PPC marketing is a great way to get highly targeted traffic from visitors with real buying intentions. It is commonly used by ecommerce sites trying to get sales, or lead capture-oriented sites to get qualified leads fast.

When used properly, PPC can be one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. It is also a much more complex science than many give it credit for, and for this reason, many end up crashing and burning on their first efforts. This is why it is important that you do your homework first before you start so you can build on a solid foundation. Here are a few things everyone should know before they launch their first PPC campaigns.

It all Starts with Your Site

Before you start pumping money into a PPC campaign, make sure that you present a good product to your visitors first. Your site should be tested for performance before you start. While tweaking your ads and word selection can have an influence on results, make sure that you run your site through a real audit and that it is thoroughly tested before you start. That is for both mobile and PC versions, but especially mobile, since mobile searches make up nearly 60 percent of all searches today.

Assess Your Customer Value

You will then need to assess how much each customer is worth to you so you can budget your campaigns and bids properly. If you establish that each customer is worth $200, you’ll have to find out what kind of advertising spend would give you a positive ROI.

You should also have clear goals for your campaign, whether it’s getting sign-ups for your newsletter, leads, or sales. You’ll also need to keep a close eye on your conversion rates to know exactly how much you can afford to spend for every lead.

Start Small

One of the beauties of PPC is that you can start with a minuscule budget and use it to test your material and ads. So, take advantage of it, and there is no point in rushing. Testing will allow you to find out which Keywords are working, which ones you should eliminate, and which ones of your ads are working the best.

It’s all About the Keywords

Your ads will be important, but the keywords just as much. Choose the right keywords, and you’ll get great visitors who are actually on your site to buy. Choose the wrong ones and you’ll hit nothing but air. Or worse, you might attract the wrong type of traffic and assume that your site is at fault.

You Might Want to Consider Working with a Team

While PPC is accessible, it might be a good idea to work with a team. You can lose a lot of money fast with PPC, or could end up making mistakes and blaming it on the method, when in actuality, it could’ve been a simple error that you may not be aware of. Agencies are also experts at identifying commercial intent keywords that result in transactions.

If you want to know what to look for in a good agency, you can check out this guide. A good PPC agency will be able to guide you through the process, look at your current efforts and objectives, and make the corrections necessary to maximize your results.

Anyone can start a PPC campaign, but it’s just as easy to fail if you don’t have the proper direction. Make sure that you know what you’re doing before you start any PPC effort, and make sure that you have the right people in your corner in case you have any doubt.

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