Search Engine marketing is one of the fastest ways to get on the first page of search result page. With each click on our campaign we pay some money; hence it becomes vital to choose a goal wisely.
Before we go ahead let’s see the different goals we can achieve with search engine marketing and the process of achieving them. At the end of the article I will also share some vital information that will equip you to make a more successful search engine marketing campaign.
Increase traffic:
One of the basic goals of any search engine marketing campaign is to increase the traffic to a page. A perfect landing page is a must for this type of campaigns. The payment criteria are almost equal to other goals, you pay when a user clicks your ad.
The success factor for a traffic generation campaign lies in following factors:
Decreasing the cost per click (CPC). This is achieved by choosing the right words for the ad so that it attracts more clicks. More percentage of clicks means more click through rate (CTR), more CTR means less CPC.
The other factor which decreases the price you pay is the time you keep the traffic on your page, as you can guess the best way to achieve this is to build attractive information on your landing page.
Generate leads:
Lead generation is counted as the number of signup forms filled. A user comes to the landing page, gets interested in the offer and fills a signup page to get the product/service. The primary objective of a lead generation campaign is to obtain the email address; profit is later earned by email campaigns.
The success factor for a lead generation campaign lies in the following factors:
Give a free download of a pdf, webinar to obtain the email address. The more lucrative the offer/product is, the more will be the email signups.
The landing page should contain proofs of the quality of the free download to gain users trust
Increase sales:
Search marketing campaigns focused on increasing sales are a form of more direct approach. Products and services are kept on the landing pages to get sales instantly.
The success factor for a sales generation campaign lies in the following factors:
The target keyword for the campaign should be buyer oriented, like “best spa in Hamilton Park”, “helmets for dirt biking”.
Complete information for the product should be available on the site, this decreases the bounce rate.
Brand awareness:
Brand awareness has seen an increment in search marketing campaigns and the reason is that the companies going for such campaigns already have an established market and don’t want to lose their spot to any competitor.
A good example for brand awareness campaign would be Amazon. Even though Amazon has the biggest share of the e-commerce market still if we search for any product on Google, Amazon shows up at the first spot for the product.
The success factor for a brand awareness campaign lies in the following factors:
A well settled brand with very high revenue should go for such campaigns.
Getting the top spot is a must for such campaigns, as the main objective is to get most of the traffic for any given keyword.
Matrices to measure Goal conversion:
1. Site traffic
2. Click through rate
3. Conversion rate
As stated by Google, conversion rate as the percentage of opt in forms completed for the traffic. Click through rate is calculated as the percentage of traffic clicking on your ad for the total impressions generated for the keyword.
Tips to get better at goal conversion:
Here are a few key points I can suggest you with my years of experience with Search Marketing. With these tips you will get better day by day with search marketing campaigns, good luck.
Better understanding of the goal and marketing funnel.
Keeping a landing page related to the keywords used in the search ad (this decreases the CPC).
Keeping a landing page simple and rich with simple opt in forms.
Getting email leads whenever possible.
Measuring the matrices like CTR, Bounce rate, CPC on a regular basis.
A/B testing for ads, using the demographic, ad text, landing pages etc.