Rather than drawing in huge amounts of traffic, pay-per-click focuses on targeting visitors. It brings in the exact type of customers you’re looking for—the people who will respond to what you have to offer them, according to Bryan Eisenberg, co-author of The Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, USA Today and The New York Times best-selling author.
There are more than 100 factors that can affect your quality score, which is influenced by your click-through rate. It is also affected by the keywords you choose and their relevance to your organization, the matched query and your landing page. Cost-per-click increases as your quality score decreases.
“We had a client whose penalty was between 40%–75% of his spend, which was approximately $65,000 on a $125,000 spend just because his quality scores weren’t on par with what Google considers relevant,” Eisenberg said.
To determine the order in which your ad appears, Google multiplies your maximum bid by your quality score. It’s not the person who spends the most who ends up in the first position, but the person whose ad rank is higher. Quality score impacts not only what position in which you are shown but also how much you pay for that one click. Eisenberg suggests ensuring your targeted ads and landing pages are in alignment and effective for the queries people are searching for to improve your quality score. This will result in higher click-through and conversion rates.
To improve conversion rates, develop a flawless landing page. Landing page guidelines are broken down into three basic parts. The quality component deals with having relevant and original content. The user should easily be able to find what your ad is offering. Link them to the page that provides the most useful information about the product or service in your ad.
There are three factors for converting visitors into customers. The first is to engage them. In the mid-’90s, the Xerox PARC research center conducted a study that showed people in cyberspace were much like bloodhounds on a scent trail. They are looking for particular queries and if they repeatedly see a trigger, they will continue to follow it. The moment they lose the “scent” they will leave the experience.
The second factor is transparency or how you help build credibility, how you explain the nature of your business, how your site interacts with the visitor’s computer and what you plan to do with their personal information. This factor helps to build trust and value in the minds of your visitors.
The third factor is the call to action. The key to turning visitors into customers is to make it easy for them to find what they are looking for. Let them know what to click on and why they should click on it. Make sure your pages load quickly, let the user know which products are in stock and how long they take to ship.
Bryan Eisenberg is a professional marketing speaker and recognized authority in online marketing. He will be hosting the Online Marketing Conference at the 2010 SEMA Show, which will feature presenters from Google, YouTube and Facebook. Click here for more information or to register.