Step 1: Set Goals
Set goals for Cost Per Conversion. This should always be the primary measure of success.
* When your total cost per conversion is lower than your break even point, the campaign is profitable.
* You goal should be to have the lowest cost per conversion with the most conversions. These two sub-goals are opposed to one another because the more you pay per click, the more traffic you will be able to drive. It is important to determine the optimum compromise between low cost conversions and more traffic. But any time your cost per conversion goes above your break even point, the campaign will no longer be profitable.
Secondary goals can include:
* Traffic (total clicks). Issue: Traffic without conversion is wasted money.
* Click-through rate (CTR). Issue: Clicks without conversion is wasted money.
* Conversion rate. Issue: Good conversion may still lose money if the cost per click is too high.
* Average cost per click (CPC). Issue: Low cost per click is still not valuable if the clicks don't convert. The secondary goals represent valuable data points, but all of them can show good numbers and still be part of a failing campaign. Always use these other measures in the light of your average cost per conversion.
Step 2: Develop Initial Keyword List
Starting with what you think your prospects are searching for and using the available tools from Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and/or others, develop an initial keyword list. The list should include every keyword you think someone interested in your products or services MIGHT type into Google, Yahoo, MSN or other search engine.
Step 3: Develop Initial Keyword Bid List
Starting with the keywords in your Initial Keyword list, determine what you believe your conversion rate will be on clicks you get from those keywords. If you have no idea, begin with your average conversion rate for your site and adjust up or down based on how targeted you believe the keyword is. This is just needs to be an educated guess at this point. Soon after you launch your campaign, you'll have real data to replace your estimates with.
Based on your cost per conversion goal, determine what the maximum amount you can afford to pay for that keyword is. Multiply your cost per conversion goal by your estimated conversion rate. The result is the maximum you can afford to pay per click. So if your cost per conversion goal is $20 and you estimate a 2% conversion rate, you can afford to bid up to $0.40 ($20 x 2%) per click.
Finally, use your PPC vendor's tools to check whether or not you can pay that amount or less per click to buy the keyword. If so, add it to your initial Keyword Bid List, and note the maximum bid amount. If not, put it on a backup list, which you may revisit in the future.
Step 4: Determine what landing pages to use for each keyword on your Initial Keyword Bid List.
The landing page for each keyword should be as relevant to the keyword or phrase as possible. DO NOT send traffic from a specific keyword to your Home Page. If you are bidding on keyword phrases that do not correspond directly to any pages on your web site, create specific landing pages that speak directly to your ad copy, and direct users from that landing page to where you want them to go.
Step 5: Write Ad Copy
Write copy for each listing. For Google, you can write several ads for each. Consider exactly what the user is looking for when they search for a specific keyword phrase, and write copy that is compelling to that mind set. Ad copy with the exact keywords in it generally produces a higher click-through rate.
Step 6: Launch Campaign and Analyze Results
Once you have your list of keywords, your maximum bids and your ads ready, launch your campaign. Initially, you should keep a very close eye on it, generating reports every day or two. Key things to look for include:
* Keywords that are getting a lot of clicks but no/low conversions.
* Keywords that are getting very high conversions.
* Keywords that are getting no clicks.
* If you are running multiple ads for some keywords, which ads are doing better?
* Are there trends in conversion rate associated with time of the day or day of the week?
Step 7: Make Adjustments
Based on your analysis, adjust you campaign. For keywords generating a lot of traffic but low or no conversions, try either changing the copy of your ads to better qualify prospects, lower your bid amount or stop bidding on the keyword.
For keywords performing better than expected, if you are not already placing #1, analyze the cost per conversion of increasing your bid to a higher placement position and compare that with the expected additional traffic from higher placement. If it will be more profitable, raise your bid. If you're not sure, test it and see.
For keywords getting impressions but few or no clicks, try different ad copy.
Step 8: Refine Your Keyword List
As you get more data, and test more bidding strategies and ad copy, you should be refining your keyword list, removing unprofitable keywords and potentially identifying new potential money makers.
Step 9: Use the Click-Through and Conversion Data to Inform Your SEO Campaign
The data gathered in a well-run SEM campaign can be invaluable to a SEO effort. Knowing exactly what keywords are actually converting into sales and driving traffic should be used by your search engine optimization team to target the appropriate keywords in their campaign.
Step 10: Continue Monitoring and Adjusting
Over time, less analysis is needed, but you must still monitor your results, look for changes and adjust accordingly. New competitors enter the market. Old ones leave. Bid prices change. Users start searching for more specific terms. Left unattended, all of these can lead to a stale campaign decreasing performance. Run at least high-level reports weekly and detailed reports monthly.
Republished By : Vishal Shastri
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