7 Proven Steps for Effective PPC Campaigns (for Home Builders)

3-min 30 sec read

In this article, you’ll learn tried and true steps for PPC and how you can use this powerful marketing strategy to your advantage.

To begin, pay-per-click or PPC advertising has been established as a results-driven tactic. More recently, it has become a major focus for many home building companies and developers alike. This is because PPC creates instant visibility for your business to a highly targeted audience. Continue reading to learn the steps for effective PPC campaigns.

Not only does PPC create brand awareness for your business, but it can also increase conversions, allow you to gain insights and drives traffic to your website. An effective PPC campaign takes time to realize ROI, so be patient and understand the process. Let’s discuss how PPC works step by step. 

Table of Contents:

• Effective PPC Campaigns:
• Step 1: Keywords & Examples
• Step 2: Developing Ad Messages
• Step 3: Creating a Landing Page
• Step 4: A/B Split Testing
• Step 5: Budgeting
• Step 6: Bidding
• Step 7: Analyzing

Effective PPC Campaigns:

Step 1: Keywords & Examples

PPC works by first placing ads through a broad list of potential keywords or phrases based on your business. For example, some of the most common keywords for the home builder market include your branded company name, and such words as: home building, custom home building, homes for sale, residential custom building, etc.

You might notice a few examples of this in your daily searches on Google. You can recognize a PPC advertisement when you see a small green box labeled “Ad” next to a search listing at the top of the search engines results page (SERP).

These ads mostly are primarily in the top left side of the page in positions one, two and three. However, the actual number can vary by search. Plus, it can also be found at the bottom of the page as well.

It’s advised that you should work closely with a third-party marketing or advertising firm to help your company maximize your PPC efforts. Since PPC stands for pay-per-click, you are actually paying for each click you receive. Without extensive research on keywords and a strategic plan in place with expert help, you can easily lose money with PPC.

Step 2: Developing Ad Messages

The next step in developing a PPC campaign is creating a series of ads which include your list of keywords so consumers can easily find your services or products. This messaging is important because it will be displayed on the SERP and will be a determining factor for whether the consumer will click on your ad or not.

Step 3: Creating a Landing Page

Step three in the PPC planning process is creating a landing page that converts. The landing page is where your visitors will land on after clicking on your PPC ad. It takes time in developing a successful landing page. For instance, you will need to create a headline, determine your offer, include a call-to-action and even pictures or videos.

Head over to this article to learn step by step in how to create a landing page.

Step 4: A/B Split Testing

While determining the best keywords and developing the ad messaging is important, so is testing your ads. Google allows you to create multiple versions of a PPC campaign in order to determine the most successful ads. 

Within Google ads, you can observe which ads are performing better than others. A/B split testing is an important practice because it allows you to allocate your PPC budget wisely by prioritizing the high-performing ads. Testing your ads is also a great way in determining which landing pages have the highest conversions. 

Step 5: Budgeting 

After the initial set up is complete, you should then work with your marketing or advertising firm to determine a budget and spend strategy. When setting up your ads, Google gives you the option to set a maximum budget per day. This ensures your company isn’t going over your set budget. 

Step 6: Bidding 

You, or your marketing firm, will place “bids” for each of the keywords of your campaign. If your bid is accepted by Google, then your ad will run when a consumer searches for one of your selected keywords. Keep in mind the highest bidder does not necessarily win the ad placement.

Google and other search engines take into account a number of factors beyond just the bid amount. For example, they determine which ads are selected based on keywords, quality of ads, quality of links connected to your ads, the likelihood of “clicks” and trying to create the best possible results for the consumer performing the search. 

Step 7: Analyzing

The last step of the PPC planning process is analyzing your data. PPC is one of a number of many marketing techniques which you can easily track and analyze. On the back end of Google Ads you can determine which days and times are the most successful for your ads. You can also analyze demographics, what type of devices your consumers are using, locations of your target audience and many more insights. 

A quality marketing or advertising firm can help you understand these analytics. For instance, you can learn why they are important and ways to improve your PPC ad campaigns. You can also use these analytics for in-house tracking and for future marketing initiatives. After reading all of these steps, which one do you find the most challenging? Let me know in the comments below. 

For related articles about digital marketing and effective PPC campaigns, read up on the following: 

• Paid Advertising [Why Home Builders Need to Invest]
• How to Apply Retargeting (to Your Home Builder Marketing Strategy)
• The Rise of Voice Search [in Home Builder Marketing]