I just set up the Web marketing department for a hi-tech company which sells to a specific customer base. The company has been online for ten years and active with Google Cost Per Click for the last 5 years. The CEO was not happy with the company’s ranking in search engines with competing companies coming up higher in both the PPC and in the actual search results.

My Analysis of the Situation:

• Advertising on Google’s Content Network was consuming 85% of the company’s on-line advertising budget. The Content Network is an option when advertising with Google that is enabled by default. If you do not want this option, you have to turn it off.

• One keyword was attracting a lot of clicks for a product that the company did not sell.

• Keywords were poorly selected.

• The names of competitors’ products and companies were not included in the keyword list.

• The PPC ads were not showing up on European Google sites like France, Germany and Russia.

• The same ad was used for about 20 products.

• The ads had URLs pointing to the home page and not to the appropriate landing page.

• Web site was not optimized.

Action Taken:

Set Clear Goals

What is the desired result of the campaign?

• Buy Something?

• Sign up for a subscription

• Ask for a quotation

• On line order?

Establish a tracking procedure.

Google Campaigns

• Turned off Google Content Network. Removed the keyword attracting worthless clicks.

• Added names of competitors companies and products to the Campaign settings.

• Added European languages to the Languages setting which was set to only to English. If you are targeting France you may want to create an ad in French.

• Comprehensive Keywords analysis
  • Searched for keywords using Google’s Keyword Tool and Wordtracker.
  • Studied competitor’s sites and keywords.
  • Brainstormed with team members for keyword ideas.
  • Built new list of keywords.
  • Daily tracking of impressions, CTR and rankings.

• Setup different ads targeting specific products.

• Directed URLs to the appropriate landing pages for each ad.

• Suggested Search Engine Optimizations to improve the ranking of the site.
  • Added more keywords to content.
  • Refreshed current content.
  • Designed new landing pages for each product.
  • Enhanced the site with new content, pictures and regular updates to” News and Events section”.

Watch the Numbers

Making changes a campaign is only the first stage; you must watch the numbers and keep track of the results. This requires a lot of time and effort:

• Watch which keywords are getting the most clicks.

• Exclude poor performing keywords.

• If your campaign is international keep track of which countries are generating the most interest.

• Are some days better than others?

• Which adds are the most effective?

• Track clicks, impressions, CTR and Average CPC.

• Start with a low daily budget and gradually increase as you learn which keywords are effective.

• Watch the Conversion Rate and ROI.

• Use Google Analytics.

Summary

This company is not alone in using a marketing team who have very little experience with PPC advertising and do not have the technical skills needed to perform a good job. However, just knowing the techniques needed to run a PPC campaign is not sufficient, the PPC consultant must also have an in depth understanding of the client’s business and industry.

Therefore, conducting good PPC campaigns requires a combination of PPC skills, industry knowledge and marketing skills.