The holiday season is yet to arrive, but in the online world of PPC advertising it’s already time to get down to business. Santa might not be ready for his long journey around the globe just yet, but scores of PPC managers are already racking their brains over how to increase returns for their clients this holiday season. As hard as it is to swallow, people actually start searching for holiday products and gifts as early as September. That’s why it’s incumbent upon the tribes of PPC managers to stay ahead of the customers’ thoughts, and plan and execute holiday campaigns well in advance.
Let’s run down on some of the basic measures that every campaign manager should implement, in order for their PPC campaign to reap the best rewards this holiday season.
Refine the Keyword List
Expanding your keyword collection with special holiday terms is essential. Users are bound to qualify their queries with seasonal terms, and if you miss out on those terms in your account you stand to lose a lot of ground. Customers are smart enough to be specific in their searches like ‘thanksgiving gifts’ or ‘christmas cards’. It makes eminent sense to include such terms in your inventory. These terms not only bring targeted traffic to your site, thereby improving your CTR, but they also help to lift the conversion rate, provided you have the right ads and products that the customers are searching for.
Rewrite Your Ads
If keywords can be thought of as fishing rods, then ads are the bait which entice the bite, making it doubly important that you relay the right messages with your ad texts. Persuasive phrases focusing on festive season offerings play a useful part in impressing and inviting the click from the user who in fact might be looking out for just one of those to catch their eye. Any special offers or discounts that you have must be included to make your ads that much more tempting.
Redesign Your Landing Pages
The significance of the landing page in which you direct your visitors to can’t be understated. If you have landing page content that reflects the ad text and conveys the message in clear cut terms, then it will be the perfect icing on the cake. Attention must also be paid to the design. A bit of colour and symbolism to mirror the festive spirit will be a great way to grab and sustain the interest of the user.
Leverage Sitelinks & Callouts
If used creatively, ad extensions such as sitelinks and the recently introduced callouts have excellent potential to enhance the effectiveness of a campaign. Promotional offers, festival discounts, and product information can all be used as valuable triggers to influence the customer. Make sure you have these properly represented by your ad extensions to derive the best benefits.
These might be simple steps, but if put into practice, they can be very effective in making the holiday season profitable for PPC campaigns. The key is to start on time and make the right moves. This is the time to do it, so let the moves begin!
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