Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Power of Having The Right Keywords in a PPC Campaign

By Brian Basch

The basis of a good PPC campaign is choosing the right list of keywords. It's vital to be sure that you've searched and researched high quality keywords and phrases to get the best results. Make a long list, and check out all the avenues open to you. Start with a very popular keyword - for instance, "credit". Lots of people search for this word every day. However, it's hard to rank well for this term, since it's also used by plenty of other advertisers. How can you improve your chances? Broaden your scope to include related terms.

Consider how searchers could be using the keyword in question. Someone searching for the word "credit" may be attempting to find out ways to get a credit report, ways to improve personal credit which lenders will give loans to people with poor credit or ways to consolidate credit card debit. When you've gotten a range of concepts that the word could be related to, then try to condense them a bit.

Some longer concepts become a group of terms that are searched for anything closely related to the original keyword "credit" becomes "bad credit loan" or "consolidate credit" there are many options. These words are just slight variations as you like.

Try to stick with the basics and don't over think the whole campaign. Perhaps you can start to ad specific company names to the list, but remember that it has to relate to the word "credit". Your list should be starting to grow by now and you might even be able to divide it up into different keyword groups.

Add an extension like .org, .net, or .com to the search term, or consider a country you're trying to target. The domain doesn't have to exist, it's just a specific term the search engine will consider. Some people still use the country index and you'll be able to target them with your ads and increase your chances of a sale.

General keywords are often a waste of resources as the bidding for these is fierce. Try to concentrate on related terms and phrases. Phrases can be turned around so that the same words can reach a different set of viewers. Again, this is all about getting inside your customers heads and trying to see through their eyes. What is it that they will type when they want your product?

A good keyword list is the best way to start out a PPC campaign. Once you get a winning combination of words you are on your way to success. - 15246

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