How to Develop Your PPC Strategy

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A well-executed PPC strategy can make a major difference to any business’s growth. This guide outlines exactly how you can create a killer PPC strategy for your business.

In such a competitive online world, running Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns is one of the best ways to reach your customers fast. 

Well-crafted ad campaigns can give any business a major boost. The trouble is, creating ad campaigns can be pretty confusing. Not to mention there’s a cost involved, so you need to ensure your PPC strategies are properly set up to deliver great results for your business.

In this guide, we’re going to look at how to put together an effective PPC strategy so that you can start attracting more customers as efficiently as possible.

  1. What is PPC Advertising?
  2. How Does PPC Advertising Work?
  3. How to Create Your PPC Strategy: 8 Steps
  4. Putting it Together: Step-by-Step PPC Strategies

What is PPC Advertising?

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad campaigns are a form of online advertising where you run ads and only pay for them when a user clicks on your ad. PPC campaigns are some of the most common forms of online ad campaigns – common examples are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

PPC advertising is a cost-effective digital marketing tactic because you only pay for engagement – not just exposure. 

Therefore, PPC ads are one of the most popular forms of online advertising because they have a low barrier to entry and are relatively easy to use. 

You can create a campaign and run adverts that are shown to people searching for certain keywords. When someone types in specific keywords or phrases to the search engine, the search engine result page (SERP) will display the PPC ads you create to direct visitors to your site, and the fee you pay is based on whether people click your ad.

Google search ads
Examples of PPC campaigns

The main benefit of using PPC advertising is that it lets you get your website, content, or products listed above your competitors relatively fast. You can also choose between a wide range of PPC ad platforms and campaign types to match your goals.

You can also set up conversion tracking to know exactly how many sales are coming from each campaign. The more people that click on your adverts, the better chance you have of generating leads.

How Does PPC Advertising Work?

While each PPC ad platform works slightly differently, the same general concept applies.

First, you’ll need to select what type of PPC strategies you will run. This results in the kind of ad placements you get. Some types of advertising campaigns include search ads, Google ads, display ads, social media paid ads, an Amazon PPC strategy, and more. PPC campaigns cover a wide range of different platforms and strategies. 

Facebook ads

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When you create an ad, you set your budget and bid on keywords for search ads. 

Your budget is the maximum amount you will pay for clicks. Once you hit this, your ad won’t be displayed anymore. 

Keywords are the terms your ad will display when someone searches for them. This is only relevant for search ads. 

The thing is, other brands will probably also be bidding on the same keyword as you. In this case, the highest bid wins. This is why you need to be smart about selecting keywords and establishing a budget when running PPC ads. The end result needs to offer a good ROI for your business. 

How to Create Your PPC Strategy: 8 Steps

Ready to get started with PPC ads? Follow these steps to achieve success. 

Define your Goals and Objectives

Before developing a PPC strategy, it’s important to define your goals and objectives. Ask yourself these three questions

1. Why are you doing this?

2. In what ways will your business benefit from it?

3. What do you expect to achieve in the next three to six months?

Setting goals before beginning any PPC campaign is essential for success. 

Don’t worry about how other people might define their goals; just do what’s right for your brand’s needs to ensure short, medium, and long-term success. 

You’re probably not going to reach a vast number of customers within two weeks or get millions of dollars in sales from one campaign—so don’t set those expectations! 

Instead, aim high but remain realistic: if your goal is getting 100 clicks on your PPC ads daily, strive toward that mark over time rather than expecting immediate results.

Also, remember to optimize your ad landing page for your conversion goals. Getting a click from your ad campaigns is important, but this only translates to value for your brand if the landing page your ad leads to is properly optimized for your goal.

Be Specific When Creating Ad Groups

You’ll want to be as specific as possible when creating your PPC campaigns. This will help you achieve your goals more easily.

When it comes to setting up your ad groups, there are a few things you should keep in mind. 

First, select a broad topic or theme for each ad group relevant to your business or product offerings. 

For example, if you’re selling outdoor furniture and accessories, try using phrases like “patio furniture,” “garden supplies,” and so on. This will help ensure that all of your PPC ads reach people interested in those products—and nothing else!

Next, try to create ad groups that are as specific as possible. If you’re selling patio umbrellas, use phrases like “outdoor umbrella” and “umbrella stand.” 

While this may seem like overkill at first glance, and you’re thinking, “why not lump all of these products into one broad category?” 

By being more specific about your offerings, you’ll be able to target people who have expressed an interest in those products specifically.

Using negative keywords is another great way to make your campaigns more specific Negative keywords are the search queries that your ad campaign won’t show up for. Adding negative keywords lets you refine exactly when and why your ads will be displayed. 

Decide Which PPC Model Fits Your Strategy

There are several different models that can be used for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. 

Some common ones include:

  1. Cost-per-click (CPC): Advertisers pay a fixed amount every time their ad is clicked.
  1. Cost-per-impression (CPM) model: Advertisers pay a fixed amount for every thousand impressions (views) of their ad.
  1. Cost-per-action (CPA) model: Advertisers pay a fixed amount every time a user takes a specific action (such as filling out a form or making a purchase) as a result of clicking on their ad.
  1. Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) model: This model is similar to the CPA model, but the amount the advertiser pays is based on the value of the acquisition (such as the lifetime value of a customer).
  1. Cost-per-like (CPL) model: Commonly used on social media platforms, advertisers pay a fixed amount every time a user likes or follows their page. CPL is usually used in conjunction with other models like CPA or CPC, but it can also be used by itself.

It’s important to choose a PPC campaign model that aligns with your campaign goal.

Set your Budget

Once you’ve established your goals, it’s time to set a budget for your PPC campaign. 

You should aim to spend enough money on advertising to achieve your goals, but not so much as to break the bank.

Make sure that your budget is realistic and achievable. For example, if you’re trying to sell a high-priced product or service and only have $5,000 in monthly ad spend available at the time of launch, this may not be enough! 

Of course, you need to make sure that your ads deliver a positive ROI. There is no limit to how much you can spend on ads as long as they’re helping you generate more revenue than you’re spending. Getting this right comes down to properly targeting and optimizing your paid ad campaigns. 

There are a few ways you can try to lower your PPC (pay-per-click) ad spend:

  1. Use long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are more specific and less competitive than short-tail keywords. You may get more targeted traffic at a lower cost by targeting long-tail keywords.
  1. Use ad scheduling: You can set your ads to only run at certain times of the day or week when you know your target audience is more likely to be searching. This can help you avoid paying for clicks when you are less likely to get conversions.
  1. Use location targeting: If you are targeting a local business, you can use location targeting only to show your ads to people in a particular area. This can help you avoid paying for clicks from people who are not in your target location.
  1. Use bid adjustments: You can use bid adjustments to increase or decrease your bid for specific targeting criteria, such as location or device type. This can help you get more value for your ad spend.

We recommend asking around within our community before purchasing anything new so we can help save everyone some money.

Once you have a budget, it’s time to create ads to help you reach your goals. 

To do this, start by creating ad groups and campaigns so that you can organize the different types of ads and tracking methods available. 

Define your Target Audience

Defining your target audience is essential in any marketing campaign, as it helps you focus your efforts on the people most likely to be interested in your product or service. 

The great thing about running PPC campaigns is that you can be very specific about what audience your ads target. This helps you gain more engagement and a better ROI from your campaigns.

There are several ways you can define your target audience:

  1. Demographics: This includes characteristics such as age, gender, income, education level, and occupation.
  1. Geographics: This is the location in which your target audience(s) are based.
  1. Psychographics: This includes characteristics such as values, interests, attitudes, and lifestyles.
  1. Behaviors: This includes how people use your product or service and their purchasing habits and preferences.
  1. Customer personas: A customer persona is a fictionalized representation of your ideal customer based on market research and accurate data about your existing customers.

You can use a combination of these factors to define your target audience. For example, if you are selling a luxury skincare line, your target audience might be women aged 35-55 with a high income and an interest in wellness and self-care.

Once you have defined your target audience, you can use this information to create marketing messages and campaigns tailored to their needs and interests. 

This can help you get better results from your marketing efforts and improve the return on your investment.

Choosing Keywords for your PPC Ads

Choosing the right keywords for your PPC (pay-per-click) ads is important because it determines which search queries will trigger your ads to appear. 

Here are a few tips for choosing keywords for your PPC adverts:

  • Start with a list of relevant keywords: Begin by creating a list of keywords that are relevant to your business and the products or services you offer. You can use tools such as the Google Keyword Planner to help you generate ideas.
  • Consider the intent behind the keyword: When choosing keywords, it’s important to consider the intent behind the keyword. For example, a search for “buy running shoes” indicates a higher level of intent to purchase than a search for “running shoes.”
  • Consider the level of competition in your industry. If it’s very high, then you may need to bid on more expensive keywords in order to compete with other businesses. 

Finally, you should always test different combinations of keywords and ads. You can do this by creating multiple ad groups and testing them against each other over a period of time.

Create Compelling, Relevant, Targeted Ads

The more specific your ad campaigns are to the search query, the better they will perform. This is critical for your PPC strategy. If you’re not using the exact words that people are searching for, your ads won’t show up as often. 

You also want to be sure that your ad copy is relevant and compelling to the user, so they click on it. This will get you more clicks, which will give you a better return on your PPC investment.

Targeting is an important part of successful PPC advertising. 

Your ads need to be relevant and timely in order for them to work well. If you’re not targeting the right people using the right keywords, then your ads won’t show up often enough for you to make a profit.

As mentioned earlier, targeting can be done on five levels: demographic, geographic, psychographic, behaviors, and buyer personas. 

If there are other businesses vying for the same keywords and audiences, then it’s important to know how to target them effectively.

Google ad

Provide a Quality User Experience On Landing Pages,

So you’ve done the hard work of creating a targeted keyword list and a quality landing page for your PPC strategy. 

Now it’s time to optimize that page so that it converts visitors into paying customers.

Remember- your landing pages should be designed to convert, not inform. To do this, you’ll need to ensure that they are relevant to the search query, user intent, and call-to-action (CTA).

The first step is designing a page that matches the topic of your ad text and what users are likely looking for when they click on those ads. 

If an ad promises information on how to start a business while mentioning keywords like “startup capital,” then your landing page should provide similar information or links back at least two steps in their decision-making process. 

In other words, helping them get started with their startup idea or providing more information about funding options before making any actual purchases or commitments.

Your landing page should also be relevant to your ad text. If you’re running an ad for a “free consultation,” then it’s important that your landing page offers one. If you’re promoting a product or service, then be sure that the page explains how it works and what benefits users will receive from using it.

Finally, your landing page should be designed to match your ad’s call-to-action (CTA). If you are promoting an offer for a free consultation, ensure that there is visible information or links explaining how to book one.

ad landing page

Putting it Together: Step-by-Step PPC Strategies

Creating a successful PPC strategy takes a couple of steps:

  1. Set a budget. The first thing you need to do when creating a PPC campaign has put a budget into place. This will help you evaluate the performance of your ads’ performance and help plan future budgets and ad copy.
  1. Define your goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your PPC ads? Why did they get approved in the first place? These questions should be answered before creating any ad groups or campaigns, so you can be sure that everything is tailored toward meeting those goals and objectives.
  1. Define your target audience. Now that you know what results you want from this campaign, it’s time to figure out who will see those results. The easiest way to do this is by defining keywords that describe who exactly makes up our target audience – not just “women” or “men,” but rather things like “women between 18-30 years old”. We also recommend using terms such as “users interested in,” which will allow us more flexibility when targeting certain interests or behaviors over others concerning our overall goal (e.g., users interested in travel).
  1. Create ad groups and campaigns. Now that we have a solid understanding of who we’re targeting and our objectives, it’s time to create the actual PPC ads themselves. The first step is creating an ad group for each keyword, allowing you to create separate campaigns for each (e.g., one campaign focused on women aged 18-30 who are interested in travel).
  1. Next, it’s time to write some ads! This is where you can get creative with your messaging. Try testing different variations of your copy to see which ones perform best in clicks and conversions. Use the data from your ad’s performance and other factors (like what competitors are doing) to determine which PPC ads are performing best, then create new ones based on those findings!
  1. Once you’ve created your PPC ads, it’s time to create campaigns for each ad group! The first thing you’ll want to do here is select your targeting options (e.g., location, device type) and bid amounts for each. You can also set up conversion tracking here if you haven’t already done so (which will allow you to see how much of an impact your PPC efforts are having on sales).

Wrapping Up

Running PPC ads can be a total game-changer for your business. You just need to make sure they’re properly set up and optimized so that they deliver profitable results for your business.

If you’re looking for help with your PPC strategy, get in touch with our team of ad experts who can create campaigns for you. Alternatively, consider using an automated ad creation tool like Braxy, to create and optimize campaigns for you.

With the right PPC strategy in place, your business can experience some serious growth.

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