PPC Marketing : How This Would Benefit Your Business

As the old adage goes, you have to spend money to make money. And this holds true in the world of digital marketing.

All too often, small businesses assume that digital marketing is a free or cheap way to attract sales. They toss up a 5 page website, create a couple of free social media profiles, and post updates sporadically.

But successful digital marketing costs money; and for every dollar that we expend, we want marketing strategy that will provide us with the highest ROI. While we are big advocates of using inbound marketing strategies through content and social media, benefits can also be accrued by combining these tactics with paid search or ppc marketing.

But search marketing isn’t cheap! With some terms costing as much as $900 a click (“best mesothelioma lawyer”), a search marketing campaign can quickly break the bank.

Although search marketing keywords probably cost a lot less in your niche, a poorly run campaign can still get expensive.

The following six strategies will also help ensure that you make the most of your budget out of ppc marketing:

1. Use specific, long-tail keywords in your search campaigns

There are two reasons why you should use long-tail keywords in your search marketing campaigns.

Long-tail keywords are cheaper. While one or two word search terms may have a substantial amount of competition, search terms with five or more words will have far fewer competitors bidding on those search terms.

Long-tail keywords give you better leads. Considering that half of all search queries contain 4+ or more words, targeting long-tail keywords is a quick and effective way to stretch your ad spend through lower bids and more relevant and targeted results.

2. Focus on more than just traditional search content

When you hear the term “search engine”, what probably comes to mind is a search bar followed by a long list of blue-shaded words and brief descriptions.

But people no longer focus exclusively on traditional search engines to find what they’re looking for – they also search the news, videos, images, and local results. Whether trying to place on search engines organically, or seeking to find cost-effective promotional strategies, consider focusing on these other, non-traditional, types of search.

Considering 72% of people who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles of them, if you aren’t optimizing your brand for local search results, you could be leaving money on the table. that’s where pay-per-click or PCC marketing comes in.

3. Promote content worthy of the first-page results

Did you know that paid search can actually improve the organic visibility of a blog post or web page?

What does this mean for you? Don’t always focus your PPC campaigns on landing pages (and never on your home page). If you have a highly informative and engaging blog post or video that’s effective at collecting subscribers or driving sales, consider promoting that specific post. The more that people visit this blog post through the paid clicks, the higher it will appear organically on search results. And once you’re on Google’s front page for a valuable keyword, traffic will skyrocket.

It turns out that combining both a PPC and SEO campaign increases clicks by 25% and profits by 27%. So don’t just focus on one – combine these strategies for maximum impact!

4. Paid search send visitors to highly optimized landing pages

Often, when a visitor clicks on an ad, it’s their first time visiting your site.

Not surprisingly, 72% of visitors will exit a site that loads too slowly, and 67% of mobile users will leave if they can’t figure out the site’s navigation. Additionally, because a large number of visitors don’t buy on their first visit to a site, it’s critical to make sure that the first page they visit captures their attention and delivers a clear Call-To-Action strategy.

By making a great first impression and encouraging the reader to continue exploring your brand, the PPC campaign can have tremendous long-term results – even if it doesn’t lead to immediate sales.

5. Track campaigns, A/B test, and continually improve

From your own website analytics, to those produced by the search engine, there’s a ton of data out there that you can easily track in order to garner actionable insights and to tweak your digital marketing strategy accordingly.

By experimenting with different campaigns terms, landing pages, and search platforms, you can begin a process of continual improvement that provides a consistently improving ROI with PPC advertising.

This article was first published by the Digital Marketing Institute. Adapted for use.