Finish Strong! 6 PPC Tips to Maximize Last Minute Holiday Shopping

Friday, December 9th, 2011
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As the clock ticks away at the 2011 Holiday Season, there’s still time to position your online store for success and finish the season strong! While it’s probably too late to position yourself for the top spots in organic results, it’s not too late to target your PPC campaigns and snag a chunk of valuable search engine traffic. Here are six tips to help you finish the year strong:

1) Add Seasoning: Go through your existing ads and product-specific ads, and add terms such as “gift” or “gift set” or “holiday sale” where appropriate.

2) Keep ‘Em Separated: Rather than editing your existing ads, create new holiday-specific ads, so you can easily switch back to your old ads when the season is over.

3) Consider the High Volume Phrases: It’s usually the best idea to place highly targeted ads, but depending on your assortment of products, it may be appropriate to allocate some budget toward high traffic keyword phrases, such as “gifts for sisters” [mothers / daughters] if they are relevant to your business. But do so with caution so you don’t lose your budget on high traffic, but broad terms that may not convert.

4) Get Trendy with Your Spendy: Check out Google Insights, Google Trends, and your own recent sales data to help you gauge which of your products might be popular this season. Allocate more of your ad budget to these products.

5) Stand Out: Write special offer terms such as “free shipping” or “15% off” or “guaranteed delivery” to give your ad copy an edge over the competition. Consider other deal phrases that will increase click through.

6) Increase your budget: Opportunity is knocking! Scale your budget as much as possible while of course monitoring your ROI. Even if you just break even with certain campaigns, keep in mind you are still acquiring a new customer you can market to in the future.

Happy Holidays!

Lanette Willis is a Senior Account Manager at Nexternal. Before joining Nexternal she spent nearly a decade working in market research and professional services marketing, before running her own successful eCommerce apparel business. Lanette is passionate about helping people and businesses thrive.