he MOST important part of your AdWords campaign - keyword selection. This will absolutely make or break any PPC campaign. Remember that in search engine optimization the most general keywords like “weight loss” are the most competitive, well the same holds true for PPC campaigns. However in the case of PPC, these terms are also the most costly since there are so many people bidding for them. But as we learned in SEO, these broad and generic terms don’t necessarily translate into buyers. Someone searching for the keyword “weight loss” is usually not looking to buy anything but probably just looking for general information on losing weight. A keyword like “best weight loss supplement” while not going to generate near the searches or clicks, will generally lead to more sales (if you are selling weight loss pills) since someone typing in this search term is most likely looking to buy something. The beauty of using a long tail keyword like “best weight loss supplement” is that it is far cheaper on a cost per click basis then “weight loss”. Using Google’s free keyword search tool, we can see the average monthly search volume for these longer keyword phrases AND the average amount we need to spend per click to be on the first page of results. This keyword may only receive 1-2 clicks per day, but what happens if we choose 50 keywords that all receive 1-2 clicks per day? That means 50-100 clicks per day total and ALL from keyword phrases that are more likely to be potential buyers.
Let’s say we spend 20 cents per click and receive 50 clicks. That comes out to $10 a day. From 50 clicks for highly targeted keyword phrases we can usually expect a 4-5% conversion rate or even better. This means 2-3 sales per day on average. Now of course it depends on what the margin is on the product you are selling, but typically 2-3 sales a day will generate significantly more than
Now let’s run that same scenario if we are targeting more competitive keyword that is also more generic and receives a much lower conversion rate. If we spend $3 per click on a keyword like “weight loss” and generate 100 clicks in a day; that is a whopping $300 a day. And do you know what the average conversion rate is for a keyword like “weight loss”? 1-2% at best. That means you can expect to make 1-2 sales a day by targeting this keyword with a budget of $300 a day. So unless you have an extremely expensive product (in which case your conversion rate will be even lower), good luck turning a profit using this strategy.
This may seem like a no brainer, but guess which one of the above 2 strategies MOST pay-per-click advertisers choose? Would you believe it’s the second one! And this is why most end up spending significantly more money than they bring in.
Now let’s couple this strategy with a list building/targeting method I like to use. I like building keyword lists into category groups using headings and subheadings. Then I create ad groups for each main heading (keyword) and use the subheadings as additional keywords within that group. Then I will create ads specific to each group and have these ads point to a specific page within my site that is the MOST relevant for that particular group of keywords.
Say I own a sporting goods store that sells a lot of different types of equipment for use in many different sports. I would start by creating a main heading for each sport (baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf, etc.) and then under each one I would create specific items used in each sport (golf clubs, golf balls, golf bags, golf tees, etc.) Then I want to create an ad group within AdWords for each sport, and have my specific items be my main keywords with each group. Then I’m going to create ads specifically related to each keyword and have it point to the specific page on my site that sells that particular item. People are much more likely to make a purchase if they search for golf clubs and are brought directly to the page on your site that sells golf clubs, as opposed to the main page of your sporting goods website. Most will not take the time to search and navigate to the page that sells what they are looking for.
So let’s recap -
Effective PPC strategy = MANY highly specific “niche” keywords with low CPC that may only receive a couple of hits a day. This is much more cost effective then a highly general keyword that has a high cost per click. For example, the keyword “weight loss” is very broad and general but has a HIGH CPC because it is extremely competitive and receives A LOT of daily searches. Conversely, the keyword “best weight loss supplements” is much more specific, receives far fewer daily searches and has a much lower CPC.
Build keyword lists in categories using headings and subheadings. Then create ads specific to each heading and that point to a specific page within your site that is relevant to that particular keyword. Example using Sporting goods store. The store sells lots of equipment for many different sports.
Make sense? It should - because combining these two simple yet HIGHLY effective strategies will help you to set-up a profitable PPC campaign in no time.
