7 Tips for an Effective PPC Campaign

November 17, 2015 - By Aaron Hockel

The truth is pay-per-click Internet marketing can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. With effective practices, you can have a successful SEM campaign utilizing a small budget. First, you need to understand a few basics and incorporate the best procedures into your advertising plan.

1. Clearly Define Objectives

To begin, you need to define the objective of your SEM campaign. Do you want to sell a particular product? Do you want more filled contact forms? Keep this goal simple and attainable so you can direct your efforts efficiently. If you have a complicated goal, break it into pieces and address each element with a targeted campaign.

2. Extensive Keyword Investigation

Keywords are the backbone of SEM campaigns, so it is imperative to dedicate an abundance of time into keyword research. Figure out what works in your industry and consider using more unique long tail keywords. For example, if you provide local roofing service in San Francisco, incorporate the location into your keyword list in order to effectively target locals.

3. Maximize Your Quality Score

Your ad position is a combination of your monetary bid and your quality score. As a result, you can make up for a smaller budget with a high quality score. What goes into this figure?

- Overall keyword performance

- High click-through rate (above 1.5 percent)

- Relevant landing pages with fast loading speeds

4. Check Your Campaign Periodically

The SEM industry changes constantly in accordance to search engine’s updating algorithms and consumers shifting preferences. With such a responsive system, you are free to experiment, but you must react quickly as trends continue moving. Analyze any changes you make using data from clicks, impressions and conversions.

5. Manually Manage Bidding

Programs like Google Adwords can automatically adjust your enterprise’s bids, but for the sake of your budget, you should do this manually. While these factory settings might work on a broad scale, smaller budgets must be meticulously managed. You don’t want to be overwhelmed with SEM fees unexpectedly. Manually input rates that work well within your established budget.

6. Make a Negative Keywords List

While most will put an adequate amount of research into keywords, many enterprise owners fail to account for negative keywords in their pay-per-click campaign. Essentially, negative keywords generate irrelevant search results. For example, if a homeowner in need of roof repair searches for “roof home repair” and clicks on a siding contractor, he or she will quickly exit the site, which decreases the quality score. Incorporate negative keywords into your SEM campaign to give it a general boost.

7. Monitor Cost Per Acquisition

On a small budget, you need to be aware of your spending quality. If you spend inefficiently, you aren’t making the most of your campaign. Adwords and similar programs include analytical tools that report your cost per acquisition. Try to keep this number as low as possible to ensure you maximize your budget.

With a small budget of $1,500 a month, you can have an extremely effective pay-per-click campaign. Be prepared to react quickly as you experiment and pay close attention to your analytics. With the right mindset, a small budget is no obstacle at all.