Pay Per Click Campaign Strategy – Part 3
By now I’m sure that you have read Parts 1 and 2 of “Anatomy of a Pay Per Click Strategy”.
It’s time to set up your ad groups for your pay per click campaign
An ad group consists of a group of keywords and ad copy that should be targeted to those keywords. For that reason, the keywords (or keyword phrases) need to be tightly focused and be appropriate to the ad copy. The more compactly focused the better because you will be penalized (it costs more for your keyword bid) by AdWords and adCenter if your keyword quality scores (click through rates plus landing page effectiveness) are lower.
As you set up each ad group you will be asked to add keywords, provide ad copy and input a minimum bid for your keywords. Here’s how I suggest that you do each one:
Keywords – By now, you’ve already researched your keywords for each ad group by using the excellent keyword tools available like the free ones below:
- Wordtracker – https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
- Trellian Keyword Discovery – http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
- Ubersuggest – http://ubersuggest.org/
- Soovle – http://soovle.com/
- Google Keywords Tool – available under the “Tools and Analysis” tab of your Google AdWords pay per click account
Ubersuggest and Soovle are very important in discovering negative keywords. Negative keywords are essential to any pay per click campaign because they help eliminate views of your ads when people type in a similar but inappropriate keyword related to your website.
An example would be someone typing in “cleaning iPad shoulder backpacks” when you sell “iPad shoulder backpacks” but without offering cleaning products. A negative keyword of “cleaning” would prevent your ad from being shown to those search clients resulting in better click-thru rates and higher quality scores for your pay per click campaign.
Ad Copy – Some would say that ad copy is a lost art and some would say that it is a hit-or-miss proposition. Regardless, there are a few rules and guides that eventually make good ad copy especially for pay per click ads.
- Always provide at least three ads for each ad group in your pay per click campaign. Three ads allow you to compare the results and see what ad copy is most effective. The poorly performing ones should be eliminated and replaced with new ads that would then be tested against the old ones that you kept.
- Try to include the keyword in the title and at least one other place in the ad copy (another reason for tightly focused ad groups).
- Have the last part of the ad copy include a call to action. Using simple text such as “See Our Inventory!” or “20% Off Today Only!” will make a huge difference in click-thru results for a pay per click strategy.
- Take advantage of the vanity URL for both AdWords and adCenter pay per click ad copy. The clickable part of the ad can look like ‘www.yourwebsite.com/special’ rather than ‘www.yourwebsite.com’ and still take you to the same place. This is an strategy to increase click- thru rates.
- Always use URL tags. URL tags are the addendums to link addresses that look like ‘www.yourwebsite.com?source=adwords’ rather than just ‘www.yourwebsite.com’. They both go to the same place but the URL tag allows you to track exactly where that website visitor came from and what they did afterwards by utilizing your comprehensive analytics reporting of your pay per click results.
Bids – I always start the bids in my pay per click ad groups very low (often .05). This allows me to see what would be my minimum and maximum bids for front-page search engine results and how the manipulation of that bid will put me first, second or third on that page in order to maximize return on investment.
OK … I now assured my friend that his company’s pay per click campaign would be up and running and optimized for someone to manage … which, coincidentally … I am available.
