Last week, we wrote about how to drive more internet traffic to your business website. You know that website traffic generates sales, even if you do not have an online store. Now let’s examine a more specific strategy to boost visits to your website: PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns.
If your website is in good shape and you are confident you have a functional content strategy but you still aren’t attracting enough new visitors to your website quickly, it may to be time to start paying for some web advertising. One of the quickest, easiest ad campaigns to set up is a PPC. You are probably familiar with Google’s Adwords, which are search results that show up at the top of your Google search results and have a small “ad” icon next to them. If you click on one of those selections, a small fee is charged to the owner of that website. The amount charged depends on many factors, and can range from a dime to several dollars per click. According to Neil Patel, a Forbes “Top Ten” ranked marketer, the top 3 paid ads on Google results get 41% of user clicks. That’s a very valuable place to be!
How do you get started with a PPC ad campaign? The first step is to determine the best, yet most affordable, keywords. Keywords are the words entered into the search term box in a search engine. For example, if you sell flannel shirts, your keywords could be “shirt” “flannel shirt” or “red flannel shirt.” The more specific the term, often the lower the cost per click. A more general term like “shirt” will probably be a more expensive keyword. It may also not be cost effective for your business if you only sell certain types of shirts. I recommend using Google’s Adwords Keyword tool (www.Google.com/Adwords) to help determine the right keywords. Your goal is to choose keywords that generate maximum traffic for minimum cost per click.
While we know Google search engines have the highest traffic and are really effective, they are also the most expensive. There are other, less expensive search and ad providers. Bing Ads is a well-known and used search engine that offers search results ads similar to Google’s Adwords at a fraction of the cost. Another choice is Facebook ads. On this platform, ads are shown to a target audience based on interests and demographic information instead of keywords. LinkedIn has a similar ad program. Remember that in order to effectively market on social media, you must know where your target customers are hanging out. For example, no one logs in to LinkedIn to buy personal products since LinkedIn is primarily a business and job-seeker tool. LinkedIn may be a great place to advertise business products or job seeker services. For Facebook and LinkedIn targeted ads, it’s critical to choose a compelling image to accompany your text to pique curiosity.
A great PPC strategy is to start small and use a variety of ads and platforms. Track the results and see what works. Then increase your PPC budget in the areas that really paid off for your business.
Effective internet marketing requires knowledge and experience. Morris Marketing specializes in creating marketing plans to fit the needs and budgets of small businesses in the Triangle. If you need assistance with your business marketing plan, contact Morris Marketing in Raleigh at 919-424-8314 .
