Digital marketers who utilize pay-per-click advertising generally tend to focus their efforts on improving click-through rates and quality scores. Optimizing account structures and proper use of negative keywords round out the basics of implementing effective PPC campaigns. One crucial aspect that can drastically improve the effectiveness of PPC campaigns is by providing great content to link from PPC ads. While great content is not always included when talking about the elements of successful PPC campaign plans, they work together to provide positive results from PPC ad investments.
Content marketing can (and should) be used as a way to improve PPC ad campaign performance and vice versa. Ways to get the most of out of both PPC campaigns and great content include:
PPC Campaigns Drive Traffic to Sites Fast
With millions of blogs being posted online every day, getting exposure without an established SEO strategy is less likely to drive users to your site. If you are still working to build your site’s organic rankings, PPC ads are a quick and effective way to drive traffic to your site and be seen on search engines.
Driving the kind of traffic PPC ad campaigns are designed to draw can provide necessary brand exposure in the early stages of your digital marketing plan. Focusing on PPC and content marketing simultaneously uses your content to inform, while paid ads can be used as a valuable conversion tool.
PPC Ads Create Brand Recognition
Viewing paid ads will help users remember your brand and increase organic listings. Having both a PPC ad and an organic listing on the same page improves click-through rates increases brand recognition and creates a bias to your brand, even if users are not readily aware of the connection.
Your brand appears as more of an authority and will increase click-through rates of returning visitors, as well, and marketing research has consistently shown that retaining a customer is far less expensive than acquiring a new one.
Link Ads to an Actionable Landing Page
Successful user navigation through a conversion funnel must include quality landing page content that is compelling, intriguing, and original.
Users who click on PPC ads will likely browse your website before making a purchase or performing other acts of conversion. Actionable, compelling content throughout your website can affect the buyer’s journey to conversion.
Keep in mind that decisions are not always made during the initial web session that came from a PPC ad. However, a PPC ad that links to quality content increases the chances of conversion when it comes time for potential customers to make a purchase decision.
PPC Keyword Data Provides Valuable Content Insights
Pay-per-click keyword research and data can be leveraged to drive high traffic to produce increased revenue. Ad copy that performs well can be applied to organic content with similar effects.
Branded keywords tend to have greater CTR success than other standard keywords.
Organic and paid keyword strategies grouped together can deliver successes that can be applied to either or both campaigns. A/B testing will help to determine the keywords which will perform best in each campaign.
Doubling Up SERP Real Estate
Two links are better than one. Having both paid ads and organic links show up on the first search page will increase traffic.
Grabbing up SERP real estate is even more critical in mobile applications where users are more likely to click through on paid ads and top organic results. Multiple links will also serve to increase your brand’s identity and authority.
4 Actionable Tips to Increase the Effectiveness of Content Marketing through PPC Campaigns
Understanding the benefits of using PPC ads and content marketing to increase click-through and conversion rates is the first step to a successful campaign. Some common sense ways to maximize the relationship between PPC and great content include:
Use Facebook ads to promote great content: Facebook’s Audience Insights feature can be used to segment audiences and target ads to relevant users in the conversion funnel. Paid ads created within Facebook Ads Manager can be used to reach relevant users or customers spanning a variety of interests and demographics.
Clickable headlines: Leverage industry keywords and topic groupings that have gone viral to create a compelling and relevant headline to grab user attention. Engaging and unique headlines can entice users who don’t generally click on paid ads. A/B testing can help to determine the headlines that will produce the highest click rates and conversions. Note: When writing compelling headlines, caution must be made to avoid turning clickable headlines into clickbait that are not relevant to the content people are being directed to.
Mobile-first mentality: Every day, the number of mobile searches across all platforms and devices is rising. Images, infographics, and other forms of visual content will help conversion rates from paid ads seen on mobile devices. Landing page content that is optimized for mobile devices is created with a slightly different perspective. Some guidelines to help improve the conversion of PPC ad campaigns for mobile include:
- Short headlines
- Concise paragraphs
- No pop-up ads
- Mobile-optimized image sizes
- Prominent, clear calls to action
Proper CTA placements convert more users: Landing pages linked from PPC ads need to have several clear calls to action prominently placed throughout the content for more accessible user conversions. CTAs may include an on-page contact information form or pop-up CTA that help transform leads from PPC ads to conversions and sales.
Different marketing philosophies suggest CTAs either above the fold or at the bottom of the article. Either way, prominent and user-friendly calls to action are a must for paid promotion campaign landing pages.
Austin, Texas Content Marketing and PPC Ads
Content marketing and PPC ads are integral parts of an overall marketing strategy. The experienced team at Insignia SEO can help you create actionable, compelling content and effective PPC ads, yielding high returns for your business. Contact a member of our team today and let us know how we can help you achieve your business goals.