by Pancham Prashar

Creating an effective PPC Campaign

In order to create an effective PPC Campaign some basic things should be kept in mind:

The right keywords: This is the most crucial part of any PPC Campaign. Keywords should be related to the theme of your site and match the profile of your website visitors. Personally, I use wordtracker and Trellian to widen my search for relevant keywords once I have shortlisted broad key phrases for a website. Try to use multi word phrases. Initially you can bid for a large volume of keywords and later on that list can be fine tuned based on which keywords are performing well and which not.
Find Best Value Bid Position: Many people rely on getting number one rank for their search phrase. That may not always be a good thing. Be on a lookout for “bid gaps” where there is a notable difference between the bidding amount for different ranking positions. Decide if the extra amount you want to spend is worth being at the top in search results.
Determine your website conversion rate: Conversion Rate basically implies how much people visiting your site actually gets converted into buyers. For example if your website achieves 5 sales (five unique customers) for every 100 visitors then the conversion rate is 5%. Knowing your website conversion rate can be helpful in setting up a PPC Campaign as it will provide you with a signal on how high you can bid.
Setting up an optimum budget: This is another important step in setting up an effective PPC Campaign. Setting up an optimum level of budget plan for a PPC Campaign is not an easy task. It involves continuous monitoring of number of clicks and Return on Investment (ROI).
Create effective ads: The next step is to design effective ads for your an effective PPC Campaign that captures the essence of your website and makes the user click on that advertisement. You should be well aware of what you are competing against while creating your ads. Use your key phrases within your ad title and copy. Be sure to target the right audience in terms of countries and languages. Try to create multiple ads and keep on testing these ads to find which one produces a high Click Through Rate. The weaker copy can then be replaced with a better one.
Look at your landing pages : Have a thorough look at your landing pages. Be sure to design your landing pages in such a manner that they are able to convert visitors to your website. Try to include some call for action in your landing pages such as “filling up a form”, “subscribing to a newsletter” etc.

Advertising through PPC can provide you with real time statical data on how many people clicked on your ad and where they came from. While evaluating a PPC campaign, be sure of what you want to track. In most of the cases it is not the number of visitors who click on ads (Click Through Rate), but rather the number of visitors who shopped something or returned to our website (Conversion Rate) that determines the effectiveness of a PPC Campaign. PPC is a really effective technique associated with less set-up time and long term value and if used judicially it can really make a big difference for your business!