ACtion Magazine - July 2013 - (Page 10)

Angie Kilbourne, AAM I Getting the most for your money with PPC Pay-per-click advertising may be the one marketing tool that pulls your website from page three to page one of search engine results — with just a reasonable investment of time and money t’s been proven time and again that organic (nonpaid) search results out a contact form. are clicked on more than pay-per-click (PPC) ads, usually to a tune Enable extensions within your PPC ad, such as phone number, social of 70 percent organic vs. 30 percent search ads. That’s why I advise media, website links and customer reviews or ratings. PPC ads have a shop owners to build great content and optimize their websites for search limited number of characters available for the actual ad. However, these engines before going on an online advertising spending blitz. But if “extensions” provide additional information — Click to Call button, you’ve taken a look at Google’s search results page recently, you might maps, Contact Us or Appointment page links, etc. — without counting be confused by what you see. The search giant has made some subtle against that total character limit, increasing the size and visibility of your changes to PPC ads, including a background color change that makes ad. it more difficult to discern the paid listings from nonpaid search results, Measure the results; adjust as necessary. Incorporate your PPC ad dropping the “Sponsored Links” headings and second column of ads, and campaigns into your Google Analytics account, if you have one. If you listing enhancements such as phone and site link extensions. As online are using Google Adwords, just go to the help tutorials for instructions. marketing becomes more sophisticated and technology marches on, it’s But measure where visitors are coming from, where they go on your clear Google is betting on search engine advertising to bring in even more website, and what actions they take. That will give you the data you need revenue to its coffers. to make adjustments to your marketing when necessary. Let me be clear: I won’t stop telling people to develop their website Using PPC advertising can be a powerful and effective marketing tool and social media content to improve their organic search engine rank. for your business, and remember that for every slot your business appears With all the work you can do yourself with little to no cost, it’s the most closer to the top of Page One of a potential customer’s search results, your economical and most effective method of raising your search engine rank. competitors are pushed further down the page. But if your website is buried back on page three or four of a search, paid STAT: search ads are still an inexpensive and viable method to instantly push your 75% of all Internet searchers never scroll past the first page. name to the top of page one quickly. In addition, for every click you gain Source: Hubspot/Marketshare.Hitslink.com, Oct. 2010 report ❆ from PPC ads, your site gains visibility and increases visits, which in turn improves your organic search engine results ranking. For many businesses, PPC advertising is a useful and important piece of their marketing plans. What’s important is that you are using all the recent enhancements that can make your advertising work harder for you without any additional costs: Build separate niche campaigns based on your keywords. In other words, if you are going to purchase the keyword phrases “brake service” and “A/C service,” you should create two different ads and landing pages with their own calls to action. A landing page is the Web page your ad is linked to, and more sophisticated campaigns use separate landing pages to deliver the specific content for each ad running. Say you are running a brake service ad and an A/C service ad. Brake service customers will be looking for information that is completely different than A/C service customers, so you should link to two different Web pages with specific messages for each group’s needs. Provide direct contact information — phone number, email, etc. — in large type on your Google’s recent changes to PPC ads are barely noticeable, making them almost landing page ad. Make it easy for anyone to indiscernible from the unpaid organic listings. contact you directly and do not force them to fill 10 ACTION • July/August 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - July 2013

ACtion Magazine - July 2013
Contents
Outlook
Freeze Frame
Virtual View
Leonard’s Law
Cooling Corner
Member Profile
News & Updates
Motorhome Air Conditioning
How Low Can You Go?
Quick Check
Association News
Classified
New Products & Services
Last Watch

ACtion Magazine - July 2013