When it comes to PPC, you want to get the most for your marketing dollar. Once you’ve got your ad copy written, your landing pages optimized, and your bids perfected, there’s still more you can do to make each ad campaign count.
We’ve put together a list of 4 things you can do to maximize your ROI, convert more visitors to leads and customers, and make every click count for your PPC AdWords campaigns.
Check Your AdWords Settings
There are several settings you can choose when setting up an AdWords campaign that can can have a tremendous impact on your ROI.
These settings allow you to narrow down your audience in order to target your potential customers more effectively. The more specifically you can target your intended audience, the more effective a campaign will be.
Search Network vs. Display Network
The first thing you can do is to choose between Search Network and Display Network. Since search and display use different types of ads and are for buyers in different stages of their journey, each campaign you run should select one or the other – not both.
Search Network ads are displayed on a SERP, and are chosen based on the keywords used in a search. Display Network ads are shown on web pages, and are chosen based on previous website visits (if you shop online for an item, you will see more ads for similar items on other websites you visit).
Search and display ads should never be run on the same campaign. If you want to run both types of ads, set up individual AdWords campaigns for each type. If you run both types together, then the analytics are combined, making it impossible to assign ROI for each type.
By choosing one over the other, you are able to more effectively tailor each campaign to a specific audience, making sure you get the best ROI possible.
Make Sure “All Features” is Selected
Choosing the “Standard” setting here will remove some of the settings choices available to you later on. These settings are crucial to targeting your audience and should be included in every new campaign.
Make sure you select “All features” for every PPC campaign you run. This will allow you the most control over your PPC campaigns and allow you to make the choices listed below.
Location Targeting and Dayparting
For local businesses, advertising to anyone outside of your service area is a waste of money. Make sure you designate a target location in each campaign in order to advertise only to people you can actually sell to.
For businesses who operate from locations with specific hours, make sure you designate those hours as well. You don’t want ads appearing when your business is closed.
Dayparting will help you specify what time of the day and what days of the week your ads will be displayed, making sure you aren’t advertising to customers when you’re closed.
Keywords
There are several types of keyword matches that AdWords allows you to choose from. By default the setting is Broad Match, which may allow too many irrelevant searches to see your ads. Try different settings, measure the results, and find the one that’s right for you:
- Broad Match includes any word in your key phrase in any order. If you use descriptors in your keywords, those descriptors will trigger your ad.
Example: if your company sells shoes and your ad uses the key phrase “dress shoes”, the term “dress” would trigger your ad, which would show your ads to people searching for dresses.
- Modified Broad Match allows you to lock in certain words in a search. By adding the plus sign (+) before any word, you are telling AdWords that searches must include that word before your ad will be triggered.
Example: using the key phrase “dress shoes” with “+shoes” added means that the term “shoes” must be included before your ad would trigger.
- Phrase Match means that your key phrase would have to be entered in order, but other words could come before or after that phrase.
Example: searching for “size 6 dress shoes” or “dress shoes for sale” would still trigger your key phrase “dress shoes”.
- Exact Match is exactly what it sounds like. If your key phrase isn’t entered exactly, it will not trigger your ad. No other words could be used in the search in any position.
Example: “Black dress shoes” would yield no results if your key phrase is “dress shoes”
Before you make your choice, make sure you do your keyword research so you know which key phrases work for your business.
Remember, long-tail keywords have a better chance of converting visitors to customers! The more specific the search, the greater the chance that the visitor is ready to make a purchase.
Optimize Your AdWords Landing Pages For Mobile
Mobile is the future of the internet, and your website landing pages need to take this into account. If you haven’t optimized your site already, go do it right now! Ok, maybe finish this blog first, but you should get to it by the end of the day at the latest.
Your AdWords campaigns should take mobile into account, as well. The landing pages you use for your ads need to be optimized for mobile devices.
If you’re getting clicks from your ads only to lose that traffic because of poor design and user experience, all of that money was spent for nothing.
Here are a few tips on how to make landing pages convert:
- Keep the copy simple and to the point. You don’t want to overload your visitors with information here. Give them what they need without providing irrelevant content.
- Use smaller forms. Don’t have 10 fields to fill out when 5 will do. Nobody likes filling out long forms, especially on a mobile device.
- Provide only one option. Don’t give visitors more than one CTA. There should be one course of action on a landing page, and it should be obvious.
- Put the CTA button by the user’s thumb! Make it easy for them to reach the button on a mobile device. This means at the bottom of the screen in the center or the left side.
Make it easy for your visitors to become customers by using good design to encourage conversions.
AdWords Ad Extensions
AdWords extensions allow you to customize your ads on Google and offer viewers more information or options via your ad. Google also rates your ads higher if you use extensions, so be sure to put these in!
There are quite a few of these, but we’re just going to cover some of the best:
- Call Extensions adds a button or link that allows customers to call you straight from the ad. Inbound calls have a 30-50% conversion rate, so making it easier for people to call is a great way to help increase sales.
- Location Extensions will give your location in the ad, and can be linked to Google Maps (your location should be listed in Google Maps!). Viewers can get directions to your store with the touch of a button.
- Callout Extensions allow you to add value propositions to your ads, like “free delivery” or “free shipping”. Let your potential customers know what a great deal they’re about to get!
- Promotion Extensions allow you to promote a special in the ad. You can describe the special and it can also links directly to the special’s landing page on your site. This is a great way to get people’s attention – “50% off” is hard to ignore.
- Price Extensions let you show prices for services or products right from the ad. These can be linked to the appropriate landing page as well.
This ads a level of specificity, which will improve relevance as it directs visitors to exactly what they’re looking for.
These extensions help you connect with your customers and demonstrate value right from the ad, helping your CTR and your ROI.
Adwords Remarketing
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Remarketing allows you to continue to reach out to visitors who haven’t made a purchase yet.
If a visitor interacts with your business but doesn’t buy, remarketing will continue to show your ads to that person on different devices and through different channels.
There are a few different types of remarketing:
- Standard, which shows past visitors display network ads.
- Dynamic, which includes specific products or services that visitors viewed.
- Mobile, which shows your ads to visitors on other mobile apps or sites.
- Search, which targets visitors on a SERP.
- Video, which shows visitors your ads on YouTube.
- Email, which allows you to upload a list of customer email addresses and show them ads when they are logged into Google Search, YouTube, or Gmail.
Remarketing is a great way to stay front-of-mind with people who have visited your site but haven’t yet become customers.
Conclusion
These 4 tips will allow you to tailor ads to specific areas or groups, help your potential customers connect with your business, and keep visitors thinking about you. They are all great ways to make every click count.