a keyword that hasn't historically had a high conversion rate, you may want to just remove it. But if it's a keyword that has typically performed well in the past, you can edit the ad and lower your bid.
6. Create a schedule
Successful PPC campaigns require constant measurement and tweaking in order to realize improvement. You'll want to revisit your campaigns on a regular basis to react to changes in your ad placements, changes in your industry, and even things your competitors may be doing differently. What has worked before will not necessarily continue to be successful.
Depending on the nature of your site, you'll want to analyze the effectiveness of your campaigns at least monthly, or possibly weekly. If you have high-volume, high traffic e-commerce sites, you might want to analyze even more often than that.
7. Keep an eye on the web
It's a good idea to see what kinds of campaigns and web pages your competitors are using. If their business is at all successful, then they are probably analyzing campaigns and making changes to see what works best—just like you. So learn from what they've found to be successful, and from their mistakes as well. And you don't have to focus on your industry only—you might find successful online marketing ideas in areas completely different from your own.
PPC advertising isn't rocket science, but it is an art and a science of its own. By adopting a common sense approach, you should be well on your way to realizing PPC campaign success—for the campaigns you're running now, and those you plan on running in the future.
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