Pimp My Keywords

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 170

Pay Per Click can be a beast for most people, especially when it comes to setting up a PPC campaign, clicks, impressions, budgets, credit cards and Google.

The best way, in my opinion, is to start slow and dip your toe in the water.

Create a modest budget and stick to it (no matter what).

Target six keywords. Write a minimum of three ads so you can test which ad performs the best. And, above all, track your success.

SEO vs. PPC

PPC - also known as Pay Per click - ends the day you stop paying the bill.

SEO - also known as Search Engine Optimization - lasts much longer. Anything you do for your website today (and tomorrow and the next day and so on...) will last forever. Any inbound links you earn pointing to your website will exist until the hosting site removes them. Content on your website can stay the same forever or until you decide to update it. 

 

 

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 117

One of the many presentations I attended at Search Engine Strategies Conference, San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, included a great session by the folks at Wpromote Inc. called "Ten Things To Supercharge Your SEM Campaigns."

1. Test everything. Test button color, text, headlines, images, etc.
2. Do PPC (Pay Per Click) and remarketing. Remarketing is the technology by which you drop a cookie on your site visitors and "follow them" to other web pages where your ad will eventually appear in front of their face again. Very effective.
3. Use the Google Content Network in PPC. When you find winner keywords, go big. When you find loser keywords, make them into negative keywords.
4. With PPC keywords and ad grouping, you're better off grouping by either services or grouping by city (group by location is the way to go).
5. Go for out of the box thinking on link building. Great links are closer than you think. Vendors, partners, users, friends, customers, stores, etc.
6. Creating amazing SEO content. You have control over your website's content. Do something with it. Adopt a page a day mentality to improve your website's content. Ideas can include a blog, resources, FAQs, articles. Be a thought leader when it comes to your website's content. 
7. Be timely, seasonal and hip. Why not try something different? For example, for the holidays, use art work or a seasonal header on your website's home page? Change your colors; add some new artwork and see what happens.
8. Craft the perfect message. Use your website data for analysis. Using the proper keywords + ad + landing page = reinforcing what the user wants to see.
9. Use Google Insights to help find good keywords (and negative keywords as well).
10. Me, You & Social Media. Start with what is being said about you. Use Google Alerts; search Twitter; ScoutLabs.com; ViralHeat.com to monitor the chatter. Then, create a strategic message and integrate it into your website. Consider Facebook and StumbleUpon ads.

PPC Landing Pages & Brief Case Studies

If you want to:

• Measure a specific set of keywords in a Pay Per Click campaign.
• Test a specific ad or pages in a PPC campaign.
• Control the page where your customer lands in a campaign.
• Track your customer's action (conversion; clicking the "Back" button, etc.).

...then you need to strongly consider creating and using landing pages in your PPC Campaign.

Landing pages are web pages specific used for online advertising campaigns. They are not used in organic or other searching efforts, which then allow you to better measure incoming traffic and conversions.

We manage several PPC campaigns (big budgets, small budgets, tons of keywords, etc.), but a landing page strategy can be very effective.

Consider some of our case studies:

• An international S&P 500 firm is using a specific landing page for training registration. The PPC campaigns have been translated into 12 languages and are running in Google Spain (6.54% Click Through Rate); Google Brazil (7.51% CTR) and other countries.
• A local heating and plumbing company is using a landing page to promote an upcoming event. Ads are being tested, but are currently pulling in a 1-2% CTR just one month into the campaign.
• A national medical device company is using specific landing pages to promote specials. The campaign is pulling in nearly 3% CTR.

Landing pages, just like PPC campaigns, can be more effective with a stronger call to action. Make sure the traffic that's acting on your PPC ads is also converting once they see your landing page. If not, then improvements will need to be made on the landing page to increase conversions.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 116

Now that your Pay Per Click campaigns are up and running, you'll always want to monitor and make improvements.

However, how long should you wait before deciding to change keyword focus; write new ads; create new campaigns, etc.?

Here are some considerations and tips to help you make those PPC decisions:

You may be limited in your campaign changes based on your budget, especially if you try to change keyword focus to more expensive keywords.

• If you're maintaining one of the top three positions for a particular keyword, but the click results are poor, then it's time to rewrite or create new ads. Top positions are great, but they're only as good as the quality of the click. If you're not gaining clicks, the ad copy isn't compelling enough.
• If keywords are expensive, you may want to change sooner than later. Consider "longer tail" keywords such as "free pizza delivery 45202" instead of "pizza Cincinnati" for example.
• Also, if high-traffic keywords are too expensive, give some consideration to keywords that are gaining less clicks at a lower price. If you capture a group of low-click keywords, you may earn more clicks at a better price than trying to compete after expensive keywords that break your budget.
• Always write ads and look to make improvements with the quality of your ad content. Writing multiple ads for the same set of keywords allows you to text which ad pulls in more clicks and conversions.

What Happens When Keywords Eat Your PPC Budget?

A common Pay Per Click problem facing online advertisers is the ongoing battle of rising keyword costs.

What does one do when budgets are capped too early and PPC costs get out of hand?

Here are some ideas to help keep a few coins in your piggy bank and keep those campaigns going:

• Google, by far, is the most expensive PPC player on the Internet. It makes sense. They are the big dog. However, if a keyword (or set of keywords) costs to much to play with your competition in Google, give some consideration to creating campaigns in other search engines. You may not gain as many clicks in Yahoo and Bing as you would in Google, but you won't break the bank either.
• Give some consideration to Facebook. Here, you can specially target a demographic group and the PPC fees are low.
• If you need to stay in Google, perhaps you don't need to be in Ad Position 1, 2 or 3 in order to maintain some click activity. Sometimes, Ad Position 4 is actually the top ad on the right-hand column in the search results window. Although you would be paying for Positions 4, 5 or 6, it could give the appearance that you are in Positions 1, 2, 3 (for that column). 
• Still not happy? Try this: Set your expensive campaign to run during peak hours (9 a.m. - 12 Noon or 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.) instead of trying to spread your budget through the entire day.
• Consider other keywords. Instead of going after "history books" perhaps you need to rethink your keyword choices and go with specific types of "history books" such as "Civil War History Books" or "WWII History Books". A more specific, long-tail keyword might be less expensive and you'll gain and more targeted audience of potential keywords.
• Do not forget about low-hanging fruit. Rather than target the expensive keywords with high search numbers, give some consideration to less expensive keywords with lower search numbers. In the end, you may end up spending less money and pulling in more clicks on those keywords often ignored.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 115

Now that your Pay Per Click campaigns are running, here are 6 tips to make them even better:

1. Look for improvements in ad copy. If your ads aren't pulling in the clicks, consider re-writing your ad so it is more compelling. Do this before thinking about raising your PPC bid price.
2. Make sure you're using the targeted keyword within your ad. If the keyword is "Arkansas Fishing Guide" then your ad should also use the same keyword. Always make sure your landing pages are working.
3. Make sure your ads are pointing to the right landing page. If someone clicks on an ad about "Michigan sweatshirts" and the landing page is "Ohio State sweatshirts" then you're going to have big problems.
4. Try testing variations of the ads. You'll quickly find different ads will yield different results.
5. Try testing some ads with prices, and some ads without prices.
6. Always track your results. What's working? What's not working? Why? Then, adapt your ad as necessary.

Monitoring Your PPC Efforts: DIY Or Hire A Service?

Now that your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign is up and running, how are you going to monitor, tweak, adjust, update, track and adjust in order to maintain good results?

Unfortunately, if you don't have deep PPC pockets, the best - and only - way to monitor your campaigns is manually. Don't worry...at least Google will offer some suggestions and help along the way.

Monitoring "by hand" shouldn't take too much time, especially if you're not running large PPC campaigns. At the least, to start, one should log in to their PPC campaigns at least once a day. Then, when you feel more comfortable, you can switch to logging in to your PPC accounts once or twice per week.

However, do not take the "set it and forget it" approach to PPC. It will need your attention!

Here are some tips on what to look for when self-monitoring PPC campaigns:

• Make sure none of your ads have been rejected by the search engine. This can happen if you violate any terms of service, copyrights, trademarks, etc.
• Monitor that all ads are active.
• Make sure all URLs are working and landing pages are working.
• Check your budget. Most search engines will make budget recommendations if you are hitting your daily budget too early each day. Google, for instance, will make budget recommendations and tell you how many impressions and clicks you're missing each day. Use caution in increasing budget. Remember, it's called a budget for a reason. Don't go crazy.
• Always look to improve ad copy. Don't be afraid to tweak ads and/or write new ads to attract potential clicks.
• Make sure you're targeted the best possible keywords for each campaign. Again, search engines will make suggestions on other keywords you should be targeting.

For larger campaigns (and bigger budgets), a PPC monitoring service will save you a ton of time.

Some suggestions include Acquiso, ClickEquations, Omniture and BidMax to name a few. Monthly fees to use these pay per click management software packages are based on your PPC expenditures.

Tools To Help You Get Started With PPC

While a ton of information, software, widgets and other advice concerning setting up your own Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns exists on the Internet, here's a list of our favorite tools:

Keyword Research:

• Google has the best, by far, keyword researching tool. Of course, it's geared towards setting up and using Google Adwords. Still, it's a great tool.
• PPC Training offers a free keyword research tool that is powered by Wordtracker.
• Although they require paid subscriptions, you might want to also consider going directly to WordTracker or Keyword Discovery.

Budget:

• Google's Traffic Estimator is, by far, the best tool to determine traffic estimates and budget needs (and it's also free!).

Ad Generation:

• You can create and edit Google AdWords ads offline with the Google AdWords Editor.
• If you need to create ads for Google, Yahoo & Bing, consider the PPC Generator.

Although these services require a paid subscription, they are effective when researching your competition:

• Compete.com - Some elements here are free.
• HitWise.com - A good resource and blog, but pricey.
• SpyFu.com - Organic keyword information available for free; otherwise, a subscription is needed.
• SEMRush.com - Also offering a limited amount of free information.

Newsletter:

• An informative PPC newsletter and help is available with The Adventures of PPC Hero.

Also:

• A ton of PPC information and resources at available at SEOTools, including a $25 coupon for your next Yahoo! Ad campaign.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 114

Anyone can try their hand at setting up and running Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns. However, there's a huge difference between good PPC campaigns and bad ones.

Our top 6 tips on how to take your PPC campaigns to the next level:

1. Write better ads. If you want more clicks, write a better ad. Offer a compelling reason to click on your ad. For example, free shipping; a sale; a coupon, etc. Bad ads might outbid you, but they may not earn the clicks.
2. Use your targeted keyword within your ad, especially in the headline if you can. Again, this goes back to writing better ads. If I search for "popcorn" and your ad contains the keyword I am searching for, my attention is naturally going to go to your ad. 
3. When you can, always think local campaigns. Target your campaigns locally and/or regionally. This is especially true for service companies; restaurants, etc. A pizza restaurant in Cincinnati should be targeting a local audience and not be looking for orders from Seattle.
4. A strong ad campaign is only as good as its landing page and call to action. Think about it: you've selected a great keyword; wrote an even better ad; earned the click and then your potential customer does nothing when they see your landing page. Ugh. Make sure your landing page is working; has great content to back up the keyword, and has a strong call to action (just don't get them to the landing page and forget to ask for the order!).
5. Test, test and test. Always be testing. This is true with keywords; ad copy and landing pages. 
6. Read your reports, at least once a week. Always be aware of how your campaigns are doing and constantly be on the lookout for ways to make improvements.