The primary reason we participate in the management of pay per click campaigns is to facilitate our search engine optimization process. For example, just because we can get your keywords first page Google rankings, doesn't necessarily mean you're going to receive traffic. If we've done our job correctly, the keywords we selected are relevant. So, why aren't people clicking? This is where PPC can be a great tool. We can test A|B versions of a Google AdWords Ad in an attempt to unlock the formula for why people will click. Once we understand what it takes to get the clicks, we adjust your Title and Meta Description tags to mimic the best Ad, and voilà - traffic begins to appear!

For keywords that aren't good candidates for SEO, we turn to traditional PPC Management. The secret to our success has been focusing on conversion versus clicks. We really could care less about clicks. In fact, our goal is to make our Ads repugnant to those who might click just to 'kick the tires', and irresistible to actual buyers!

So, how do you do that? You test your keywords and your ad variations. Here are some of our plays:

1. Identify the top 1 to 5 keywords by conversion volume for an Ad Group (look for the natural split, otherwise cap it at 5). Each dissimilar keyword should have a separate Ad Group with same Ads as original and a new one specific to this keyword. Perform AB Testing to maximize conversion. [Purpose: Find opportunity to improve top performing keywords in an Ad Group]
2. If a keyword is not in the top 1 or 5 keywords AND it has over 100 impressions AND it has at least one (1) conversion AND is below what we call the Conversion Value Threshold*, add similar keywords to this Ad Group. If not, remove/pause keyword. [Purpose: Find additional keywords to improve an Ad Group]
3. Optimization of Web Sales Process requires A|B Testing of Landing Pages. [Purpose: Maximize AdWords Conversions and Goals]

Using our PPC Management playbook and daily effort, we've been able to surpass our client's goals month after month. The goals are expressed like this:

Aggregate Daily Conversions for X Campaign Above 200 with average Cost per Conversion below $7.00.

*Conversion Value Threshold means the Cost Per Conversion cannot exceed the Contribution Margin multiplied by the Expected Close Rate - in other words, what we accept as the maximum value of a visitor taking a specific action (i.e. arriving on a predetermined Web page, requesting a quote or completing a purchase).