Four Tips for PPC Success
What every entrepreneur should know about pay-per-click marketing.
Pay-per-click campaigns are one of the best ways to get traffic to your site: they're quick to set up, easy to monitor, and best of all, pay as you go.
Anyone who is motivated to do so can learn the basics of PPC. The Big Three on the Web – Facebook, Google, and Microsoft – all make it easy for a novice to set up a campaign that gets traffic coming through the door right away. If you wish to educate yourself, experts like Perry Marshall & Aaron Wall offer excellent subscription-based training.
My friend Adam Killam, a Vancouver-based PPC expert, recently gave a presentation on the subject at the Vancouver Internet Marketing Conference. The following are some takeaways from Adam's presentation:
Context is king
As a general rule, products advertised by PPC willl likely do better on Google, whereas a brand awareness campaign may be more effective on Facebook. That's because the Google user is proactively looking for answers, compared to the Facebook user who is passively experiencing advertising. So think about what it is you're offering, and determine the best platform (or combination of platforms) for your campaign.
Feedback is key
You've probably heard of the book The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. What you might not know about it is that the author chose its title based on the results of a PPC campaign. Want to know what billboard or coupon people will respond to in the real world? Test it online first, for much less than it would cost you to run a focus group or survey. PPC makes market research and advertising affordable for SMBs, and gives real-time feedback on what people are responding to.
Consultants can help
The Web attracts all kinds of hucksters, many of whom are only one step ahead of their customers in terms of product knowledge. If you're serious about investing in a PPC consultant, take the vetting process seriously. An experienced professional will likely require at least $1500 up front and $500/month to manage a campaign, plus the cost of advertising. But successful consultants, like successful campaigns, should more than pay for themselves.
PPC is a process
There's a reason it's called a campaign: unless you're already experienced with PPC, chances are you won't crush it right out of the gate. You need to continually monitor your results and adjust your strategy accordingly. In some cases, it may take months until you are generating sufficient leads.
While PPC campaigns are an ongoing investment, look at it this way: if you can improve the effectiveness of your campaign by just 1% every week, think about how much stronger you will be in six months or a year. The same principle applies to the effectiveness of your ad copy, your landing pages, and your sales funnel. It may seem a bit like an orchestra at times, but once you have everything in tune, the results can be beautiful.
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