Without proper tactics, PPC advertising campaigns can become costly without producing desired results. Unfortunately, small businesses don’t often have extra capital to waste on an ineffective campaign. As a significant contributor to the success of an inbound marketing campaign, PPC must be done correctly to experience optimal results. If your small business is struggling to earn quality traffic from a PPC campaign, review the following four tips to improve results.
In the beginning of an inbound marketing plan, some small businesses fail to accurately identify their goals for each stage of the campaign. When lacking expert resources and guidance, PPC campaigns are sometimes launched without regard to a specific brand-related goal. To develop a successful PPC campaign, businesses must define their value, identify where their audience likes to spend time online and determine an appropriate call-to-action.
Adding negative keywords to a PPC campaign can filter out the traffic you don’t want. For example, a real estate agency may want to target prospective customers, and not potential employees, with a PPC campaign. To remove the possibility of receiving clicks from aspiring real estate agents, negative keywords like “employer” or “jobs” can be added to filter out those unwanted clicks. This small step helps businesses gain quality leads while reducing unnecessary ad spend.
The use of long tail keywords is particularly helpful when attempting to target a certain audience with PPC ads. In the example of a real estate agency, normal keywords, like “house for sale,” might be replaced with “waterfront home for sale with 3 bedrooms” or “Victorian bungalow near the beach.” Researching which long tail keywords your audience is searching for saves time while improving visibility to members of a target audience.
To reap the most benefit from a PPC campaign, regular campaign audits are a requirement. The majority of businesses conduct reviews of their PPC campaign on a quarterly or monthly basis. However, to accurately track the effectiveness of a campaign and reduce unnecessary spending, businesses should audit their technique at least every two weeks by using Google Analytics to track success or lack thereof.