Categories
SEO

Improve Your PPC Strategies by Bidding on Competitors Keywords

Most businesses that have to do advertising also have to deal with competition from similar businesses. Many traditional media publishing platforms made it possible to separate your advertising in time (broadcast) and in physical space (print) from that of your competitors.
The search engines are very different from legacy media as most of your ads will be placed alongside those of the competition. For instance, when someone searches for a particular book, the ads will include listings from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and your local retail business. As such, you will all be competing for the same click, which makes things harder for everyone.
In the world of PPC advertising, bidding on competitor brand names can be a lucrative strategy. However, we at BlackStorm have learned that as easy and as enticing as it may be to take away a competitors traffic, it can create some problems with the quality score.
If you have ever tried to bid on someone’s brand name, then you know that Google will hit you with poor quality scores. Their logic is that someone searching for Walmart stores near me” would be interested in Walmart and not Target. As such, Target would get hit with poor quality scores for bidding on Walmart keywords.
Nonetheless, there may still be a few legitimate reasons to bid on your competition’s brand names. Maybe you just got into the market and need visibility or maybe you intend to capitalize on some confusion between your brand and that of the competition. Regardless of your reasons, you can target competitor brand keywords and manage to get decent quality scores and score some visitors. Here are some of the most effective ways to bid on the competition’s brand keywords:

Bid on Misspellings

If your competitor has an easily misspelled or a hard to spell brand, you need to gather all the possible keywords and place your bids. Most of the search engines do not understand misspellings and it may not be clear to them if you intend to find the real brand or something else. Once there is confusion, your ad has a higher probability of getting a decent score and being listed.
For instance:
If a searcher were to type in “esurance” while looking for the auto insurance company but ended up typing “ensurance”, the company still shows up on the search engine as the number one ad.
However, the second advert is awkward and is probably the result of dynamic keyword insertion. Still, it has used the searched keyword twice and this has made the search engines bold these out, making them stand out from the others. They are also using more site links as compared to the other advertisers. You would have to read the ad carefully to know that it has nothing to do with the company Esurance. However, most users will simply click the bolded result and visit the site rather than the website they intended to.

Bid on Cancel Keywords

This is one of those tips that could completely revolutionize your PPC competitor keyword strategies.
I do not believe you can find a better way of targeting disgruntled clients of the competition than by bidding on keywords they are likely to use when they intend to cancel their subscriptions.
This is not only smart but is also very effective at ensuring that you never get hit with the poor quality scores that you are likely to get when bidding on competitor keywords. For instance:
Most competitor keywords will get you quality scores no higher than 2, which the search engines are highly unlikely to list on the search results.
However, cancel keywords are a different kettle of fish:
You can get have your scores jump from as low as 2 to something between 4-5 and in some instances even 10. What is even better, cancel keywords tend to get above average click-through rates and drive leads.
If you are in the contractual or service industry taking advantage of cancel keyword can significantly improve your strategies.

Employ All the Weapons Available

At Blackstorm we always say that you are never going to be better than your competition if you do not have great ad copy. The best way of doing this is to provide reasons for the searcher to choose you and to always have a better offer. There are many advertisers that have won the battle for clicks by offering super deals and exclusive offers not found anywhere else.
Writing creative ad copy will also go a long way in improving your click-through rates. For instance, in the example below, Olive Garden gets really creative when targeting the keyword Applebee’s.
They have been so clever that Bing ads gave them annotations on the search engine results showing that they have had 100k visitors in the last month and that they have 205,900 twitter followers.
While it is impossible to control ad notations, ad extensions can be controlled. With good ad extensions, your ad will stand out more on the results. Still, you will have to get your ad to the top of the page before the search engines will show your ad extensions. But, having them show on the results can be a game changer.
Take for instance a search “Adgooroo” a search intelligence tool.
Adgooroo has neglected to bid on their brand and Spyfu has jumped in to bid on it. With their Google+ extensions and callout extension, their ad stands out on the page and they must be getting clicks. You could also use location and call extension on competitor ads. Imagine if the searcher learns that the competitor is a better fit for their needs than the company they were searching for.
Always do anything in your power to give the searcher a reason to click or call your business rather than that of a competitor. All being said, competitor campaigns can a solid source of high converting leads, sales or quality traffic.

Categories
Marketing

The Types Of Content That Really Works With Your PPC Campaigns

What Type Of Info Really Sells Your PPC Audience?

When you’re considering a PPC campaign for your business, there are various things you must consider. And that includes knowing who your audiences are, their importance and segmentation. But that said, you have to carefully select the type of information you provide to ensure your campaign’s success. This is really important especially if you’re a B2C eCommerce advertiser. Remember you have to stand out to maintain them. But how? We got a few tips for you. Read on!

Customized Attention

With the growth of the internet and advancement in technology, it’s very easy to want to automate your services. But by all means, don’t. Adding a little bit of personalized attention to each of your clients gives them a sense of belonging. It makes them feel you care. This could be anything from free consultation services for the first purchases, a specialist guide every so often, face to face appointments with the sales team, etc.

Easy Accessibility To Price Quotes

The reason as to why a client clicks on your website is because they are interested in what you offer and would probably want to make a purchase. But they can’t go ahead with it if they aren’t sure of how much it will cost them. And that’s why you should always offer a solution for them; providing a price quote calculation sheet on your page. This will be so convenient given that same products together with their various add-ons can cost a little bit differently depending on what the customer wants. Give them the liberty to decide what they want to be included and they will forever be indebted to you.

Provide A Comparison Chart With Your Competitors

This will be mainly effective if only you are the market leader in your segment. It not only gives you the confidence to step forward but also acts as a source of credibility to both your present and potential customers. Who wouldn’t want to be associated with the most sought product with unique qualities and components?
If you choose this way, however, ensure to attractively parade it on your landing page, with as much creativity as possible. You have to convince your audience to choose you over others and that isn’t an easy task.

Free Trials

Anything that’s free has always been attractive. Take advantage of that fact and use it to lure audiences to your product or service. You can, for instance, start with a free sample for the first purchase as a way of converting prospects into potential leads and hopefully long term clients. It’s literally hard to resist spending on a particularly good product/service once you have experienced it.

Valuable Details

People will always stick around where they find valuable information that they can use to improve their lives. So if nothing else seems to work well for you, try your campaign from this angle. You can start by providing a PDF guide or eBook concerning specific consumer-related issues and how they can be solved. There’s no better way to make more sales than avoiding to be too salesy!
There you have it! What else has worked for you? Feel free to share with us in the comment section below!

Categories
Marketing

6 Things You Could Be Doing Wrong in Your PPC Campaign

Having problems with your PPC campaign?

Everyone, including PPC pros, entrepreneurs, businesses and startups experience failure one way or the other. Sometimes, the execution just isn’t there. Or maybe you’ve put all your broad match keywords in one campaign.
Plus, you could be making any of these 8 mistakes, listed below:

No Solid Goal Or Strategy

The first thing you need to do is establish a clear goal, a vital part of any marketing campaign. Getting ads on Google is, unfortunately, not enough to set the tone. Plan for a specific goal or strategy and base your PPC around it.

You Don’t Track Conversions

Having a conversion tracking system turns your ad campaign into autopilot mode. Without it, you’ll be flying in blind not knowing whether you’ve hit your metrics or not. The bottom line? Adding tracking codes is relatively simple, but clients and businesses often fail to see their value or importance.

Loose Campaign Structure

Keep the ad campaign tight and close up any and all loose ends. A classic example of a poor structure includes having too many broad matches under one roof, or not matching brand PPCs with brand keywords.
A good PPC manager will take a look at the campaign structure and shore up any weaknesses. Not doing so is a precursor to low, unsatisfactory results.

Unattractive Landing Page

Your campaign may have a killer ad copy, the right keywords, and a good overall structure, but do you have an equally compelling landing page?
Landing pages are like storefronts that attract your customers. A well-maintained, organized and compelling one brings in visitors, which increase the chances of a sale.

Your Ad Copy is Mediocre

Invest in creating a good ad copy as it’s instrumental to your success. An attractive landing page, sound campaign structure, and ad copies form the triumvirate of any PPC campaign.
What makes an ad copy great? It must be able to tell the users what you want them to do and the benefits of them doing it. Moreover, it must be done with a few characters or fillers as possible.

Passive Campaign Management

Many businesses think that PPC is a passive marketing campaign, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Setting it up is just the first step in the ad process. Managers who know better will fine-tune the PPC’s details, optimizing ad copies, keywords, bids while keeping an eye on the important metrics.
Don’t hand the project to a junior-level marketing staff; instead, hire an experienced manager who will know how to run the ad campaign from start to finish.

Why Am I Still Failing?

Despite all your best intentions, your PPC can still fail. The truth is, even the best ad campaigns can still go down the drain. What you can do is constantly monitor the data and try to troubleshoot the problem.

Is PPC Right For Your Business?

So you may have tried a couple of ad campaigns, but none of them are meeting the goals. You’ve tried everything, but the numbers aren’t favorable. What then?
Truth is, there’s a slim chance that PPC isn’t a right fit for your particular campaign, industry or business. But before you wave the white flag, exhaust all available options and make sure you have a good ad copy, landing page and structure.

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