M2Inbound InboundMarketing

Utilizing PPC

Scott Miller is an Inbound Marketing Author Strategist and Consultant He founded Marketing Matters in 1996 and leads a team of Inbound Marketers He invented the Einstein Inbound Assessment amp AGI Pyramid His clients realize unusually high measurable ROI

Scott A Miller

Scott A Miller Follow him on Twitter

tuxmiller

M2Inbound 2

PPC eBook bull What is Paid Search

bull How to Use Paid Search

bull How Paid Search Works

bull Paid Search Strategy

bull Measuring with Metrics

bull Conclusion amp Additional Resources

4 - 6 7 - 12 13 - 17 18 - 23 24 - 26 27 - 29

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What is Paid Search

Introduction

Paid vs Organic Search

1

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PPC

Ultimately learning to properly utilize the essential basics of search engine marketing (SEM) increases

the revenue of your website and business

There are several predominant search engines but the way each one operates in terms of paid search (pay-per-click or PPC) is based on the model used by Google so this eBook will use Google AdWords as the example You can extrapolate the principles and use them on just about any search engine you choose

Understanding the fundamental differences between paid and traditional search marketing allows you to drive more traffic and leads to your website

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Paid vs Organic Search

Although it would be nice to succeed online solely based on organic search results the reality for every business is that paid search helps supplement your efforts to get found online and can symbiotically over time improve your organic search efforts while driving traffic to your website now

Organic search results are the results naturally produced by a search engine Theyrsquore based on complex algorithms search engine companies develop to provide answers to the searchersrsquo queries they believe are most relevant Utilize search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to influence these results Paid search provides the option to purchase an Ad above or alongside the organic search results as they are displayed on the search engine results page (SERP) The Ads displayed are based on keywords used in search queries how often theyrsquore shown is based on two criteria ndash how relevant the Ad is to a search query and how much yoursquore willing to pay for the Ad

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How to Use Paid Search

Using Paid Search

Landing Page Testing

Finding New Keywords

Getting in the Game

Paid Search Canrsquot Stand Alone

2

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Using Paid Search

Paid search is not a replacement for anything but should rather be an integral part of a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy You can use it to accomplish many of your inbound marketing goals

Paid search is not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition To use paid search properly you must understand how itrsquos best implemented to drive real-time results while improving organic search results long-term

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Landing Page Testing

ldquoCompanies with 30 or more landing pages

generate 7x more leads than those with fewer

than 10rdquo

Paid search is an ideal way to test and optimize landing pages using AB testing to assess two variations of a given campaign element You can set a single Ad to drive users to two distinct destination URLs and therefore two different landing pages

With AB testing you can find the elements of your campaigns that drive the highest conversion rates from lead to customer

To assess one offerrsquos effectiveness against another you can test

1 Different layouts

2 Varying features on forms

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Finding New Keywords

Paid search is also an excellent way to find new keywords to use in your overall inbound marketing campaigns

As you construct your paid search campaign GoogleAdWords generates a Search Terms report Although you may have chosen to only use ldquolawn mowersrdquo as your search Googlersquos Search Terms report will also display effective ancillary terms such as ldquoelectric lawn mowers or ldquopush lawn mowersrdquo You can then decide if adding any of these terms to your campaign is worthwhile

Knowing which keywords result in high search traffic can help improve your paid campaigns and organic efforts You can use these words for SEO or to build landing pages thus optimizing all your inbound marketing efforts

ldquo44 of online shoppers begin by using a search enginerdquo - Interconnected

World

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Getting in the Game

You can also use paid search to improve your visibility in areas and search terms where you have not yet been as successful as yoursquod like to be

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A well-placed search ad will Get you seen and noticed Boost favorable ranking efforts in organic search

results for secondary keywords Appear at or near the top of the list giving you a

competitive edge

ldquo75 of users never scroll past the

first page of search resultsrdquo - Hubspot

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Paid Search Canrsquot Stand Alone

Paid search while effective is not intended to be a standalone strategy It will however complement your

inbound marketing efforts to drive organic traffic

When a user sees your website display in both organic search results as well as a paid search Ad it signals to them that you are a force to be reckoned with in your

niche

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How Paid Search Works

Keywords Ads amp Landing Pages

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Bidding

Quality Score

Keyword Match Types

3

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Keywords Ads amp Landing Pages

A paid search campaign consists of three elements Keywords Ads and Landing Pages

Begin by telling Google which keywords you want to buy to trigger your ads to display on their search engine results page(s) (SERPs) Design your ads around these keywords to make them relevant to the query and compelling enough to get users to click on them Once users click through direct them to a landing page where you will try to persuade them to take the next step buying your product downloading an offer or otherwise moving further down the sales funnel By managing matching and optimizing these three

elements you can improve the effectiveness of your paid search initiatives

1 2 3

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Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Bidding

Google offers two ways your Ad can be displayed and billed Pay-per-click (PPC) and pay per 1000 impressions (CPM) Most businesses will want to use the PPC option meaning you pay every time your Ad is clicked in stead of simply paying for its display Typically the people who click Ads have an interest what is being offered Therefore PPC is almost always the most cost-effective advertising choice as compared to CPM The amount paid per click is based on Googlersquos auction-style of bidding for Ad placement Google will evaluate the various top bids of advertisers and place the Ads accordingly with the lowest bids at the bottom

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Quality Score Although the amount you bid for ad placement plays a significant role in determining whether or where your Ad gets placed so too does the Adrsquos relevancy to searcherrsquos queries Google also gives each Ad a ldquoquality scorerdquo The algorithm behind the quality score evaluates how relevant your Ad and the landing page it takes users to is to any given search query This is done to ensure buyers are not simply buying keywords to boost their exposure on Google After all if someone who sells bowling balls bid on haircuts Chinese food and Honolulu airfare the resulting Ads would ultimately be of little use to the vast majority of searchers making Googlersquos search results increasingly irrelevant and ineffective over time Googlersquos quality scoring ranks Ads from 1 to 10 10 being best If your Ads are ranked 8 while your competitorsrsquo Ads are ranked 4 your Ads should be placed higher even if you bid a bit less than the competition because your Ads are perceived to better meet searchersrsquo needs When you get this strategy of bidding and relevancy right (in Googlersquos eyes) you should end up with the lowest possible cost for the best placement of your Ads

Utilizing PPC

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Keyword Match Types

Google uses three variants of matching keywords to prompt ad placement Exact Match Displays your ad only when the keyword search matches your keywords exactly For example ldquopizza delivery Harvard Squarerdquo Phrase Match If you choose phrase match your ad can display if it contains the same order of words but also if it contains additional words in this case ldquopepperoni pizza delivery in Harvard Squarerdquo Broad Match Ad will display when those keywords are queried not necessarily in that order or not just with those words For example your ad might display if people queried ldquopizza Harvard Squarerdquo ldquopepperoni pizza Harvard Squarerdquo or ldquofree pizza delivery in Harvard Squarerdquo You can also set negative match keywords to prevent your ads from being shown if the negative keyword is present in the search query

Utilizing PPC

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Paid Search Strategy

Keyword Strategy

Account Structure

Setting Your Budget

Optimizing Ad Copy

4

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Keyword Strategy

How do you choose which keyword match type to apply

Choose too narrowly and yoursquoll miss out on plenty of search results opportunities Choose too broadly and you may pay for far more click-throughs than are effective and thus squander Ad budget

The answer is to experiment and monitor your results very closely One popular strategy is setting all keywords to broad match and pairing it with negative match This will help you corral a lot of users quickly while still excluding the most irrelevant ones You will need to pay close attention to the results and do so often but by studying which keywords are working best you will quickly hone in on the most relevant and qualified leads

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You can also see which keywords are most effective by using broad match (and phrase match) setting keywords then using the Search Terms report Use that knowledge to set the best ones to exact match because they have proven themselves Perhaps the most important aspect in keyword strategy is your willingness to continue to test analyze and adjust Not only will you refine results but since keyword performance is a constantly evolving your keyword strategy should likewise develop over time to keep up with contemporary search habits and results

Keyword Strategy Utilizing PPC

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Account Structure

As part of your inbound marketing strategy you will want to keep your Google AdWords Ads properly organized so you can efficiently monitor their success

ldquo79 of marketing leads never convert into sales Lack of lead nurturing is the

common cause of this poor performancerdquo

(MarketingSherpa)

You can organize similar Ads into Ad groups and further organize those groups into campaigns This enables you to quickly and efficiently monitor those Ads targeting likeminded products and services Using our example you might group all your pizza delivery ads versus your pizza takeout ads and you might further bundle those under your pizza campaign as compared to a pasta campaign you might be running as well

Utilizing PPC

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Setting Your Budget Google AdWordsrsquo Ads operate by depositing a preset amount you determine in your AdWords account letrsquos say $600 you intend to last you a month You can then set your Ad budget not to exceed a predetermined amount (perhaps $20 per day) and set your Ad display budget to dispense that $20 evenly over the course of a day Setting these parameters ensures that your entire budget isnrsquot used up in far less than time than you intended either for the month or by day By starting off slowly and monitoring your Ad results closely you can soon determine the best monthly and daily spending limits Of course just because you authorize Google vis a vis your deposit to spend $600 in a month or $20 per day doesnrsquot exactly mean your budgets will be spent accordingly If you donrsquot get enough clicks to accommodate your set limit that money remains in your account You will however want to rethink your keyword strategy if this is the case to make sure itrsquos effective and producing desired results

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Ad Creation

25 37 35 35

Remember those numbers Those are the character limitations for the title of your ad (the first line shown in blue text) your vanity URL (the URL shown in your ad not necessarily the one to which users are directed which is known as the destination URL) and two lines 35 characters each in the ad copy (or description) lines You may use the first line of ad copy as a call-to-action and the second line for an offer or vice versa Do your best to maximize the characters you use to make the ads as effective as possible

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Measuring with Metrics

Defining the 4 Basic Metrics

Combining the 4 Basic Metrics

5

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The 4 Basic Metrics

Impressions - This is the number of times your Ad has been displayed People may or may not have seen it or clicked on it but they have been given the opportunity to be exposed to it via an impression Clicks - This is when someone who has been exposed to your Ad actually clicks on it taking them to your landing page Conversions - When you set up your AdWords account you will be prompted to add a tracking code to your website That will allow Google and you to track user activity when someone has taken the desired action from your landing page like purchasing a product or downloading content Spend - Your spend is the amount of money you have spent on your AdWords campaign up to the present or for any given time period

There are four basic metrics that count most when evaluating your paid search efforts impressions clicks conversions and spend

1 2 3 4

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Combining the 4 Metrics Combinations or derivatives of the four metrics will help you optimize your campaign via the inbound marketing analytics you use to evaluate them and improve your offerings

1 Click-through Rate (CTR) - The percentage of

impressions that result in clicks The higher the CTR the more effective this aspect of your campaign is

2 Conversion Rate - The percentage of clicks that turn into conversions It also improves as the ratio improves fewer clicks to greater conversions

3 Cost-per-Click (CPC) - This cost metric is the amount of money spent to acquire each click You can determine your CPC by dividing the number of clicks into your total spend The more you can lower this ratio the more efficient your campaigns will be

4 Cost per Acquisition (CPA) - This cost metric is the amount yoursquore spending to convert prospects into customers Divide the total spend by the number of conversions The lower your CPA the better

The higher your percentage metrics and the lower your cost metrics the more efficiently yoursquore running your inbound

marketing campaigns Set goals monitor and analyze your results to continually optimize your marketing efforts

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Conclusion amp Additional Resources

Conclusion

Additional Resources

6

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Conclusion

Use what yoursquove learned about paid search in this eBook as part of your overall inbound marketing strategy

Keep these things in mind when you do Paid search is based on a pay-per-click (PPC) model Keep your AdWords account structured properly to

help organize your campaigns Ad groups keywords and Ad copy for maximum effect

By improving your Ad quality scores you will not only increase performance but also reduce your advertising costs

Paid search is not a substitute for inbound marketing itrsquos an integral part of it Master your inbound marketing fundamentals first ndash blogging lead generation SEO and so on ndash then use what yoursquove learned from those efforts to optimize your paid search initiatives

Continue to track monitor analyze and optimize The

more you know about the effectiveness of every element of your paid search campaigns the more

effective and cost-effective they will be

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If your wondering how you can get help with your businessrsquo PPC strategies visit our website and take a look at our

solutions

If you have any questions about PPC that werenrsquot answered in this eBook or

would just like to talk about inbound marketing strategies contact us at

Marketing Matters Inbound and set up a time where we can talk one on one about your strategies Wersquod be happy

to help you out

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Additional Resources Utilizing PPC