HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT KEYWORDS FOR YOUR PAID CAMPAIGNS

There are a number of things that make a paid advertising campaign work – the value proposition, advertising platform, ad copy, engagement strategy, budgeting/bidding, target audience etc., but the most vital factor that has the potential to make or break an advertising campaign is the keywords.

Choosing keywords that are most likely to result in clicks and conversions is both – essential and challenging. Your keywords will decide who can see your ad and who cannot. Without quality keywords in your ad copy, which are found through extensive and strategic keyword research, your advertising campaigns can easily get lost in the tons of search results.

If people are not making searches using your keywords, they are basically useless and so are your campaigns. Search volume depicts user interest, and without interest in your keywords, your prospects will not be able to discover your ads, visit your website, and turn into a paying customer.

On the other hand, if you choose keywords that are too popular, you will have to fight huge competition to get your ad on the SERP at all and you might also end up overpaying for your ad clicks. And that is why it is important to understand your target audience and determine the keywords they commonly use in their search queries, so that your ads can show up to the right people, at the right time and at the right place.

We have compiled some tips that will help refine and ease your keyword research process and build a campaign that drives traffic and sales.

DEFINE THE SEARCH INTENT FOR YOUR ADS

Before getting into the core of keyword research process, it is necessary for advertisers to understand the users’ intent to be able to create the right keywords for their ads. If you are unable to define the true intent of your prospects or if the keywords you are targeting do not correspond with your business goals, then they are only costing you money and time. For businesses aiming to generate conversions through their PPC campaigns, it is important to use phrases that imply high purchase intent. Ads focused on improving a brand’s visibility, on the other hand, should stick with eCommerce and navigation terms.

For example, the phrases “men’s watches” or “top brands men’s watches” have focus on a different intent than “buy men’s watches in Sydney” or “men’s watch stores near me.” The first two phrases would target top-of-the-funnel people that want to know about men’s watches or brands in general and might not intend to buy immediately or at all, while the latter ones show much higher commercial intent, meaning they aim to target bottom-of-the-funnel users that are looking for a store to buy a men’s watch.

Being able to truly understand your prospects’ intent is the first step in putting your keyword research and ads in the right direction.

BRAINSTORM A LIST OF POTENTIAL KEYWORDS

Even the most potential PPC ads will fail if they are unable to get in front of the right audience group – such is the importance of using robust, high-quality keywords. To start with your keyword research, build a list of broad phrases related to your business. Go broad with your collection and include all the different categories and topics that relate to your business.

Another good place to start your keyword research is landing pages that your ads will be linked to. This will give you enough raw material to come up with potential keywords that can be used in your ads. Once you have a fairly comprehensive list of keywords, you can broadly segment them into the following categories:

• Brand keywords – include terms that contain your brand or business name
• Generic keywords – include terms relating to products or services your business offers.
• Related keywords – include terms that do not directly relate to what your business or products/services, but to users who are searching for your products or services.
• Competitor keywords – include the brand names of competitors who are offering similar products and services to yours.

EXPAND AND REFINE THE LIST WITH KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOLS

Now that you have a decent list of keywords to bid on, consider using keyword research tools to narrow down your options to the ones that make most sense. There are tons of research tools out there – both free and paid – that help you zero in on the broad keyword categories at your disposal to find out specific terms that people are actually using in their search queries. Most popular of these tools are Google’s Keyword Planner, WordStream’s free Keyword Suggestion Tool.

Each keyword tool may work a bit differently, but the key stat you want to keep tabs on is search volume. This stat helps with competitors’ keyword analysis. The higher the search volume for a given keyword, the more people would be searching for that term every month. You want to pick keywords that have a high search volume and low competition. It should also be noted that the keywords with higher search volume will cost you more money to bid on. That said, you must analyse such keywords carefully before investing in them.

FINAL WORD

Keyword research is one of the most important steps in implementation of search ads, so take your time to get it right. Remember that you are not going to discover every keyword ideal for your PPC ads with the aforementioned tips on the first go, so perform your research regularly. To spend your PPC management budget and time wisely, consider hiring pay per click advertising services of an experienced agency.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR COMPETITOR’S PPC STRATEGIES

There is a good chance that many PPC advertisers fail to see significant results even with proven strategies in place because they completely overlook their competitive research.

Constantly keeping a tab on your competitors’ PPC activity and progress can help you tailor your own advertising strategies to create a competitive edge.

Here are a few key aspects you need to keep your eye on for your competitive research to be fruitful.

KEYWORDS

If you are running PPC ads, you may already have a bunch of keywords in hand that are driving good results. But there is still a chance that your competitors are using some high-potential phrases that you may have missed out on.

Using robust competitive keyword research tools, you can discover terms that are bringing the most value to your competitors and determine how much each keyword is costing them. Broaden your research to look through organic data and find out competitor keywords with low search volume. Since these keywords have low search volume, they can become grounds for your growth when used wisely in the long run.

PAID ADS

Turns out your closest competitor might already be using your keywords to advertise, and you will have no idea of this until you start tracking their ad campaigns. When planning your PPC campaign, it is a good idea to keep an eye on the competitor’s ads and determine what keywords they are using most frequently and during which months.

The Ad History report in the Google Keyword Analytics section provides you enough data insights to be able to analyse the performance of specific keywords used by your competitors in their previous ads. With an understanding of seasonal fluctuation in paid ads and cost and impact of particular keywords in your niche, you can use your rivals’ experience to keep potential mistakes to a minimum and maximise your advertising potential for best results.

ORGANIC SEARCH

You may incur a situation where your business is ranking high in a certain organic search, which makes you wonder if you should run paid ads for that keyword. Analysing your competitor’ organic and paid search efforts can help your decision. Find out if they are paying to advertise on terms that are already ranking high on the first page of search results. If you find any such keywords, determine what tactics the advertisers are using to rank for those keywords as well as loose ends in their PPC strategy. Learning from the mistakes and strengths of other advertisers in your niche will allow you to create a result-oriented approach to make the most out of your PPC effort and outrun your competitors.

Mobile Vs. Desktop Targeting

With people switching between mobile and desktop devices, it is important to see what works and what does not work for your competitors in paid search. Note that keywords you use to appeal to mobile users may not be as effective in targeting desktop users. Do extensive research to find out what keywords are performing well on particular devices for your competition and then implement the same strategy or a new one to get the most value out of those keywords.

Moreover, the type of industry you are in will help decide which device you will need to target more frequently. For example, merchants selling clothes online may expect traffic from mobile devices while a software business can benefit more from desktop advertising. Track your top-performing competitors and see what strategies they are using to target audience on different devices. Use this information to tailor ads that perfectly appeal to your target audiences.

To sum up…

The paid advertising competition is ever increasing. You may have an effective advertising strategy in place that is performing to meet your current goals, but it will still pay off to analyse your competition based on the abovementioned factors and more.

If you lack in-house resources that can help you with competitor analysis, it is advised to work with a professional firm that specialises in PPC advertising in Australia. Using advanced analysis tools, a PPC specialist can provide you with detailed insights into what your highest-performing competitors are doing and are likely to do in the future which will help you adjust your PPC campaigns for maximum output.

Shhh…Don’t Let Your Competitors Know About These Smart SaaS PPC Secrets

SaaS is exactly what its name suggests – software as a service; offering both software and service at the same time.

Suited to just about every business, SaaS is largely adopted by marketers and organisations alike as a a hassle-free and cost-effective alternative to applications that must be purchased, downloaded or installed locally on physical computers.

As per Statista, the total size of the SaaS market has increased from$105billion in 2017 to $116billion in 2018 and expected to reach $132billlion by 2020. This statistics and others certainly indicate toward the massive growth of the SaaS industry.

This growth, however, means more competition for SaaS marketers and companies. So, to stand out of the crowd instead of becoming an insignificant part of it, it is inevitable to practice robust marketing strategies.

PPC is deemed one of the most powerful tools in a SaaS company’s marketing strategy which allows them to generate right-fit leads in a relatively smaller timeframe.

Here are a few SaaS-specific hacks inspired by experts offering PPC services in Australia.

Bid on Low Competition Keywords

With SaaS, more often than not, prospects aren’t aware of the existence of your products in the first place. To generate brand awareness, target low competition keywords/ phrases that relate to the problem your product addresses.
Like if you sell a CRM tool that collects data on consumers’ clothing shopping habits and offers insights on how consumers can save money on their purchases, instead of bidding on the most popular keywords, focus on phrases like “ how to save money on your clothing ”. This will allow you to target the right audience without relying alone on your brand name.

Generate Leads with Remarketing

There is a long-standing marketing principle; the Rule of Seven that says a prospect needs to see or hear from a brand at least seven times before motivated to finally make a purchase. In reality, it may not necessarily need seven times to get a prospect to convert. Conversion or sale may occur in two, three or more attempts from your brand, but the point is prospects need to hear from you multiple times. And that’s what makes remarketing so powerful.

You can create and position remarketing campaigns based on a variety of user actions. Regardless of what your remarketing audience is, you can effectively target your ads to prospects within your sales funnel.

This tactic can be even more powerful for B2B SaaS products with long sales cycles.

Experiment with Different Advertising Platforms

There are a few unusual and untapped advertising platforms that actually offer a better ROI. You just need to set aside a portion of your PPC budget for experimentation and test it on different platforms to reach the potential audience. Some platforms that are worth experimenting include:

-Paid Pins on Pinterest
-Advertising through Bing as well as Google
-Sponsored Tweets on Tweeter
-And of course YouTube

Just determine where your target audience is most likely to engage with you and experiment accordingly. Don’t just stick to one ad platform, you never know what other platforms can bring to you.

The Bottom Line: Tie it all together!

As you implement these SaaS marketing tips for pay per click advertising in Australia, don’t hesitate to seek expert help to align your strategies with your business objective.

Drive More Foot Traffic to Your Store with Google Ads

The ecommerce industry is booming faster than ever but that doesn’t mean the retail is going to extinct any time soon.

Besides, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data states that, Australian retail sales grew by 2.1% in the first month of 2018 and continued to grow ahead of expectation.
There are many other studies that reveal that the brick-and-mortar retail is on a steady rise even though the speed of growth is slower than that of the ecommerce’s.

The reason why a decent population of customers still choose to shop from brick-and-mortar stores is the challenges they face while shopping online including:

• Being unable to physically inspect the products.
• Delay in delivery.
• Additional shipping charges.
• Complicated and time-consuming returns.
• Being unable to negotiate a deal.

Google Ads allows retailers to take advantage of the thriving local foot traffic through a range of extensions that you can incorporate into your marketing efforts to ensure high sales and CTR.

PROMOTION EXTENSION:

By implementing promotions in your online ad campaigns, you can drive more foot traffic to your store. A promotion ad extension allows you to add all the current promotions of your store within the ad.  Displaying promotion details like discount percentage, promocodes, product prices, minimum order value etc., in your online advertisement helps aware more consumers about your ongoing deals and promotions and attract to your store.

LOCATION AD EXTENSION

If you feel like your storefront is the main place where your conversion occurs frequently, don’t think twice in placing your store’s address in your ads.

Location ad extension allows you to display your store’s address within the ad. Moreover, consumer’s trust on your brand eventually increases if store’s address is placed within your ad campaign.

USE GEO-TARGETING FOR SPECIFIC LOCATIONS

If you don’t wish to lose your local foot traffic, optimise your ad campaigns for location targeting. Geo-targeting identifies your customer’s location depending on their Wi-Fi, GPS and IP.

Besides, in the coming years, mobile advertising is expected to see an immense rise that will further increase the targeted mobile advertising by location over two folds.

CLICK-TO-TEXT MESSAGE EXTENSION

As per data released by Google, about 65% of consumers prefer using messaging to schedule their in-person appointments, connect with a business and to get information about a product/service. Therefore, when you instantly communicate with your potential customers, you are increasing your chances to boost local traffic in your store.

Considering the ongoing demand of chat-bots among consumers, the industry expected to experience noteworthy growth in the coming years with the market value likely to reach $1.25 billion in 2025.

LOCAL CLASSIFIEDS

Between 2016 and 2017, Google shopping and text ads grew by 20% while total revenue grew by 64% between 2016 and 2018. This means Google shopping is still a favourite advertising channel amongst retailers.

There is no doubt in that consumers want the best of both worlds – eCommerce and brick and mortar store. That is why, Google combines shopping ads and in-store shopping to help customers prefer searching for products online but purchase offline.

WRAPPING UP

People love the convenience of online shopping, but they are also tempted to the more physical experience of in-store shopping. So, give a try to these Google Ads hacks that will help you drive more foot traffic to your brick and mortar store.

In addition, seek the best assistance from the pay per click advertising professionals who are specialised in providing AdWords management services in Australia.

LEVEL UP YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH THESE TIPS BEFORE JUMPING INTO PAID ADVERTISING

With the number of internet users increasing rapidly every day, it has become an inevitable need for businesses to advertise online. Paid advertising is amongst one of the most effective marketing methods that has the potential to generate more traffic to a website and sales but with proper strategy and approach. Moreover, for those who are dipping their toe into the pool of paid advertising, it is important to gain some knowledge of the marketing model beforehand. Though paid advertising is a great way to boost sales, if not done properly, it can cost you a lot more than expected.

That’s why it is recommended to understand the details before taking the plunge. Before we discuss vital considerations, let’s first understand how one can benefit from online advertising.

GLOBAL REACH: Paid advertising gives you a wider coverage which is not limited to a specific country. Not only do your products have the opportunity to get worldwide exposure, a global coverage will also yield valuable results for your marketing efforts.

AFFORDABILITY: Online advertising costs lesser than traditional advertising (TV, radio, print, OOH advertising). The best part is you can set your own budget, changeit according to your needs and measure the results you get from your campaigns.

EASY RESULT MONITORING: Unlike traditional advertising, online advertising allows you to see your campaign results whenever you want and change your strategy and budget accordingly.

FLEXIBLE PAYMENT METHOD: There is no hard and fast rule in online advertising that you must invest a huge amount of money initially to run your ads. You can set up your campaign by investing a small amount as an initial payment. Once you start seeing results and decide to spend more money on your ads, you can change your budget.

Now that you are aware of the advantages of online advertising, let’s move on to the essential aspects to consider before jumping into paid advertising.

Understand how long-tail keywords work: Before getting into paid advertising, comprehend the concept of keywords. Keywords are essential in paid advertising because only with the right keywords in place, Google will deem your webpages relevant to user’s search queries and make them appear in search results. Moreover, long-tail keywords are more effective than head keywords. As thousands of people have already bid on the head keywords, chances are that your ads are never going to appear near the top of an organic head keyword search considering that there is too much competition. On the other hand, long-tail keywords are specific in nature and generate more valuable traffic.

Advertisement placement: You can find various online spaces where you can place your advertisements. Each one has its own pros and cons.

• Display/Banner ads: These are creative graphic representations of online ads that are commonly found either in the sidebar or on the top of websites. These ads basically target customers who are not looking for anything specific.
• Text Ads: These are the less-expensive type of display ads with lower visual appeal which you usually see on the top of search engine page results. These ads target customers who are specifically looking out for something.

Moreover, you can also choose to display your paid ads on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

Keep track of each advertisement: Tracking campaigns is a crucial part of paid advertising. To ensure best results from your paid ads, you need to be updated with the performance of all your advertisements. For this, you can take the help of Google Analytics which allows you to monitor ad performance. The dashboard provides you the complete information about the number of clicks generated from an advertisement, number of people who visited the website, how long they stayed there, number of conversions and everything else related to your ad.

Create a landing page: Instead of directing your visitors to your home page, create a landing page for them to visit. This will allow visitors to make a purchase without having to visit your website and get confused. A landing page also makes it easier for you to count the number of people that visit your website every single day.

Call-to-action button: If you want your one-time visitors to convert into potential buyers, then it is necessary to place an effective call-to-action (CTA) button on your website. Make sure your CTA encourages customers to buy your product/service. What’s the point of doing paid advertising if your first-time visitors do not return to your website.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

You can’t expect paid advertising to work wonders for your business and sales overnight. As with any other marketing approach, you have to dedicate a significant amount of time and effort into paid advertising in order to see profitable results. Remember that regular monitoring, maintenance and testing are equally important.

However, in case you don’t see your business far from where you started, it is advised to get in touch with a firm that is specialised in offering result-oriented pay per click advertising in Sydney. With the right strategy and proper implementation under the guidance of a professional team, pay per click advertising can boost your sales intensely.