The REV77 Approach to a Well Optimized PPC Campaign

A properly run PPC campaign is the difference between driving qualified, cost-effective leads and spending a ton of money to get subpar or nonexistent performance. This is especially problematic for SMBs:

• They tend to spend a very small percentage of their marketing budget – 20 percent or less – on digital marketing
  
• Roughly 43 percent of small businesses rely on in-house employees, with another 32 percent relying on freelancers – of inconsistent quality – to run their campaigns
  
• Only about 23 percent utilize marketing agencies
  

If SMBs are running Pay-Per-Click advertising campaigns, and a recent survey suggests roughly 45 percent of them do, chances are good many of them are losing money due to poorly optimized campaigns. A 2013 WordStream study estimated managerial and strategic errors cost the average SMB’s in-house campaign approximately 25 percent of its budget. If a SMB is only spending 20 percent of its scarce marketing dollars on digital, and 25 percent of their PPC spend is being lost due to inefficiency, it can really put them behind the eight ball in terms of competitiveness.

Of the 500 SMB PPC campaigns WordStream analyzed, they found:

• Most were not actively managing their account
  
• They weren’t taking a proactive approach to increasing ad relevancy
  
• Most (at the time) lacked mobile optimization
  
• Fewer than 50 percent were using Google AdWords’ built in tracking to accurately calculate ROI
  
• A massive 95 percent did not utilize call extensions
  

While call extensions aren’t necessarily a must have for every vertical and campaign type, the fact that 95 percent of SMBs weren’t utilizing them does send up a red flag.

If you count SMBs among your clientele and you want to help them maximize their marketing dollars, partnering with REV77 will allow you to do so. We offer a comprehensive suite of marketing services, include social media management and advertising, SEO, content marketing, website development, video advertising and more – but one of our specialties is running properly optimized PPC campaigns for SMBs.

We get to know each client’s business before we ever start building their campaign. Our PPC specialists have run campaigns in just about every imaginable vertical, but we still want to know each client’s unique goals to tailor their campaign to meet them. When appropriate, we segment campaigns by match type, utilize multiple ad channels – such as Google and Bing – and leverage display campaigns to increase brand awareness and target searchers in the research phase. The exact strategy and the best practices we employ vary based on the needs of each campaign. A plumber with a small budget who just wants calls for drain cleaning may be run much differently than a personal injury attorney who wants to improve their local brand recognition and get leads for a diverse array of practice areas.

We always create tightly themed ad groups with ad copy that incorporates keyword root terms, including location keywords when appropriate, in the headline, descriptions and paths. If necessary, we can even build out conversion-optimized landing pages to improve quality score and end-user experience. A/B testing is built into each ad group, but we’ll get deeper into those types of best practice strategies in future PPC blog installments .

We base our ad rotation and delivery channels on each client’s goals, budget and campaign performance. We keep close watch on peak search and conversion times to make sure our ad schedules match. When we can, we always incorporate geo-targeting with radiuses based on best practices and past campaign results. And, of course, all of our campaigns are optimized for all mobile devices and desktops. Something unique that we offer that most SMBs can’t replicate, even with freelancers, is an extensive negative keyword list built over years of work with past clients in the same vertical. We modify this negative keyword list based on each client, search volume and campaign performance.

Not every campaign necessarily needs every type of extension. We modify our strategy based on vertical and client goals. Rest assured, we utilize the AdWords callout or sitelink extensions that are appropriate for each campaign we run.

Many SMBs running their own campaigns have to take a set it, and forget it approach to their paid media campaigns. They only have so much time in their schedule to do their own marketing while running their business. At REV77, every client’s campaign, regardless of spend, gets frequent check-ins to add new relevant terms, add irrelevant terms as negative keywords and have bid adjustments performed. Any REV77-built landing pages are also optimized as the campaign strategy and performance dictates to improve conversions.

We truly take pride in helping the SMBs we serve grow and succeed. It’s honestly fulfilling for us to know the qualified leads we’re driving to the businesses we run campaigns for help them grow, put food on their family’s tables, pay for tuition and support the employment of countless people. Knowing we play some role in helping people achieve the American dream is a great motivator for putting in the optimization hours every day. If you want to offer your customers hands-on, proven PPC advertising services, send us a message . We’re always happy to discuss our package options and the ways we can partner together to provide better services for your clients.