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Between accelerated marketing digitization and the global pandemic, eCommerce marketers have had to face new challenges. Competition is fierce, with vast campaigns spanning Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), etc. This landscape might leave small new businesses stumped, not knowing where to begin. Fear not; that’s what we’re here to help with today. This article will explore how to advertise your eCommerce business with PPC to facilitate early growth and sales.
What is PPC marketing?
First, let’s briefly define the term if you’re unfamiliar with it. Chances are you’re not, but it’s always best to be thorough.
PPC is a form of paid marketing where advertisers pay for user clicks, as the name suggests. Unlike traditional ads, where one might pay for broadcasts or uptime regardless of engagement, PPC ads specifically hinge on clicks. This is a tremendous advantage – especially for smaller budgets that require cost-efficiency.
PPC ad types vary but typically include:
- Display ads
- Social media paid ads
- Google Maps paid ads
- Search engine ads
Finally, unlike organic results and content, PPC ads must clearly state they’re paid ads, like so:
Before you delve into PPC marketing
If this sounds appealing for your eCommerce store, that’s only logical. PPC ads offer substantial perks for advertisers, such as:
- Higher visibility, as they bypass organic results
- Trackability, as all PPC vendors offer deep analytics
- Cost-efficiency, as you only pay for generated clicks
However, there is some crucial groundwork you should get in order first to maximize your campaigns’ effectiveness. To cover the fundamentals, consider the three main steps that follow.
#1 Fine-tune your website’s security
First and foremost, you must fine-tune your website’s security and monitor it closely. As insistently as you advertise your eCommerce business with PPC, non-secure websites will drive customers away like a few other factors. For this step, you may begin with measures like:
- Regularly updating your Content Management System (CMS)
- Making regular backups
- Picking strong passwords
- Enabling 2-factor authentication (2FA)
- Using a third-party firewall and antivirus software
Security is universally valuable toward earning customers’ trust, but arguably even more so for eCommerce. Webscale’s Global eCommerce Security Report should put its post-2020 significance into perspective.
#2 Optimize your website
On the subject of your website’s performance, it’s just as necessary to welcome your new leads to a pristine, highly functional website. Not doing so will only undermine your marketing efforts, needlessly straining your budget.
There are many ways to do so, and many will depend on your website’s current performance, but you may start with:
- Loading speed optimization. Google finds that slower speeds directly correlate with higher bounce rates. Compress and optimize your images, cull unneeded plugins, and otherwise ensure the fastest possible speed.
- Final cost transparency. Similarly, Sleeknote finds that extra costs cause the most cart abandonments. Consider widgets, offer free shipping where possible, and otherwise polish your checkout process.
- A shorter checkout process. Finally, the same research finds that account requirements and long checkout processes also reduce final conversions. Shorten your forms and steps, allow for guest purchases, and reduce checkout friction to avoid this.
#3 Examine your organic marketing efforts
With your website ready, you may finally consult your organic marketing efforts as you advertise your eCommerce business with PPC. There are ample reasons for this too, but the primary ones include:
- Keyword research. Across both, you’ll primarily be targeting the same keywords – allowing efforts in one to fuel the other.
- Cost-effectiveness. You may be able to rank organically for some keywords, allowing you to spend less doing so through PPC marketing.
- Synergy. Finally, both serve the same ultimate purpose; driving traffic and sales. The two should thus synergize toward these goals, informing and augmenting one another.
Remember, organic marketing and paid advertising are very often two parts of a greater whole, such as with Search Engine Marketing (SEM):
How to advertise your eCommerce business with PPC
You may now start exploring your PPC options with your fundamentals in order. Here we may cover the four most notable ones for eCommerce businesses for text economy.
#1 Google Shopping ads
Perhaps the most common type of PPC marketing for eCommerce nowadays, Google Shopping ads are exactly what the name suggests. They are sponsored ads that appear when users look for products on Google’s search engine, appearing above organic results.
Google Shopping ads work through purchase-intent keywords, so “wooly sweater for Christmas” would pop one up, but “types of running shoes,” having informational intent, would not. Your product pages and keyword research for SEO should be pristine before you engage in these. Google can more reliably pull up your product pages with thorough product information. At the same time, your keyword choices fuel both shopping ads and SEO-minded content.
If you’d like a step-by-step rundown on how Google Shopping ads work, Google offers an excellent help article on them.
#2 Google Ads
Another prevalent type of PPC marketing comes in plain, tried-and-tested Google Ads. As highlighted above, these ads are an integral part of SEM, and they can substantially enhance your SEO efforts.
Google Ads functions similarly, targeting specific keywords, which advertisers can bid for. You can advertise your eCommerce business with PPC, bypassing organic search results and generating more leads through them. Ad prices will depend on the competition, your Quality Score, and a few other factors, but you’ll still only pay for actual clicks.
Should you need a deeper dive into this type of PPC marketing, Google also offers a great help article here.
#3 Local PPC
Still in Google’s ecosystem, but also beyond it, you may also employ local PPC. This umbrella type includes a few different channels, as we’ll cover in a moment. Still, local PPC hinges on location, as the name suggests, much like local SEO does.
In brief, local PPC refers to targeting local audiences through locally valuable keywords and content. It primarily includes the following channels:
- Google Ads
- Google Maps ads
- Social media local ads
Of course, depending on your extensions and PPC service providers, you may also target local audiences through such means as geotargeting. For example, you may also employ Google Shopping ads toward this goal if it makes sense for your business. Still, your keyword research is again paramount in all cases, as it will determine how effectively you can match local audiences’ search intent – whether you promote products or content.
You may also consult Google’s relevant help article for local PPC on Google Maps specifically.
#4 Paid social media ads
Having mentioned social media, those too offer a reliable way to advertise your eCommerce business with PPC. Most social media platforms provide excellent options to do so, alongside deep analytics tools to help inform your efforts.
Ideally, your candidates for this type of PPC should be ones you’re already engaging in organically. This ensures your established audiences are there, but it also allows your organic content marketing efforts to synergize with your paid marketing.
That said, the most popular platforms for this purpose include:
- Facebook; a vast user base and deep audience insights tools
- Instagram; a large, growing user base and excellent engagement rates
- TikTok; the current rising star, with ample targeting and ad rate options
Naturally, your final choices should also hinge on your unique audiences and content. For example, if your audiences are primarily middle-aged females and your content is intensely visual, you may prefer Pinterest.
We strongly suggest that you embrace video marketing if this channel fits your business plans. Not only do the two synergize terrifically, but video marketing remains incredibly effective on its own, as we’ve covered before:
Ad diversification and eCommerce trends
Finally, before concluding, we may briefly touch on a critical point. As you advertise your eCommerce business with PPC, you must diversify your ads and keep up with the industry’s trends. As regards the former, you may diversify as your analytics dictate; don’t lean too heavily on a single channel if you can have multiple ones synergizing harmoniously. As regards the latter, consider some of the trends:
- First-party data
- Automation
- Personalization and remarketing
- Video ads
- Deep tracking
In such a competitive digital landscape, staying one step ahead of the competition is imperative. So, we strongly suggest keeping an eye on such emerging, promising trends as the above and adjusting your efforts accordingly.
Conclusion
To summarize, there are ample ways to advertise your eCommerce business with PPC, and just as many reasons to do so. PPC is incredibly cost-effective, ensuring your budget is spent productively and toward clear, specific goals. At the same time, it can synergize with organic marketing almost seamlessly, enhancing your visibility campaigns and promoting your products. While brief, we hope this article helped inspire your marketing efforts toward the invaluable asset that is PPC.
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