Creating a pay-per-click (PPC) marketing campaign has the potential to give your massage therapy business a lot of exposure as both sponsored ads in search engine results or displayed across the Google Display Network. This means your brand will not only show up on the first page of Google when people search for a certain term, but also on millions of websites within Google’s network, from CNN to HGTV to the little mom-and-pop shop down the street.
PPC is a resource that can come in handy for massage therapists and other small-business owners, to build their brand and generate new leads from online prospects. It can be complicated, so let’s discuss the key components of an effective campaign.
Ad extensions
Google offers six ad extensions that help communicate your message without using the full character count. There are six ad extensions Google offers, and they are great for maximizing your marketing message.
- Location. You can link to a Google Maps display, so prospects can see your location and get directions.
- Products. Your products and services will be shown in this extension, along with their prices.
- Sitelinks. You will be able to show more than one page from your website, so they can immediately navigate to the page they want.
- Phone number. Your phone number will show below your ad.
- Social media. Displays the number of +1s your Google+ page has.
- Seller rating. Presents prospects with the rating your customers have given you. (This is risk-free, because Google only displays the rating if it is 4 or 5 stars.)
Be consistent
You must be consistent throughout the PPC process in order for it to be effective and reach its potential. You risk losing potential clients if you are not consistent. If your landing page looks different than your ad, or if your landing page displays a different topic than your text ads, your prospects will likely become confused, and may choose to go to your competitor’s site for the information they need.
You want the process to be cohesive and fluid so that prospects feel engaged throughout the process, building trust in your company with each new step.
Call response optimization
To get the most out of your ads, you want to optimize them to produce phone calls for massage appointments. Getting a phone call from your ad is better than getting a click; this is because you pay whenever someone clicks on your ad. But when someone calls you, you just received a lead for free, and most likely he or she booked an appointment. Your PPC campaign will start to pay off in a big way when you start receiving those free leads in addition to clicks.
Here are two steps to optimizing your ads for phone responses:
- Step 1: Add your phone number to all text and image ads. They can’t call you if you don’t give them your number.
- Step 2: Restrict your ads’ display hours to your own business hours, so phone responses are handled by a real person. This helps generate more income from your call-in leads.
Divide keywords into niche groups
You must organize your keywords into niche groups to get the most out of your campaigns. For example, a massage therapist would place keywords like “stress relief” and “relaxing massage” into one group, and keywords like “sports injury massage” and “injury rehab massage” into another group. These specific groups make your message more relevant to prospects searching for specific services or products. Your ads appear customized to their situation, and so they get their attention.
Dividing keywords into niche groups also helps you achieve a high Quality Score from Google, which is how helpful your ads are to users. You should make judgments based on two parameters:
- How relevant the ad is to the user’s search query.
- How many clicks the ad is already generating.
High-quality scores have major perks. You get better ad positioning, which means the best real estate on websites for image ads, and higher ranking for search ads. Organizing your keywords can work wonders for your campaigns, and remembering the ABCs of PPC marketing will help you get the most from your investment.
Joy Gendusa is the owner and CEO of direct-mail marketing firm, PostcardMania (www.postcardmania.com). Gendusa began PostcardMania in 1998, and originally started it as a full-service postcard marketing company helping clients create turnkey marketing campaigns with graphic design, printing, mailing list acquisition and mailing services. Since then, PostcardMania has expanded to offer clients more services, including website and landing page design and development, e-mail marketing and full marketing evaluations—all while continuing to educate clients with free marketing advice.
Download The Ultimate Postcard Marketing Success Manual, , as well as a free 95-Point Total Marketing Checklist.