Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager

Are you strapped for cash but under pressure to perform? Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns offer a cost-effective way of driving qualified traffic, and conversions, to your website? To get the most bang for your PPC buck, follow these four simple steps when setting up and optimizing your campaign.

• Focus on Targeted Keywords: Nothing will run your budget quicker than bidding on keywords that are too broad. While you may get a lot of visibility, the clicks you will receive on these ads will likely be very costly and may not drive the most qualified traffic. Honing in on your specific offerings will drive more targeted traffic to your site leading to an increased conversion rate.

• Evaluate Match Types & Negatives: Keywords that are receiving clicks but are not converting may be a sign that people are searching on similar keywords that don’t necessarily mean the same thing. These keywords may be good candidates for exact match, where your ads will only be returned if someone searches on the exact keyword. Another option is to add negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing up for searches containing those keywords.

• Adjust Budget Based on Seasonality: Evaluate past campaign performance to determine “peak” conversion times and allocate more budget toward these months, weeks or days. While it’s still important to maintain a PPC presence during the “valley” times, you’re likely to see higher conversion rates during times when decision makers and buyers are in the “Purchase” phase of the buying cycle.

• Evaluate Keywords that Convert: When optimizing your PPC campaign, determine which keywords are not only traffic drivers, but are converting too. These keywords can be broken out into a separate campaign where more of the budget can be allocated toward these top performers.

Having a small PPC budget doesn’t mean you should expect any less from your campaign. Following these four simple steps during the strategy phase and ongoing optimization will lead to increased PPC conversion rates.