Despite this knowledge, though, many marketers still struggle to put together a comprehensive marketing strategy that really delivers them results.

It’s fair to say that this is likely due more in part to a lack of education than a lack of effort, so we’re going to help our fellow marketers out by providing 11 of the most effective content marketing strategies to help boost your organic traffic.

Did you know? Chatbots can revamp your content marketing strategy through your advertising by delivering a 100% conversion rate. That’s right, everyone who clicks from the ad to interact with your bot becomes a contact in your database that you can send follow-up messaging to.

Let’s start by looking at five of the best kinds of content you can and should be creating.

Types of content that can increase your traffic

1. How-to guides

Consider this scenario:

You’re considering launching a podcast as part of your content marketing strategy, but you have no idea where to start.

So, what do you do?

“Hey, Siri, how do I start a podcast?”

What you’ll get back is something like this post from Buzzsprout, packed with helpful tips on launching a podcast, relevant and inspiring podcasting stats, exploring different platforms such as Spotify’s video podcasts and recommendations for equipment to help you get started.

How-to guides are incredibly powerful content, both because people are regularly seeking out this kind of information and because they are (or at least, should be) packed with detail.

When you’re putting together how-to guides as part of your marketing strategy, make sure that they are:

• Long-form: Don’t be afraid to write 3,000 words or more, as long as it’s relevant and helpful.
• Not too ‘salesy’: This isn’t the time to tell the world why you’re so great; it’s the time to help.
• Related to other posts you’ve written: That way, you can build up your internal linking strategy.
• Design an infographic: A timeline infographic is a great tool to visualize how-to guides and improve audience retention.
• Create a video as an alternative: You can also deliver your how-to guides through short and straightforward videos, such as explainer videos. It helps audiences retain and understand information better.

2. Comparison lists

Publishing well-written, valuable blog posts is an incredibly effective content marketing strategy. Companies that do this see 97% more backlinks to their site than those who don’t.

Of course, there are so many different kinds of blog posts you might write. For example:

• Listicles
• Checklists
• Explainers (answering questions like why and how)
• Interview
• Personal anecdotes

One of the most powerful blog posts you can create is the comparison post. In this type of content, you’re actively comparing your product to competitors.

But wait, you say, don’t I want to steer my prospects away from my competition?

Well, yes, that may be the case, but the truth of the matter is that they’re going to be comparing you regardless.

More than half of buyers choose to buy online simply because it allows them to compare with ease. So you can bet your bottom dollar that your customers will be conducting at least some form of ‘X vs. Y’ search.

And if that’s the case, wouldn’t you rather they come across a blog post that details the pros and cons of all of your competitors and paints your product in the best light possible?

Take this list of the best credit repair companies, for example, which helps readers decide between different products and services in one place. It’s an excellent example of the comparison post in action.

What’s more, you can target keywords that include your competitors to divert some of that valuable search traffic.

For example, check out this blog post on DocuSign competitors by PandaDoc (a DocuSign competitor).

Look who they’ve oh so subtly listed as the number one service:

Those comparison lists can be as long as you wish, but a good strategy is to position yourself as the first best option. Another example is Monday.com who compared themselves with more than 289 other project management softwares. 

3. Comprehensive guides

For search engine rankings and lead generation, you want your written content to be around 2,500 words.

This kind of ground can be covered fairly easily when you’re writing a comparison blog post of 10 different competitors. For narrower topics, you’re going to need to dive deep.

The way to do this is by creating a comprehensive guide. You’ll have no doubt seen titles like these before:

• The ultimate guide to X
• The definitive guide to Y
• The complete guide to Z

That’s what we’re talking about.

Take this example from Propel: The complete guide to value chains.

This post clocks in at 2,748 words, the ideal length for a comprehensive guide of its kind.

It manages to pack in a ton of different keywords and search phrases, maximizing organic traffic reach by allowing customers to find the answers they need in a single post.

Here’s an example of an ultimate guide written on the topic of appointment scheduling software by Genbook. With over 30,000 words this guide is broken into various chapters and also has both audios, graphs and examples, making it an ideal resource on the topic. 

4. Case Studies

Case studies are a great way to showcase your expertise and also give prospective clients a real-life example of how your product helped a company scale (if you’re in the B2B world).

They’re also great opportunities for both internal and external links.

Check out this article on how to write a case study for more details.

5. On-page SEO

Okay, so this one is not so much a type of content. However, it’s something that should be flowing throughout all aspects of your content marketing strategy.

We’re talking about search engine optimization, the backbone of modern marketing. More specifically, we’re referring to the on-page aspect of SEO.

In a nutshell, on-page SEO is about ensuring each page or post you have on your site is best positioned to target a given keyword.

This might include targeted use of that specific keyword verbatim, as well as semantically related words and alternate keywords that tell search engines exactly what you’re writing about.

Take this Swagbucks page for Old Navy coupons, for example.

This could be a pretty bare-bones page, with not much room for content that could house a decent volume of relevant keywords.

However, they’ve craftily added in a ‘How to Save Money at Old Navy’ section, allowing for a description of the store, which, you guessed it, maximizes their ability to write on-topic and boost keyword density.

Analyze your pages for improvements, make the edits, and monitor the results using a rank tracking software to see the impact. 

6 tips to supercharge your content marketing strategy 

So, you’ve got your head around some of the most popular content marketing strategies around, and you have a bit of an idea concerning what types of content you might create.

Before you go diving into content creation, though, let’s look at a few quick tips to really get the most out of your content and boost your organic traffic numbers.

1. Create customer personas

Start by creating customer personas, which are fictional representations of your ideal customer, and include details such as:

• Demographics
• Occupation
• Shopping preferences
• Recreational preferences
• Family situation
• Challenges in the workplace
• Career/workplace goals

Here’s what a simple example might look like:

Creating personas such as these not only allows you to craft content that is more targeted, but it also helps you identify relevant keywords and weed out those that don’t fit.

For example, if you’re selling an online course for entry-level English lessons, then the search phrase ‘English courses for beginners’ would be a good fit, whereas ‘Advanced English course’ probably won’t be.

2. Segment your audience

Larger companies with a more varied service offering (for example, a SaaS product with three or four different solutions) might have more than one customer persona. When this is the case, it’s unwise to assume that a piece of content you create would be suitable for all audiences.

Segment your audience types, then create different content for each that is relevant to that narrow subset of people. Once that’s done, distribute the content accordingly.

3. Make your content adaptive

This is especially important if you’re dealing with millennials or Gen Z buyers.

Customers should be able to browse your content (blog posts and ecommerce platforms alike) on their phone, then switch over to a desktop or iPad and have the exact same experience.

Ensuring your content adapts easily to all devices is a major aspect of this consistent experience.

4. A/B test consistently

Regardless of how well-researched your customer personas are and how well-crafted your content is, you can never be sure that even something as subtle as a color change on a CTA button might result in a significant uplift in conversion rates.

Make A/B testing a regular part of your content marketing strategy. Whenever you release a new piece of content, such as a new landing page, you should run two or more variants side by side until you have a verdict on the best-performing option.

Doing so will also help you create better content in the future, as you’ll start to notice trends in your A/B test results.

5. Create a content calendar

Your content marketing strategy should feed into a more detailed content calendar, which documents all of the content you’re going to create over the next three, six, or 12 months.

You should include:

• Who is responsible for each content piece
• Due dates
• Required assets
• Stakeholders
• Methods of distribution

There are lots of ways to create a content calendar online, but one way to do it is with a project management tool. For example, Hive has lets you display any of your projects in a Calendar view. So if you already use a project or task management tool to keep track of your upcoming content assignments, this will save you from duplicating the work and making a totally new calendar in another tool.

6. Repurpose your content

You’re going to create a ton of content, so why just use it once and be done with it?

There are a number of ways you can repurpose content, which can also boost your ROI.

For example, you might bring a series of blog posts together into a mega-guide or take some learnings from a recent webinar or podcast episode and create a written blog post on the same topic.

Conclusion

Content marketing is a big beast, but it’s one you can tackle easily if you keep the tips we’ve discussed here in the front of your mind.

Let’s recap:

1. Create how-to guides to deliver unparalleled value
2. Build comparison lists to demonstrate your point of difference
3. Write a comprehensive guide to maximize search ranking abilities
4. Develop case studies to prove your experience
5. Make SEO a part of everything you create
6. Create customer personas to better identify relevant key search phrases
7. Segment your audience for maximum impact
8. Make your content adaptive for a better customer experience
9. A/B test consistently to lift conversion rates
10. Create a content calendar to stay on track
11. Repurpose your content to improve ROI
12. Build backlinks to targeted pages

And, don’t forget, you’ll need to promote your content as well!

That’s where we come in. Check out how our AI-driven suggestions can help optimize your ad campaigns.

But not every PPC metric is important for what you want to achieve and it isn’t as daunting as you may think.

So much of it comes down to intent. For example, you may hear people in the PPC community say, “Impressions don’t matter one jot!” But that’s not the case at all. If you’re running a brand campaign for example, one of the most important metrics you should be looking at is impressions.

So in this article, I’m going to lay out all the PPC metrics you should be keeping an eye on (as you may have guessed from the title), but I’m also going to lay out for what reason you should be keeping an eye on them.

That way, when you next head into your PPC campaigns and you’re looking at the performance of your brand campaigns for example, you can start to prioritise some metrics more than others.

Intent Is Key

Aligning your campaigns with intent is crucial to PPC success. Before you start any campaign you need to ask yourself the question, “What do I want out of this?”

This can be just something as simple as: 

• more customers (sales campaign)
• more eyes on my brand (brand campaign)
• more users on my website (traffic campaign)
• more sign ups for my free webinar (lead campaign)

Those are the campaigns we’re going to concentrate on today. You could go more granular if you wanted, but for the vast majority of PPC users, your campaigns will fit into one of the four buckets above.

Therefore, once you’ve made your decision regarding which campaign you want to proceed with, you then need to ask the question, “What metrics do I need to keep an eye on to measure this campaign’s success?”

That’s what this article is for. Here I’m going to go through each metric you’d see in your Adzooma, Microsoft or Google ads account, then tell you which type of campaign this metric is most useful for.

Cost – Everything

Let’s start with a super easy one, cost: how much your campaign has spent.

Unless you’re Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, you’re probably going to want to keep an eye on this one so you’re not bankrupting yourself.

Verdict: Keep an eye on it unless you’re a billionaire

Want to save more money on your campaigns? Have a read of our article on 4 simple ways to save money on your PPC campaigns right now

Clicks – Everything

Clicks aren’t the be all and end all, but they’re an important measurement stick for every kind of campaign you’re running.

Every sale and every lead has to start with a click first.

If you want your brand out there, aren’t crucial, but someone just noticing your brand’s name in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) isn’t likely to do that much – even if you’re running a brand campaign you still want someone to click your ads.

Verdict: Always be measuring those clicks no matter what campaign you’re running

Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Everything

Click through rate is the percentage of people who see your ad  and click it. So if 100 people see your ad, but only 5 people click it, your CTR will be 5%. 

Typically, if you’re connected to the Adzooma platform you’ll see a CTR of 6% on Google Ads and 3.7% on Microsoft, which is about 4% and 1% higher than industry average.

You always want to keep an eye on this one, for every kind of campaign you run. If that CTR is dropping to below 2% then you probably need to take action and revise your ad copy or ad relevancy to try and get people clicking on your ads.

This isn’t a cut and dry rule, though. You could have thousands of clicks and hundreds of conversions while your CTR might be at 1%. Then you’d say to me, “Tom, stop telling me I need my CTR above 2% because I’m here raking in the dollar.”

Your own judgement is key afterall. PPC isn’t always a science, sometimes it’s an art.

Verdict: You don’t always have to be concerned if it drops too low, but it’s something to always keep an eye on

Adzooma users see an uptick in CTR rates due to the easy to implement Opportunities that are a part of the free platform.  Learn More

Cost Per Click (CPC) – Everything

Staying on the theme of clicks, staying on the theme of metrics you need to measure for every kind of campaign, we approach the subject of CPC.

Now, whereas the two above you don’t always have to be concerned about, this one you very much do. Because if you’re paying way over the top for your clicks, then something is very wrong, and it’s going to hit you in the place that hurts most – your pocket.

How much you pay for clicks depends on what industry you’re in, but whatever they are, you need to keep an eye on them. Not doing so could destroy your campaigns.

Verdict: Always measure this. No ifs or buts.

Quality Score – Everything

Quality Score is another really important metric because if your Quality Score is low, then you’re going to pay more for your ads no matter what campaign you’re running.

Quality Score is a little bit tougher to understand than the other KPIs because it’s a little bit vaguer – it’s made up of different measurements like ad relevance, landing page experience, ad format, expected CTR etc.

It also has a scoring system out of 10. Anything 5 and below isn’t particularly great and therefore your ads should be revised (unless you’re running competitor campaigns, for example).

You can read our Quality Score explainer article to get more information on what it is, why it’s so important, and how you can improve it.

Verdict: Very important for all campaigns to save on unnecessary wasted spend

Conversions – Sales / Leads

You can discount this if you’re running brand or traffic campaigns, but for those running sales or lead campaigns, then stick around.

Conversions are simply what you define as a user completing an action which becomes a lead or a sale – that could be: 

• Signing up to your email newsletter
• Enquiring about your services
• Making a purchase.
• And so on

As you can imagine, this is something you will want to keep an eye on – especially if you have a target of getting 1,000 people signed up for your newsletter or something.

However, make sure you don’t measure this in isolation. You don’t want to look solely at conversion without cost too (spoiler: that’s what the next one’s about).

Verdict: Important for sales and lead campaigns, but make sure you don’t measure it in isolation

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) – Sales / Leads

Here comes the context.

CPA is how much you pay per lead or customer (dependent on what you class as a conversion in Google Ads), so say 15 people click your ad for a total cost over £75 and you get two conversions, the CPA will be £37.50. 

You can see why this would be important. If your CPA is at £37.50 , but you’re only making a £20 sale, it’s likely you need to change your strategy up.

When you set up your campaigns in Adzooma, you will be able to set a Target CPA.  Using historical information and contextual signals, Adzooma automatically set your bids to try to get your conversions to remain at that Target CPA. 

This can’t be something you do straight away, though – you need to have had at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days for the algorithm to work.

Verdict: Super important metric to watch if you’re running sales or lead campaigns

Conversion Rate (CVR) – Sales / Leads

Another one that applies to the sales and lead campaigns, CVR is the percentage of people who convert from a click. So say you have 1 conversion and 10 clicks, your CVR will be 10%.

This metric is important to see how well you’re performing after the click, when a user is on your site and looking to make an action. If this metric is super low, maybe the audience you’re attracting isn’t right, maybe your site is too slow, maybe your landing page isn’t the best. 

Those are things you’ll have to dig into yourself, but CVR is a good indicator that either something’s going wrong after the click or something is going pretty darn well.

Verdict: A good indicating metric for sales and lead campaigns to help figure out your success after the click

Impressions – Brand 

Now, a lot of people would say impressions don’t matter at all, but that really isn’t true.

If you’re wanting eyes on your brand, then impressions do matter. For example, imagine if you’re a small cola brand and you’re beside Coca Cola and Pepsi with a quirky ad – that’s automatically going to get people thinking about you. Even if they don’t click on you, being in their mind is good enough.

That’s why impressions are important. Not for every campaign, sure. But don’t rule them out entirely.

Verdict: Important metric for brand campaigns. Not for anything else

Impression Share (CPM) – Everything

Now impression share is a little bit different to impressions. It’s actually the total impressions divided by the total eligible impressions.

Total eligible impressions take into account things like bid budget, targeting settings, quality score and approval statuses.

So if you’re really wanting to get those eyes on your brand, this is a really important metric for you, as if that CPM is low, then you may want to do something about that.

However, this also impacts sales and lead campaigns too, because again if your CPM is low, you could be losing out on clicks to your competitors because more often than not, your ads aren’t being seen.

Plus, on top of CPM, there is also Absolute Top Impression Share and Search Top Impression Share, which gives you a percentage run down of the location of your ads in the SERPs. 

This percentage indicates whether your ads have the possibility of reaching the top or absolute top. This how they’re worked out:

• Search top impression rate = Impressions on top/Impressions
• Search absolute top impression rate = Impressions on the absolute top/Impressions

Verdict: Important for all campaigns.

An Easier Way?

If you’re thinking, “That is a lot to remember, isn’t there an easier way?” 

Well, the answer to that is yes!

With the free Adzooma platform, the software can keep an eye on all these metrics for you and then notify you whenever they turn bad or there’s opportunity for something more.

If you’re starting out in PPC, then it’s the perfect sidekick to help you along in your learning journey.

Then when you’ve navigated your way to an added level of competency, it’ll be your trusty assistant who’ll be there to handle all the manual work so you don’t have to.

All you have to do is connect your Google, Microsoft or Facebook account to the Adzooma platform, then you’ll have access to one-click optimisations, a full reporting suite, extensive automation, and so much more, at no cost at all.

Get started today.

Google announced the phasing out of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser platform by 2022 and members of the digital marketing community aren’t too happy since Chrome has an estimated 63.38% global browser market share on all devices. On 25th January, Google unveiled its new alternative to cookies called Federated Learning of Cohorts (or FLoC) but what does this all mean for PPC marketers and their strategies?

In this article, I’ll be examining cookies, why they’re getting culled, and what PPC marketers will need to do once they’re gone as well more information on Google’s Privacy Sandbox and the recently revealed FLoC.

What are cookies?

Cookies (also known as HTTP cookies, web cookies, Internet cookies, and browser cookies) are pieces of data stored on a user’s computer by their browser. They were created by Lou Montulli as a way for websites to remember things like the items you had in your shopping cart or login details. Cookies had helpful intentions but soon, e-commerce grew and cookies were used to aid online advertising and track users behaviour.

There are two main types of cookies:

First-party cookies

First-party cookies are created and stored by websites and allow site owners to collect data such as:

• User language settings
• Analytics data
• Shopping carts items
• Usernames and passwords

This is what cookies were initially designed to do and help to improve user experience.

Third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are created by third parties on behalf of websites who use them. Unlike first party cookies, they have more ad-focused uses such as:

• Cross-site tracking
• Serving ads
• Retargeting ads

The main differences between first-party and third-party cookies are the intentions behind the data collection, what they’re used for, and who manages the cookies.

Why are third-party cookies dying?

Privacy concerns

The user of tracking cookies grew in prevalence over time and they started to track long-term user behaviour. This activity posed a privacy threat and in 2011, European and U.S. lawmakers took action. For all websites involving EU traffic, site owners had to acquire “informed consent” from users before storing non-essential cookies on their devices.

Sketchy alternatives

With so many major browsers blocking third-party cookies, developers have created new ways to bypass the blocks such as ‘fingerprinting’, where setting changes are used to track users. On the plus side, Google is aware and continues to extinguish its use.

What will this mean for PPC strategies?

Google’s ban of third-party cookies is arguably a good idea but it will affect both digital advertisers and Google itself in terms of ad revenue for both sides. So what will PPC strategies look like once those cookies crumble? And is FLoC a good substitute?

I spoke with my colleague, Sophie Logan, a PPC manager at Adzooma.

“As marketers, we knew third-party cookies wouldn’t last forever and since the introduction of the new GDPR, it was only a matter of time until this came into force. I think off the back of this, a loss of data is the most powerful side effect for PPC strategies and technologies in 2021.

We will need to rely more heavily on first-party cookie platforms such as Facebook and Google. This will increase their control and power of user data, and provide them with data which is not available to other advertisers.”

In terms of next steps, Sophie suggested PPC marketers adapt to the new situation and “up their game”:

“Adapt and overcome. Advertisers have no choice but to up their game. But at least everyone (well almost everyone) is in the same boat.”

Privacy Sandbox and Federated Learning of Cohorts

Launched on 25th January 2021, Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) provides an “effective replacement signal for third-party cookies” with early tests reaching in-market and affinity Google Audiences expected to see “at least 95% of the conversions per dollar spent when compared to cookie-based advertising.”

However, the new technique hasn’t pleased everyone with some advertisers claiming it is anti-competitive. The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) are currently investigating the Privacy Sandbox proposal after a group of companies in digital marketing, news media and tech complained that Google was abusing its position by phasing out third-party cookie support.

Speaking to Sophie, she understands marketers’ concerns:

“From what I’ve heard from marketers, it looks like the use of ‘sensitive’ data is a major concern. I think that opens up the whole issue of morals when it comes to advertising and how data is used. Currently, we don’t have access to universally determined ‘sensitive’ data, but this could open that up.”

As for the Privacy Sandbox project, Google says its project’s mission is to “create a thriving web ecosystem that is respectful of users and private by default”:

“The main challenge to overcome in that mission is the pervasive cross-site tracking that has become the norm on the web and on top of which much of the web’s ability to deliver and monetize content has been built.”

Google wants to combat those sketchy non-cookie techniques like fingerprinting, cache inspection, and link decoration to maintain users’ privacy and improve the Web experience for everyone. It’s early days regarding privacy issues with the project so we’ll see how it develops.

A remarketing redux is required

Sophie said it’d be impossible to run remarketing in its current state which means the technique will need to change in order to survive.

A loss in revenue

Without remarketing (at least in its current form) and with reduced user data, there will be a significant impact to revenue for advertisers and Google. Users will also get more irrelevant and repetitive ads and could tank important KPIs like click-through rate.

According to Google Ads, cookie-less traffic yielded an average of 52% percent less revenue for the ad publisher.

Conversion tracking will take a hit

If you can’t track user behaviour, you won’t be able to assess your ads’ effectiveness in the same way. That lack of conversion tracking will therefore impair value proposition which is an important part of PPC strategy.

People-based marketing

There’s also “people-based marketing”, introduced by Facebook, which uses first-party data and isn’t affected by cookies. It compares user IDs with customer data to help advertisers find targetable users for their ads. Google can also use first-party data for similar uses but with their ongoing anti-trust lawsuits, who knows how effective they’ll continue to be in their current state.

Outside of the tech giants, data management platforms are looking at alternative ways to help advertisers to track their data. Sophie recommends looking into alternatives now and to stay up to date with cookie news.

“Using customer data and offline data will allow advertisers to compare their quality and identify the best users to target. There will also be more reliance on contextual advertising, such a native ads, where the ad content is tailored to the content of the website rather than a specific user.”

Conclusion

It will be interesting to see how advertisers react to these changes and whether they’ll embrace FLoC or try more basic strategies but with more resources and consideration.

Online advertising worked before the use of third-party cookies, and they will be able to continue without them too. This will require advertisers to more manually ensure that they are targeting the right individuals with relevant messaging.

From Google’s perspective, it’s important that the company gets FLoC right and doesn’t alienate its customers further.

And if you’re not advertising on Google or any form of social media, then you might be missing out on a large number of potential customers!

In this article, we outline some of the best ways to create a winning PPC strategy for 2021.

We’re not going to tell you how to structure your ad accounts or even how to optimise negative keywords, instead, we’re going to guide you through the essential factors you should consider, to help deliver a successful campaign throughout the year.

Lay The Foundations

Listing out your goals for the year ahead can help keep you focused on achieving them.

It’s almost creating a mini business plan, but it can be extremely useful. 

You can then share this with your digital marketing partner who can then outline a strategy on how they can help you reach those goals. 

Do you know what your most profitable advertising channels are? Have you tested them? Or will you be testing them to find this out?

In what condition is your website? Is there a natural user flow, or do you need to rethink your sales funnel?

Consider that Google is a search engine. People are actively searching for something, whether that’s goods, services or information. The intent is much higher than a social media platform such as Facebook.

On Facebook, people are there to watch funny videos, to chat with their friends and to play games, the intent is extremely low compared to Google, and they’re not necessarily there to buy.

But if you have a product that is an impulse buy type of product, such as a gaming chair or a product that is a problem solver, then you might want to consider advertising on Facebook.

These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself, your client, or your digital marketing account manager to help form the PPC strategy and reach the goals for the year ahead.

Quality Score Is Everything

I’ll repeat it. When advertising on Google, Quality Score is everything! 

Your ad copy, your landing page, your offering, your bid, and everything else that determines your Quality Score, you want to keep a constant check of this and look for ways to improve the number.

Why? Because it pays to do so!

Why should you be charged more for a click, when your competitor is paying less?

And what I’m about to say is going to divide the PPC community in half, but from tests and clients I’ve managed, where possible and relevant, the SKAG approach is still a great way to increase quality score and beat your competition.

If you’re unfamiliar with SKAGs vs STAGs, take a look at this fantastic article to get a good understanding of each.

And read Adzooma’s article on STAGs (Single Theme Ad Groups) while you’re at it.

But to keep it simple, a Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG) can help you write ad copy that is exclusive to your keyword which, in turn, helps increase your quality score.

And you shouldn’t rush through your ad copy or even your keyword research. You shouldn’t rush PPC at all.

Take your time to find the most relevant keywords, create an account structure you understand, and take your time setting up your campaigns, ad groups, and ads. 

But at the core of all your advertising efforts, should be your quality score and how to improve it.

Remarketing Pays Off

If you’ve never run a remarketing campaign, then this is something that could bring you a lot of success.

Sometimes people will see your ad, click-through to your website and leave. That’s not to say they didn’t like your service or product, or even your website.

There must have been something that made them click-through from your ad to your website. 

And whilst they are interested in your offering, they may not be interested right now.

This is where remarketing comes in.

It’s a powerful tool to help bring those non-converters back and give them a second look or third look at your website, but this time offering them a potential discount or freebie to help them convert.

You should also look at the different audiences available, especially in the Google Ads platform. 

Affinity and in-market audiences can help you target the people who are actively seeking or are in the market for your product or services.

For low budget campaigns, remarketing search lists for ads (RSLAs) are one of the most effective ways of creating a successful PPC campaign. 

RSLAs are great in so many ways; the traffic you’re targeting are already somewhat qualified. 

If someone has visited your mobile phone accessory website and has visited the iPhone page but didn’t make a purchase, what you can do is create a remarketing campaign for iPhone page users and bid on the search term “iPhone”.

Typically, this would be a very competitive and expensive click! Not to mention, there is little to no guarantee that the user is looking to purchase anything.

But because the user already knows your brand and your website, you can bid on more generic keywords without having to pay for expensive clicks.

Then, when they search again, this keyword will only trigger for users who have already visited your website. Reducing costs and increasing the chance of them buying from you.

To put it simply, you only target people who have previously visited your website and already have some knowledge of your brand. 

And when they do click on your ad again through to your website, there’s a higher chance they will convert the second or third time around. Especially if you… and to quote The Godfather, “make them an offer they can’t refuse”.

Invest In Your Website

Perhaps the most essential point on this list is to invest in your website.

I can’t tell you how many websites I’ve seen lose customers and conversions because the client is simply not bothered by how the website looks!

Why spend thousands of pounds, dollars, or euros on paid advertising, when you have a website that looks like a throwback to the early 2000s?

Consider the overall design, the user flow, the usability – how easy is it for your website traffic to buy from you, request your service or get in touch with you?

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that society can continue living somewhat, through online stores and services.

And whilst you can still get some conversions through any type of website, that’s not the point. 

You could be missing out on a large number of potential customers, who may buy from your competitor because their website is easier to navigate and appears more trustworthy.

Spend Every Penny Wisely

When running digital advertising, you want to make sure you’re spending every penny wisely. 

That means either you or your account manager keeping a close eye on all the reports in your account. From search terms and negative keywords to device usability and location targeting.

But more importantly, you need to look at your business margins. 

What is your average order value? (AOV) What is your desired return on ad spend (ROAS)? And what is your average conversion rate? Just to name a few.

By calculating these metrics, we can find a profitable bid so that you’re always, at the very least, breaking even on every click you receive.

The scary thing is, most PPC account managers don’t even consider this! 

They go in and change bids, increase them, decrease them without even considering your business costs. And this can be detrimental to your advertising success.

So be careful when choosing an agency or freelancer to look after your account. See if they ask these questions before they start working with you!

Need Help Creating A Winning PPC Strategy For 2021?

Here at Accelerate Ads, we offer fully bespoke PPC strategies and can help create a fully customised, paid advertising campaign that can deliver results for your business.

We use the latest industry trends, data-driven decisions, and everything we’ve mentioned in this article (and more!) to help you reach your business goals!

Sounds good? Great! Get your free digital marketing proposal today or book a call with us to discuss your business goals for 2021, and we’ll show you how we can help you achieve them.

The issue many businesses have is that they look at what’s worked for other companies and try to replicate it. They follow templated strategies made with generic businesses in mind. If you’re looking for PPC success, your strategy needs to reflect your company, its unique needs and, most importantly, has to be more than just a short-term fix.

Here’s how to create a strategy that will bring you PPC success both now and in the future.

Follow a winning structure

I’ve got a strategy structure that I believe everyone can relate to. And I think its success lies in how easy it is to understand. It seems common now for ‘strategies’ to be confusing and convoluted – to the point where no one really knows what the objective is.

If you want your PPC strategy to succeed, you need to be able to sum up your goal in one sentence.

How do you think screenwriters write such banging series? Episode after episode, they’re working towards this grand finale, and when you watch it, you realise how all the pieces come together; it’s because they know what they’re working towards from the beginning.

Each scene in each episode in each series is working towards a bigger plot. The same should be true for your PPC strategy – your ads, ad groups and campaigns should all sing from the same hymn sheet.

You see this example come to life in the popular TV sitcom Friends. The overarching storyline? That Ross and Rachel end up together. You can see how the writers work towards this goal in every episode.

What’s your business’ story arc? If you want to tell a tale of a bakery who becomes known for the best fresh food in town, you need to ensure everything reflects that – anything that goes off-topic, get rid. Once you have an all-encompassing goal, you’ll find it easier to write your ads and strategy because you know exactly where you’re going.

Don’t limit yourself to one platform

It’s easy to think PPC is strictly advertising on Google Ads. But there are loads of alternative sites you can advertise on which are often cheaper and more specific to your industry. Check out this article about the 16 best PPC alternatives for inspiration of where to start.

By introducing variety, you can ensure your strategy has longevity and make your budget go further. For example, did you know Bing’s average CPC is $1.54, 33% lower than Google Ads?

Try creating a Microsoft Ads account today to make the most of the different features it has on offer – you might be able to find new opportunities for your strategy.

Why did your last PPC strategy fail?

It’s important to look at previous mistakes in order to avoid making them again. Understanding why things didn’t work is the key to making the best changes.

Your strategy might not have been a complete flop, but if you’ve been left feeling a little lacklustre, here’s what the issue may have been:

1. It lacked focus

Like the TV show analogy, it’s important you have a goal so you know where you’re going. Otherwise, you’ll just be driving around and getting lost. A single focus is really important: trying to achieve lots all at the same time means you execute it all poorly.

Your keywords need a focus: avoid broad match. If you know that a particular keyword performs well for you, don’t be afraid to make a Single Keyword Ad Group. SKAGs are a great way to really boost your results and see what your campaigns can do without the noise of other keywords.

2. The customer journey was confusing

Even the best-written ads won’t guarantee you a sale. Why? Because if that ad takes you to a landing page which isn’t up to scratch, a user is likely to click back.

It’s imperative that your customer journey is cohesive, clear and as simple as possible. This means, if you have an ad promoting a new lawnmower deal, you should build a landing page dedicated to that. Don’t abandon users on your homepage where there are a million things going on – the more hurdles between them and the shopping cart, the increased likelihood of you losing them.

3. You’ve ignored ‘the little things’

On a similar note, you need to do the basics well. The foundations of your business should be solid, not rickety – they won’t take the weight of your future endeavours.

Ad copy should be short and snappy, promoting the benefits of your business. Copying your competitors just means you become a replica. Your page load speed should be as quick as possible to avoid people leaving. Your budget needs to be suitable for your industry. Understanding what actually matters to your ROI is key.

4. You’ve treated it as a sprint, not a marathon

An ugly truth: PPC is slow and hard work. Unless you use free tools like Adzooma and its innovative use of AI.

But, at the end of the day, you’re not going to bag yourself winning PPC campaigns overnight. The most successful are borne of testing, tweaking and patience. Spend time sharpening your skills, understanding the bigger picture and remembering that, if you want your PPC success to not be short-lived, you need to start slow and build it up.

Outsource where possible

PPC is likely just one arm of your marketing strategy. Personally, I think managing your PPC campaigns yourself (with the help of some great tech) is the way to go; it’s the most cost-effective approach which allows you total control. You don’t need to be an expert to learn the ropes, particularly with so many handy guides out there.

The best way to spend your budget is to outsource things that you simply have no way of facilitating in-house: your SEO strategy, design work, e-commerce store.

Adzooma Marketplace is home to hundreds of award-winning agencies who specialise in all types of digital marketing. Take a look and see which would be the best match for your business – you don’t have to do everything single-handedly.

Chase conversions, not leads

It’s easy to think your PPC campaigns are working if they bring you lots of leads. After all, 17% of marketers use PPC ads for lead generation. But are they high-quality? Having spreadsheets full of user data is no good unless they’re likely to buy.

In your strategy, you should identify how you are going to qualify success. It makes sense for this to be conversion-based. Optimising your cost-per-lead (CPL) is all well and good, until you realise your leads aren’t your ideal demographic. It’s important to make sure you’re highly-targeting your customers so that they’re more likely to buy.

From there, you can build audience lists based on your high-value customers (HVCs) and replicate your success. Focusing on your cost-per-conversion will help you identify whether your budget is being spent wisely.

Make the most of technology

As I touched on previously, the Adzooma platform has a lot to offer PPC users. I’ll start by saying the best bit – it’s completely free of charge. Using machine-learning, our PPC software helps you to manage, automate and optimise your Google, Facebook and Microsoft ad campaigns.

Because you can manage everything from one screen, Adzooma makes seeing the bigger picture easy – something that is key for assessing the success of your strategy. It also has loads of features which enable you to tick things off your goals quicker: set up automation rules, identify optimisation opportunities, see and understand key metrics. Everything can be done in just a few clicks, making PPC advertising much easier than doing everything manually.

Try the platform free today and see what impact it has on getting your new PPC strategy off the ground.

Make it unique to your business

Hopefully, I’ve sparked some ideas of how you can spice up your PPC strategy. After all, your strategy is your map to success – without it, you’re just running around crashing into things.

Spend some time working out your objectives and breaking them down into manageable chunks. The most important thing is to make your strategy unique to your business. If you’re ever stuck, there’s loads of helpful information across the Adzooma blog.

And, don’t forget to sign up to the platform to give your campaigns that extra boost. It is free, after all.

If you’re unsure, tools like Adzooma allow you to optimise your campaigns for free, allowing you to discover the full potential of Microsoft. Manage multiple advertising campaigns under one roof and see how Microsoft stacks up against your go-to platforms.

Want to target a more affluent audience?

Using Microsoft Advertising is a no brainer. With 54% of users being over the age of 45 and a third of them having a household income of over $100,000, you’ll be able to focus on the customers that really matter. This article will tell you about 5 industries that have seen the best results on the platform, with case studies you can compare against your own objectives.

Why advertise on Microsoft Ads?

The best advertising platform for you doesn’t depend entirely on market share. For instance, while Google dominates around 73.1% of advertising space, they’ve recently removed terms from their search report which could incrementally affect SMB’s. It sounds like a minor update, but it’s features like these that may have helped your campaigns – if they hadn’t been removed. Some are already seeing a 28% reduction in their ad budget’s visibility.

On the other hand, Microsoft Advertising offers unique reports, insights and demographics you won’t find on any other network. As it faces less competition, the average CPC (cost-per-click) has also been found to be between 32.5% and 59.2% cheaper than Google Ads.

What’s more, 54% of Bing users are over the age of 45 and a third of them have a household income of over $100,000. They also spend on average 22% more on purchases through Bing than any other search engine.

If you’re looking to target working professionals, Microsoft Advertising is the game changer you’ve been looking for. It’s one of the only advertising platforms that allows you to target users based on their LinkedIn data, and reaches over 63 million users that Google doesn’t. This makes it 10x easier to thrive in competitive industries such as Finance, Travel and Automotive.

Here’s why, if you’re a part of these 5 industries, you need to be advertising on Microsoft Ads.

1. Automotive

Whether your business is big or small, Microsoft Advertising will work for you. To give you an idea of how powerful the platform is, let’s look at a case study from one of the most innovative car manufacturers, Honda.

Between September – December 2019, Honda used Microsoft Advertising to expand its digital footprint. They wanted to increase their brand reach and connect with more consumers.

The results: the Microsoft Audience Network drove 11% incremental clicks for Honda and contributed to a massive 64% of their total impressions with Microsoft Advertising.

Even more, the campaign achieved a click-through-rate (CTR) of 0.07% which, while significantly lower than Honda’s standard search activity, was 3 times higher than a comparable display campaign on the Google Display Network (GDN). That’s a huge number of conversions that could’ve never come into fruition had the campaign been running on Google Ads.

Louise McMahon, Marketing Manager, Honda, said the team had been really impressed with the results, and “now we find ourselves asking, what other untapped potential is there in the Microsoft Advertising platform?”

Being able to expand their display campaigns across the Microsoft properties without needing to learn a completely new platform was also a huge benefit. If you’re testing display campaigns yourself, Microsoft’s image extensions can take your ads to the next level.

Whilst currently a Beta in Google Ads, image extensions are commonplace in Microsoft Advertising. Perfect for advertisers promoting a visual product or service like Honda, or trying to differentiate your ads from your competitors, this feature can be a deal-breaker for businesses in the automotive industry.

In addition, multinational manufacturer Volvo found that by utilising LinkedIn data, they were recommended audiences they hadn’t targeted before. Insights like these are excellent for expanding your reach, especially in such a competitive market.

If you’re new to advertising, read our guide on how to get set up on Microsoft Ads. It shows how easy it is to create a campaign from scratch, import your Google Ads data and more. There’s also an offer from Microsoft when you deposit £20 – get in there fast so you don’t miss out.

2. Tech & Telecoms

“More revenue with less work”. That’s how the household goods and home electronics market leader, Elgiganten, describes their experience with Microsoft Advertising. They were looking for an easy and efficient way to manage their keywords and campaigns while “reaching more consumers, boosting ROI and staying within budget”.

If this sounds like you, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be advertising on Microsoft Ads.

Adding Microsoft Advertising to Elgiganten’s paid media strategy was an easy and efficient way for them to expand their reach, and it can have the same effect for your business.

The company improved ad impressions by 186%, clicks by over 250% and click-through rates by 22%. Using a digital marketing agency also allowed them to automate the creation of their campaigns – something you can achieve for free with Adzooma.

On top of that, Concourse Media saw almost a 200% increase in click-through rates for their Remarketing campaigns, allowing them to “improve the quality and amount of traffic” to all of their Microsoft Advertising accounts.

Launching a campaign that only targeted syndicated search partners, as recommended by their Microsoft Account Manager, also saw excellent results. Marion, the audience development team lead, said the CTR was “over 130% higher than the next best performing campaign targeting only Bing, AOL and Yahoo websites”.

Want more information on becoming certified? Check out this post on how to become a Microsoft Ads expert.

3. Travel

If you’ve done your research, you might know that conversion rates for travel sit at around 1.58% on Microsoft Ads. But it isn’t all doom and gloom. Since Bing commands around 41% of all travel paid clicks in the U.S., your ads are likely to receive more clicks than other industries.

Straight away, that’s a huge advantage you’ve got over other businesses that might not be advertising on the same network.

For global travel company TUI, Microsoft Advertising was able to help them uncover gaps in generic campaigns with Dynamic Search Ads. TUI found that even when their generic campaigns were performing well, they were losing potential customers on long-tail queries that were more difficult to anticipate.

Their performance was much better than expected. TUI experienced 50% higher conversion rates than standard text ads, at a cost-per-click rate almost on par with ads that had been manually curated. They also reduced cost of sales by 27%, delivering incremental revenue at a profitable rate.

Alexandre Lombard, TUI’s SEA Project Manager said Microsoft’s Dynamic Search Ads “now account for 25% of our generic revenue with a higher conversion rate and almost equivalent CPCs compared to our classic campaigns.” He also added that utilising Microsoft Ads was an incredible way to “generate incremental revenue during peak seasonal periods on generic campaigns.”

What’s more, as the travel market suffers during this time, features such as Microsoft’s action extensions could really make or break campaigns. Choose from 62 presents to stand out against your competitors, make your ads more diverse and drive users through the conversion funnel.

Using features like this won’t only convince people to take action, but can also assure them you’re open for bookings and operating as usual during this time.

Optimising your Microsoft ads is easier than you might think. With Adzooma, you can get an in-depth overview of your account, a score out of 100 and actionable insights on what you need to improve. All for free.

Try our Microsoft performance report today.

4. Retail

As well as utilising Microsoft’s image extensions, there’s the added benefit of Microsoft’s Shutterstock partnership. This is particularly useful for advertisers in the retail industry as it allows you to create more visually-engaging and impactful adverts.

Not only that, but the partnership provides Microsoft Advertising users access to over 330 million images to use in their display campaigns on the Microsoft Audience Network, for free. There’s no limit on how creative you can be with your campaigns – you can mix your product shots with themed photos to draw more attention to your ads.

When it comes to setting up your Microsoft account, don’t be put off by their CPC.

It can be more expensive for retail advertisers to promote your products on Microsoft rather than Google: $1.24 compared to less than a dollar. But, this might be dependent upon Google expanding its low-cost shopping ads at the expense of traditional search ads. The most important factor is whether or not Microsoft Advertising will work for your industry.

As we move closer towards the holiday season, here is just one example of how Microsoft can help you achieve your retail goals.

This time last year, online retailer MyDeal wanted to optimise its shopping campaign performance. The challenge was to “stay within the confines of the current budget without creating too much effort”, which is exactly what retailers need when tailoring their online advertising holiday strategy.

With a customer-centric approach, MyDeal saw an increased spend of 378% year-on-year and a 300% increase in clicks for their online marketplace. They also achieved a 389% YoY rise in conversions by utilising Microsoft Advertising’s advanced audience targeting solutions.

Bing Shopping and Automated Rules also make it easier to buy on Microsoft, which could be the difference between gaining those all-important conversions.

5. Finance

As we touched on earlier, Microsoft Advertising has launched LinkedIn profile targeting for Search and Audience campaigns in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, France and Germany. Using the feature, advertisers can serve text ads, Dynamic Search Ads and shopping campaigns to customers based on their company, job function and industry.

According to Microsoft, utilising LinkedIn data is “the perfect complement to other targeting solutions”. What’s more, the LinkedIn targeting feature is completely unique to Microsoft, and it’s unlikely it’ll ever be available via Google Ads.

It’s a great addition, but could completely change the game for advertisers in the finance industry. For instance, if your main objective is to reach financial professionals such as CEOs or business strategists, you can filter your targeting to those specific job titles. If you narrow it down by industry, your audience will be even more specific.

Some of the most popular brands such as GoCompare have seen excellent results with Microsoft Advertising. The combination of Microsoft Audience Ads with in-market audiences and remarketing allowed GoCompare to “expand its search reach into a native environment but maintain a targeted approach that would resonate and perform well”.

The company achieved outstanding growth, reaching around 30% below the GoCompare target cost per acquisition (CPA). If it’s good enough for GoCompare, imagine the results it can help you achieve.

To show how Microsoft Advertising can work for smaller businesses, Accounting Seed has seen nearly a three-fold increase in web traffic since launching its Microsoft Advertising campaigns. They’ve also seen a 26% increase in new web sessions and a 76% increase in page views per session compared to the previous year.

Nick Havrilak, Digital Marketing Specialist, Accounting Seed, said they “had a lot of data to import into the platform, but with the help of the Microsoft Advertising support team, we were able to get a detailed campaign up and running with ease”. If you’re in a similar situation or new to advertising, the support Microsoft Advertising provides will make things a lot easier.

Wondering when and how your business should use Microsoft Advertising? Here’s a full guide to the Microsoft Audience Network.

Ready to test Microsoft Advertising?

Microsoft Advertising is the underdog of advertising networks. With evidence of strong performance, underutilised features and in-depth targeting options, it’s definitely worth experimenting with.

If you want to make things easier, try Adzooma. For marketers and for agencies, our intelligent software allows you to manage and optimise your accounts for free. What’s more, you can action improvements inside the platform with one-click optimisations and an integrated campaign builder. It’s exactly what you need to make the most of Microsoft Ads.

And this is what it all boils down to—if you want to engage your audience, you need a solid content marketing strategy in place.

In this guide, we’ll look at content marketing strategies, why you need one, and the various elements included in a robust strategy.

Why do you need a content marketing strategy?

Marketing your business is more than leads, growth, and traffic.

A content marketing strategy won’t sell your product or service, but it can generate leads through authoritative articles about your industry. Content marketing strategies don’t just allow you the luxury of acquiring new followers but it allows you to experiment and build upon your reliable source of traffic to generate other streams of revenue.

From here, you can attract leads and generate awareness for your brand so you can branch out into other areas, such as social media advertising, distributed content, and sponsored content.

What should a content marketing strategy include?

To engage with a prospect it’s important to have the right type of content for your website or promotional materials. Choose the wrong type of content and you fail to engage with your audience. However, if you pick the right type of content that doesn’t just generate interest but also caters to their demographic, you are engaging with an audience on their specific level. There are are different types of content marketing approaches and these are the most popular that you can create:

1. Blog posts

Blog posts are, for many businesses, the “bread-and-butter” of content. To attract new visitors, blog posts need to be published on a regular basis but also provides content that shows expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (known as E-A-T).

2. Infographics

I questioned the relevancy of infographics in my article “Are Infographics Truly Dead?”. While I believe infographics haven’t lost their initial spark, they can still convey ingenuity through data visualisation and, more importantly, in a clear and coherent way:

For starters, save it for special occasions. An infographic is not an article. It’s not a video. It’s their slightly-overweight older brother – not as versatile. So make sure the idea you have really works for an infographic and wouldn’t be better suited to another format. This way, we’ll stem the flow of bad ones that are being churned out.

Secondly, when you do make one, do it so well that no one even puts it in the same bracket as infographics. You want people to dive straight into the journey your infographic takes them on before “not another one of these” even crosses their mind.

If you’re going down the infographic route, make sure you take the time to think about how best to make an infographic and do your research.

3. Social media

In order to diversify your content marketing plan, you need to start distributing content on other websites.

Social media is integral to expanding your brand and there are so many platforms to use.

• If you are looking to promote videos you would likely go on YouTube or Facebook.
• If you are a professional business looking to acquire like-minded professionals, Linkedin may be your ideal choice.
• If you have lots of photos to share, Instagram is your platform.

Social media marketing helps businesses reach a variety of people and provides unique insights into how they engage with your content.

You should consider a social agency for this kind of work. Adzooma Marketplace can help you find one. For more info on what they do, read our article on social media agencies.

4. Videos

Video marketing is a powerful tool, with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Vimeo, garnering millions of monthly active users and access to billions of videos. But it’s not all memes. Companies are starting to see the benefits of video content as an additional distribution and revenue channel.

Check out Marketplace for video agencies near you.

Case studies

One of the most versatile types of content. Case studies are an opportunity to tell the story of someone who has worked with you, whether it’s a client or a customer. The great thing about case studies is that they are malleable and can take the form of a podcast, a blog, or even an infographic.

This is a logical extension to customers who leave a positive review. It’s important to remember before you choose a customer that you determine the right form for the testimonial, but also understand where you want to drive volume.

Templates

Giving customers an easier life is the underlying idea behind templates. It’s a useful format to try because it generates direct value to the audience.

Giving your customers template tools that can help them save time in their lives means you are giving them tremendous value for something that costs you very little.

If you’ve helped them overcome a major hurdle in their daily lives, they are more likely to keep engaging with your content.

For example, we created a PPC roadmap template for advertisers to plan their PPC strategy.

Podcasts

An ideal option if you are looking to engage people with long form content but don’t have the time to read. Podcasts are the format in between video and blogs that can provide depth and significant value. If you have people to interview that can help promote your product or theirs, engaging with this format is invaluable in many ways as it is so cheap to set up.

Examples of effective content marketing strategies

Content marketing is such a diverse component that it can prove difficult to make a significant impact. But there are some fantastic examples of effective content marketing strategies:

1. Blendtec, a company that provides blenders, increased their sales by 700% in three years thanks to their Will It Blend video series, where they try their hand at blending felt tip pens and even devices like smartphones!
2. GE’s Instagram content marketing campaign generated 3,000 new followers without any paid advertising. They did this by posting on Instagram about GE’s other business, which comprised wind turbines and locomotives, and boosted their sales of vacuums and washer-dryers in the process.
3. Rip Curl, a surfing company, gained more than 2 million Facebook followers by their online publication The Search, which chronicles surfers on the lookout for the best waves in the world. A platform that is for surfers gained more than 100,000 YouTube subscribers and grew their content to become a profitable business from an eye-catching blog.

Conclusion

Any business can use content marketing to their advantage. With a wide variety of companies using content to promote their business, it’s important that we get more and more inventive but also use content marketing strategies to our advantage.

But, when it comes to delivering an effective SEO strategy, there are now more routes than ever. Many businesses, large and small, will hire an SEO agency whilst others prefer to take the reins and deliver this themselves using a DIY software platform, such as Hike.

Here we explore the two avenues available to small-to-medium sized businesses – SEO agency or DIY software – and discuss the pros and cons of each option against seven different categories, which should help you to decide which is right for your business.

1. Time

Time is of the essence and not all business owners will have the time to use a DIY platform to implement an SEO strategy. To drive optimum results, most platforms will require an average of 8 to 24 hours per month spent using it, depending on the size of your business and the competitiveness of your market.

If your business is cash-rich but time-poor, you’ll likely benefit more from using an agency, allowing you to focus on more pressing matters. Choosing the right SEO agency can be challenging, but find one that you can trust and you can take a step back and leave it to the experts.

Any good agency won’t just send you monthly, detailed reports, but will also ensure that you fully understand the data.

Verdict: SEO Agency

2. Cost

Whether your business has been affected by the global pandemic or not, cost is an important factor. If you’re a cash-rich company, you may want to opt for an SEO agency to deliver your SEO strategy.

Using an agency will cost you anything from $300 per month for a small business all the way up to $5,000 per month for an international or eCommerce company. A fair average, according to a study by Ahrefs, is $501 to $1000 per month, with 23% of survey respondents charging this rate.

That doesn’t mean you won’t receive a good return on investment, but if you’re really looking to save money, then a DIY software platform will be a better solution for you. These, of course, also vary in price, but a holistic platform like Hike will cost $45 per month, upwards.

Verdict: DIY Software

3. Return on Investment (ROI)

Driving a strong ROI is vital for any marketing channel, whether online or offline. Fortunately, when it comes to leads from search engines, average close rates stand at 14.6%, while outbound leads, such as cold-calling and direct mail have a close rate of 1.7%.

If opting for a DIY SEO platform, you’ll be spending very little whilst still reaping great results, so achieving a good return on investment will be easy. On the other hand, if working with an SEO agency, ensure they demonstrate a good ROI within frequent reports, and don’t leave it to chance.

That said, if your digital agency has chosen keywords with a high monthly search volume and they’re achieving top search engine ranking positions and organic traffic increases, you’re likely onto a winner without ever having to lift a finger.

Verdict: Both

4. Learn Valuable Skills

Did you know that Google makes continuous changes to its algorithm? Last year alone, Google launched 3,620 different changes to its search algorithm, keeping SEO teams up and down the country very busy. But, learning SEO doesn’t have to be difficult.

If you’re aiming to enrich your business’s skillset, an SEO platform can help you to achieve this. From conducting keyword and competitor research to improving page speed and creating crawl reports, a good platform will teach you how.

Adzooma offers a free SEO Performance Report for users which analyzes your website and identifies immediate actions you can take to improve your SEO. Not an Adzooma user? You can sign up for free here and gain access to this feature, a whole suite of additional reports and so much more.

A good platform will be brimming with how-to videos, detailed guides and a decent support team. All you need is a thirst for knowledge.

Verdict: DIY Software

5. Understand the Competition

Understanding your competition underpins any good SEO strategy. After all, it’s not just about your own approach but also your market size and saturation.

A DIY software platform will allow you to conduct initial competitor research, whilst closely following the competition throughout your campaign. From keyword positions to backlinks, understanding your competition allows you to strive for improvement and, eventually, excellence.

On the other hand, you might find a specialist agency that’s particularly knowledgeable within your industry or niche. Some agencies will only work with hospitality clients whilst others may only work in the automotive field.

Having access to industry intel is invaluable for any growing business.

Verdict: Both

6. Form a Deeper Understanding of Your Customers

In order to be successful, any business must develop a strong understanding of its customers and their needs. There are many ways to do this within marketing, from consumer surveys and buyer personas to keyword research and analytics.

Conducting keyword research with SEMRush allows a business to understand customer intent; a want or need for information, a product or service. And when a customer has a want or need, they turn to Google.

By conducting keyword research, you can develop a firm understanding of what your customers are searching for, how many people are searching for those particular terms and whether your products or services experience seasonal trends.

To get down and dirty with data, use Google Analytics to measure KPIs including the number of website visits, which channels are driving traffic and conversion volume. Google Analytics is a free Google tool that can be used by all, whether you’re a small business owner or established digital agency.

Verdict: DIY Software

7. Integrate Your Other Digital Channels

Juggling multiple digital channels yourself, including SEO, PPC, social media, email and video marketing can be hard work.

By working with fewer agencies to deliver more than one of these, you can ensure the teams are working closely together. Plus you’ll likely receive one detailed, holistic report, rather than being bombarded with multiple reports at various times of the month, all of which will need your attention.

To add to this, some full-service companies also provide discounted pricing for customers who scale up their business from a simple SEO plan to a full-service package, so be sure to ask for a custom plan and quote.

Verdict: SEO Agency

Conclusion

By now, you’ll hopefully have a better idea as to which route is best for your business. Ultimately, there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to choosing a route, only preferences.

No matter which road you’re thinking of going down, research the company and read plenty of third-party reviews, case studies and testimonials. Don’t be afraid to contact one of their current or previous customers to get an honest and authentic verdict.

Finally, enjoy the process. Whether working with an agency or developing a strategy yourself, seeing your keywords improve, your traffic increase, your enquiries convert and your business grow is extremely rewarding.

After many years in the industry, there’s still no better feeling than seeing your keyword jump up to position one in Google.

Fortunately, there are no gargantuan marshmallow men or benevolent sorcerers in digital marketing but there are two opposing disciplines that really should work together more: PPC & SEO. Why? Because they have the same interests at heart and they share SERPs together, which means they offer each other insights to help improve performance.

But the divide still exists so in this article, I will look at why you should “cross the streams” and integrate both PPC and SEO into your strategy as a combined effort rather than two disparate sections.

Plus, as our brand new partnership with Hike SEO allows you to optimise your PPC and SEO performance simultaneously, there’s no better time to tell you all about it.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Note: if paid ads aren’t effective for your strategy, don’t use them. This is only for businesses who use both as part of a wider marketing strategy.

The Adzooma and Hike SEO partnership

Yup, you got it.

Adzooma is partnering with Hike SEO – a software that helps businesses increase their visibility on search engines such as Google – to provide our customers with more value than ever before.

Like Adzooma, Hike was designed to make online advertising quicker and easier than ever before. Their SEO platform is simple and easy to use, with each part providing step-by-step recommendations that anyone in your business can implement. They don’t even need to know SEO.

Both of our platforms were built with similar intentions. Where we created a solution we couldn’t find anywhere else on the market, Hike noticed a lot of small businesses were at a loss with SEO. So, it only makes sense for us to come together and offer double the expertise.

To celebrate this partnership, Hike SEO is offering Adzooma users 50% off their first month’s subscription. Not only can you boost your organic visibility in less time, but you can implement these strategies for half the original price.

Get 50% Off Today

Primer: what is SEO and what is PPC?

This wouldn’t be a digital marketing article without some brief definitions.

SEO stands for search engine optimisation and describes the maintenance of websites with the purpose of improving their visibility on search engines.

PPC stands for pay-per-click and describes an online advertising model where advertisers pay publishers for every click their ads receive.

The main difference between the two is SEO is a free or “organic” way of website promotion while PPC is a paid version.

Keyword research is key

Keywords are the lifeblood of SEO and PPC and therefore keyword research is essential for both. Without it, you’re wasting time and money with nothing to show for it.

The methods and applications of keyword research may differ between the two disciplines but they offer each other insights into what people search for and what people click on.

Using the Hike SEO platform, you can find the keywords your customers are searching for on Google without worrying about external tools. The platform even gives each phrase a priority score to help you identify the most achievable keywords, as well as showing the top searches in your industry. It’s a win-win.

Intent is a spectrum

People search for things for a reason; they intend to find something whether that’s opening hours for a shop or the latest football scores. But one thing PPC and SEO share is a more granular approach to matching intent. Broad keywords have the biggest scope but the worst return on investment (ROI) overall as they have the most competition.

In both PPC and SEO, it’s about finding the more niche intent and balance the outlay with the potential return, in the case of PPC. For SEO, you’re aiming for the right blend of search volume, keyword difficulty, and trend analysis.

PPC data that can help SEO

Digital marketing is useless without data analysis. But often, different channels rely solely on their own form of data: SEO sticks with organic data, PPC with paid data. That seems counterintuitive. Just because they’re different, doesn’t mean they can’t work together in finding opportunities for each other. After all, they share the same SERPs.

Here are some reasons why PPC campaign data can be an effective source for SEO analysis:

1. High-performing keywords offer an insight into what people engage with the most. If click-related metrics are high, they may be more likely to click organic links for the same or similar keywords. From there, you can decide the intent and type of page you want to create, if the volume and competition is right.
2. Given how paid ads are displayed, most users know to avoid them unless they want to click them. And if they do, the intent is to browse and potentially convert. That leads to longer sessions and higher dwell times which, in turn, work positively for sites in the long term. Finding the pages that perform best through paid referrals could lead to important SEO insights for future content.
3. Appearing in the SERPS with a paid ad and an organic listing is like hitting the jackpot, hence our partnership with Hike SEO. It might seem like a counterintuitive battle as you’re competing with yourself to a degree, but it needn’t be that way. A little competition never hurt anyone, right? So use it as a test – pretend the paid ad is a competitor and see how well it does against a piece of content. If it outperforms, dig deeper and find some potential reasons. If not, perhaps there’s some room for improvement for your ad. It’s all about testing.
4. Bidding on competitor keywords is commonplace now. But what if you wrote about your competitor and ended up ranking for one of their branded keywords? Assessing the performance of targeted ads that mention your competitor could give vital information if you choose to go down that route organically.

SEO data that can help PPC

Here are some reasons why PPC campaign data can be an effective source for SEO analysis:

1. As Sergey Grybniak mentioned in his article How to Combine SEO & PPC for More Powerful Results, long tail keywords can help with finding relevant negative keywords for your campaign. This could contradict #3 from the “PPC data that can help SEO” section but if ads aren’t relevant, you want to minimise wasted spend.
2. A good landing page will rank for high-performing keywords. Just as PPC keywords can influence SEO decisions, it can work the other way around if you’re looking for inspiration.
3. Use SEO as a testing ground for keyword ideas before taking the plunge with ad spend.

The tools to help SEO and PPC

There are a wide range of tools that can help both SEO and PPC efforts including:

SEMrush – As far as toolkits go, SEMrush is one of the industry leaders, offering both organic and paid tools. Its PPC Keyword Tool lets you plan and set up optimised Google Ads campaignS, with functionality to organise keywords, set negative keywords and export the campaign data for further analysis.

Ahrefs – The battle for supremacy is strong between SEMrush and Ahrefs and while the latter excels more with SEO, it also has a vastly improved PPC tool. You can research PPC keywords and find out what keywords your competitors are bidding on, alongside their CPC and potential traffic.

Serpstat – Described as a “growth hacking tool for SEO, PPC, and content marketing”, Serpstat offers a lot of the same features that SEMrush and Ahrefs have including position tracking, backlink analysis, keyword research, and competitor research. You can even try some of the features for free on the website.

Google Keyword Planner – Keyword Planner is primarily for PPC but the fact it’s free and offers hundreds of potential keywords makes it a fantastic tool for anyone who can’t afford paid tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs.

Google Trends – Forecasting trends can give you an edge in both SEO and PPC. With Google Trends, you can compare a campaign’s performance with potential seasonality issues if there’s been a drop in performance. You can also use it to find possible keywords with an upward trajectory and target those. The money/visibility isn’t always in the topics that everyone is talking about.

Excel/Google Sheets – With all the PPC and SEO data, how are you going to collect it and analyse it? With a spreadsheet. Whether you’re a Excel power user or prefer Google Sheets, there are hundreds of functions to use to analyse the data you have and make more efficient decisions.

Python – Python is the second most popular programming language behind JavaScript for a reason. It’s versatile, easy to learn, and perfect for small to large scale projects. And there are plenty of data analysis, AI, and machine learning capabilities. That’s perfect for any digital marketing strategy. I’ve previously written the ways you can use Python in your PPC campaigns and JC Chouinard wrote an impressive guide to Python for SEO on his website.

Adzooma’s SEO Performance Report – The SEO Performance Report will analyse your website and identify immediate actions you can take to improve your SEO. You’ll get an overall score out of 100 and then receive a detailed breakdown of your performance into 4 key areas: keyword performance, onsite SEO, page speed and backlinks. You can also compare your client’s performance with a competitor, showing how they compare with the competition.

If you don’t have the time or expertise to manage these tools or want to find out more about what’s out there, the Adzooma Marketplace has the answer. Designed to help businesses and agencies find their perfect match, it’s bursting with excellent digital marketing agencies to help improve your results.

Find out more by browsing our Marketplace today.

Brand awareness

One area that PPC and SEO share a commonality is brand awareness. The SERPs are billboards for your site and every appearance is an example of brand awareness.

Because of that it’s important to use both disciplines together. You don’t want to give a bad impression of your brand with poor practices. So from the PPC perspective, consider the ethics of how you advertise your brand and don’t mislead. The same can be said from an SEO perspective but also from a technical aspect – make sure all your on-page techniques are on point – optimised meta titles and descriptions, headings used correctly and in the right places, diversifying how content is presented (tabular data in tables, using bullet points, etc.).

It might sound like a lot, but it becomes second nature once you get the hang of it. And if you haven’t got time for that, Hike SEO is the number one platform for building a strong presence on Google and ensuring your content is getting in front of the right people.

Better yet, it has all the features you need to build a successful SEO strategy, make important changes and track your results. Paired with Adzooma helping to optimise your paid campaigns, what more could you need?

As long as both SEO and PPC are aligned, a customer’s brand experience will be a positive one.

Can SEO and PPC negatively affect each other?

Absolutely. Black hat tactics don’t thrive as much as they used to thanks to Google’s continuous efforts to combat spam and algorithmic trickery but they still exist. That includes attempts to game the system with keyword stuffing for example (yes, sites still do it, even if it isn’t as effective anymore).

With PPC, that can include tactics like click fraud to kill the competition. These kinds of negative acts are easily found and could cost your site.

So who ya gonna crawl?

I couldn’t resist the joke.

Even if you don’t use paid ads for your site, it’s imperative that you use SEO. The addition of PPC to your strategy should be complementary to the existing components, regardless of their differences. There’s a lot of similarities between the two and finding that balance is the difference between an okay strategy and a killer one.

Focus on your keyword research, how you can use each data channel to work with the other, and improve brand awareness without using underhanded tactics.

If you want to do all of that in less time, take a look at Hike SEO’s exclusive offer as part of our brand new partnership. All Adzooma users can benefit from 50% off their SEO services, making both SEO and PPC a walk in the park.

Boosting your ROI has never been easier.

Sign Up To Hike SEO Today

That seems obvious but I want to emphasise how important clicks are, not only to CTRs, but many other metrics. Clicks are fundamental to CPCs (cost-per-click) and can affect your approach to audience targeting, your ad creatives, and general engagement.

Those clicks help to inform marketers what strategies to follow and how to deliver better results at lower costs but they don’t tell the whole story on their own. That’s why CTR’s do such a good job.

In this article, we’ll look at what a good CTR for Facebook Ads would look like, how to calculate CTRs, and how to improve them.

How to calculate CTR on Facebook

To calculate the CTR for your Facebook ads, you divide the total number of ad clicks by the total number of ad impressions. Finally, you multiply the result by 100 to get the percentage.

For example, if 1,000 people see your ad and 50 of them click on it, then your CTR would be:

(50 ÷ 1,000) x 100 = 5%

If you’d prefer not to calculate it yourself, there’s a way to find it in Facebook Ad Manager.

1. Log into your Facebook Ad manager.
2. Go to the top right of the page and click on ‘Ads’.
3. Make sure that you have selected the correct time period you wish to analyse.
4. Then click on ‘Columns’ for more options and find ‘Performance and Clicks’.
5. You will get another tab option named CTR. You can break down the numbers more if you go through each row. This will also show the amount of money you have spent on each ad.

The difference between “Clicks (All)” and “Link Clicks”

As I said in the introduction, clicks are important in paid advertising. But not all clicks are the same. Facebook Ads measures two types of clicks on its platform:

Link Clicks

Link Clicks are the number of clicks on links to particular destinations, whether they’re on or off Facebook-owned properties. (e.g. they could go to one of your dedicated landing pages).

To see your link click results broken down by page destination, go to Ads Manager and click Breakdown→ By action→ Link click destination.

Clicks (All)

Clicks (All) includes link clicks as well as clicks on other parts of your ad. Here are some examples of that:

• Post likes, comments or shares
• Clicks to a Facebook Page or Instagram profile
• Clicks to expand a photo or video to full screen

As Clicks (All) includes link clicks, this metric will be equal to or greater than your Link Clicks.

What is a good CTR for Facebook Ads?

There isn’t a clear cut answer and it constantly changes.

In 2017, Wordstream conducted a Facebook Ads study to find Facebook Ads CTR benchmarks which gave an overall average of 0.90%. But by industry, this figure ranged from 0.47% in employee training and job progression and 1.61% for legal ads.

Facebook has changed a lot in 3 years so this might not be accurate anymore. AdStage did a similar study in Q1 2019 and found the following:

• On Facebook Audience Network, an overall average of 0.99%
• On Facebook News Feed, an overall average of 1.33%
• On Facebook Messenger, an overall average of 0.78%

That gives a rough average across all platforms of 1.03%.

And, based on a Databox study from 2020, a good CTR for Facebook ads to them was between 2-5%.

Clearly the number keeps growing with time and every study undertaken.

How to increase CTR

Whatever the CTR has been or will be, the fundamental ways to improve your CTR will remain the same. Here are some tips to get yours back on track.

1. Know your target market

Study the audience you’re going for and spot the trends in how they use the platform, what kinds of things they are interested in and what kind of strategies work best. This means, what kind of ads will be more likely to be clicked on, such as video, CPC, or infographic posts.

2. Try video ads strategically

Videos are very engaging and they usually get lots of clicks. But you can be savvy in this. Firstly, you can have the video on mute automatically and, thus, the first click can be used to transport the user to the website. The second click can be to unmute the video. It’s a bit cheeky but you might win over some people rather than annoy them to the point they click off immediately. However, you can also have the sound activate automatically when the user hovers their mouse over the video player.

3. Use visuals that will engage users

Status updates can be very engaging if you include photos with them as the link itself. CTR can increase by up to 15% alone. This is so simple that there is no excuse to ever write a status update without putting an additional photo to go with it. It’s more eye-catching and it will also stop scrollers from sweeping past it.

For more Facebook marketing tips like this, read our following guides:

• 44 Practical Facebook Marketing Tips For Businesses
• 4 Tips For Creating Facebook Ads That Work
• How To Use Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses

Further resources

• Facebook Advertising Benchmarks for Your Industry
• [B2B Facebook Ads]: Ultra-Simple Way We Tripled CTR
• Case Study: How Facebook Ad Fatigue Can Destroy Your Campaign Metrics

Takeaways

We recommend that you keep paying attention to how Facebook is changing. In particular, how they are using their news feed to draw more attention to Facebook ads. The overall CTR has increased from a few years ago. However, it has dropped from where it was a year or so ago.

This could be because of the lack of diverse content in the ads or it could be the changes that Facebook is going through. As you may know, the platform is constantly in the news itself, with lawmakers considering putting changes into its status, of being either a free platform or publisher that curates content.

The bottom line is, you need to focus on more interesting ad formats, such as video ads. CPC or PPC ads are still important, but it’s best to start investing in memorable video ads that attract more users to stay and watch or click to see the potential reward that’s on offers, such as products or services.

For your status updates, always include a photograph or image of some kind. No more plain text and emoji statuses!