Bing and Yahoo are currently offering £125 of free clicks to businesses who sign up as new advertisers between now and 15th July. With Bing search ads now being served across both Bing and Yahoo’s search platforms and networks, we’ve already started to see some great results for clients.
This is a really useful video showing how you can take just 10 minutes to optimise your AdWords campaigns. It’s targeted at smaller businesses and Adwords accounts, but the principles are absolutely spot on for all campaigns.
Here is a brief summary of the main tips:
Update your keywords
AdWords uses your keywords to determine who sees your ad. The more relevant your keywords are, the more likely it is that anyone who sees your ad may be interested in your products or services.
Monitor your clickthrough rate (CTR)
If your CTR is less than 1%, your keywords may be too general or too specific. Consider editing, pausing or deleting keywords with a low CTR.
Use 2-3 word phrases
Keywords that consist of two or more words tend to be more specific and therefore may better speak to what a potential customer is searching for. Example: Instead of “bootsâ€, a more relevant keyword may be “men’s leather bootsâ€.
Manage your bids and costs
Keep an eye on your bids and budget to make sure your ads stay competitive. Get more clicks and customers with AdWords by setting aside a few minutes each week to review and manage your keywords, bids and ads. You may not need to make changes every week, but keeping an eye on your results is ultimately the key to success.
Invest in high-performing keywords
Devote a greater percentage of your budget to keywords that deliver a greater number of customers to your website. Increase bids on your best-performing keywords and lower bids on lower-performing keywords. By doing this, you can get more customers without spending more.
Ensure your bids are competitive
Take a look at your keywords’ average position. If an average position is below eight, your ad may not appear on the first page of Google’s search results when someone searches for that word or phrase — and therefore it won’t be visible to many potential customers. To increase your ad’s position, consider increasing your keyword bid – or take a look at how you can automate bid changes based on position in the keywords tab.
Improve your ads
Take a look at your ads. Are some ads performing better than others? Are all your offers or promotions up to date? Did you include a call to action? Here are tips for improving your ads.
1. Attractive, relevant headlines
Get noticed with a short, simple headline that describes your product or service and includes your most important keywords.
2. Descriptive text with keywords
Why would someone choose your business over another? Focus on the details that make potential customers search for your product or service and remember to include relevant keywords.
3. Strong call to action
Ask for the sale. Drive business to your site with a call to action like “Shop now,†or special offers.
These tips should help you to improve your Adwords campaigns, but if you feel you need more help to improve your online marketing, particularly PPC search and online media, then I can provide search marketing training and offer bespoke online marketing workshops – please feel free to get in touch.