nashville ppc services

Nashville’s best SEO agency is about to tell you how to increase online visibility through ethical, customized solutions. We have been practicing search engine optimization since we opened for business in 2013. We have managed to stay relevant by continuing to evolve and refine our approach as a digital marketing agency.

Search engines constantly update their algorithms to better anticipate searcher intent. This has resulted in the development of an SEO playbook that consistently delivers results to our clients. We’re about to share insights into the SEO strategies and tactics that we use to exceed client expectations. Let’s get into it.

Every business is unique and requires a customized approach to advertising. Astute Communication delivers digital advertising solutions that get results. Our PPC professionals carefully consider your business goals, advertising budget, and the competitive landscape when developing your PPC strategy.

When you choose Astute Communications for your PPC management services, you’re hiring an advertising partner that will make your business visible to qualified customers in the areas you serve. We will deliver your ads to the most targeted and relevant audience to provide the ROI you need to grow.

If you’re ready to take your digital advertising efforts to the next level, get in touch. We would love to chat with you.

Before we take a deep dive into our process of developing and executing an effective PPC strategy, let’s first get clear about what we mean by “PPC”.

ppc management services

PPC management includes researching and developing an advertising strategy, as well as managing the budget. PPC can be leveraged for a short-term promotional engagement or be part of an ongoing lead generation campaign.

Effective PPC management is a science. It requires a deep skill set that includes keyword research, budgeting, copywriting, data analysis, strategic thinking, and the ability to make thoughtful adjustments along the way. Below is an in-depth look at some of the skills required for effective PPC management.

the astute ppc management toolbox

SEO ranking factors hold the keys to the organic kingdom. According to most SEO experts, there are anywhere from hundreds to thousands of ranking factors that Google considers when determining how to rank a website on the SERP. The following are the most important ranking factors we take into consideration when talking to a new client about how to get their business ranking for competitive keywords and phrases.

keyword research

Using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner and Ahrefs, we uncover and identify relevant keyword opportunities based on the searching habits of your target audience.

target channels

Knowing which advertising platforms are best suited for your goals depends on many factors. We will work with you to select which paid media channels are right for you. These can include Google Ads (Search & Display networks), Bing Ads, and even social media advertising.

pc monitoring

PPC monitoring is an ongoing effort to measure success for all campaigns and keywords. To maximize effectiveness and yield a positive ROI, PPC campaigns need to be nurtured, maintained, and optimized.

competitive analysis

We always look at what the competition is doing. Understanding which keywords they target and breaking down their ad creative helps us spot gaps and opportunities.

campaign optimization

Monitoring campaign structure and optimizing based on top-performing keywords. For example, if 10% of keywords bring in the majority of business, you may want to focus your budget on those keywords to boost ROI.

split testing

Constant A/B testing of new ads and landing pages. Regular experiments across the entire PPC funnel.

If you find yourself getting lost in the jargon, this PPC glossary might help:

31 Key Terms To Help You Make Sense of Digital Advertising.

Principles of Successful PPC Management

PPC Planning: Set Data-Driven Goals

Realistic goals, along with careful planning, are essential to any successful campaign. PPC campaigns are no exception. Long before the first ad launches, it is important to know exactly what you are trying to accomplish.

The first step in this process is to outline some parameters that will guide your efforts. For advertising to be profitable, you have to earn more money than you spend. This is easy to understand but difficult to do. The following metrics will help you weigh the value of a customer against the cost of acquisition. Thinking about advertising in these terms will get the client the most financial bang for their buck.

• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
• Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Return on Investment (ROI)

Understanding the relationship between these metrics, and using them to set realistic benchmarks, is vital to successful PPC management.

Once benchmarks are set, it is useful to start setting realistic goals to measure success. Some examples of PPC goals would be:

• Increasing revenue from specific products or services. This is the ultimate goal for most businesses, as it is essential for keeping the lights on.
• Generating qualified leads. This tactic is often used to warm up a cold audience by getting qualified leads to pass along to the sales team.
• Creating brand awareness. PPC is a great way to get get in front of a prospective audience.

Once goals are clearly outlined, they can be used to develop a PPC strategy. Reverse engineering is a powerful tool for attaining your goals. For example, if the goal is to use PPC to generate a specific amount of revenue, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) can be used to calculate the number of conversions needed to achieve that goal.

After determining the desired outcome of a PPC campaign, it is time to start crafting campaigns through keyword research, competitive analysis, ad copy.

PPC Structure: Crafting Effective Campaigns

The Google Ads platform provides a lot of great insights and recommendations when structuring and managing PPC campaigns. But it is best to take their advice with a grain of salt. While advertisers need Google and vice versa, their goals are at odds. Advertisers want leads and Google wants money.

Success can be found in the overlap of these expressed desires.

If you are setting up a Google Ads campaign for the first time, it’s a good idea to pause your campaign immediately after creating it. The last thing you want is to start spending money before your campaign is ready for launch.

While campaigns can (and should) be maintained and optimized over time, it’s best to ensure that your bidding strategy, targeted keywords, ad copy, and landing pages are optimized as best as possible at the onset.

After determining the best way to structure your campaign, it’s time for meticulous keyword research and competitor analysis. It is necessary to identify keywords that have sufficient volume, but more importantly, show purchase intent. There is no benefit in targeting generalized terms that don’t indicate a purchase decision.

These keywords need to be used in a couple of ways. The first is to use them to craft persuasive ad copy. The second is to target them in the headings and body copy of the associated PPC landing pages. Being consistent with keyword targeting can improve the Quality Score of your ads, strengthen conversion rates, and ultimately, lead to cheaper conversions.

Building a Winning PPC Campaign Structure

Choose the Right Keywords

At the onset of building a PPC campaign, leave no stone unturned. Compile a lengthy list of potential keywords and refine it until you’re left with the strongest options. To maximize your PPC efforts, only target a handful of select keywords in each ad group. Additional ad groups can be created to test different combinations.

This process is ongoing. Once ads are launched and have had sufficient time to collect meaningful keyword data, the data should be used to further optimize the campaign. Certain keywords that you hadn’t considered may turn out to be strong, while others turn out to be useless.

Additionally, it is important to routinely check search terms to make sure you’re not bidding on irrelevant keywords with no value. These keywords should be added to the Negative Keywords list.

Make Specific Campaigns

Create specific campaigns for different reasons. Each campaign should have a specific goal in order to maximize ad spend and collect clean data. Ideally, there should be specific campaigns built out for branded terms, competitor terms, and different products and services.

Stay Organized with Ad Groups

In the structural hierarchy of Google Ads, ad groups exist after the campaign level. This enables related ads to be grouped together and allows A/B testing to be conducted in an organized fashion.

Write Persuasive Ad Copy

Copywriting is an art. It has to strike a balance between informative and persuasive. In order to attract potential customers, your ad copy needs to be optimized and target only relevant keywords. Include social proof, urgency, and any associated benefits of the product/service to entice the user to click through to the landing page.

Occupy More SERP Real Estate with Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are useful for PPC managers because they have the potential to provide relevant information while taking up more precious real estate in the search engine results page. The most common ad extensions are site extensions, call extensions, and location extensions. The addition of these features can make your ads stand out and improve quality score metrics.

Focused Landing Pages = More Conversions

To maximize your conversion opportunities, it is important to create focused landing pages that correlate with each of your ad campaigns. The last thing you want is to pay for a click and have potential customers bounce because your landing page doesn’t deliver on the ad’s promise.

Trickery doesn’t work here.

Searchers have a problem and you need to convince them that you have the solution. This is done using thoughtful page design and layout, targeted headers and ad copy, and presenting solutions to pain points. By understanding and addressing searcher intent, you will be far more likely to convert.

Use Analytics To Refine Your Ad Campaigns

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that enables you to measure every aspect of your ad campaigns. It provides data on keywords, ad groups, and landing pages. Through thoughtful analysis, you can use this data to learn about and refine your campaigns.

Successful PPC management doesn’t end when your ad campaigns launch. It’s only the beginning.

PPC Budget: Spending Money To Make Money

Successful digital marketing is all about testing and refining. Assumptions don’t pay the bills. It’s rare to launch a successful ad campaign right from the start. Research will point you in a calculated direction, but as a general rule, you need to start collecting data before you know how things are going to play out.

Much to the dismay of most clients, data collection requires spending money. But if you do things right, your campaign can be a lean mean conversion machine in short order. The first month’s budget of any digital advertising campaign should be used to learn and analyze. The data you collect in this period will help you develop a long-term strategy by revealing which campaigns, keywords, ad groups, and landing pages are worthy of your budget.

Once your campaigns are launched, it’s crucial that you routinely monitor them. If you’re paying for clicks that are irrelevant or show no purchase intent, you’ll want to add those keywords to your negative keyword list ASAP. Additionally, you’ll want to know which campaigns are getting clicks, what your click-through rates are, and which landing pages are your top converters.

Keep an eye out for the following:

• New keyword ideas: Are you getting clicks on search terms that you hadn’t uncovered in your initial research? You may need to add them to your keywords list or even build out new ad groups and landing pages.
• Negative keywords: Google loves money and they want as much of it as possible. Therefore, they will serve your ads for queries that have nothing to do with your products or service offerings. Make routine optimizations part of your workflow.
• Monitor top-performing keywords: Take note of the keywords that generate the majority of your conversions.

After you can determine what is and isn’t working, you can optimize your campaigns accordingly. If your CTR is low but your impressions are high, you likely have an ad copy problem. If your CTR is good but your conversion rate is low, you likely have a landing page problem. If certain campaigns are converting well and others aren’t converting at all, you may want to reallocate your budget. If you spot an opportunity you hadn’t considered, exploit it.

Always let the data drive your decisions.

Measure and Optimize for Long-Term Success

If you’re aiming for long-term PPC success, you need to be prepared for ongoing management. This means continuously expanding your PPC strategy to include new campaigns, ad groups, and target keywords. It also means conducting experiments and split tests to boost performance. A split can be as simple as running an A/B test on your landing page headers.

The point is to find little ways to make big gains. Just remember, if you want to conduct a test you need to know what metric you’re trying to improve. The metric dictates the experiment.
Pro Tip: Be Scientific
Make use of the scientific method by deciding what variable you want to test. Then form a hypothesis about what you expect the outcome to be. Test your hypothesis by conducting experiments that aim to uncover statistical significance. Finally, use this new-found understanding to optimize your campaigns accordingly. Rinse and repeat.

The Takeaway

By now you may have already guessed that there’s a lot to know about PPC marketing. And we only gleaned the surface. There are no tricks or shortcuts to success. Understanding how to navigate a profitable campaign is a matter of ongoing optimization informed by data analysis. Think long-term and be patient.

Nashville PPC Management Services

Successfully PPC advertising is a difficult undertaking. It requires knowledge, experience, and a willingness to learn. We understand that every client is different and requires a unique strategic initiative.  One of the benefits of choosing Astute Communications for PPC management is that we have a dedicated in-house team that can handle all aspects of your digital advertising needs. We create customized PPC solutions that help businesses achieve a positive ROI. If this interests you, get in touch and we’ll explore the possibilities together.