What is PPC and why do I need it?
If you spend any advertising dollars, the first line item on your budget should be Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. There are several players in this space, but for this article we will stick with Google. Google has done a great job and owns a nice piece of the market share.
Online advertising has taken many shapes through the recent years. Most notably, marketers have moved budgets from impression to clicks. The difference is subtle but the Return on Investment (ROI) can be significant. Instead of paying each time your advertisement is presented, you pay only for the time that your advertisement is clicked and the visitor links to your web site.
PPC advertising displays your ad based on Keyword matches searched on Google. For example, you can decide that each time a Google visitor searches for the phrase “Deer Valley Golf”, you want your ad to be displayed. Google will accommodate the PPC advertising for your website, and the best thing is – you pay nothing unless the user clicks on the ad and connects to your website. If they click on your ad, you will need to pay a fee to Google, ranging from a few cents to several dollars. Generally speaking, the cost of the click varies competition for the Keyword or phrase and how much they are willing to pay.
There are several important elements that make up a successful PPC campaign. Below are a few that should be addressed prior to launching your campaign.
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1) Be specific with your Keywords.
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Generally, Google will display your advertisement based on the key words you choose. For example, you could ask Google to display your ad every time someone types the word “golf” in a Google Search. Your ad would be displayed hundreds of thousands of times per month and because of that, you would end upspending thousands of dollars and you would get a significant amount of traffic to your site. In the end, your conversion rate would be very low. Instead, be specific with your Keywords. If you are in Orange County, use Orange County Golf Courses as Keywords. Then make sure your ad copy mentions Southern California as Florida also has an Orange County. |
2) Be honest with your advertisement copy.
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If you are not the top rated course in Orange County, then do not say that in the ad. Your goal is to get visitors to convert to customers. If you exaggerate in your ad, people will click on it and then leave your site because it does not match your ad. If you advertise 25% off your round if you book online, make sure when they click on the ad, it is simple to purchase the round online and save 25%. |
3) Create a powerful landing page for your PPC ads.
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If you are promoting your banquet facility, make sure the link from the ad goes directly to your banquet facility page. The prospect is interested in having an event, do not send them to your home page and force them to search for the banquet/event page. This could cause potential customers to leave your site in a hurry. Remember, you are paying each time someone clicks on the ad. Be diligent with getting them to the area on the site that gives you the best chance of converting them into a customer. |
4) GEO target your more general advertisements.
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You can play with general keys words such as “golf course” as long as you target a small radius around your course. You can have Google display your ad based on a search of “golf course” in a radius of 10 miles around your facility. Using the GEO targeting tools, you can vary your ads significantly without draining your budget dry. |
5) Track, analyze and split test your advertisements.
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This might be the most important advice in this article. To maximize your return, you need to analyze the performance of the ads. Then you need to write a different ad for each keyword or phrase. Google will allow you to Split Test the different ads. This means that based on the same keyword search, Google will serve different ads so that you can continue to improve the conversion. You will track and test the ads and then do it all over again to ensure you are getting the best return possible on your PPC spend.
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In summary, every course should be running PPC campaigns. There are few, if any, forms of advertising that have a better ROI potential. Type the name of your course in Google right now and see what pops up. Who knows, it might be your competition. More on that note in an article soon.
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