If mastering the art of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising were easy, everyone would do it themselves. Alas, there’s much more to running a successful PPC campaign than meets the eye.

The good news is that we’re going to share some handy tips with you. In this article, we’re talking about 5 elements that every successful PPC campaign has in common…

Extensive keyword research

Focus keywords are critical in most online marketing methods and PPC is no exception. In order to have any chance at succeeding, you must go into great depth with your keyword research.

You must anticipate the way users search online, and there are a number of keyword research tools that can help you do this.

You need to find a balance between generic keywords and long-tail keywords. You should also understand the nature of transactional keywords and location-based keywords.

There’s no good targeting any old keyword without giving it much thought. What about the competition? How many searches do they get each month? How likely are they to convert into business? Are they entirely relevant to the products or services you sell? 

Well optimised PPC landing pages

Another very important element of a successful PPC campaign is having a well optimised landing page with an intuitive UX design for your adverts.

What is it that you wish to achieve with this particular ad group? Are you looking to sell a specific product? Get more sign ups to your mailing list? Promote a webinar or service?

Sending your traffic to a generic home page is not the right call when conducting PPC ads. Instead, they should be directed to highly targeted landing pages that are relevant to the advert you are pushing.

The key to getting maximum conversions is to not only meet expectations, but exceed them. If your prospects end up on an unrelated page, they’ll abandon the search and head elsewhere.

Persuasive ads copy

When writing sales copy for your PPC ads, you have a very limited character count to play with. In fact, you’ve got to convey a powerful message and attract as many clicks as possible using a maximum of 145 characters.

Businesses often make the mistake of underestimating the power of quality sales copy. After all, how hard can it be to write a short sentence, right?

Don’t make the same mistake.

Instead, invest in a gifted sales copywriter who can craft compelling ads that will significantly increase the likelihood of your prospects clicking on your PPC ads and heading to your landing page (which should also be populated with highly persuasive writing) in order to convert them into customers.

Shrewd bidding

PPC advertising operates on a bidding system. In essence, whoever is prepared to pay more for a keyword will typically see their ad placed higher up the page.

That said, don’t assume that you always have to be the top bidder to succeed in a PPC campaign. Being in second or third place in the ads pack isn’t the end of the world – especially if your ad copy, and landing page is world-class.

This is a long process that takes constant refinement. You should be regularly reviewing your keywords and your bidding strategy to get an idea for how much each conversion costs on average. Following that, you can add even more key phrases to the list and dial in on the top performers.

Split-test and refine the conversion journey

A landing page is never completed. Whenever you are sending new traffic to your landing page via your PPC ads, you must study the conversion journey / funnel and determine which elements are working best – and which need work.

For example, if you see a lot of traffic drop off in a specific part of the conversion process, then something could be improved (or removed). This is where split-testing comes in; you can run two different versions of your landing page side by side in order to see which version performs best.

Final thoughts

Let’s have a quick recap:

• Conduct extensive keyword research.
• Create well optimised landing pages.
• Write persuasive ads copy.
• Master the bidding process.
• Split-test and refine the conversion journey.

Alternatively, it’s definitely worth considering hiring the professionals. For example, this agency offers PPC management in Singapore and has a proven track record of success with a multitude of recognised brands.

If you don’t have the time or resources to invest in mastering your PPC campaign, let the pros take care of it and focus on doing what you do best.