How to Promote Your Website with Paid Ads
Search engine marketing is a powerful method of driving organic, or unpaid, search engine traffic to your website. One way to maximize your return on investment, or ROI, from search engine marketing is to utilize paid search engine listings. Paid search engine listings, or pay-per-click advertising campaigns, give webmasters the ability to enhance their visibility in the search engine results and subsequently, create more website traffic. Pay-per-click campaigns are a cost-effective and trackable way to ensure your website is being seen and driving targeted traffic.
Starting a Pay-per-Click Campaign
The first step in setting up a pay-per-click campaign is to open an account with one of the supported search engines like Google AdWords or Microsoft’s Bing Ads. Once the account is established, selecting and entering the appropriate “keywords” is next. The selection of appropriate and properly targeted keywords is essential to a successful pay-per-click campaign. Keywords are words or phrases that carry a digital marketing value and will position your website higher within the keyword search engine results.
The most effective pay-per-click campaigns will include a large selection of highly targeted and relevant keywords, typically focusing on keywords that are associated with your business, services or products. When selecting the keywords for your campaign avoid choosing words that are too common. A broad combination of general and specific keywords is what will provide the most successful results.
Writing Effective Ads
Once you have identified the appropriate keywords for your campaign you will need to craft an effective advertisement. The ad must have a title, a succinct description and a call to action. The words chosen should clearly convey what you are offering, as this will help attract more qualified leads. Keep the ad headline clear, brief and engaging; the headline should be strong enough to convince the reader to click. If you are providing a unique offer, like an introductory discount or coupon, ensure that it is reflected in the text of the ad.
The call to action should also be prominent and clear. Having a call to action, like “Contact us today” or “Visit our website”, clearly states the next step for the visitor and entices them to take the desired action. Make sure your contact information, such as a website or email address, is included in the ad for further contact purposes. It is also important to ensure that the words you use in the advertisement match the words used in the keyword search. If a keyword phrase says, “used cars in Miami”, the ad should say that too. Having an effective, relevant and targeted advertisement will increase your success.
Optimizing Your Campaign
After launching your pay-per-click campaign you should constantly monitor and analyze it. You may consider running two or three campaigns parallel and measuring the success of each to get a better understanding of the campaign overall. Keep track of the budget and the cost of each click. Monitor the balance of your campaign and if necessary, adjust the budget and pause low performing campaigns.
The measures of success for your campaign will depend on the overall goal of your website. If you are looking to sell products online, track how many purchases you generate from your clicks. If your goal is to generate leads, measure how many leads you are getting from your campaign and how many of those leads are converted customers. When measuring the success of your campaign, consider the facts; avoid false conclusions based on assumptions.
Conclusion
Pay-per-click advertising campaigns are a proven method of driving qualified search engine traffic to your site and managing your ROI. A successful pay-per-click campaign requires careful management and monitoring, as well as the identification of effective and relevant keywords and the writing of an engaging advertisement. By following the best practices for pay-per-click campaigns, you can maximize the effectiveness of your website promotion and optimize your ROI.