How to Set Up a Solid PPC Campaign - Keyword Research

Whenever I take over the management of a Google Adwords campaign, I see a lot of the same mistakes over and over and over... Just as you build a house on a solid foundation, you need to do the same with your PPC campaigns.

So the next few posts are going to be about the correct way to build a strong Adwords (or Bing) PPC account. Then I'll summarize at the end with a link to each topic. Let's begin the series with...Keyword research.

(For illustrative purposes, we are going to be...an online comic book. Sorry, I'm a comic geek.)

Keyword Research - I know, you've just created your account and you want to jump right in and see yourself on Google. Mistake! Organization is the key and that starts with keyword research.

You can start by using the free keyword tool that comes with your new account. Just click on the "Tools" tab where Google lists some of it's very cool and free tools. You want the "Keyword Suggestion" tool for this exercise.

Start using the tool with a broad term like..."comic books". The tool will produce a list of keyword phrases associated with your main term. "Comic book", "online comic book store", "free comic books", etc.

Wait, did I just say free comic books? Yes, I did. On purpose. Just because there are popular search terms related to your services and products doesn't mean you want to be found for all of them.

Free is a great example of this kind of term. If you blindly bid on the keyword "comic books" and someone types in "free comic books", your ad will show up and therefore potentially get an unwanted click. An unwanted click you pay for.

So this is why keyword research is so important. While you're making a list of all the keywords you do want to be found for, I highly suggest you make a list of keywords you don't want to be found for. Free is a good one to start with.

Moving on, once you compile a list of keywords for "comic books", try other terms like "Superman comics" or "graphic novels" or even "DC comic books". By the time your done (and do take the extra time for this) you should have a pretty sizable list. At least for this industry.

Now be careful here. Some keywords will be great for your list: "online comic books stores". While others may be bad: "comic book artists". However, some may fall in the middle: "Japanese comic books".

Do you sell Japanese comics? If you do, do you have enough selection to make it worth paying for traffic from this term. Should it be a negative keyword? Should you bid really low for just a trickle of traffic? You're going to have to take some terms into consideration as you compile your list.

Then there is the broadest of broad terms: "comic books". If you're a comic book store, you may think it's silly to not include a core term like "comic books" in your campaign, but hear me out. If you have a small budget PPC campaign, what term would you rather have traffic from, "online comic book stores" or "comic books"?

A more specific term has a higher chance to lead to a sale, so you don't want a broad term that generates a lot of clicks eating up your budget before you can be found for the specific terms.

Also, without the proper negative ketywords in place (if using broad or phrase match), a broad term like "comic books" can bring in unwanted clicks. Remember our free example? What if there are a few other terms you missed like "costumes", "writers", or "Dazzler" (who reads Dazzler comics?!). You'd not only be using up your budget fairly quickly on a broad term, but some of those clicks would be from terms you'd prefer not to pay for. So your squandering opportunity for some looking to "buy comic books online."

Not that you can't include a broad term if it's appropriate, but just be careful with those types of keywords. Keep them in separate campaigns or adgroups where you can control the budget and the bid. Determine if the ROI works then adjust accordingly. Remember, it's not about the quantity of traffic, it's about the quality.

Now back to the topic at hand. Once you've completed your list of targeted keywords (and negatives) it's time to break it down, which leads us to...organizing your keyword list.

See you next post, same SEM time, Same SEM channel (Classic Batman, Chum)