Revive Your Numbers with SEM
(Written by guest contributor Andrew Albritton)
Search engine marketing (SEM), sometimes referred to as paid search, is the practice of bidding on keyword strings to increase a website’s visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPs). For Internet marketers SEM can be a highly effective means for promoting and driving traffic to a website or sales page. In fact, when optimized and managed effectively, a well-performing SEM campaign is one of the most sought-after and profitable mechanisms for an online marketer.
However this high-risk, high-reward platform can be volatile. With an unharnessed SEM campaign, a lot of money can be lost in the blink of an eye. In this article we’ll take a high-level look at creating and implementing an effective SEM campaign, and develop an actionable checklist to give your business the best chance for SEM success. While there are multiple SEM platforms available (the top three being Google AdWords, Yahoo Marketing Solutions, and Microsoft adCenter [MSN and Bing]), for the purposes of this article we’ll focus on Google’s family of products.
Get a Google AdWords Account
First things first: You’ll need to visit www.adwords.google.com/ to create and activate an account. Once you’re set up, you can begin creating your campaign. Within the campaign settings you can set parameters for your campaign including audience language and geographical location, network selections, your daily budget, and your maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bid. For geographical location, you have the option to start small by geo-targeting small areas. Displaying your ads outside your area of service is not recommended. The only exception would be, for example, if you served customers in Colorado but were determined to get exposure outside of the state. You could add “Colorado” or different cities in Colorado as modifiers to the keywords.
Create Your Ads
After establishing your campaign settings, it’s time to create your ads. Each ad is comprised of four basic elements: a headline, two lines of text describing your product or service, a display URL, and a destination URL. Having compelling ad copy will determine whether a potential customer clicks on your ad or on your competitor’s ad, so be sure to create ads that incorporate popular keywords, unique selling points, and persuasive calls to action. Make sure to create very specific ad copy that fits tightly-worded ad groups. A broad version of copy that encompasses a wide spectrum of terms will not generate optimal click-through rates. In addition, be sure that your destination URL leads potential buyers directly to the appropriate page where they can buy your product or service. Leading potential buyers to your home page will result in a frustrated customer, and a lost sale.
Create Your Keyword List
Now that you’ve set your campaign parameters and created your ads, it’s time to create your keyword list. This will determine which searches generate your ad; the more relevant your keyword list is, the more effective your campaign will be. The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is a great way to get started. This tool scans your site, and creates keyword suggestions related to your site content. Another tool for getting some ideas is Wordtracker. They offer a free basic service (freekeywords.wordtracker.com/) and a more robust monthly offering for a premium.
Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Dynamic Keyword Insertion is a handy trick that can be used to increase your click-through rates (CTR) and Quality Score and in turn lower your CPC. Using the syntax {keyword: } allows you to automatically have your ad title dynamically match the search terms. For example, using {Keyword:A Great Business} when someone searches for “Business XYZ,” your headline would read “Business XYZ,” but if their query exceeds Google’s 25 character limit, “A Great Business” would be displayed.
Once your ads go live, run test orders to make sure everything is running smoothly. Keep in mind that creating and launching your campaign is just half of the battle. Optimization of your campaign is the other half, and can make all the difference. Stay tuned for more information on optimization in the next article.
