How to generate leads with PPC
Here at JUCRA we’re constantly striving to generate leads for our clients through different digital marketing strategies. We want their websites to be performing for their companies and generating clicks, enquiries and sales. One of the most effective tools we have for lead generation is PPC, but as many people don’t know exactly what it is, we wanted to answer your questions about it here.
What does PPC stand for?
PPC stands for “Pay Per Click” and is a way that you can pay to display your business at the top of relevant searches, even if your website is not organically ranking there. The most popular platform for PPC is Google, as it’s the most used search engine. However, you can also use PPC on Facebook and Bing.
You will have definitely seen PPC ads while searching on the internet. When you search, you will see at the very top of the list a few results which have the word Ad next to them. The companies advertised here have used Pay Per Click Advertising to have their ads appear there. But they don’t pay when you see them, they only pay if you are interested enough in what you see to click through to their site. This means it’s a cost-effective way to generate leads and a great way to appear highly in search engines.
Why wouldn’t I just work on my SEO rather than pay for clicks?
We recommend that businesses invest in SEO for their websites, and always design websites with SEO, ranking and lead conversion at the top of mind. However, even with the best SEO strategy, it takes time to rank organically and in a highly competitive market it can be very tricky to make it onto that first or second page. If your website is new and you’re eager to start generating leads, PPC is a great choice. You can always reduce your spend over time as the website ranking increases organically, but you will have already gained some leads and made some income while you wait. Also, if you’re operating in a highly competitive market, you can use PPC periodically to boost your lead generation strategy. It’s a great digital marketing tool to use alongside SEO.
How do you appear at the top of search engines with PPC?
When you undertake Pay Per Click advertising on a search engine you need to first choose the terms (keywords) you want to appear for. Then you will bid on that term and be told how much you need to pay to appear in the top few positions. This cost will be higher for highly competitive terms and markets such as property, but lower for more niche terms where there is less competition. The cost is also affected by how relevant and targeted your PPC campaign is. This is because Google wants to present the best search results possible to its users and rewards you with cheaper clicks for higher relevance. Whether you are chosen to be displayed for a particular search depends on a combination of the highest bid you’ve specified for that keyword and how relevant and useful your ad is to the user (your Quality Score). If your company has one of the best combinations of these two factors your ad will be displayed and there will be a fee charged for each click that you get.
What are the pitfalls to running a PPC campaign?
Google Ads is a user-friendly platform which is free to use and walks you through the process. If you’re pretty computer savvy then you can set up an account and give it a try. However, there are pitfalls that novice users tend to fall into which increases the costs and reduces the effectiveness of the campaign.
The first common error is not choosing the right keywords. You need to make sure that enough people are searching for these keywords to make them worth investing in and ideally choose key words with less competition to keep the cost per click low.
The next is leading people through to a page without a good call-to-action. If you just take them to the homepage of your website, they are likely to browse around and click off, without leaving you their contact details, or making a purchase. However, if you advertise a particular service or item and take them to a page all about that thing, with the ability to easily buy or enquire, you are much more likely to convert that click into a sale or a lead. Landing pages and PPC are a match made in heaven for digital marketing.
Other errors include not allocating the right budget to the campaign and not tracking and analysing in order to refine and improve performance for future campaigns.
How can JUCRA help with PPC?
As digital marketing specialists, we’ve helped to generate tens of thousands of leads for our clients and know exactly what it takes to optimise PPC campaigns to really work for you. We start with a clear strategy and keyword research to make sure we’re bidding on the best terms to get results. We advise you on budgeting and help you to create Ad text that sells and landing pages which convert. Our team tracks and analyses the results and makes continuous improvements throughout your campaigns to ensure you receive the best possible return on investment. Contact JUCRA today to discuss PPC marketing and let us help you start generating leads from your website.