How Do You Know PPC Will Work for Your Business?
In short, you will never know if PPC will work for your business – unless you try it. There are many factors that affect how successful your PPC campaigns will be; everything from the quality of your website to the keywords you choose will directly impact how well your accounts perform. That said, there are a few key indicators that should help you decide whether or not to make the commitment of both your time and your money.
Do you have goals for your website?
Before deciding to run a PPC marketing campaign, it is a good idea to review your website and understand what the goal of the site is. Are you trying to sell a product or get new clients? Regardless of your specific goal, its good know where to set your sights and to have the ability to successfully measure the completion of online goals.
Are your competitors using PPC?
If so, there is a good chance that PPC could be a new stream of revenue for your business. If your competitors have been running ads for some time, there is a high likelihood that PPC marketing is working in their benefit and that it could work in yours as well.
Is your site set up well for PPC?
Review your website and identify whether or not there is a good landing page available for each product or service that your offer. If there is not, your time and money are both best spent improving your website. Keep in mind that PPC works best when you’re able to get people to the information they seek as quickly as possible – the more clicks a visitor needs to make before finding what they need, the higher the likelihood of that visitor going elsewhere for information.
Is your site able to convert?
Not every site is set up to convert visitors into customers. If your site is already converting, then PPC traffic should also convert. It’s not uncommon to see PPC have a higher conversion rate than other forms of traffic. This is because of the amount of control an advertiser can exercise with PPC. You can pick which keywords you’re interested in showing ads for, what ad messaging appears in the results, and which landing page the visitor will see upon their arrival. If your site does not convert, spend the time to figure out why. Is it a lack of traffic? If so, PPC may be able to provide the traffic boost you need to make a proper assessment. If your site is getting traffic but is still not converting, then you may need to go through your conversion process and test some new initiatives to troubleshoot the issue. Is there a clear call to action? Is your pricing competitive? Is it clear to a new visitor what they should do next? There are many possible scenarios, and finding out how to best optimize your site for conversion will always be an ongoing process, but starting sooner rather than later will help your whole online enterprise.
Do you have the budget to commit to advertising?
Depending on your business, PPC advertising can get pricey very quickly, and it may take several months to learn how to manage everything properly. Run a few estimates using Google’s click cost estimator and make sure you can proceed with your business for a few months while learning if paid search options are going to be a good fit for your business. Pay per click advertising has become more and more difficult and competitive over the years, but it can still be a very strong source of revenue for your business if done correctly. By understanding your website and your goals, you should be able to put your best foot forward when testing out pay per click marketing.