Too many clicks and not enough conversions? If that’s a familiar lament, drifting out from your marketing department or dragged out from your own desk, your pay per click campaign almost certainly needs to be optimised.

Pay per click optimisation is not something that happens immediately. It requires time and attention over a long period of time in order to function at its optimal levels. Think of pay per click as a racing car. A normal, street-going motor requires nothing more strenuous than a weekly refill of petrol and screen clean, complimented by a quick service every 10,000 miles or so. A race car needs to be cosseted and cared for, checked and double checked to ensure each part is in tip top condition, monitored and tested, filled with premium fuel and ideally, driven by a professional. An optimised pay per click campaign works in much the same way.

If you leave it to run, a basic PPC campaign will probably get you from A to B without too much trouble. However, if you optimise it, it will get you there a whole lot quicker, be more efficient and potentially result in a large prize.

To optimise your PPC campaign you must -

1. Identify Your Customers and Keywords

Consider the many variations of product descriptions and names your clients use. Make sure there terms are included in your keyword list. Equally importantly, think about misspells and investigate using brand names within your campaign if relevant.

Negative matches should not be discounted and can be added at intervals as you assess the campaign data. If you sell laptops for example but do not repair them, laptop repairs would be a useful negative match to avoid using up the daily budget on leads that can not be serviced.

2. Research Your Competitors

Competitor research is a valuable and often underrated part of the optimisation process. Think of your closest competitors and do a little research. Type in your own key terms and then read other adverts. What is good and bad about them? Do they stand out? Ask yourself how yours can be made more appealing.

3. Write New Ads

Now you have identified your customers and assessed your competitors, you need to write ad text that will appeal to the target market and convince them to buy from you rather than your rivals. That conversion process starts with compelling advert text. Including ketwords in the title and body of the advert tells the search user that your company can provide exactly what they are looking for. Set your product or service apart by explaining exactly how you are different and the advantages of buying from you.

4. Analyse Performance

Programs such as Google Analytics help you to assess the performance of your PPC campaign and use the data to make necessary changes. Analytics tell you what visitors do after clicking on your advert. If they stay only a short time on your web site or click lots of links and then leave, you need to ask yourself if you web site is too confusing and check that the adverts themselves are going through to the most appropriate pages.

These measures can be tested and assessed over time using different landing pages and different advert text until conversions increase and performance stabilises.

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