It’s pretty tempting: you launch a nifty pay-per-click campaign based on the painstaking keyword research you’ve done – by picking a handful of the most popular keywords in your niche. Easy peasy, right?
We’re sorry to break your pretty bubble but wrong! A PPC campaign isn’t doing its job unless it’s reaching the people you want it to reach, and randomly using popular keywords with no regard for context simply isn’t going to cut it.
Don’t worry, we have your back; keep reading for some of the best-kept secrets of PPC in digital marketing on how to conduct keyword research for your shiny new campaign.
Why Do Keywords Matter in PPC Campaigns?
The thing about just using the most popular keywords for your campaign is that sure, people will see them, but not the right people, not the people you’re trying to reach.
And let’s face it: your campaign isn’t going to do you any good if it isn’t reaching the right audience!
This is where keyword research comes in: it’s the map you hand your campaign so it can reach the right people at the right time, just as they are looking for you!
The Secret: Your Customer
Knowing your customer is like having the answers to that big test everyone is scared of. If you know who your audience is and what they’re looking for, keyword research automatically becomes ten times easier.
When you’re able to identify and employ keywords that are the right fit for what you offer and what your customers are looking for, you’ll have a winner on your hands.
If you’re offering precisely what a user is searching for and your PPC ad appears before them, you’re much likelier to make that conversion, right? They’ll happily click on the ad and find their way to you and stick around to see what you have to say.
The Nitty Gritty
Let’s get down to business! Here are the things you should do as you start putting your keywords together for your PPC campaign.
- Set Some Goals
Consider and outline your campaign goals: are you angling for simply increasing visitors to the content you have to offer, or do you want them to perform an action (or two) when they get to your website?
- Use A Keyword Planner
Once you know what you want, start looking for what helps you reach those goals. Get digging for the right keywords using the plethora of tools that are available – free or paid, if you want to fork over a few dollars – on the internet to help you find what you want. Google’s Keyword Planner is completely free and super effective!
All you must do is plug in the keyword closest to your website, and Google’s Keyword Planner will magically present you with other related keywords that users search for. Easy as pie! They’ll also give you the full PPC picture, including bidding costs and the competition you can expect to encounter.
- Understand Keyword Metrics
Even if all the keywords offered by your chosen planner are relevant to your business, they may not all be effective for your campaign.
A neat trick to figure out what’s working is to peek at what your competitors are doing. You can also do some research the old-fashioned way: put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes and search as they might to see what works.
The Upshot
PPC in digital marketing campaigns are tricky not just because of the technicalities involved; they also cost you your very real, hard-earned money. If you find yourself daunted by the prospect of floating your PPC campaign, you might benefit greatly from partnering with an experienced agency like AdLift – they’ll happy do all the heavy lifting for you!
