Posts Tagged ‘PPC’

Using PPC to turn a local online shopper into a customer can be daunting to a local business owner. Thankfully search engines have made competing locally much easier in the past few years. They’ve added several targeting options that help ensure only local audiences see the ads.Targeting locally can be done on a smaller budget because of reduced competition which translates into lower cost–unless you target New York or LA. I want to go over a few tips that can can help anyone get the most out of local ppc marketing.
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The internet marketing business changes very quickly and Google has been saying for quite some time that “the Internet is going mobile.” So, you may think you have to hurry to AdWords and create some WAP mobile ads to take advantage of this space right? Not necessarily.

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Google is constantly working on ways to improve local and mobile search. In January Google introduced a new way for local businesses to be reached specifically by mobile devices: click-to-call phone numbers right in the ad. This service is free, easy to implement, and super targeted. Since I am a pretty heavy mobile web user, this click-to-call feature gets me all excited inside. Read On

If you’ve been reading PPC blogs for any amount of time, you’ll notice that much of what you read seems to be tailored for businesses with big budgets and slick websites. Mind you, there’s tons of great advice and food for thought out there–it just may not help the SMB owner with limited development resources and budget.

Working at OrangeSoda has equipped me with a wealth of experience in dealing with the challenges of using PPC effectively with a less-than-perfect website. Here are a few of the most common problems I’ve come across, along with ideas for how to work around the problem without making wholesale changes to your website:

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I’ve heard some silly things over the past year about pay per click advertising’s ability to boost a brand and it’s time to clarify some of this nonsense whilst propping up the truth about how to use PPC to build your brand.

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MarketingSherpa did a case study on a business that sees online leads pour in – after they started PPC and SEO to market their web site. I half expected to see our name on the article since what they talked about is OrangeSoda’s specialty! Note: MarketingSherpa articles are free for a limited time and then you need a subscription to access them.

The case study is about a company called Basement Systems who went from using one channel – the Yellow Pages – to marketing their web site.  It’s been wildly successful – the number of leads skyrocketed 3,477% from the year before. Granted they weren’t doing much the year before – but think of the potential leads they missed out on.

At first the company didn’t think they needed to focus on the web site because people only call them after their basements flood. They didn’t think they would get online leads.

This is a common misunderstanding about how people use the internet. People use it to research purchases along the buying cycle. I’m not convinced that there is any business that can’t benefit from PPC and SEO. But I often hear people claim their business model won’t fit. Usually it’s more that their web site isn’t maximized for the way their customers search and buy online.

Why should businesses do both PPC and SEO? Here’s a quote that illustrates one of the differences – PPC advertising is much more targeted and usually converts better because it gets people as they are ready to purchase. The drawback – once you stop paying your ads disapear. SEO is a long-term strategy to drive more traffic to your site with permanent links.

“Natural search drove most of the traffic to the site, But it didn’t convert quite as much traffic as PPC ads because SEO is not as targeted.”

Here are some other things Basement Systems did for their SEO and PPC campaigns:

• Assessed title tags and metatags and eliminated duplicate or incorrect tags and titles.
• They ran locally-based PPC ads and directed the ads to local dealer’s web sites. In other words, they increased relevancy of their ads. Plus it often costs less to run targeted PPC campaigns rather than compete with national brands. They used dynamic keyword insertion which means the ads change depending on what terms people type into a search engine. This can increase clicks but sometimes quality of leads goes down. So you need to test and bid less on lower converting keywords.
• Tested everything and invest in trying new things. “We test every text line, dynamic content switching on Yahoo! and, of course, placement positions based on bids.” Surprise finding – putting their 1-800 number in the ad didn’t lift conversions, so they took it out.
• Submitted their web site to directories like: Yahoo! Directory, Business.com, DMOZ.org, YellowPages.com, niche and regional directories.
• Added testimonials, awards won, patents, and other trust-building elements to their website.

OrangeSoda Tip for Basement Systems – start blogging! And not just blogging but use targeted keywords to help boost your SEO. Our clients are seeing huge jump in traffic after starting a blog or implementing our suggestions.

Here are Harrison’s tips on what NOT to do on an PPC campaign – a follow-up post to his tips on how to optimize a PPC campaign.

• Don’t content and search ads in the same campaigns. On search CTR (click through rate) is important, but not on content. On the content network you’re interrupting people, on search ads people are actively looking. The ads must be written differently depending on who you’re targeting.
• Don’t set up campaigns with only one ad group, a ton of unrelated terms, and one generic ad.
• Don’t use Dynamic Keyword Insertion with too much abandon. Be sure your ads still make sense. He also says: “You can dynamically insert the ad, search/content, and a couple other tracking variables in your destination url.”
• Don’t limit your negative keyword lists – come up with a whole list of synonyms and be creative to avoid paying for ads that have nothing to do with what you’re selling. He uses the example of online dating – you think romance – searchers may be thinking science (as in “carbon dating”). Exclude the content network sites that don’t convert.
• Don’t wait until your campaign is perfect before launching. Launch first, then use the data to continually improve.

OrangeSoda runs PPC campaigns for small businesses – we have a very low entry point and serve this part of the market that most companies won’t touch. We also manage PPC campaigns for larger accounts that involve a lot of customization. However, if you want run your own campaigns, be sure to avoid the common mistakes listed above (or if you can’t avoid them, at least learn from them!).