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Unlocking Growth: Steve Ice's SEO and Branding Wisdom on DesignRush

For "Brand Marketing Strategy Guide (2023)" by DesignRush, Steve Ice from Binary Glyph Media contributes insights on combining data-driven analysis with authentic storytelling to captivate audiences and enhance brand engagement. This comprehensive guide explores various aspects of brand marketing, offering actionable strategies to create a compelling narrative for your brand. Explore more on DesignRush.

In "Affordable SEO Services for Small Business," also featured on DesignRush, Steve Ice shares his expertise on the crucial role of local SEO for small businesses. He advises on strategies such as detailed keyword research and optimization for mobile users, highlighting the importance of local engagement and visibility on platforms like Google My Business. Learn more about optimizing your SEO strategy on DesignRush.

ppc tips

Do you want your digital marketing practice to outrank your competition? While you work to build a long-term strategy with content and SEO management, there are some important PPC tips that will help get your business seen and boost your website traffic.

Did you know that PPC generates twice the number of visitors compared to SEO? As a business, particularly one with service-based offerings, PPC ads can help you attract the right visitors at the right time when they’re looking for what you have to offer.

So, if you’re looking to transform your website traffic, you should take a look at PPC campaigns and some PPC tips. Why the need for tips? Isn’t it as simple as throwing some ad campaigns up and letting them run? If only!

Ultimately, PPC can be an extremely effective way to drive traffic to your website – but only if it’s done correctly. Let’s explore the basics of PPC campaigns and then walk through some PPC tips so that you’re getting the most out of your advertising efforts and ad spend.

What is PPC Advertising & How Does it Work?

PPC, which stands for pay-per-click, advertising is a type of online marketing that allows businesses to place ads on search engines every time someone searches for a relevant keyword. When someone clicks on one of these ads, you pay a small fee per click.

Is it an ideal form of digital marketing for dental and health businesses? Absolutely! However, while PPC advertising can be an effective way to reach potential customers, it's important to understand how it works before getting started. 

The first step is to choose the right keywords. These are the words and phrases that people are most likely to use when searching for products or services like yours.  

Once you've selected your keywords, you'll need to create ad groups. Each ad group should contain a handful of closely related keywords. Once you've created your ad groups, you'll need to write your ads and set up the landing pages. 

The ad copy should be short, concise, and relevant to the keywords in your ad group. This applies to both the words you create for your actual ads but also the words on the landing page itself. 

Finally, you'll need to set a budget for your PPC campaign. This will determine how much you're willing to spend on each click. How much should you spend on each campaign? Hold tight as we get to that a bit later on. 

The Benefits of PPC vs. SEO to Drive Website Traffic

PPC and SEO are both effective ways to drive website traffic, but they have different benefits. On one hand, PPC marketing is a great way to generate immediate results. 

And, there’s the added benefit of targeting. You can customize PPC campaigns to target a specific audience, and they allow you to control your budget. 

In addition, PPC provides detailed tracking data so you can see how your campaigns are performing. However, PPC can be expensive, and it requires ongoing effort to maintain your results. 

SEO, (also known as search engine optimization) is a more long-term strategy, but it can be very effective in growing your website traffic. 

Good SEO practices help you improve your website ranking in search engines, making it more likely that potential customers will find your site. 

However, SEO can take longer to produce results than PPC. Both PPC and SEO are valuable tools for driving website traffic, so it's important to choose the right strategy for your needs.

If you think that’s PPC, then continue on to get a few more PPC tips on how much you should plan to invest and how to better optimize your campaigns.

How Much Should You Expect to Invest in PPC?

When it comes to launching a successful PPC campaign, there's no hard and fast rule for how much you should expect to invest. Depending on your goals, budget, and target audience, you may need to spend more or less to get the results you're looking for. 

If you’re looking for a number, then we typically suggest that businesses spend at least $500 a month on their PPC ad spend. However, it helps to take a look at the cost per lead in your industry and work backward that way.

If, for example, you know that other dentists are getting their leads for $100 per lead, then investing $500 a month should get you five new leads per month. If that sounds like enough for you, then go for it!

Not quite sure what that means for you just yet? There are a few general guidelines that can help you determine how much to spend on your PPC campaigns.

To start, keep in mind that most successful PPC campaigns require a significant investment. If you're not willing to spend a good chunk of money, you're likely to see little to no results. 

Second, don't be afraid to experiment with your budget. It's often necessary to increase or decrease your spending in order to find the sweet spot for your particular campaign. 

Finally, remember that PPC is an ongoing investment; even if your campaigns are successful, you'll need to continue investing in order to maintain those results.

In short, there's no easy answer when it comes to how much you should expect to invest in PPC. Ultimately, it will come down to trial and error to find the right level of investment for your business.

How to Get Started with PPC Campaigns

If you’re going to be creating your own PPC campaigns then you’ll need to have a Google Ads account. If you opt to let an agency manage your PPC advertising, you’ll still need an ads account, but chances are they might help you set one up if you’re totally new to PPC.

After you have your account all set up, the next step is to do some competitive research. This includes seeing what your competitors are doing with PPC ads (if they’re doing anything at all). And, it includes researching the industry as a whole.

How do you do this? Perform simple Google searches and see what kinds of ads come up! If you’re trying to run dental PPC campaigns, then search for relevant keywords that you might actually use.

For example, you can search “cosmetic dentist veneers” and see what comes up. The first three or four results that come up are likely ads. Read the keywords and copy in those ads and then click on each one to see what the landing pages look like.

What are they offering? How is the page structured? Are there videos, testimonials, etc.? Answering all of these questions can give you a great place to start when it’s time to create your own PPC campaigns.

How to Create an Effective PPC Campaign to Boost Traffic

What exactly goes into creating an effective PPC campaign?

First, choosing your keywords carefully will help quite a bit. You'll want to choose words that are relevant to your business and that potential customers are likely to use when searching for what you offer. 

For example, if you're a cosmetic dentist who offers veneers, you might want to target keywords like "cosmetic dentist" and "veneers."

Second, make sure your ads are well-written and eye-catching. Remember, your goal is to get potential customers to click on your ad, so make sure it's something they'll actually want to read. Likewise, remember to include a solid call to action.

What do you want them to do? Click through to learn more, download a free guide, or schedule a consultation? Whatever the goal is, be sure to include that in the ad.

Finally, track your results and make adjustments as needed. Keep an eye on your click-through rate and other measures of success, and tweak your approach as necessary until you find a campaign that works for you. 

With a little trial and error, you should be able to create an effective PPC campaign that helps boost traffic to your website.

Basic PPC Tips: Vocabulary You Need to Know

Before getting into our PPC tips, it’s important that you have a good understanding of some PPC vocabulary. After all, the tips won’t mean anything if you don’t know what we’re referring to.

So, here are a few key terms to learn before moving on to the next section.

Keywords

For many people, this word conjures up images of pay-per-click ads or search engine optimization. And while it's true that keywords play an important role in both of these areas, they're actually much more than just a tool for marketing. 

In its broadest sense, a keyword is simply a word or phrase that describes a particular concept. This could be anything from a product feature to a customer benefit. 

By understanding which keywords are most important to your customers, you can create content that is both relevant and engaging. 

And when it comes to pay-per-click ads or search engine optimization, choosing the right keywords can mean the difference between success and failure.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are simply search terms that are longer and more specific than the average keyword. They tend to be more specific because they include detail about what the searcher is looking for. 

For example, instead of just searching for "dentist," someone might search for "affordable dentist in my area." 

Long-tail keywords are often used in pay-per-click ads because they can be very specific to what the advertiser is selling, which can result in a higher click-through rate and a lower cost per click.

While long-tail keywords generally have less search volume than shorter keywords, they can be a great way to target potential customers who are further along in the buying cycle.

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are words or phrases that you can add to your pay-per-click ads that will help to prevent your ad from being shown when people search for those terms. 

For example, let's say you're a dentist and you're running a pay-per-click ad campaign. You might want to add "insurance" as a negative keyword so that your ad won't show up when someone searches for "dental insurance." 

By adding negative keywords, you can help to make sure that your ad is only shown to people who are actually interested in what you have to offer. As a result, you'll be able to get more clicks and conversions from your pay-per-click campaign.

Ad Group

An ad group is a set of pay-per-click ads that share the same keywords and targeting. For example, a cosmetic dentist or orthodontist might create an ad group for the keyword "teeth whitening." 

The ads in that group would all be about teeth whitening services, and they would be targeted at people who search for terms related to teeth whitening.

Why are these important to learn about? Ad groups can help you better organize your pay-per-click campaigns and ensure that your ads are relevant to the people who see them.

Ad Extension

Ad extensions are additional features that can be added to PPC ads in order to make them more effective. For example, as a service-oriented business, you might add an extension that allows potential patients to book an appointment directly from the ad. 

You can also use ad extensions to provide more information about a product or service or to offer special deals and discounts. 

In general, ad extensions help make PPC ads more relevant and useful to potential customers, which can help to increase click-through rates and conversion rates.

Cost Per Click

Cost per click (CPC) is a pricing model used in PPC advertising. Advertisers pay a set fee each time their ad is clicked. CPC is a popular pricing model because it's relatively simple to calculate and track. 

For example, let’s say you pay $1 per click for your PPC ads and your ad is clicked 100 times. Your total cost would be $100. CPC is often used together with other pricing models, such as cost per impression (CPM) or cost per acquisition (CPA).

Clickthrough Rate

Clickthrough rate (CTR) is a metric used to measure the success of pay-per-click ads. It is calculated by dividing the number of times an ad is clicked by the number of times it is shown. 

For example, if an ad is shown 100 times and clicked on 10 times, its CTR would be 10%. Overall, CTR is a super important metric for measuring the effectiveness of pay-per-click ads because it tells you how often people are actually clicking on your ad. 

If your CTR is low, it means that people are not interested in your ad and you should consider changing it. Conversely, if your CTR is high, it means that people are clicking on your ad and you are likely getting good results from your pay-per-click campaign. 

As a general rule, a CTR of 5% or higher is good for pay-per-click ads.

However, this will vary depending on your industry and the type of product or service you are promoting. For example, a dentist may consider a CTR of 2% to be good because it means that two out of every 100 people who see their ad will click on it.

When it comes to understanding CTR and what’s “good” for your campaign, we definitely suggest speaking with a content marketing specialist.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is a term that you might hear thrown around a lot if you're involved in online marketing, but what does it actually mean? In short, conversion rate is the percentage of people who take the desired action after seeing your ad or message. 

For example, if you're running a pay-per-click ad campaign, your goal might be to get people to book an appointment. Your conversion rate would be the percentage of people who saw your ad and then clicked on the link to book an appointment. 

Conversion rate is important because it allows you to track how effective your marketing campaigns are. If you have a low conversion rate, it means that people aren't responding to your ads as you'd like them to. 

By tracking your conversion rate, you can make adjustments to your campaigns so that more people take the desired action.

Read through these above and let the definitions sink in. Then, scroll on down to the next section to learn how to implement everything we’ve learned so far into a high-converting, traffic-generating PPC campaign.

PPC Tips to Increase Conversions & Traffic

Yay! You’ve made it to the fun stuff. Well, sort of.

Now that you know all about how PPC campaigns work and how to set up an effective one, it’s time to learn how to really optimize your campaigns for success.

If you're looking to drive more traffic and conversions through your pay-per-click campaigns, there are a few key strategies you can implement to get results. 

1. Bid on Keywords That Have High Search Intent

Pay-per-click advertising is a great way to get your website in front of potential customers who are actively searching for your product or service. However, it can be easy to overspend on keywords that have low search intent, or that are not relevant to your business. 

To get the most out of your pay-per-click campaign, be sure to bid on keywords that have high search intent. These are terms that indicate that the user is ready to make a purchase, such as "buy now" or "free shipping." 

By targeting these keywords, you can be sure that your ads are reaching users who are more likely to convert. And, by being more focused on your keyword selection, you can also save money on your pay-per-click campaign.

2. Target Long-Tail Keywords

One of the best ways to improve your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns is to target long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are specific, often multi-word phrases that allow you to target a very specific audience. 

By targeting long-tail keywords, you can improve your click-through rate and increase conversions. Additionally, long-tail keywords tend to be less competitive and therefore cheaper than more general keywords. 

As a result, targeting long-tail keywords can be an effective way to improve your PPC campaigns without breaking the bank.

3. Use Negative Keywords to Weed Out Irrelevant Traffic

If you're running a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, then you know that one of the most important things you can do is to target your ads carefully. After all, there's no point in paying for clicks from people who aren't interested in what you're selling. 

That's where negative keywords come in. Negative keywords are words or phrases that you add to your campaign so that your ad won't show up when people search for those terms. For example, if someone searches for "DIY teeth whitening," your ad won't show up. 

Adding negative keywords is an effective way to weed out irrelevant traffic and make sure your PPC campaign is as targeted as possible.

4. Create Compelling Ad Copy

Have you ever clicked on an ad and then been disappointed by the landing page? Maybe it wasn't relevant to what you were looking for, or maybe it was just a generic page with no real information.

As a professional in the area of ​​oral health, you have a lot to consider when running a PPC campaign. They need to create compelling copy that will attract potential patients while staying within their budget. 

Here are some tips for creating effective PPC ads for a business like yours:

  • Use relevant keywords in your ad text to ensure your ad is shown to people who are genuinely interested in your specific services.
  • Keep your ad text short and to the point. People are more likely to click on an ad if they know exactly what they're getting.
  • Use call-to-action phrases like "schedule an appointment today" or "call us for a free consultation" to encourage people to take the next step.

Other than that, we suggest ensuring that your landing page reflects exactly what the ad offers. If you’re offering a free consultation for veneers, for example, the page should briefly talk about veneers and their benefits. Then, it should prompt users to schedule their consultation.

Avoid including any other information that could distract them from the main goal. And, avoid talking about other services. If they clicked on an ad for veneers, now isn’t the time to sell them on a teeth cleaning or other service.

5. Use Ad Extensions to Increase CTR

As a dentist, you're always looking for ways to increase the CTR (click-through rate) on your pay-per-click ads. After all, the higher the CTR, the lower your costs per click and the more successful your PPC campaign will be. 

One great way to increase CTR is to use ad extensions. Ad extensions are basically additional information that you can add to your ads, such as your business address, phone number, or even a call to action. 

Including this extra information can make your ad more relevant and informative, which will encourage people to click on it. 

Plus, ad extensions can also help to improve your ad's ranking in the search results, making it more likely to be seen and clicked on by potential patients.

More PPC Tips: What Not to Do with a PPC Ad Campaign

Pay-per-click advertising can be a great way to drive traffic to your website (as you’ve hopefully learned by now!). However, it can also be easy to waste a lot of money if you're not careful. 

Here are some tips on what not to do with a PPC ad campaign:

  • Don't choose the wrong keywords. Make sure you research the keywords you want to target before you start your campaign. Otherwise, you could end up paying for clicks from people who are not interested in what you're selling.
  • Don't bid too much or too little. If you bid too high, you'll end up spending more than necessary. But if you bid too low, your ad may not be seen by as many people. Try to find a happy medium.
  • Don't forget about negative keywords. Negative keywords help you weed out unqualified leads, so make sure to add them to your campaign.
  • Finally, don't forget to track your results. Pay attention to how many clicks your ads are getting and how much revenue they're generating. This will help you fine-tune your campaign over time and make sure it's as successful as possible.

Overall, it’s worth taking the time to get PPC right as these types of marketing campaigns are a great way to drive immediate traffic to your website, regardless of the industry you’re in.

Put These PPC Tips into Action Today!

PPC can be a great way to get your business in front of potential customers, but it’s important to make sure you’re doing it correctly. We hope these PPC tips will help you create a successful PPC campaign that drives traffic and converts leads into sales.

Are you ready to try these PPC tips and get more professional guidance? Schedule a call with one of our marketing experts today and we can help you get started! 

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