Pay Per Click Guide

Here's our guide to Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.

On its face, PPC advertising or Pay Per Click marketing, can appear reasonably simple: Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing provide listings on a per-bid basis. The more you pay, the higher position you will be. However, as with most advertising, dig a little deeper and you'll soon realise there is far more to running a successful PPC campaign than initially meets the eye.

Cost Per Click ads appear on the right side of & above the natural search results

If you place the highest bid for a specific keyword or set of keywords, then you will generally rank number one in these paid listings. (Quality Score plays a role, but more on that later). Every major search engine now displays these paid ads above and to the right side of their 'organic' rankings.

If someone clicks on your PPC advert, they are taken through to your site and the pre-determined landing page. You are then charged the amount you bid. So, if you bid £3.00 per click on the term ‘clothes’, then you will not pay over that amount. If 100 people click on your PPC ad, then the search engine will charge you £300. 

Why PPC is Good

PPC advertising can generate traffic right away. The theory is simple: If you spend enough, you can get a prime placement, and potential customers will see you first. So PPC advertising is fast: With some search engines, such as Google Adwords, you can generate targeted traffic within a few minutes of opening an account.

PPC advertising is also flexible: Where SEO or natural search engine marketing or other forms of advertising can lag weeks or months behind changing audience behaviour, you can adjust most pay per click campaigns in minutes or hours. That provides unmatched ability to adjust to market conditions.

PPC can also be a bargain: Sometimes, you can find keyword 'niches' for which the top bid is around £0.10- in that case, PPC is a great option, because you can generate traffic to your site for a fraction of the cost of any other form of paid advertising.

The Role of PPC Advertising

Most businesses can't afford to solely rely on PPC advertising. Often it's too expensive, and bid amounts can climb depending on the market you are in. But pay per click can fill a few important roles:

• Campaign- and issue-based traffic: If you have a short-term campaign for a new product, service or special issue, pay per click can be a great way to generate uplift and interest. Depending on the size of the account, you can start a PPC advertising campaign within a short space of time, and you can generally change the ad text and message pretty easily. If you need to focus attention for a finite amount of time, PPC is perfect.
• Direct-response business: If you sell a product or offer a service that can purchase the moment they arrive at your web site, PPC is a great tool. Online shops or services are a great example: You know that each click generated is a real potential customer, so spending money to increase the number of clicks makes sense. Remember they are finding you so they are already interested.
• Niche terms: If you are trying to generate traffic for a highly specific keyphrase, PPC can often provide bargains. For example, you might not want to pay the top bid for 'insurance', but adding a more specific term to the word eg: ‘travel insurance' changes the bid from £8.60 to £4.07 (at the time of writing this).

The over ruling factor to remember is make sure you or your agency Focus, Make regular suggestions, Offer insight into what is and isn’t working and finally Full transparency.

Natural search engine optimisation is a generally thought of as PR-based, a long-term attempt to grow your brand and image. PPC advertising, however, should be handled like any other form of paid advertising: Cautiously and with a clear, quantifiable short- or medium-term goal in mind. In other words, concentrate on conversions, not clicks.

Making PPC Work: Conversions, Not clicks

So, how is the best way to engineer a successful PPC advertising campaign? Answer- By giving attention to conversions, and less to clicks. Here are 4 key rules to consider:

Track Conversions

If you want to stay within budget, you must track conversions. What's a 'conversion'? It's any time a visitor to your web site takes a desired action. Examples of conversions might be:

• A Sale
• A Quote
• A download
• Phoning a unique telephone number dedicated to a search engine or even particular keyword.

A conversion doesn't have to be a sale, but it does have to mean something to your business.

Google and Yahoo provide free conversion tracking. Take a look at Google Analytics for a free, simple to install system that will track your desired conversion metric. http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/analytics/

Generate Niche Keywords for your account

A lot of PPC accounts aim their ads at the broadest possible terms, such as 'holidays', or 'flight'. Since the broader terms get far more searches, it's a strong temptation - with potentially a big disadvantage. Since most competitors will be bidding on the broad terms, the cost per click is generally quite high. And the chances of a conversion, even if someone clicks on your ad, will be lower.

Focus attention therefore on narrow, specific keywords: 'holidays to Ibiza’, 'Flights to Ireland'. These terms will cost less, and searchers who use them will be far more likely to buy and they are further down the buying process.

Good Creative Copy: Don't Ignore This

PPC advertising requires that you write a very short descriptive phrase about your service. (Google, Heading- 25 characters, Line 1- 35 characters, Line 2- 35 characters. (Yahoo and Bing are 70 characters excluding heading). All search engines place increasing importance of this phrase - make sure, at a minimum your grammar, spelling and overall language is correct and relevant to your PPC audience. Also verify that your language adheres to the rules enforced by the pay-per-click service - Google, for example, won't allow ads with superlatives ('the best', 'the greatest', etc.), with repeated keywords, or with excessive capitalization.

This is not a good example:
Insurance! Come get it now!

This is far better:
Premium insurance, Click for a free quote

Think from the point of the person searching. What do they want to see?

What Is The Best Position?

Position 1 is not always the best spot.

Google Adwords will often increase your position up a spot or two if you have exceptional click through rates and strong 'quality score'.

A top-3 position will put you 'above the fold' in most users' web browsers. They'll see you the moment they search, and while the number 1 position may have a better chance of getting clicked, my experience is that the top three spots on any given search engine get very similar click through rates.

Optimise Your Account

PPC advertising cannot be left to run on their own and expect value for money and the best possible return. Do not set up your PPC account and then leave it. You need to continuously manage your PPC Advertising campaign.

The right agency will look after your PPC account and optimise it ensuring your business is getting the best possible return from its investment.

Changes happen hourly, not just from 9-5 Monday to Friday.  24/7 management of your account is therefore the best way to ensure you are responding to the competition and maintaining optimal performance.

Remember that if search patterns change and your keywords are searched less often, don't immediately ammend your campaign- Hold on for at least a few days to make sure you aren't seeing a statistical 'blip'. But ensure your PPC agency is keeping an eye on how things are changing, or you could end up spending money unnecessarily.

Good PPC Advertising management is an art form. Here's an example of one Google ad (changed of course) Thier original Adwords creative read:

Cheap flight to Europe
Book online today

These PPC ads didn't perform well - their Quality Score, click through and conversion rates were very, very poor.

There are three reasons: First, the creative is far too general - someone searching for a flights on Google will most likely search for the specific location, not for companies that go everywhere. Second, the advert doesn't make any strong value proposition - anyone advertising on Google can very likely take my order online. Nothing seperates them form the competition. Lastly, the creative doesn't optimise for the search terms used to find it.

The result? They were paying about £6 per click for a number 1 position, with 500 clicks per day and less than a 1% conversion rate and an average profit per order of £20. No chance of making any profits with that kind of performance:

Clearly not a well run campaign. Here's how it changed. We developed four ads, each focusing on a single keyword combination or group:

Fly to Madrid
Special offers until 30 Dec

Book low cost flight

Madrid Flights from £40

Competitive all inclusive prices

Book today for a great deal

Cheap flights to Madrid
Great discount flight offer
to Madrid. Book now

We paid for a position 3, but their high clickthru and greater quality score increased their position to 2.

It was a fast and much improved turnaround, built on The Response Agency’s basic principles: Track conversions, strong and relevant keywords, great creative, smart budgeting and regular optimisation.

How should you respond?

Very few businesses can afford to ignore the power of PPC advertising. Done well PPC advertising can hugely increase the profitability of your business. Done badly, either in house or by an agency and it can be a massively missed opportunity and very expensive!  Focus on conversion and return on investment, rather than clicks, and you can build a profitable campaign.

The Response Agency offer 24/7 management and performance based fees.

Success starts by calling 01442 384144 or emailing us to discuss how we can drive your PPC forward.