8 Steps to Managing a Successful PPC Campaign

ppc marketing image for blog

PPC (Pay-per-click) advertising campaigns are simple yet effective. Over the years, the digital advertising world has faced newer, and more affordable marketing strategies but the efficacy of a strong PPC campaign remains unmatched.

PPC campaigns are worth the investment when they are given razor-sharp targeting and optimized to be made pocket-friendly. However, PPC campaign management requires a certain level of knowledge of advertising strategies and a certain level of expertise to be highly effective. In this guide, we will give you the inside hacks to make your PPC campaigns highly effective.

1. Planning and Goal-Setting

Planning and goal-setting are key aspects of PPC campaign success. PPC campaigns depend on the goals you intend to achieve and the planning you put in to achieve them. The first step towards effective PPC campaign management is to set the right goals. Whether it is to get website traffic, sales conversions, views on a video, or something else.

2. Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of running a successful PPC campaign as it affects various aspects of your campaign. Once done, these keywords will be used in optimizing ad copies to ensure that the ad is served for the right search queries. Your keywords also determine how much competition you will face as money keywords usually have multiple competitors.

3. Don’t Ignore Negative Keywords

While it is important to select relevant keywords that you want your PPC ads shown for, it is equally important to stop them from being displayed for the wrong keywords. Sometimes your PPC ads could show up for certain keywords that are not relevant to your business and this will end up burning a hole in your pocket.

Use the following matches to leverage your negative keywords

  • Broad Match
  • Phrase Match
  • Exact Match

4. Supercharge Your Campaign Targeting

The various target options you can use depends on the campaign:

Use the following for targeting

  • Placement Targeting
  • Audience Targeting
  • Contextual Targeting
  • Topic Targeting

5. Use the Right Landing page

With a PPC campaign, the ultimate goal is to land the audience on a page and enable them to take action. Whether it is adding to the cart, filling in their details, or signing up, incorporating the right landing page into the PPC campaign is key to closing the loop.

6. Create Multiple Ad Groups

Never run a campaign with a single ad group as it is very limiting and does not allow many opportunities for campaign optimization.

You can target different keywords and audiences with different ad groups. Ad groups are actually the level where you become more specific with your targeting.

And, you will want to target different types of target segments with different messaging, keywords, and destination URLs. That is why it is important to have multiple ad groups, so you don’t limit your campaign to just one target keyword and audience.

Each ad group, in turn, has multiple PPC ads in it. You can create different variations of ads and later use A/B testing to see which works best. But, more on that later.

7. Optimize Your Ads

Optimize PPC ads to ensure your ads are click-worthy. Ensure that the title, body, and CTA contain the USPs and offers to get the audience clicking and take action.

8. Track your conversions and measure results

Track your conversions and measure results to ensure your ads can be better optimized. A/B testing can provide valuable insights into CTA placements, layouts, the effectiveness of visual elements, etc. This is the kind of information that will help you design better ads in the future and is, therefore, a worthy investment.

Hire an agency to enhance your PPC campaigns and manage them in a better way.