So you’ve got pay per click advertising in place but it doesn’t seem to be driving an increase in sales…what’s going on? Chances are your keywords are at fault.
There are many ways to make a mistake when selecting the PPC Keywords you base your ad campaign on and several ways to find out for sure.
Take a look at these tips for examining the efficiency of your keywords and phrases.
Are Your Keywords Too Competitive
For nearly any product being sold on the internet, there are a few keywords that are used most often for searches. Consider them on a bell-shaped graph, the most popular comprise the largest area, the zenith of the bell. Those are the keywords most competitively bid on. The more competition you have for them, the less likely your chances of reaching the top of the SERPs with a limited budget – and the less likely you will get any real results from your online advertising campaign.
Try working with long tail keywords instead. These are the phrases on your list that fall at the end of the bell graph, less used and less competitive. You may find some of them are clearly indicative of your niche and net you far better results than using the most popular, and most expensive keywords.
Statistics Tell A Tale
One of the first places you can look for help is by reviewing the statistics in your tracking software. What are you looking for? A high bounce rate, for one. If visitors are using your keywords to find your website but leaving within seconds of arrival, this may indicate that you are using the wrong keywords.
Why would someone leave right away? Because your website does not contain what they are looking for. Perhaps you are using PPC Keywords that are quite popular but really have nothing to do with the content on your site. This is a deceptive practice that will cost you in the both the short and long term.
Then again, if a visitor is spending some time on your site but leaves without making a purchase, you may have another problem. Are your keywords not properly qualifying traffic? You might want to try basing your PPC campaign on “buy” words in order to bring in warmer prospects. Do you answer all their questions? Look at your traffic exit points as well!
Split Testing
All is not lost even if you have made some mistakes. Don’t give up on your campaign, but instead try implementing split testing with keywords. This involves using two different sets of keywords. Use the same landing page and give them both a month. At the end of that time, take at look at your statistics. Which set of keywords gained the most traffic and conversions?
You can keep drilling down with these tests until you find the best PPC Keywords most optimum for closing a sale.
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Hi Sean,
I think so much of what we do in internet marketing comes down to keywords. It’s definitely frustrating and painful when you choose the wrong keywords. I’m learning the hard way.
Your website analytics clearly show if you’re choosing the wrong keywords. It’s just a matter of paying attention to them. So, I’m still at the drawing board digging up long tail keywords my customers would actually use to buy my product. Better late than never, right?
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint =-.
Hi Sean,
I remember reading a similar article of yours and it made me think deeply about getting the right keywords for the job.
I find the keyword search and research very challenging at present. I would like to implement the split testing trial on my blog once it is more comment rich. I think trialing them a month each will be enough time to find out what works and what doesn’t.
This more technical area of internet marketing is new to me but vital all the same.
Thankyou
Elly
.-= Elly´s last blog .. =-.
I to have struggled a bit to get my head around this topic. Using keywords that are buying keywords makes more sense after reading this.
.-= David Pearse´s last blog ..Targeted Internet Marketing-Market Samurai =-.
Keywords in the PPC ad can also be included (contextually) in the content and this helps relevancy of one to the other. Longtails as Sean mentions of course.
Thanks for outlining some problems and solutions for ppc campaigns. I know when I first started using this type of advertising, I made a complete hash of it. I haven’t really ventured back into it again as I feel I have to get my product up to scratch first.
.-= Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children =-.