A well-planned Pay-per-click ad campaign will generate your business leads for targeted keyword; keywords that would require considerable resources to gain a first-page organic ranking. PPC ad services are offered by Bing, and even by Facebook but for the purposes of this article I will be discussing PPC in relation to Google.

What is a Pay Per Click Ad?

A PPC ad is a link that appears at the top and/or side of a SERP. These links cost money and are charged according to the nature of competition for the chosen keyword/phrase.  The owner of the link is charged a set amount every time someone clicks on it. The purpose of a PPC ad is to direct traffic to your website for the purpose of generating leads.

PPC vs. Organic Links

Organic links require consistent optimization to maintain their position, while PPC ads will maintain their position regardless. Organic links that rank well in Google will get considerable more attention than PPC ones, however they require considerably more resources to rank well for all keywords, especially the broader ones. For this reason you want to create an Adwords campaign that targets the keywords you struggle to rank well for organically.

Keyword Research

Now before you get started, we need to identify the keywords you wish to pay for. In order to do so we need to perform some keyword research. In order to perform proper keyword research you’re going to need to gather your troops and start brainstorming. From there you need to identify the most profitable keywords. A good way of identifying these keywords is to use analytics tools like the Google Adwords Tool. Check out my article on keyword research for more info.

Creating the PPC Ad

Now that you’ve figured what keywords to use to optimally target leads it’s time to start your very own Google Adwords campaign.
What you need to get started?
•    Gmail account
•    Credit card

Step 1: Visit adwords.google.com
Step 2: Verify your e-mail address
Step 3: Create your ad

It’s that simple! Make sure you create a keyword-specific landing page for every ad. After all we’re trying to convert users into leads, which means it’s crucial your PPC ad campaign appeals specifically to potential leads. Check out my article on landing pages for more info.

Common Mistakes

PPC ad linking to the homepage: This is a big mistake and a surprisingly common one. The idea of a PPC ad is to link the ad to a tailor-made landing page, that way you lead the user on the right path towards becoming a lead. By linking your PPC ad to your homepage you are effectively throwing away all opportunity to convert that user into a potential client.

Robotmode:  Too many people fall in the trap of writing their PPC ad like a robot, the reasoning behind it (according to me) is that the ad needs to appeal to everyone it is shown to. This results in a PPC ad that looks like it was written by a robot. The one key element we’re forgetting here is that the users clicking on the link are human. So write your ad in a human-friendly way and appeal to the users’ desires.

Don’t get greedy:  When setting up your PPC ad, there is an option for the ad to appear for exact matches or for broader matches. Often people get greedy and choose the broader match, the problem with this however is that the users searching for those keywords may not specifically be looking to be doing business, which means you’re effectively wasting your time and money. Remember the point of a PPC ad is to convert users into leads, so make sure your PPC ad appeals to the right target market.

A well-planned PPC ad campaign can be a powerful lead-generating tool, provided you steer clear of common mistakes and do your research.

Previous article in the series: Landing Pages; Next article in the series: Call to Actions

Julian Karstel is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Sound Idea Digital | @JulianKarstel | Julian@soundidea.co.za

Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital agency | www.soundidea.co.za

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