PPC tips

Pay per click advertising basics

One of the ways that pay per click advertising is different from SEO is the additional cost of the ads beyond paying the people that execute them for you. However, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad – which means that you are only paying for users who are interested in your product or service.  There aren’t too many forms of advertising that can compete with that.

Ideally, this click then leads to a conversion of some sort. Tempt customers to give you their clicks by doing some or all of the following:

Planning that pays off

• Know or learn which keywords your customers actually use and identify whether or not there’s a difference between the keywords you think they use.
• Decide what a conversion is for you: is a clickthrough to your site enough? What’s that worth? Do you want to capture a lead form? What’s that worth?
• Decide what the goals of your PPC program are.
• Start Small: until you know which keywords actually lead to conversions, and which ones don’t, be judicious with how widely you target your keywords, and how much budget you provide.

For a more comprehensive strategy, learn the four steps to successful B2B search marketing in our white paper.

Ad advice

• Use the keyword in the title of your ad.
• If it makes sense, use the keyword in the body of your ad.
• Provide an incentive to attract clicks such as a free demo or white paper.
• Use a call to action that encourages the user to click your ad.
• Include your brand name to lend legitimacy to the ad.
• Display an appealing and meaningful URL that speaks to the user’s interest.
• Deliver users to a destination that gives them exactly what you promised. Most firms lose their visitors here and there’s a lot you can do to improve your landing pages.

Moving on

• Measure your results regularly. Tweak your PPC ads accordingly.
• Once you’ve mastered one area, try another.