PPC: how to turn ad spend into sales

Daunted by Pay Per Click (PPC)? Or just find it frustratingly complicated and pricey? Whatever’s tripping you up, we've got your back – with six ideas for increasing conversions and ROI in your next campaign (without blowing your marketing budget).

1. Lookalike Advertising

This feature helps you reach people who have similar interests to your core audience, but who you haven’t targeted before. You can run lookalike advertising campaigns on Google, Facebook and many other channels.

Setting it up is easy:

1. Create a custom audience campaign based on the people who clicked on your previous campaigns
2. Create a similar audience based on the segment you’re targeting
3. Target this audience across all your channels

2. Geolocation Advertisements

You can use Google’s geolocation settings to target specific locations or an area around it – such as a five-mile radius of your physical store. For best results, remember to set the correct opening hours for your business – especially if you're advertising in-store products.

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3. Google Extensions

Maximise your ad ROI by using Google’s selection of extensions. These upgrades make your ads more appealing, eye-catching and, most importantly, clickable. Some of the most effective options are:

a) Call

Feature a phone number in your ad so mobile users can call you in one click.

b) Location

A link to your location on Google Maps makes it easy for potential customers to find your physical store.

c) Site Link

Promoting landing pages under your ad text gives customers more information and choice – great for helping you stand out from your competitors.

4. New Keywords

Make your PPC budget go further by targeting specific, less competitive keywords and long-tail keywords. These terms are cheaper but bring in more closely targeted traffic (read: more likely to convert).

5. Mobile Targeting

Optimise your ads for mobile, even if most of your sales happen on desktop – many of these buying journeys will have originated on a phone.

Don't forget to check your bids after you set your device targeting settings as bids are increasing with added mobile competition. Setting a campaign maximum will make sure you don’t blow your budget.

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6. Remarketing

Remarketing is one of the most effective ways to save money on paid advertising because these audiences have already shown buying intent. Let's turn that interest into sales:

1. Log in to Audience Manager and click “visitors of a page who did not visit another page”.
2. The first URL will be your shopping cart page, or potentially one of your checkout pages
3. Create some content that targets abandoners – perhaps with an incentive to tempt them back.
   

Remember, don’t just use Google for your campaign. Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Snapchat are all waiting too.

Want to know more about paid advertising, PPC or Google Shopping? 

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