There’s a steep learning curve to PPC, and that’s why so many people don’t even try it. They spend countless hours on optimizing with SEO and creating killer content, instead.

All that time and energy is rarely wasted, but you tend to develop a little marketing blind-spot in the process. It’s called PPC.

However, before you decide you don’t need to use paid advertising, consider you’re a possible (whopping) return on your investment.

Your ROI is going to be high if you do a little research on ad copy keywords that come with high buyer intent – meaning people are already looking to purchase your services or product, and you learn a little more about why and how PPC can work for you.

The whole point is getting more customers, right?

Almost. The point is getting paying customers.

If you have 10,000 page views per month but only 3 people make a purchase, as opposed to 5,000 views with PPC, yet 500 people make a purchase, who is winning the Internet marketing game?

Many people avoid PPC because they don’t know how to do it right and it gobbles up their marketing budgets, but with a little education, you can maximize this highly profitable marketing method.

At Second Screw, we’ve made a science out of utilizing great web design, killer content, and SEO optimization, but we also use give customers’ sites a little extra nudge toward success in the form of PPC becasue we know it works.

 

Why You Need to Diversify Your Website Traffic

Organic search queries won’t bring you all your customers.

SEO and great content will get you about 80% of your traffic, but do you really want to leave 20% more traffic on the table?

UnBounce also says that PPC customers are more likely to purchase something on your page. Even though 86% of people searching the web trust organic SEO listings more than sponsored/paid PPC listings, PPC offers instant results and can generate visitors more quickly than SEO and content alone.

Paid advertising can help you get people to your site while you are waiting for content and SEO to kick in, which, if you are only starting out, can take many months to bear fruit.

You can also get customers in almost any business niche because Google gets so much traffic from both organic searches and PPC.

According to Business2Community’s research, Google AdWords serves an average of 29,741,270,774 impressions per day. That’s billions, people!

With a Google Adwords campaign, you can reach millions of people per day who would never find your site through an organic search.

Image credit: Business2community.com

 

Types of PPC Campaigns

First, you need to figure out which social media platforms or search engine most closely match your business’s demographics.

This will prevent you from wasting valuable marketing dollars on ad campaigns that won’t give you a high ROI.

Next, consider your objectives and audience in creating a PPC campaign.

• Are you attempting to simply build brand awareness which will later turn into sales?
• Are you encouraging people to download your App, view a video on your site, or read a specific piece of content? Are you wanting more people in your offline stores, or are you simply building a greater online presence?
• Are you targeting direct sales for a specific product or service?

 

Google AdWords

 The very first place to start with any PPC campaign is Google. Simply click here and press the Start Now button.

Start with a “search network only” campaign.

Choose your geographic location, and choose your daily budget so that you can “bid” on clicks without going over your marketing budget.

Ignore “Ad extensions” until you become savvier at creating an ad campaign.

You’ll want to set up an add this way:

1st line: 25 characters of attention-grabbing text

2^nd line: 25 characters of text describing your product or service

3^rd line: up to 35 characters (should be a call to action)

4^th line: Your website URL

Insert your keywords, and set your maximum pay-per-click before you double check everything and enter your billing information.

Done. You just did your first Google ad.

It may not bring you a boatload of customers on the first go, but with a little practice optimizing your ad text, you can expect some astounding results.

If you bid on keywords with too much competition, for example, your PPC won’t reach enough people and waste your marketing budget.

With tools like SEMRush and SpyFu you can analyze your competition’s keywords, and decide if you want to use other keywords and phrases to reach the same market with less cash outlay.

You can also always test for profitability and refine your audience, and then go from there.

 

Facebook Ads

Facebook is also a good start for a PPC campaign, as it has many demographics which can be targeted with detail.

Even with the recent news of Cambridge Analytica’s data abuse, people can’t seem to give up their Face-Crack. More than 2.2 billion people are still actively using this social platform every day.

Though Facebook is also popular with millennials, they have users in every age range, with the exception being over-65.

A study from Pew Research also found that people log onto Facebook an average of 8 times a day.

This why you should consider it as a smart starting place for any PPC endeavor.

Here’s the super beginner’s way to begin a FB ad campaign:

1. Set up a Facebook Business Manager Account.
2. Give ad agencies access to your business account by giving them their own user credentials.
3. Under Business Manager Settings, click Ad Account.
4. Choose the last of the 3 options: Claim Ad Account, Request Access to an Ad Account, or Create a New Ad Account.
5. Under Ad Account Settings put in a payment option like a credit card number.
6. Fill in relevant business information.
7. Or enter a payment method under the Payments tab.
8. Set your account payment limit. Start small so you can address any problems that come up when creating your first ad.
9. Review notification settings.
10. Review ad account roles (ad manager, ad analyst, etc.)
11. Create your first Ad in Ads Manager.

 

AdEspresso also has an in-depth Facebook ad tutorial here.

If this all seems too complicated though, reach out to us at Second Screw, we do PPC in our sleep!

 

Instagram Ads

Another PPC campaign you may want to try is on Instagram. It is best if you are targeting millennials or Gen Xers.

Instagram is now owned by Facebook. It is rising fast to compete as a social media hub, with many people preferring it over Facebook. You can upload video and picture ads as well.

Mobile-optimized ads are also very effective and trending on Instagram, like this one from Perrier, the sparkling water we all know so well.

Perrier’s US Brand Manager, Ashley Albittrain-Ross said of the mobile-friendly ad campaign,

“Instagram and Facebook play critical roles in our marketing efforts for Perrier. With these platforms, we’re able to reach our intended audience at scale, and deliver extraordinary content that is uniquely created for these mobile-first channels. Our campaign results demonstrate how powerful the Instagram and Facebook platforms are: not only for awareness, but also for driving sales.”

Instagram Stories is a whole new ad opportunity, too. They only run for 24 hours, but they are perfect when marketing seasonal merchandise or a one-time event.

The Verge even argues that you should make the move from Snapchat to Instagram stories to maximize your marketing efforts.

300 million Instagram accounts are already using Instagram stories to promote their products, or just engage with their friends in a more meaningful way, so you have a captive and growing audience if you add your own story to the feed.

And we do mean a captive audience.

Instagram Stories ads are inserted between your target audience’s stories they’ve created themselves, but without interrupting the flow.

It’s as if they are watching good old-fashioned television before Tivo, just in smaller packets from their smartphones. Instagram stories don’t appear in their feed but pop up when they are already engaged, so they can avoid them.

These are not a fad, either. McDonald’s Malaysia reached 60% of their target audience and saw a 3X increase in sales just from doing Instagram stories. . . in 2 months’ time.

The Chief Marketing Officer of McDonald’s said of Instagram ads,

“Instagram was the best channel to reach our millennial audience with our diverse offer in their native environment. . . It will be difficult to imagine reaching this audience without Instagram in the future.”

With Instagram Stories ads you may be able to capture a 3-fold increase from a single ad.

 

Twitter Ads

Twitter is a good option if you are targeting a primarily American or Canadian market, but the platform is seeing growth in India, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan.

There are six different ways you can use Twitter in a PPC campaign which form under two umbrellas: Twitter Ads, and Twitter Promote.

1. Promote Tweets that cause people to go to your website or download your App. These are called pay-per-Tweet.
2. Pay-per-video view.
3. Increase brand awareness through Pay-per-impression by appealing to a larger demographic (CPM).
4. Gain followers on your Twitter account with promotion.
5. Tweet engagement to start a conversation, which you hope others will engage in to promote your brand.
6. Pay-per-follower. Your Twitter account is promoted and you pay for each new follower.

These ads are useful because you only pay for performance. New follower, you pay. More people to see your Tweet. You Pay. It’s very straightforward, so it can take the guesswork out of future campaigns.

Image credit: Technobrix.com

You can also highly target keywords, for example, by using hashtags for entire phrases. You could use #ppcconversion, for instance, if you are wanting to target people interested in converting better when they do PPC campaigns.

Tweet engager targeting also allows you to narrow in on the exact audience you want to be getting cozy with, and small tweaks to your sales copy can mean better performing ads.

 

SnapChat Ads

Finally, Snap Chat offers yet another opportunity for PPC.

SnapChat has 187 million daily users, who log onto their App an average of 25 times a day. You could say they are already highly engaged.

So where does your PPC fit into these stats?

Just ask Bacardi. They used a little creativity and Snapchat to gain 50 million impressions in 24 hours by inviting the Snapchat community to participate in the first-ever lens music video.

 

In Summary

SEO and content are kings, but if you want your business to a get a running head –start on the competition, especially in its early days, there’s nothing that beats PPC, or paid advertising.

Apply your marketing dollars slowly at first, test your audience, use SEO on your ad campaign keywords and phrases, and then test your audience, always tweaking your campaign to reach the most people in your demographic ideal as possible.

With a little practice, and of course some help from us at Second Crew, you’ll be a PPC expert, and your business will only prosper from that knowledge.

Are you ready to get started?

No, we mean right now. Call us, or email us!