Keywords are Key with Pay-Per-Click Ads

One of the biggest factors in a successfull pay-per-click campaign is your choice of keywords. A keyword is the word or phrase a person enters when performing an online search. If people are not searching for the keywords that match your pay-per-click campaign, the ad for that campaign will not be shown.

If you have a firm that sells products as well as services, or multiple product lines, the number of relevant keywords can grow exponentially. Create smaller, more narrowly focused ads based on specific clusters of keywords rather than one generic word.

For example, using a phrase such as “red bic pens” is much more specific than simply using the word “pens”. When the people searching for a phrase are pointed to the specific information, they are more likely to become buyers.

It’s worth the time it takes to find the right keywords. An easy way to test out a keyword is to type it into your own search engine and see what happens. If the ads or websites of your closest and most obvious competitors appear on your screen, a relevant keyword has been identified.

Wordtracker is a quick tool that can also help. This system enables people to enter in a keyword and see not only how many times it has been searched for, but also relevant keywords associated with it.

This information is very helpful when setting up a pay-per-click campaign, as it allows for a precise indication of which keywords will be the most popular. For example, when typing in the word ‘soy candles’, the results came back with ‘scented soy candles’, ‘all natural soy candles’, aromatherapy soy candles’, and ‘handmade soy candles’.

Someone who sells soy candles would benefit from creating ad campaigns around those specific keywords to ensure that the people looking for a specific type of soy candle are able to find them. You may also want to breakdown candle scents to get even more specific. The more specific, the more likely you are to get purchases rather than just paying for click-thru’s.

Pay-per-click campaigns can be very successful when the right combination of keywords is used. When the wrong keywords are used, the campaign can be ineffective at best, as well as costly.

With pay-per-click campaigns, the only time a user is billed is when a person clicks on the ad. This is called a click-thru. If the ad is based around ill-fitting keywords, the person who clicks on the ad will have a lower conversion rate. Conversion rates are based on actions taken. So you want them to purchase or sign up for your mailing list at the very least. The clicks bought with that specific ad campaign will have a lower return on investment when compared to a campaign that was created with targeted keywords.

Using services such as Wordtracker, and creating and testing small campaigns, will help a business find the best and most profitable keywords for them.