Archive for PPC Methods
Facebook PPC Advertising Explained
Posted by: | CommentsProfit From Facebook PPC Advertising
Facebook provides a lot of fantastic opportunities for online marketers, but there are also a lot of pitfalls. Here are some guidelines that can help you get started with Facebook PPC Advertising.
We can get clicks starting at 10 cents per click on Facebook. Those of you who were around in the early days of Google AdWords will understand just how profitable that can be. To our great advantage there is very little competition now and we can get high quality traffic if we do some research.
Target keywords that people use to describe themselves
With Facebook PPC advertising, you can target very specific keywords. However, these are not the same kind of keywords you’d use in Google AdWords campaigns. With Facebook, you need to consider the words people use to describe themselves, their interests and their hobbies. Instead of targeting a search term, you’re going to be using descriptive terms. In my experience, people search Google to solve a problem. Whereas people browse Facebook to check out Facebook pages and to mingle with friends online. This is an important distinction and must be considered when choosing keywords to target for your campaigns.
To read more on this topic: Pre-Qualify Clicks on Facebook
A picture is worth a thousand words
Your image is everything with Facebook PPC advertising. Select 4 or 5 good images that grab your attention and are related (even vaguely) to your topic. Ensure there are people in your image if possible. Of course, you’ll need to test all different kinds of images to see what converts best for you, but one thing I can say is that I try to use people in my ads. More specifically, I’ve found images of smiling, happy women to be very successful for most campaigns I’ve run.
Understand the rules of the game
Be careful. Follow the rules. Understand the Facebook terms and conditions and follow them or your account will be banned. I’m not saying this just to scare you. I want you to know that Facebook are very serious about breaches of their terms. To be successful on Facebook we must follow the rules they have set and be very aware they are very different than Google. The good news is that if you follow the rules, you can design great ads that will draw high quality customers to your offer/product/service.
Facebook’s advertising rules are different than Google’s. Facebook requires ads to be engaging but not too slick, sexy, or misleading. Your ad text cannot contain trademarked terms or be too shocking or offensive. Facebook requires that we place an image on all ads, and you can use text in your image. So, get creative with Photoshop if you can.
Click-thru rate is king with Facebook PPC
CTR (Click thru rate) is king on Facebook PPC. They won’t allow an ad with a low CTR to run on their site for very long. It’s in our best interest to test many different versions of our ads, images, and headline till we find a few that convert like gangbusters. If your CTR can stay high, you’re going to do well. If not, they will disable your ad without warning.
Facebook requires that the ads always remain relevant and interesting to their viewers. If your CTR is not as high as needed after 2 days look closely at the keywords used in your ad to determine if they are really relevant, compelling and not offensive in anyway. I suggest you get creative with your ad copy and your keywords. Think outside the box and come up with some unique combinations to get a killer ad. It’s fun once you get going!
Tips to profit with killer ad copy
Try writing your headlines in the form of a question. Perhaps you can make a bold statement. Whatever your headline, be sure it grabs the reader’s attention quickly so they read the rest of your ad copy and click through to your landing page.
Use an image that tells a story and grabs their attention. If you’re using a photo of someone, try using a smiling face or your image should represent your message and have text on it.
Avoid these mistakes & save time
You can’t use all capital letters or promise “free” stuff when there isn’t anything free. Be careful with email and zip submit offers – Facebook are now frowning on the promotion of these. When you’re writing headlines and ad copy, remember to use upper and lower case letters and be careful with your spelling. Avoid using slang, abbreviations or code words. Facebook does not permit the use of irrelevant images, symbols or anything offensive.
Watch it or lose it
Facebook PPC is risky and you have the potential to lose all your money very quickly. Be smart and follow these tips carefully. Once you’ve got your ads all set up, you absolutely must watch your campaigns very closely. Set very low daily budgets and don’t leave your computer when you’re testing a new campaign. Traffic comes through extremely fast and before you know it, your budget has been spent.
Facebook PPC Advertising is a dangerous, but exciting game and you’ve got to take it seriously to make money. I got started with Facebook PPC by learning the step by step methods being taught right now at Affiliit – an excellent training forum. I recommend you go there if you want to learn more.
You can also read more Facebook PPC Advertising Tips here.
If you’re up for the Facebook PPC challenge, let me know by sharing your thoughts, ideas, questions in the comments section below!
AdWords Search Funnel Reporting
Posted by: | CommentsAn interesting development…
Google AdWords have announced a new reporting system that will explain a visitor’s search behavior in the time leading up to a conversion.
This means that we can now track which keywords and PPC ads result in a conversion at any time – up to 30 days prior to the purchase.
Google explain it best in their blog post here: New Reporting in Google AdWords
This is worth a closer look if you’re doing anything in AdWords.
Do you think this will be a useful tool for your business?
PPC Help – Ad Creation Tips Part Three
Posted by: | CommentsNeed PPC Help?
In case you missed them, PPC Help Part One and PPC Help Part Two are here.
Today we are concentrating on the headline of your PPC ad. This is your one chance to grab the attention of your prospect. Since you only get one chance to make a good first impression, you’ll be glad you spent so much time fine-tuning your PPC headline.
The first line is your headline. This is the most important line of your Ad. This line has to stand out from all of the other ads on the page.
How do you do stand out from the crowd?
There are 3 keys I like to follow:
1) Relevance. If your Ad is relevant, then your ad will stand out from the rest. It will most likely be highlighted by Google for you as well, since it will probably have at least a word or two that are also found in the user’s search.
2) Keywords used in headline. I like to use the main keyword from my ad group in the headline if at all possible.
3) Get Emotional. You can easily connect with your prospective customer using emotional triggers (pain or pleasure).
So now that you understand that we need to stand out from the crowd using the 3 keys described above, let’s take action!
You’re going to do some competitive market research. I would first start out by browsing the current top headlines in Google when I search for my keyword. Chances are you will see a pattern in the ads that appear day after day for your keyword. Take note of those ads you see every day. They are the winners! You many notice the successful ads will have your exact keywords in their headlines.
Next, you’re going to start writing possible headlines. When you first start out with a new ad, I suggest you use the other ads as a starting point. This is a good start and you know you’re starting with something solid.
What headlines are your competitors using? Are they catchy? Do they ask a question? Do they grab YOUR attention? Use this information to craft a list of ten possible headlines for each ad group. Take this list to someone (preferably an “offline” family member or friend) and ask them to choose the 3 headlines that stand out to them. You may be surprised with the results!
Side note: Perhaps you’re thinking that you should be incredibly creative with your headlines in order to “stand out”. I would strongly suggest that you don’t first try gimmicky headlines. I encourage you to first write solid headlines built from a foundation of sound advertising principles, then test these ads to further improve their CTR.
When you start with a solid foundation, and you test the results yourself, you can then start to branch out. You might hit a homerun with one of these “off the wall” PPC ads, however, but try them after you have already tried the basic ads.
For basic ad headlines, it’s important to follow these steps:
1. Research Successful Ads
2. Connect with Emotion
3. Use Keywords in the Headline
Have fun writing some killer PPC Ad Headlines! When I say “have fun”, I really mean it. It can be so fun testing out different headlines to see what actually gets people’s attention. Keep testing and trying till you find something that works for your market & product. Enjoy the process and be sure to ask questions along the way. I’m happy to help you.
Thanks for your support!
P.S. Have you contributed to the discussion yet? What are you waiting for? Come on, join in and share your thoughts in the comments section below!
PPC Help – Ad Creation Tips Part Two
Posted by: | CommentsNeed PPC Help?
Creating Relevant Ads That Get Clicks
If you missed it, you can read PPC Help – Ad Creation Tips Part One here.
When you first start creating ads, the most important thing that you need to remember is that they must be relevant with what your users are searching for. You need to “speak” directly to the person researching your topic. A lot of PPC training material glosses over this topic, and that is very unfortunate. It’s so important!
All of my experience has shown that specific ads that speak directly to an individual person have the best overall impact.
I know that this sounds fairly obvious, but it needs to be said.
How do we achieve this?
In order to help ensure the most relevancy possible in your ads, make sure you are using “tight” ad groups instead of large keyword list groups.
For example, if you are an affiliate who is promoting a Dog Training e-book, then instead of having just one ad group with all of your keywords lumped in together, I recommend you have at least four ad groups including ->
Dog Training
How To Train a Dog
Dog Obedience
Dog Lessons
Now, you can create at least four separate and specific ads, one for each ad group. Your ad for “Dog Training” is going to be specialized for training, while your ad for “Dog Lessons” will be geared towards lessons. The “Dog Training” ad will definitely have the word “training”, since my keywords under “dog training” have the word “training” in them as well.
I also recommend that your Landing Page be optimized for each adgroup as well. Sometimes this is not possible. If you are an affiliate and you’re direct linking to the offer, chances are you cannot send traffic to an optimized page. By the way, direct linking for affiliates is dying a very fast death (especially on Google AdWords). Affiliates must learn to adapt to this new market or perish. But that is another post for another day!
Why so many Ad Groups in my PPC Campaign?
1) You will earn a higher quality score.
Not only will Google give my ad a better quality score if I have “dog training” in my ad AND in the landing page, but it will also make the words BOLD in the ad copy! This will help direct browsing eyes to my ad. Creating smaller adgroups with targeted ads and landing pages also helps Google determine ad relevancy within the Content Network.
2) Your customers will relate to your ad.
Understanding your market will help you write an ad that speaks directly to your customer. It helps to ask yourself some questions about your potential customers:
Who are they?
What is their biggest problem (relating to this topic)?
Why is your product the best soultion for them?
What will they lose if they don’t buy your product today?
What are their other interests?
Are there competitors in your market?
Anything you can do to better understand your customer will help you create a specific, successful PPC ad.
3) Your conversion rate (sales or opt-in) will skyrocket.
When Google loves you (high quality score) and each customer relates to your adcopy (High CTR), they visit your landing page which is designed to show how your product is a tailor-made solution for them (They make a purchase or Opt-in) = Successful Campaign $$$.
Have you subscribed (over there on the right hand side) to receive all the updates in this series?? Go ahead… Ya got nothin to lose! 
P.S. Hope you’re ready for tomorrow’s installment in the PPC Help Series:
PPC Help – Ad Creation Tips Part Three: Headlines that Rock!
