How a Typo Can Save Your PPC Campaign

If your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns needs a bit of a boost, it’s time to think outside the box.

You’ve likely been paying obscene amounts of money to get that perfect keyword, and it’s starting to show in your budget with those little red marks. Here are some ways to revitalize your PPC campaign and hopefully help you inch into the black!

A little misspelling goes a long way.

Do you know the difference between colocation, co-location and collocation? Only one of them is the correct spelling of the word that refers to outsourcing data to the cloud. That little detail, however, rarely affects search engine users’ behaviors. The correct version, colocation, receives about 5,400 searches each month, according to Google AdWords. Competition for it (along with “co-location,” receiving about 1,000 searches per month) is listed as high. Interestingly, collocation, a word that doesn’t exist, gets about 2,900 searches per month and only has medium competition. Collocation is also about 40 percent cheaper.

Good PPC takes into account the amount of searches per month along with the level of competition before deciding on which keywords to go after.

Does it really matter if that word is spelled correctly?
Not so much, if you can still find your target audience searching it.

Be specific.

That said, very specific people search for very specific things. To stick with our example, the people who search for colocation are probably already in the IT field, and they probably know what they’re doing. They may be searching for a product to purchase, or they might just be looking for information to convince their boss that colocation is a great idea.

On the other hand, the collocation people are probably managers or small business owners who heard of the idea at a conference or read about it once and are looking for more information. It’s not a bad idea to grab these people, but you’ll want to do it with an informational page, not one that insists they sign up for a service immediately. This is the place to lure the customer in slowly, not the place for the big shiny red “buy here” button.
These folks aren’t ready to buy a service they can’t spell, they’re ready to learn more on their way to making a purchase.

Knowing who your target audience is and what they’re searching for can help you make your targeted landing pages even more specific and relevant.

Diversify and look for the underdog

We talked a little bit about competition for keywords when we were contemplating the merits of misspellings, but it’s time to re-visit them.

First of all, it’s time to get friendly with the AdWords Keyword Tool if you haven’t already. Get creative with it — try regional terms, generic terms and specific terms. Is “pool supplies” not cutting it? Try “San Antonio pool supplies.” All of your PPC dollars shouldn’t be spent in one place.

You should also consider giving higher priority to medium and low competition keywords. You’re more likely to see a good ROI because more people are going to be seeing your ads. Fresh copy and changing landing pages will also help you stay relevant and focused.

Call the pros.

Still having trouble finding your PPC sweet spot? Call a professional! PPC management firms are a great resource for guiding your campaigns and helping you make the right decisions. The right firm will be able to work with you to determine the best keywords, whether that means some misspellings or some diversity.

Just remember that the key to PPC is a dash of creativity mixed with a large dash of customer demographics. Find the right combination, and you’ll be paying less money for better keywords!