PPC advertising has been around for what seems forever now, in marketing terms anyway, and has proven to be an extremely effective strategy for online marketing. Google created this perfect idea for search advertising, and with it came a sense of omnipotence, but PPC isn’t a magic marketing bullet. So, in an effort to set expectations, let’s talk about what PPC won’t be.
PPC Won’t Be Static
One of the biggest mistakes we see is a general lack of campaign maintenance. After the initial set up, campaigns are left alone to tread through shark infested PPC waters. If you have some extra cash to burn, then, by all means, go right ahead with this strategy. However, if you want a great ROI, then it is absolutely crucial to be hands-on with your PPC campaign. There are keywords to test, ad copy to tailor, landing pages to optimize - and that’s just the day-to-day maintenance.
No matter what search engine you are using, PPC is constantly evolving as more competitors flood the market. Campaign quality metrics are altered, new policies are implemented, and if you aren’t on top of things, your PPC campaigns will suffer. The good news is that if you are involved, you can capitalize on new policies and increase the performance of your campaign, maybe even before your competitors do.
For example, when Google altered their AdWords conversion optimizer policy and increased availability, we were able to test the optimizer in a couple of our smaller clients’ accounts, which made a notable difference. If you weren’t aware of the change, you’d be missing out on a great opportunity to improve your campaign’s performance.
PPC Won’t Be Consistent
I’ve yet to see a PPC campaign perfected. The simple fact is, the landscape is ever-changing. Your campaign could be rolling along smoothly - maybe you’ve determined that your ROI is greatest in position 4 and you’ve optimized your bids for that - but the minute a new competitor enters the market, or an old competitor changes their strategy, your own strategy must change quickly in response to these shakeups. Because of this, PPC is not very consistent. Sure, if you have a PPC agency or a PPC manager on staff, you can limit the variations in performance by optimizing daily. However, as much as we wish we could, you can’t control your customers, and your conversion rates will reflect this. A monster day in conversions can be followed by one with no conversions. This is something that you just must accept.
PPC Won’t Be Easy
This is starting to seem like hard work, right? Well, that’s because it actually is hard work. Sure, maybe PPC was easy in 2001, but PPC advertising, especially good PPC advertising, is both an art and science which takes significant skill and effort these days. Google, the biggest player, has continued to improve the AdWords system, rolling out new updates that make PPC much better overall, but also much more difficult to manage.
In 2001, you could buy keywords, write your ad copy, set your landing page and your conversion page, and be done. No more! Now you have options: search network, display network, TV ads, day-parting, geo-targeting, image ads, mobile ads, click to call, video ads, conversion optimizer, website optimizer, negative keywords, position preference, location extensions, product extensions – the list goes on and on.
Managing a PPC campaign involves lots of research, knowledge, and testing, testing, and more testing. With the roll-out of all these new tools, you need a dedicated PPC manager that is willing to take advantage of these tools in a very strategic manner to get the most out of your campaigns.
PPC Won’t Be a Replacement for SEO
Don’t abandon your SEO efforts just yet. PPC can bring you higher quality traffic and visibility, but it’s never going to replace your organic search efforts. Studies show that using SEO and PPC together will provide you with better results.
Sure, they can each perform autonomously, but like pizza and beer, these two search marketing techniques are better when they are together. Utilizing both PPC and SEO will ensure that you’re covering all of your search marketing bases. Focusing only on paid traffic leaves you open for your competitors to capture your potential organic traffic customers (or vice versa).
Another benefit of implementing both strategies is the increased visibility of your brand name. For instance, say you were trying to rank for the keyword “Atlanta Web Design”, so you optimize your SEO strategy, which gets you in the top 10 organic listings on Google. You then decide it’s time for a PPC campaign. Now you have your company name on the first page organic search results and the first page paid search results, doubling your exposure to the consumer. We all know that the more a consumer sees your brand the more likely that name will stand out and be recalled when making a purchasing decision, which is exactly what you want. As an added bonus, every spot you take up is a spot taken away from your competition.
PPC can result in better traffic, more visibility, and a higher ROI, but it works best when integrated into a complete internet marketing mix.
PPC Won’t Be the Reason People Buy Your Product
Just like traditional marketing, search engine marketing won’t guarantee that people will buy your product. Consumers will click on the ad and get to your site, then decide not to convert. As frustrating as that can be, it’s your task to figure out how to guide the consumer from click to conversion (doing landing page optimization, A/B testing, etc.)
You must be able to persuade people that your product or service is worth purchasing; it’s not going to happen just by getting people to your site. Good products + traffic + the right landing page = conversion. PPC will take care of the traffic, but you’ve got to put some work into the other parts of the formula to be truly successful.
Okay Then, What Will It Do?
You might be thinking okay, then why would I even attempt a PPC campaign? The reason is that, with an optimized PPC campaign, the quality of traffic you can receive is often substantially better than organic traffic. Your PPC ads, keywords, and landing pages work like a GPS system, targeting your customers down to the tiniest details. Ad copy and negative keywords ensure that the consumers clicking on your ads are genuinely looking for what you have to offer, rather than clicking on random links until they find the right one. Highly targeted traffic results in a higher ROI – the ultimate marketing goal.