This is for those of you who have Google Adwords PPC campaigns. Of course, you know I believe if you are trying to market your site, you should be using Google Adwords.
Do you search Google for the keywords you bid on to monitor your ad positions? If so, think about this. Anytime you or your co-workers search a keyword associated with your ad, that ad accrues an impression. Over time, this may decrease your CTR (as the number of impressions increases but the clicks do not) and, in turn, may lead to a lower Quality Score. That, in turn, means you may begin to see your ad in a lower position than before.
Did you know that Google offers a way to check for your ads that won’t negatively impact your campaigns? It’s called the Ad Preview page and it enables you to view ads (and search results) as they would appear on a regular Google search results page to most users, without accruing extra impressions for your ad.
The Ad Preview page isn’t the prettiest tool Google offers, but if you have been searching for your own search terms, it is a tool you should use. Over time, it will save you money.
For many of you, I’ll be preaching to the choir. For the rest of you, let’s talk pay-per-click.
For several years now, we have been saying in meetings, seminars and on our Web site, that for all practical purposes, there are two ways to get your Web site found when people use a search engine. One you can influence, and one you can control. The former is through results in the organic or so-called free listings in search results of the major search sites. The latter is to use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising marketing.
Pay-per-click, or PPC, is simply what is says. You pay the search engine company when someone clicks on your ad, landing on the page of your choice on your Web site. Notice I said landing on the page of your choice. You control what your ad says, you control your ad placement (more-or-less), you control what your visitor sees when they land on your site, and you control what it costs.
Oh, and you can easily track the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing campaigns. Not many other types of advertsing offer all of those elements.
PPC is also a way to jump-start a new or redesigned site. You can be prominately displayed for your most important search terms long before your pages are indexed and start to show in organic listings.
We recommend starting with a Google Adwords campaign and then a similar campaign using Yahoo! Sponsored Search. There are others (including Microsoft adCenter) that offer PPC. Because of audience reach, we believe it is a good idea to get your feet wet with Google Adwords first.
There is much that goes into a successful pay-per-click campaign, and we’ll discuss in more detail later. You do need to embrace the following. It is imperative that:
- Your search terms (keywords) need to be researched and chosen carefully.
- Your ads need to be well-written and include your keywords.
- Your landing pages need to be well-written and include your keywords.
Of course, that just scratches the surface, but you get the idea. It is also imperative that you chose a firm with experience and expertise to manage your pay-per-click campaigns.
Pay-per-click, it’s not just advertising. It’s marketing.