How to Run PPC Ads for eCommerce Products

The success, or lack thereof, of an eCommerce store is often directly tied to the overall viability of a business. After all, eCommerce platforms play a huge role in how modern companies generate revenue and make sales. It’s no exaggeration to say that an ineffective eCommerce site can seriously hinder a company’s long-term plans. The good news is that businesses can bolster their eCommerce efforts by creating digital advertisements for their products or services. Today, we’ll focus on one of the most prevalent methods of digital advertising –– pay-per-click (PPC) ads –– and explain how you can use this technique to give your eCommerce site a huge lift.

PPC Ad Basics

As one might imagine, PPC ads cost businesses a fee based on the number of consumers who click on the ads. In order to create an ad, a business must first determine the keyword they want to pursue. For some companies, this might be an obscure product like ESR tubes; for others, it may be something as commonplace as printer paper. From there, a business will then select how much they want to “bid” on a given keyword. Higher bids generally allow for higher placement on search engine results pages (SERPs). However, companies with high ad-quality scores can leapfrog competitors –– even when they submit lower bids.

PPC Ad Settings

While selecting the right keywords and generating eye-catching copy is important for PPC success, the settings of an advertising campaign can have a big impact on its efficacy as well. From within a PPC advertising account, a professional can choose to alter all of the following factors:

• The locations where the ad will run.
• How long the ad will run.
• Which “negative keywords” will disqualify an ad from appearing on a SERP.
• The number of variant ads within an ad group.

It’s important to note here that managing these settings should not be an afterthought. Rather, keeping a close eye on the back-end of a PPC account could save you significant capital and increase your ROI at the same time.

Connecting PPC Ads to Ecommerce Success

Lastly, it’s important for professionals to connect PPC advertisements to their antecedent product pages. All links within a PPC ad should direct users to a relevant page on your site –– either a landing page of some sort or a specific product page. Additionally, it’s crucial to set up accurate tracking metrics within your PPC account. This way, you’ll be able to monitor and track ad performance and change course based on hard data like sales and conversions created.

A/B Testing

One of the great benefits of PPC ads is that they allow marketers the ability to experiment with different product names, keywords, search parameters, and ad copy. In fact, it’s a big mistake to overlook the process of A/B testing. Professional marketers should constantly be testing and tweaking their PPC ads, and A/B testing is an incredibly simple way to determine how well a given ad or ad group is performing. Remember, one of the keys to business success –– in advertising and beyond –– is to base your strategies on data. Yes, it’s true that marketers can develop “hunches” and make “educated guesses” as to how successful (or unsuccessful) a campaign may prove. Yet, there’s no substitute for relevant, accurate data.

PPC Ad Copy

Naturally, what your ad copy says can have a big influence on the effectiveness of your PPC ads. After all, being in the right place at the right time isn’t enough; marketers also have to know what to say to consumers to get them to click on their landing pages. Writing ad copy, however, is an inexact science, and it can be difficult to nail down exactly what makes a compelling ad, and what turns consumers off. Still, there are a few things you should probably keep in mind when the time comes to get writing. They include:

• Always use proper grammar, style, and spelling. Proofreading PPC ads is hardly the most stimulating work, but it’s imperative all the same. Even one honest mistake within a brief ad can be enough to de-legitimize your brand.
• Keep it tight. Thankfully, PPC ad platforms typically have strict word counts. Nevertheless, the shorter you can keep your ad copy, the better.
• Include a call to action. If you want someone to click on an ad, then you have to give them a very good reason to do so. Make sure to ad some sort of incentive and a call to action to every PPC ad you create.

Conclusion

Though this is a cursory glance at the process of running a PPC account, dynamic advertising can be a great catalyst for business growth. So keep this page handy if you’re thinking about launching ads for your eCommerce site.