by Duran Inci

Competition is fierce in Pay Per Click Advertising on both Google Adwords and Yahoo Sponsor Search, aka Overture. There’s nothing more attractive than displaying your products and services to targeted audiences who are only looking for the specific products and services that you offer.

Advertisers have become smarter about how they spend their advertising dollars on Google Adwords; however there are still many misconceptions. Increasing conversion rates in a PPC Campaign requires an aggressive and time-consuming approach. There are 4 steps;

• Keyword Selection: Advertisers often go after the terms with the highest search volume. Therefore, the bid costs of these one-word terms are very high. The more general the keyword, the higher the cost and the lower the conversion rate. Keyword research is essential and a broad range of keywords should be tested.

Create a large keyword list and focus on “long-tailed keywords”. These will bring the highest conversions. The more detailed the search, the higher probability of conversion. For example, if I’m just looking for information on an Audi A4, I will just search for “Audi A4”. However, if I want to buy floor mats for my car, I will search for “2004 Audi A4 Floor Mats” which means I’m more likely to click on a targeted ad.

• Ad Copy: You ultimately want as many users to click on your PPC Ad as possible. This will increase your CTR (Click Through Rate). The higher your CTR, the higher your Quality Score will be. So, if I’m searching for “Audi A4 Floor Mats”, I probably do not want to see and add that reads, “Audi A4” or “Discount Floor Mats”. I want to see and click exactly what I searched for which is, “Audi A4 Floor Mats”.

• Landing Pages: This factor makes or breaks the deal. You must have a user-friendly landing page. That means your Keyword, Ad Copy, and Landing page must be in synch. The landing page should have a title that reads, “Audi A4 Floor Mats” along with an image of an Audi A4 Floor Mat, a price and a call to action. (Add to Cart or Buy Now Button) This will ensure that you are guiding the user through the process and giving exactly what they searched for. Since there are no alternatives for the buyer, this will likely lead directly to a conversion

• Analytics: You always have to look at analytics. You must know how each of the keywords is performing and which keywords you are making money on. If you received 100 clicks in one week for “Audi A4 Floor Mats”, you are bidding $1.00 for each click, you make $10.00 every time you sell an A4 Floor Mat and you sold 5 last week (meaning a 5% conversion rate), means you just lost $50.00 on your marketing efforts. You spent $100.00 to make $50.00.

Therefore, it’s essential to make these calculations and identify the terms or products that are not performing. For example, are you willing to lose $50.00 with the hope of return business? Or should you increase your profit from each mat to $20.00 to break even? (This may get fewer conversions due to increased price) Perhaps, you might want to change your supplier and find a better supplier who can provide a better price?

You must know your bottom line and always look for alternate solutions. Don’t just keep losing money, optimize and make it better. Increase your conversion rates!