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How to set up a PPC campaign
PPC campaigns are a widely effective tool when it comes to increasing traffic to a website. The most well-known PPC platforms are Google and Microsoft advertising and now, social media platforms such as Facebook are also offering PPC services. To set up a PPC campaign, a company must have a clear set of goals that they wish to achieve from the campaign. For example, pushing product sales, increasing the email database, or driving reach and awareness.
So, here’s a top-view of how to get started with PPC marketing:
- Establish the marketing goals for the campaign.
- Determine the platforms for the advertisements (e.g. Google).
- Elect the relevant keywords for the campaign that will be bided upon.
- Bid for the keywords within the marketing budget.
- Construct the PPC advert and include a link to the appropriate landing pages.
- Manage the success of the campaign and adopt more/better keywords as the campaign evolves.
How many types of PPC campaign?
There are 8 different types of PPC campaigns that can be used by marketers.
Search ads
Search ads are the most commonly used types of PPC campaign. Marketers will bid on relevant keywords, and platforms such as google will present the adverts to consumers that have made searches using those keywords. An upfront fee per click will be discussed between Google and the company. Then, an auction system is used to determine the order in which the adverts are presented. Search ads can be identified by the “Ad” message that appears on the left before the advert title.
Google is the most commonly used platform for search ads as they have the largest market share in the internet browser market. However, as a result, Google fees are higher than other providers such as Bing or Yahoo.
Display Adverts
Display adverts will appear on the screens of people who have shown an interest in products similar to the product being advertised. Google claims that display adverts reach 90% of people that use the internet. However, display adverts have a lower conversion rate than PPC search advertising. Display adverts are ideal for companies seeking to drive brand awareness.
Re-marketing adverts
Re-marketing adverts are adverts targeted at customers that have previously visited the website and is angled at re-targeting consumers who have shown prior interest in the brand. Ideal re-marketing candidates are:
- Consumers who have signed up for newsletters
- Abandoned cart consumers
- Previous customers
- Bounce consumers who didn’t convert
The most successful re-marketing adverts will contain information which originally sparked an interest in the consumer. Using imagery will draw the attention of the consumer and are considered to be dynamic remarketing campaigns.
Video Adverts
Video advertising is quite literally what it says, an advertisement in the form of a video. They are commonly found on YouTube or before videos on social media. Video advertising targets consumers who are about to watch a video relevant to the advert and therefore targets appropriate product ads. The use of video advertising is rising, with the prediction that by 2022, 84% of consumer traffic to landing pages will be from video advertising.
Shopping Adverts
Shopping adverts are product adverts that appear when a consumer makes a search. They show an image of the product being sold with the price and appear next to competitor products. Shopping adverts are often considered to have the highest ROI, as the consumer has already researched the product. As the consumer knows more about the product from the initial advert, conversion rates are higher than search adverts for example.
Paid Social Adverts
Paid social adverts are adverts that appear on the screens of people browsing their social media newsfeeds. These platforms include Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram. Companies that use a Facebook PPC campaign can easily target Instagram users as Facebook own Instagram. Paid social adverts typically consist of a picture of the product and a short description, with the advert linking to the product landing page.
Gmail Sponsored Adverts
Gmail sponsored adverts are adverts created within Google Ads and appear in the email inbox of target consumers. Consumers will receive an email that looks like a normal email, but when opened, will take them to the advert. The advert will have carry through links to the relevant product landing pages. The performance of the Gmail advert can be tracked with relevant metrics such as how many people saved the email, how many times it was forwarded and the click-through rate to the website.
Amazon advertising
Did you know that 206 million people use Amazon every day? That means Amazon advertising is ideal for companies wanting to get high exposure. The three types of Amazon Ads are sponsored product adverts, headline search adverts and product display adverts. Sponsored adverts will appear in the search results if one of the product keywords is searched for. Headline adverts will appear at the top of the page if the keyword is searched and product display adverts are photos of the products, much like shopping campaigns.
How to run a PPC campaign
As PPC advertising is a highly successful tool that provides instant results, it is important for businesses to understand how they work. There are variations between what type of campaign is chosen (as explained above), however, the foundations remain the same. Below is Modo25’s step by step guide on running a successful PPC campaign.
Step 1: Optimise the website
The product landing pages are such a fundamental part of the consumer purchasing journey. By having a smart and fully functional landing page, consumer conversions can be increased substantially. For example, if the landing page load time is slow, the bounce rate will increase. So, to encourage the consumer to stay on the page and potentially convert, the landing page must be optimised. The keywords used in the advert must also be relevant to the landing page and the information in the advert must be relevant to the product landing page.
A well-optimised landing page will have a strong call to action, eye-catching headings and easy to understand and retainable information.
Step 2: Keyword bidding strategy
Selecting the right bidding strategy is highly important but comes with many variables that must be considered. These variables include budget, experience and the marketing goals of the campaign. If the marketing budget is limited, then a manual keyword bidding strategy is more suitable as it can be controlled. Automated keyword bidding is more time-effective but can be more costly as there is no cap. Bidding on popular keywords will increase the brand’s visibility as they will appear when the keyword is searched for.
Step 3: Finalise the budget
Setting a budget is a crucial part of running a successful PPC campaign. It is important that companies do not invest in PPC advertising beyond their means.
Step 4: Keyword research
Researching which keywords to use in a PPC campaign is one of the most important steps of a PPC campaign. As previously mentioned, keywords increase visibility, impressions and will ensure that the advert is presented in front of consumers that are searching for those relevant keywords. By using keyword optimisation tools such as SEMrush, companies can make a search relevant to the product in question, and the most regularly used keywords related to that search will be presented. This gives companies insight into which keywords they need to bid on to have the highest ROI.
Step 5: Build the advert
The job of an advert is to grab the attention of the viewer and entice them to click which will take them to the product landing page. The best adverts are short and straight to the point as a consumer will decide in the first five seconds whether they are interested or not. An effective way of standing out from the noise of competitor adverts is to offer added perceived value to the consumer, for example, a large sale sign. The advert will also need to include a call to action such as ‘buy now’ or ‘get started’. A call to action is important as it tells the consumer what to do next.
Step 6: Track performance
The final stage of running a successful PPC campaign is arguably the most important. Tracking the success of the adverts and how many impressions and traffic the advert is generating is really important for measuring what parts of the campaign need adjustment. Adjustments such as bidding on different keywords, a more interesting advert or even just a more relevant call to action can determine the success of the entire campaign.
PPC campaign optimisation tips
A well optimised PPC campaign is one that will run smoothly and generate the most traffic to the company’s landing pages. The above-mentioned steps are crucial when wanting to run a successful PPC campaign, however, there are more factors that companies should consider if the campaign is to be properly optimised.
When it comes to keywords, companies can use negative keywords to filter their target audience more specifically. For example, if a company were selling brand new clothes, a negative keyword to use would be ‘second-hand clothes’. They would then not appear under that search made by a consumer. Similarly, when it comes to keywords, it could be a strategic move for companies to extend their budget for bidding on the top-performing keywords, as that will lead to higher visibility. Removing keywords that are not performing as well, will also save on the marketing budget and allow room for higher bids on the more popular keywords. Finally, a campaign can be optimised by using geo-targeting. That involves delivering different content to consumers based on their location. Geo-targeting increases online traffic to the company website and can help build relational trust with the consumer.
PPC campaign metrics to track
It can be difficult for companies to establish which metrics need to be tracked through the volume of data that comes out of PPC campaigns. However, there are certain metrics that are considered to be more important than the others to guarantee the success of the campaign. Some of the most important metrics to track are:
Clicks
The number of clicks a paid ad is receiving will give an indication of the engagement levels surrounding the advert. Spikes in engagement could mean opportunities that could be capitalised on. Similarly, slumps in engagement could indicate that the campaign is not performing as well as it should be.
Click-through rate
To know how well an ad is performing, advertisers need to know how many times it has been clicked on. For example, if an advert was presented before consumers 100 times, and was clicked on 50 times, the click-through rate would be 50%. However, it is important for marketers to remember that certain days of the week will have a higher click-through rate than others. Weekends will usually have a higher click-through rate than during the week when consumers are at work.
Impression Share
Impression share measures the number of impressions an advert is getting as a percentage. For example, if 100 searches of a keyword are made in a day, and the advert receives 80 impressions, the impression share would be 80%. However, that also shows that there was a 20% loss in impression share, which could be down to a limited budget.
PPC campaign management tools
The best way for businesses to track the success of their PPC campaigns is to use management tools. Tools such as Search Ads 360 and Ads Editor help companies track their KPI’s from one place. Many platforms, such as Google, provide their own analytical software (Google Analytics) to manage PPC campaigns. Oftentimes, using the managing tool that works in conjunction with the advertising platform is quick, easy and the most cost-effective. Management tools offer valuable insights and are a useful aid for marketers who wish to track their metrics and improve the ROI from the PPC advert.
If you have any questions for our team of PPC specialists or wish to know how Modo25 could help you optimise your PPC, get in touch at info@modo25.com.
