Saturday, October 25, 2008

Target Your PPC Campaign To Reach Local Customers

By Brian Basch

Target your pay per click for more value for your dollar. Advertising campaigns can be specific to your area if you desire, this means you can promote your business in your city using the internet. There are lots of options, but one of the best systems for geotargeting PPC campaigns is Google's AdWords.

If you want your ads only to be seen by people in your area, geographical targeting comes in to the picture as a valuable tool. Use Google AdWords to focus on a specific city. That way, only people searching Google in that city or area that you specified will see your ads. Keywords don't matter here, if the person searching the internet isn't in the city you have targeted, your ad won't come up.

Why would you want to initiate this type of campaign? If people from outside your area aren't going to shop with you, that's why. If this is the case, clicks from outside your area will just be a waste of your money. This method of control means that clicks will probably have a high rate of conversions into sales, because you know the customer is in your area.

Of course, there's more to geotargeting than just restricting to searchers currently in an area. For instance, if someone who's traveling to your area is searching for the product or service you offer, you'd like to be able to help them. However, if you target only one area, they'll miss your ad, even though they could be a potential customer.

Use a locally targeted keyword list to enable tourists (or perhaps you have another use) to zero in on offers from specific cities or areas. You can even modify this to suit seasons and it can be tailored to suit your local marketing plan. It's as simple as adding the area to the keyword phrase. Something like "ski rental" becomes "ski rental in Alaska" or any other area you'd like to specify.

Using this type of targeted keyword campaign also opens up your options with other systems besides Google AdWords. Any PPC ad system can geotarget keywords and phrases similar to the way AdWords does it. You can even use a combination of both techniques to target tourists and locals if you really think it's needed.

There are some important things that need to be mentioned with geotargeted campaigns. Consider whether you need to deliver any goods and if there are limits relating to your specific area. And, remember to stick to your plan, some people lose their way amidst all the technology and forget what their original goal was. These things may sound simple, but keeping it simple is what advertising is all about.

When choosing locally targeted keywords, it's important to begin with a phrase that receives a large number of results. That way, when you restrict your results by adding in a specific local area, you'll be assured of still getting some visitors. Check and track the effectiveness of every ad and every keyword or phrase to make sure your campaign is working as well as possible. A locally targeted PPC campaign could be just the thing your small business needs to expand.

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