subject: Take Another Look At Your Pay Per Click Campaign [print this page] Pay per click campaigns are the backbone of ecommerce marketing. Recent research shows that pay per click campaigns generate more traffic, more conversions and higher average order amounts than organic search. Given the importance of pay per click ads, it makes sense to spend time analyzing and improving your campaigns whenever possible.
Many ecommerce business owners find it difficult to think creatively about their ads but do not have the financial resources to seek outside assistance. In this article we have posed some questions to get your creative juices flowing and put a new shine on your pay per click ads.
Click Timing
Have you analyzed which times of the day and which days of the week are the most active and the least active in terms of actual purchases, not click throughs? If you do this analysis, you can block advertising during the least productive parts of the day in terms of actual conversions.
Geography
Have you considered the geographic location of your website visitors? People like to buy locally. Try adding local keywords to your advertising to see if this strategy works for your product in your area. You will be seen as more trustworthy when you are in the same state or province or county.
Testing every component of your website
It is hard to know what works and what does not work on your website without testing. What have you tested lately? Have you included testing of your introductory text, your offer, your navigation, your call to action, your products, your pricing and your offers?
Studied the winners
When was the last time you surfed around the Internet and looked closely at how the most successful online retailers are writing and placing their ads? Check out Amazon, ProFlowers and many of the other tip sellers to see what their ads look like.
Studied the competition
When was the last time you checked out the competition ads? You need to know what everyone else in your market space is doing so that you can learn from it. Equally important, once you have studied the competition, you need to learn good techniques from them but make your ads different enough to stand out above the crowd. If you simply copy their strategies, you will just be a Johnny come lately build on their strategies with your own improved methods.
Studied the marketing funnel
When did you last look at your website analytic to study the actual path that visitors take through your website to become buyers? Unless you are looking at the value and problems with every page, you may be losing business that you do not need to lose.
Split Testing
Are you doing split testing all the time to be sure that your ad language works, your landing pages work and so on?
Affiliate Control
Are you aware of the pay per click behavior of your affiliates? If you allow your affiliates to use your company name as a keyword phrase, you will be bidding against them. Do not allow use of the company name in this way.
Improving your PPC ads will improve your revenues.
