Many articles and “how-to” guides talk about the best way to manage your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. The truth is—there is not a single “best” way to do so. Of course, there are best practices, and the foundations are pretty much the same for every paid search campaign. It is important to point out, however, that the campaign’s budget also matters; there is a difference when it comes to managing a $1,000 versus a $1,000,000 campaign in terms of the complex elements that come into play.
Regardless, there are a series of steps that we take here at AW on a daily basis to assure that our clients’ digital campaigns run smoothly:
- Pace the budget: Keeping track of the budget is a no-brainer to confirm we hit our monthly targets. Doing this on a daily basis ensures the spending pace is right and allows us to make adjustments if needed.
- Compare campaign performance: Looking at the data from the day before is essential, but we also want to look at the performance over time, usually the last seven days. This helps identify potential issues or negative performance trends.
- Count conversions: Tracking goals and conversions on a daily basis is very important; they keep us on our toes as far as delivering results. Plus, this daily tracking can uncover an important nugget or insight into the campaign.
- Monitor keyword-level spending: Elements out of our control can sometimes spike the search volume of a keyword. This can either play to our favor or wreak havoc with the campaign budget. Identifying these search surges in time can mean the difference between an uneventful week or catching lightning in a bottle.
- Check notifications: From policy changes to credit card expiration date notices, Google and Bing alert us about potential issues or updates. Clicking that notification bell is something we do on a daily basis.
- Add negative terms: Identifying irrelevant terms by looking at the search query report is the best way to protect the client’s budget and assure optimal cost-per-acquisition (CPA).
- Keep up to date on the industry: Our day can’t officially start without going through the different digital marketing news sites and blogs to stay on top of what’s going on.
Those are just seven of the best practices we use to keep clients’ campaigns humming with efficiency. As stated above, each manager has his or her own approach, but as long as the campaigns are being nurtured and moving in the right direction, it is a job well done.
Learn more about Austin Williams’ digital marketing services, including paid search, search engine optimization (SEO), paid and organic social media, and programmatic media – complete with tracking, analysis and reporting (because we’re all about outcomes).
Contact us to see how our strategic approach can give your brand the digital edge.
