How to Get a High Conversion Rate out of your PPC Campaign

When it comes to running the most efficient and cost-effective PPC campaign possible, there is a lot of responsibility on the part of the campaign manager. An avenue of online advertising over a decade old, pay per click remains one of the most secure and reliable ways of generating web traffic to this day.  Yet while a successful campaign can prove profitable for even the smallest online business, a mismanaged PPC run will provide only moderate site visits and poor conversion rates. Fortunately, there are some tried-and-true techniques for PPC management that can help even the most inexperienced campaign manager keep things on track.
Get the Right Level of Exposure
When in doubt of where to take your campaign, take a look at where your company’s competition is. Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter tend to be the most popular programs for PPC advertising these days, and for good reason. Having a massive advertising reach that spans across their own networks and those of their partner companies, Google and Bing-based marketing offers the highest level of exposure for your PPC campaign.
While AdWords and adCenter can present your advertisements to millions of search engine users, they do come at a price. Since these two marketing program are built off a real-time bidding system, you can expect to be paying more than if you went with smaller sale advertising. Try to determine the focus of your PPC campaign before you start shelling out the big bucks. If you decide to go with geographically-focused dynamic keywords over ones that are broader in scope, you will see less traffic but at a more affordable price.
Keep an Eye on your Campaign
Once you’ve begun your PPC campaign, you will want to keep tabs on its progress. A recklessly managed pay per click campaign can end up either costing a company more than it has budgeted or yield only minimal conversion rates. Make sure you check up on how your campaign is faring every couple weeks or so. If you happen to see a decline in results, take the time to see if you need to fine tune keywords or if the conversion rate for a website is consistently poor.
Stay the Course
The single biggest mistake that novice PPC campaign managers make is calling it quits the minute a campaign fails to perform. While no one wants to be standing on the deck of a sinking ship, it’s important to know the different between a momentary setback and a lost cause. Should the click-through rate begin to dwindle dramatically or conversion rate drops, do not immediately bail on the project. Instead, acknowledge that your campaign’s progress may dip occasionally and take it in stride. If the numbers continue to disappoint you after a few days have passed, then you may want to consider pulling your PPC ad from the failing website.
This is a guest post by Todd.  Todd Bailey is Vice President of Marketing and Digital Strategy at WebiMax in Mount Laurel, NJ. WebiMax is an industry leading search engine optimization (SEO) firm with over 150 employees and 500+ clients worldwide. Find him on Twitter @WebiMax and @push_star