How to Create a Winning PPC Campaign in 5 Easy Steps

PPC advertising is one of the most effective ways to generate leads and sales for your business. PPC stands for pay-per-click, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. PPC ads can appear on search engines like Google and Bing, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and other websites and apps that display ads.

But how do you create a winning PPC campaign that stands out from the crowd and delivers results? This article will show you how to create a winning PPC campaign in 5 easy steps. We will cover the best practices and tools for PPC advertising in 2023 and beyond.

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Budget

The first step in creating a winning PPC campaign is to define your goals and budget. You need to know what you want to achieve with your PPC campaign and how much you will spend.

Your goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). For example, your goal could be to increase your website conversions by 10% in the next 3 months.

Your budget should be realistic and based on your goals, industry, competition and keywords. You need to consider how much you are willing to pay for each click (cost-per-click or CPC) and how many clicks you need to get a conversion (conversion rate or CR).

You can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner and SEMrush’s CPC Map to estimate your keywords’ average CPC and competition level. You can also use tools like Google’s Performance Planner and SEMrush’s Traffic Analytics to estimate your keywords’ potential traffic and conversions.

You can calculate your budget by multiplying your CPC by your desired number of clicks. For example, if you want to get 1000 clicks and your average CPC is $1, your budget would be $1000.

Step 2: Choose Your Keywords and Match Types

The next step in creating a winning PPC campaign is to choose your keywords and match types. Keywords are the words or phrases that trigger your ads when someone searches for them. Match types are the settings that determine how closely your keywords match the user’s search query.

Choosing keywords relevant to your business, products or services and matching them to the user’s intent and context. Ideally, you would choose keywords with high volume, low CPC and low competition level.

You can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find keyword ideas and metrics, and tools like Google Trends and AnswerThePublic to find trending topics and questions related to your keywords.

The match types you use should suit your campaign goals and budget. Match types are:

• Broad match: This is the default match type that allows your ads to show for any search queries that are related to your keywords, including synonyms, misspellings, variations and related searches. For example, if your keyword is “pizza delivery”, your ad might show “pizza near me”, “pizza delivery open now,” or “best pizza in Miami”. Broad match gives you the widest reach and the lowest relevance and control.
• Phrase match: This is a match type that allows your ads to show for search queries that include your keyword as a phrase or a close variation of it. For example, if your keyword is “pizza delivery”, your ad might show for “pizza delivery near me”, “best pizza delivery in Miami” or “how much does pizza delivery cost”. Phrase match gives you more relevance and control than broad match but less reach.
• Exact match: This is a match type that allows your ads to show for search queries that exactly match your keyword or a close variation of it. For example, if your keyword is “[pizza delivery]”, your ad might show for “pizza delivery”, “pizza deliveries” or “delivery pizza”. Exact match gives you the highest relevance and control but also the lowest reach.

You can use a combination of different match types to balance between reach and relevance. You can also use negative keywords to exclude search queries that are irrelevant or unprofitable for your business. For example, if you are a pizza delivery service, you might want to exclude keywords like “pizza recipe”, “pizza oven” or “pizza hut”.

Step 3: Create Your Ad Copy and Landing Pages

The third step in creating a winning PPC campaign is to create your ad copy and landing pages. Ad copy is the text that appears on your ads and entices the user to click on them. Landing pages are the web pages the user lands on after clicking on your ads and where you persuade them to take action.

Your ad copy and landing pages must be relevant, compelling, consistent with your keywords, goals, and brand. Following the best practices and guidelines of each platform you advertise is also critical.

You can use tools like Google’s Responsive Search Ads and SEMrush’s Ad Builder to create and optimize your ad copy. You can also use tools like Unbounce and Instapage to create and optimize your landing pages.

Your ad copy should include:

• A headline that captures the user’s attention and matches their search query
• A description that highlights the benefits and value proposition of your offer
• A call-to-action that tells the user what to do next
• Extensions that provide additional information or options, such as site links, callouts, structured snippets or location

Your landing pages should include:

• A headline that reinforces the user’s search query and your ad copy
• A subheadline that summarizes the main benefit or offer
• A hero image or video that showcases your product or service
• A body copy that explains the features and benefits of your product or service
• A call-to-action that tells the user what to do next
• A form or button that captures the user’s information or directs them to the next step
• Social proof that shows testimonials, reviews, ratings or awards from your customers or partners
• Trust signals that show logos, certifications, guarantees or security badges from your brand or partners

Step 4: Set Up Your Campaign Settings and Bidding Strategy

The fourth step in creating a winning PPC campaign is to set up your campaign settings and bidding strategy. Campaign settings are the options that determine how, when and where your ads will show. The bidding strategy is the method that determines how much you will pay for each click on your ads.

Setting up your campaign settings and bidding strategy according to your goals, budget, and audience is the first step, and you would need to monitor and adjust them as needed to optimize your performance and ROI.

You can use tools like Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising to set up and manage your campaign settings and bidding strategy. You can also use tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush’s Advertising Toolkit to track and analyze your results.

Your campaign settings should include:

• Campaign type: This is the type of campaign you want to run, such as search, display, video, shopping or app. Each campaign type has different features, formats and networks.
• Campaign name: This is the name of your campaign that helps you identify and organize it.
• Campaign budget: This is the amount of money you want to spend on your campaign daily or monthly.
• Networks: These are the places where you want your ads to show, such as Google Search Network, Google Display Network, YouTube or partner sites.
• Locations: These are the geographic areas where you want your ads to show, such as countries, states, cities or zip codes.
• Languages: These are the languages that you want your ads to show for, such as English, Spanish or French.
• Audiences: You want to target these groups based on their demographics, interests, behaviors or intents.
• Ad rotation: This is how you want your ads to rotate within an ad group, such as optimizing for clicks, conversions or impressions.
• Ad schedule: This is the time of day or day of the week that you want your ads to show, such as 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays or 24/7.
• Delivery method: This is how you want your ads to be delivered within your budget, such as standard or accelerated.

Your bidding strategy should include:

• Bid strategy type: This is the type of bidding strategy you want to use, such as manual CPC, enhanced CPC, target CPA, target ROAS, maximize clicks or maximize conversions. Each bidding strategy type has different goals, advantages and disadvantages.
• Bid amount: This is the amount of money that you are willing to pay for each click on your ads. You can set a maximum CPC limit for manual CPC bidding or a target CPA or ROAS for automated bidding.
• Bid adjustments: These are the percentage changes you can apply to your bids based on different factors such as location, device, time or audience. For example, you can increase your bids by 20% for mobile devices or decrease your bids by 10% for nighttime.

Step 5: Monitor and Optimize Your Campaign Performance

The fifth and final step in creating a winning PPC campaign is to monitor and optimize your campaign performance. You need to track and analyze your campaign results and make changes as needed to improve your performance and ROI.

You can use tools like Google Analytics and SEMrush’s Advertising Toolkit to monitor and optimize your campaign performance. You can also use tools like Google Optimize and Unbounce to run A/B tests and experiments on your ads and landing pages.

You should monitor and optimize your campaign performance based on different metrics such as:

• Impressions: This is the number of times your ads are shown.
• Clicks: This is the number of times your ads are clicked.
• CTR: This is the click-through rate, which is the percentage of impressions that result in clicks.
• Conversions: This is the number of times your ads lead to a desired action, such as a purchase, a sign-up or a download.
• CR: This is the conversion rate, which is the percentage of clicks that result in conversions.
• CPC: This is the cost-per-click, which is the amount of money that you pay for each click on your ads.
• CPA: This is the cost-per-acquisition, which is the amount of money that you pay for each conversion from yur ads.
• ROAS: This is the return on ad spend, which is the ratio of revenue generated from your ads to the cost of your ads.

You should optimize your campaign performance by making changes such as:

• Adding new keywords or removing low-performing keywords
• Changing your match types or adding negative keywords
• Updating your ad copy or landing pages
• Adjusting your bids or bid strategy
• Changing your campaign settings or targeting options
• Testing different variations of your ads or landing pages

Conclusion

PPC advertising is one of the most effective ways to generate leads and sales for your business. By following these 5 easy steps, you can create a winning PPC campaign that stands out from the crowd and delivers results.

If you need any help with your PPC strategy, feel free to contact us at Miami SEM. We are a digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, SEM, content and digital ads.