Getting Clicks But Not Sales? Here's Why!
Does this sound familiar? You want to start advertising on PPC. You know your industry like the back of your hand. Who better to write your ads? You set your keywords, write your ads, and create your campaign.
As you see your campaign creation go live, you feel proud and accomplished. Now, you just sit back and wait. And wait, and wait.
What Happened? You should be getting leads, right? That's why you paid for the ads. You see the numbers going up each month. You are definitely getting the clicks you're paying for. So, why aren't they converting and becoming active customer leads?
Knowing Your Customers
This is a common problem for many businesses. You were absolutely right from the start. You know your business like the back of your hand. But, do your customers?
The secret is in the keywords. You may know the technical words and the advanced detail on what your product is, but your customer may not and probably won't search for it in those words on Google. Sometimes, this may work in a very niche market. However, when reaching out to the majority of industry customers, it's best to keep it simple. Always pick your keywords for your PPCs based on how your customers will search for you.
More Clicks
For example, let's say you're making an ad for a new brand of running shoes. Do you want to spend money on a keyword for the new brand? Probably not, it's new. No one knows that word yet to know how to search for it. Instead, customers will probably search for phrases like 'best shoes for running' or 'affordable running shoes.'
As customers, we don't always know what we want, but rather have a general idea of what we would like. We''ve all made searches like this - 'pizza near me,' 'hotels in Dallas,' 'concerts in New York,' 'marketing services in Tampa.' The list goes on and on. It's our keywords' job to capture the search of the general want. Once you're in the search, your actual ad can take it from there about the new brand you are promoting. This is how you get higher clicks. Now, who do you make those additional clicks count?
More Conversions
This is another reason for choosing keywords based on your customer searches. Back to our running shoe example. You may think, "I'll just use the word shoes, and get a lot more clicks, and you may be right. You will get clicks for searches about 'running shoes.' And 'dance shoes', 'sandals,' 'kids shoes,' etc.
All of these clicks will cost you money, and many of them will leave because the link brought them to your running shoes when they were wanting something else. More clicks aren't always better.
Balance
In short, just with anything else in business, balance is the solution. Balance in your keywords will give you the best ratio of clicks and return on your investment. It may sound tricky at first but when in doubt just remember how you search for something online. How do you word your searches on Google? What do you expect to find from your searches? Plan your ads like one of your customers and you've got a perfect recipe for a profitable ROI on your ad campaigns.