How to get the best results from your PPC advertising campaign

One of the great benefits about PPC (Pay-per-click) advertising is the ability to know how well it’s working before you’ve spent a good part of your budget. But do you really know what your results are? Can you confidently say that you’re receiving a great ROI? Or do you simply rely on the fact that you’re receiving a lot of clicks or website traffic?

We’ve met many clients have been buying PPC advertising and simply assumed it was working by the number of clicks or amount of web traffic it generated. But at the end of the day, aren’t you looking to increase sales? Aren’t you looking for a new customer or a new patient? So how can you really be sure that your PPC budget is effectively leading you to your end goal?

The most effective way is to keep a record of all your leads. For instance, when a call is received from a new patient or customer, keep a record of the time and date and what happened with the call. Do the same for any emails or live chats that you receive. Then these new customers or patients can be tracked back to their referral source. At the end of a few months, you will have a truly accurate picture of where your business is really coming from.

It could be that your business hasn’t been coming from AdWords at all. Or it could be that your AdWords business is coming from only a few keywords – and you could be saving a considerable amount of money by turning the rest off.

Unable to track leads? Some clients we work with just don’t have the staff or ability to track leads this way. So consider the next best thing. Review a report of the search terms for the previous month. This allows you to see what people are typing in before they see your ads. After all, many PPC campaigns use what is called broad match targeting. That means that if you’re buying the keyword “mortgage” with broad match, someone who types in “how much mortgage can I afford” or “bad credit mortgage” would also see your ad. By looking at the search terms used, you might find that a significant amount of traffic is coming from people who simply need a mortgage calculator and aren’t at all ready to buy a house. Or they could be coming from people who aren’t really viable customers.

By reviewing and tightening up on your keyword strategy, you could significantly increase the effectiveness of your campaign. Or it’s possible that you simply reach the same results with less money, leaving more of your budget for other marketing tools.

In healthcare, banking and a variety of industries, PPC can be a very effective tool for advertisers. But don’t be fooled by a lot of clicks – be sure those clicks are leading to sales. Track leads or review keywords to be sure you’re getting the most benefit.