Tip 1: Preliminary Research
Preliminary research on PPC can be a tough advertising market, so make sure you know what to expect. Use the tools at your disposal to check the competition for the keywords you want to target.
SEM Rush Logo
SEMRUSH is a great tool that has a free version that gives a good amount of data. We looked at a favorite hotspot called 3 Natives to see what their stats look like.
SEM Rush Stats Example
SEM Rush Competitor Stats Example
Some additional resources:
Moz and Similar Web both have test accounts that you can pull a lot of data from.
If there are too many competitors, it might be hard to stand out. If there are too few, you might not get enough traffic to make it worthwhile. Find out how well your landing pages convert visitors—the better they are, the more profitable PPC will be. That will mean you can afford to pay more for PPC or enter tougher markets. Don't try PPC just because you can—have a specific, concrete plan based on your strengths. Proper PPC management means maximizing your ROI using all the tools at your disposal.
Tip 2: Never go over your budget
Before you start any campaign, have a fixed budget in mind. No matter how well your campaign is going, stop when you hit your spending limit. It's a sign that you need to take a step back and evaluate how well things are going. It's tempting to prolong a campaign that seems successful, but it's better to stop while you're ahead to find out what's worked and what hasn't. This will serve as a basis for your next campaign. Hard limits also prevent you from overspending due to an emotional reaction to the campaign's outcome.
Know your channels and which ones convert best.
Google PPC Reports - Channels
With Google Analytics you can track sales or leads by channel and even by keyword to find out what's converting. Make more informed decisions by evaluating your results.
Google PPC Reports - Keywords
Tip 3: Always test
AB Testing allows you to split traffic between multiple designs and see which one works best. Whether it's the ads themselves or the landing pages, each campaign should include one or more experiments. Tweak and adjust to hone in on the best designs and copy. There are several AB testing products that have a wide variety of features. If you commit to testing, you'll be sure to learn something from each campaign, whatever the outcome. You'll get a ROI based on knowledge. Keep track of how different elements succeed or fail with different visitors.
Here are some online AB Testing tools:
Tip 4: Remember Negative Keywords
One of the most important things to do in a campaign is START with a list of negative keywords. Including negative keywords can help you refine your audience. It's common for keywords to have multiple potential meanings and contexts. You don't want to attract an audience that has no interest in your product - high-quality leads are more likely to convert.
PPC - Remember Negative Keywords
Try some negative keywords to help weed out searchers looking for services or concepts unrelated to your business. You're paying for every click. Don't let that money go to waste and use negative keywords to increase ad relevance for visitors who click through.
Tip 5: Hire Tracking Services
Depending on the platform you use, there will be a number of ways to use analytics to guide your performance. For example, both Google AdWords and Google Analytics provide an in-depth look at your results from the ad and site level.
Google AdWords and Google Analytics
Don't use them to
