If you’re having a tough time getting the results that you were looking for from your paid search advertising, it may be time to mix it up. First, though, you have to figure out what the underlying cause of your struggles is. Could it be a bad setup of your account, the impact of your competition, changes in your website or simply the time of year? These are all possible reasons for your struggles, but sitting around wondering about them isn’t going to help you out. Taking steps to turn things around can help you to get back to profitability as quickly as possible.
Make the Most of the Search Query Report – This is a feature that AdWords offers which helps you to find out what search terms people used to see your ad and visit your website. You want to keep an eye on this list to make sure that you aren’t getting weak traffic from unrelated search terms that is pulling down your profits. If you are, utilize negative keywords to save you money.
Do Market Research – Use the Google Ad Preview tool, which will search your keywords and show you the search results. Are your ads better than those of your competitors? Are your offers better? If you are behind in either department, or your ads don’t seem to stand out, it may be time to make some changes. It’s always good practice to know exactly what your customers are looking at and to make decisions based upon that, as well as upon your available analytics. As you make changes, make them gradually so that if they don’t work well you still have some of your other ads in the mix.
Pick Good Landing Pages – You have a big advantage in paid search advertising in that you know what people are searching for when you serve them with a particular ad. As a result, you can send them to the page in your site that matches that perfectly. For example, if someone is searching for a v-neck sweater, don’t send him or her to your general clothing page to click around for the right product. Send them to as specific of a page as possible, which should help you to convert on a higher percentage of your traffic.
Those tips should get you going, but keep checking back for more information to help you improve your paid search advertising and search engine marketing.