Why your search for local marketing success
might end with the online giant
This article originally appeared in the March 2015 edition of INVISION.
If you’ve ever thought about pay-per-click ads, you probably have a lot of questions — and the first one might be, “How can I be sure my ad will even be seen among the 31 million results for ‘eye exam’ on Google?” Surprising as it may seem, Google pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be a highly effective form of local marketing. Here are five reasons:
it’s budget-smart: You select a spending amount, and once that amount is reached, Google stops showing the ad.
people are looking for you: With keyword-based campaigns, you attract visitors genuinely interested in your product or service. So when people search for an eye exam, eye doctor or vision therapy in your area, they find you. it’s super targeted: You choose the audience you want to target (such as radius around your office, ZIP code, age, gender etc.). higher visibility: Especially in areas with a lot of competition vying for the top search results on organic (non-paid) search, PPC can give you a chance to show up as an ad on the first page, whether or not your website already appears in the top results. clear roi: Since you can track your results, you can clearly measure your return on investment to see if PPC worked for you. How do you get started with PPC? In short, the process involves writing an ad, then specifying which keywords trigger the ad, who sees it, and how much you want to spend. Here are eight steps toward a successful campaign: know your goal. Do you want to promote a specialty service? Do you want to fill your appointment book? Build a campaign around your main goal. set a budget. Know what you want to spend, but keep an open mind (and wallet) based on what Google recommends you spend for the best results. select smart keywords. Google AdWords tools (and similar apps)can help you see what terms your potential patients are searching for. bid on keywords. This is where strategy comes in. More popular keywords will require a higher bid, but may bring in a bigger ROI. write attention-grabbing headlines. PPC is an advertisement after all, so you need an ad that will entice users to click. create a landing page. When a user clicks the ad, they should land on a professional, optimized page where they can take action. Here’s a page promoting eye exams created for a client by EyeCarePro: invmag.us/cove. Monitor your campaign. Getting the right language and keywords may take some trial and error. You’ll need to track your results to see what works and what doesn’t and make changes accordingly. Calculate your ROI. Measure clicks and how many clicks turned into patients. Figure out how much each patient cost. Now go back to step 1 and make improvements so you can lower your new patient acquisition cost!
PPC can be a lot of work, which is why many business owners hire a digital marketing expert to run their campaigns. But a successful campaign can increase your exposure, drive more traffic to your site, increase your patient base and grow your profitability.
Nancy Rausman is managing editor at EyeCarePro, providing ECPs with educational content that helps them advance their practices through technology, management strategies and digital marketing. EyeCarePro is one of the leading providers of online marketing and practice improvement services in the optometric industry. Contact her at nancy@eyecarepro.com.