How To Keep Your PPC Campaign Running Smoothly
So, you've finally gotten your PPC campaign going. You've found your keywords, including all the relevant synonyms and related phrases, and everything's set up for six months. Should you just sit back and let it run? Not if you want to keep everything working well - many people forget that their PPC campaign needs good management if it's going to be effective.
Don't get me wrong, we all would love an easy-money solution where we just show up twice a year and collect the money. However, a PPC campaign needs appropriate management, so read on. It's important to track the activity each ad demonstrates, this is where you see just how productive it is. AdWords has tools that can calculate traffic experienced by each ad, so use them, that's what they're there for. Your web host will also provide valuable statistics, like traffic that actually led to sales.
Keyword ads that aren't effective at producing sales are a drain on your resources. Idle keywords could be replaced by those which are more useful. Keywords that bring traffic, but don't lead to sales, cost money without giving you a return. You'll pay for every click, even the ones that don't produce a sale for you.
You can do something about the advertising that is not getting good results. First, you have to make sure your advertising is well put together. Your ad should be in the first five to ten pages of a search. If it is not there, you should address the advertising content and replace what isn't working for you. It could be time to look at your keywords and phrases to see if they are the problem.
Most people want the more popular keywords - it does make some sense to go with what's popular. But fad keywords are nonspecific and are used to start a search, not make a sale. The popular keyword is usually a last resort by people who haven't done their homework, or the first choice of a novice.
A good ad keyword, on the other hand, is general enough to be thought of by the average person, but specific enough to reach someone who's definitely going to buy. Think about searching for your own keywords, to see what other ads and sites come up for them. Look at the other competitors for a word, then check out their sites. Are they the sort of site you'd like to be associated with? If not, it might be time to make some adjustments to your strategy.
Careful monitoring of your results is an important management step. You need to stay on top of what works for you and what doesn't! Keywords are a resource and any resource that doesn't perform needs to be corrected or removed. Choosing the right words is one thing, but it's only part of the job, making them productive is when you really earn you cash. Much kudos to you if you get it right the first time, but many campaigns need to be tweaked and tightened on their way to success.