Whether your business is large or small, you don’t want to waste money on local PPC campaigns that don’t deliver a return on investment. Of course, you can’t always predict what your returns will be, but you know that some efforts deliver better results.
So when your local pay per click (PPC) campaigns fall short, you may wonder if you’re just wasting time and money that could be better allocated elsewhere. The truth is that online marketing can show an enormous ROI if you do it right, and localized PPC can play a huge part.
You just have to figure out how to run an effective local PPC campaign. Here are a few ways to increase success.
1. Don’t Spend More; Spend Smarter
This applies to every aspect of business operations, and yet, business owners often convince themselves that spending more on this keyword or that ad group will make all the difference. You don’t need to bust your budget, though.
In terms of improving the outcome of your local PPC campaign, this entails a focus on local relevance. Narrowing your field is essential.
For example, you may work in and around Los Angeles County, but you can certainly localize further. In Los Angeles proper there are not only subdivisions, but even smaller neighborhoods you can target.
Many people are going to search for vendors as close to their home and their neighborhood as possible, and you want your business to show up in those listings. Even if you’re not the closest, you want local consumers to know you exist and that your business is available to them.
2. Add Names and Numbers
It’s easy to focus on adding the names of cities, suburbs, and neighborhoods, but you should also consider adding zip codes to your keywords to see how they perform comparatively.
3. Don’t Forget Negative Keywords
Keywords let search engines know what you want to be associated with, but there are probably common related search terms that allow consumers to find you erroneously. For the best results, you need to make sure the right people find you and use negative search terms to send uninterested parties elsewhere.
4. Add a “Click to Call” Feature
The name of the game with PPC ads is ease of use. You want to make it as easy as possible for consumers to reach you with a single click. Since many consumers now search on their mobile devices, adding click-to-call buttons on ads can make it easy for them to find you in hands-free mode.
5. Tweak Landing Pages
The goal with PPC is to get click-thru, but you also want to make sales. The destination is just as important as the journey in this case, and you need to make sure your landing pages deliver the same compelling content as the local PPC ads that bring people to them.
