Insights

How to make a successful PPC campaign

If you have ever tried running Google Ads, Facebook advertising or any other kind of pay-per-click marketing and burned through a ton of cash for little to no return, don’t feel too disheartened, you’re in good company. Many businesses have done exactly the same thing, including those who have a measure of PPC experience.

A big part of the problem is that Google and other online advertising platforms would like you to believe it is easy to drive sales to your website from their offering. Shiny case studies and testimonials of businesses just like yours, which are apparently "raking it in" thanks to their ad network and easy-to-use platforms, help to convince you it will be in a walk in the park. They even give you a free spend voucher to draw you in.

Well, as with most things in life:

• anything that seems to good to be true, normally is; and

• there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Nothing worthwhile tends to be easy.

Because let’s face it, if it were that easy, and it worked for every business out there, then every business would be doing it and doing it successfully, wouldn't they? But they’re not. Because it’s not easy.

PPC has become crucial

It’s true to say that getting results from paid advertising – particularly from Google’s ad networks – is getting harder, as more and more businesses desperately try to sell their wares or services online. This generates more competition for everyone, pushing up costs and eating into margins.

And yet despite this, getting featured in paid positions is becoming crucial, as Google pushes organic results further and further down the results page in favour of pay-per-click listings.

As a result, businesses and PPC agencies are in a constant search for the next platform, network, channel, or secret method by which they can enjoy some success, before that particular pond gets too full.

PPC will not work for every business

It is also true to say that not every business will do well with every paid search platform, or in some cases any, making the whole process an expensive bag of frustration.

How does a business owner, or marketing manager make that decision?

Failure from previous forays into PPC is not a barometer of success. Just because it didn’t work or get results in the past doesn’t necessarily mean your business won’t get results from PPC in the future. There are so many factors that influence the outcome.

Look before you leap

One thing is for sure: to know if your business is likely to get results from online ads, and which channels will help determine that, requires some research, planning and hard work. But, like most things in life, the results are often proportionate to the preparation you put in at the beginning.

If you are prepared to put the effort in, or commission the right agency to do that BEFORE getting underway, then there are rewards to be found.

So, here are the first articles in our multi-part guide to planning and executing a successful PPC campaign for your business, complete with bitesize videos to help you along the way!

An introduction to Done in 60 seconds