With the start of a new year, it’s a perfect time to re-evaluate your strategies and set goals for the year ahead. Here are my suggestions for five new year’s resolutions for ecommerce sites to get the most from PPC in 2013:
1. I will start using Google’s product listing ads
Product listing ads (PLAs) are a relatively recent phenomenon; they use data from Google Merchant Center to show product images and info in the paid search results.
Currently they are simply a useful source of relatively cheap traffic, but soon they will be essential: 2013 is the year that Google Shopping in the UK will switch to a paid for platform. If you don’t start using PLAs, you will lose your traffic from this source.
I have seen sites that generated as much as a third of their revenue from Google Shopping: and that’s money they can’t afford to lose. If you need to know more, read this guide to product listing ads and how to get ready for the Google Shopping switch.
2. I will make the most of remarketing
Remarketing uses cookies to show adverts only to people that have already visited your website. Frankly, the opportunities this provides are enormous:
- Increasing sales – this is your chance to tempt back people that haven’t bought from you yet to get the sale.
- Raising brand awareness – this is particularly important for products with a long buying cycle, such as white goods.
- Making the most of paying customers – want social media love or some fab testimonials? Can you target recent purchasers to give them an extra nudge to help you out?
Even if you already use remarketing, chances are there is a way you could do it better. There’s the new and improved AdWords remarketing tag to make your life easier. You could try out the new Analytics tag for creating more targeted lists. Or you might simply want to test new creative.
It’s such an easy an effective technique – so make sure it’s working hard for you.
3. I will test my assumptions
It’s so easy to just follow best practices, or to fall in love with your own brilliant ideas, but customers will always find ways to surprise, delight and even annoy you.
The easiest way to solve this problem? Assume nothing, test everything.
Look at every aspect of your ad copy, create new landing pages, speed your site up – do whatever it takes. No ad campaign is ever perfect; think about all the ways you could try to make yours better, then test them.
4. I will provide a great mobile offering
A lot of people are searching for you on their mobiles, so if you don’t already have a mobile-friendly site, you need one*.
*Well, you probably need one – but assume nothing! Check how your site converts on a mobile vs a computer for a clearer idea.
And when you do have a mobile site, your work isn’t done. You need to optimise your ad copy, keyword bids and even campaign timings to suit the needs of the mobile audience.
The ideal way of managing this is to create separate campaigns just for your mobile traffic. They may closely mirror your main campaigns, but moving forward you can optimise for an audience that may behave quite differently to computer users.
5. I will integrate PPC into my online marketing campaigns.
Let’s be quite clear: PPC and SEO are two sides of the same coin. They are both ways of getting traffic. While each has their pros and cons, you shouldn’t see it as an “either/or” situation, ideally you should do both.
Dr Pete from SEOmoz told everyone to diversify in 2013, while he’s still talking about SEO tactics, you can apply that to online marketing generally. Don’t be satisfied with one source of traffic, or you may encounter problems.
Use tactics like remarketing to enhance your social media campaigns. Apply what you learn about keywords in PPC to your SEO. If you’re embracing content marketing, why not give that content a boost with some paid traffic?
Effective marketing campaigns help to build a strong, instantly recognisable brand, with many different aspects working together in harmony. Why cut PPC out of the conversation and double your workload?
2013 is likely to be another exciting and challenging year for PPC, but with some forward thinking you can make the most of every opportunity.
This is a guest post, as such the author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of OnlineRetailingBlog.com.
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With thanks to Katie and Boom Online Marketing.
