Are you looking for a way to get more traffic to your website and boost your sales? A recent study by Backlinko found that 92% of all organic traffic goes to the top 10 search results on Google. That means that if your website isn't ranking high in search results, you're missing out on a lot of potential customers.
Performance advertising is a great way to get your website in front of the right people at the right time. By targeting your ads to people who are already interested in what you have to offer, you can increase your chances of getting them to visit your website and make a purchase.
In this blog post, we are going to teach you everything you need to know about performance advertising, so that you can start using it to grow your business.
Key topics
What is performance advertising?
Performance advertising is a type of digital advertising where you only pay when someone takes a desired action, such as clicking on your ad, visiting your website, or signing up for your email list. This is different to traditional advertising like print, TV or radio, where you pay for ad space regardless of whether or not anyone takes action.
How does performance advertising work?
Performance advertising works by tracking the results of your campaigns. When you run a performance advertising campaign, you will set a budget and a target cost per action (CPA). The CPA is the amount of money you are willing to pay for each desired action.
When someone takes a desired action on your ad, you will be charged the CPA. For example, if your CPA is $10 and someone clicks on your ad, you will be charged $10.
Benefits of performance advertising
There are a number of benefits to using performance advertising, like they are:
Targeted and measurable
Quick and effective
Cost-effective
Let's look at each benefit in more detail with some examples to better illustrate the point.
Targeted and measurable
One of the biggest benefits of performance advertising is that it's targeted and measurable. This means that you can choose to show your ads to people who are already interested in what you have to offer, and then track the results of your campaigns to see what's working and what's not.
For example:
If you sell shoes, you could target your ads to people who have recently searched for "buy shoes online" or "best shoes for running."
If you offer a free trial of your software, you could target your ads to people who have visited your website but haven't signed up for a trial yet.
By targeting your ads to the right people, you're more likely to get clicks and conversions. And by tracking the results of your campaigns, you can optimize them over time to get even better results.
Quick and efficient
Another benefit of performance advertising is that it's a quick and efficient way to increase website traffic. As soon as you launch a campaign, your ads can start appearing in front of potential customers.
For example:
If you're running a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign, your ads can start showing up on Google search results pages as soon as you set up your account. If you're running a social media advertising campaign, your ads can start showing up in people's social media feeds as soon as you launch your campaign.
This means that you can start seeing results from your performance advertising campaigns very quickly.
Cost-effective
Performance advertising is also a cost-effective way to promote your business. That's because you only pay when someone takes a desired action, such as clicking on your ad or visiting your website.
For example:
If you set a daily budget of $100 for your SEM campaign, you'll never spend more than $100 per day, even if your ads are clicked on hundreds of times. If you set a cost per click (CPC) of $1 for your social media advertising campaign, you'll only pay $1 when someone clicks on your ad.
This means that you can control your spending and ensure that you're getting the most value for your money.
Performance advertising is a powerful tool that can help you increase website traffic quickly and effectively. It's targeted, measurable, and cost-effective. If you're not already using performance advertising, I encourage you to give it a try. You may be surprised at how well it works for your business. In the next section we will deep dive into creating an effective campaign and break down the steps involved to ensure that you see success with your campaigns.
How to create a performance advertising campaign to increase website traffic
In this section, we will walk you through the process of creating a performance advertising campaign step-by-step. We will also provide specific examples to help you understand the process.
By the end of this section, you will have all the knowledge you need to create a performance advertising campaign that will help you achieve your business goals. So let's get started!
Step 1: Choose the right platform
There are a number of different performance advertising platforms available, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to choose the one that's right for your business and your target audience.
For example:
If you're targeting a general audience, Google Ads is a good option. Google Ads is an offering by Google the largest search engine in the world, so it has a huge audience reach.
If you're targeting a specific demographic, such as millennials or women, Facebook Ads is a good option. Facebook Ads allows you to target your ads to people based on their demographics, interests, and even their behavior on Facebook.
If you're targeting businesses, LinkedIn Ads is a good option. LinkedIn Ads allows you to target your ads to people based on their job title, industry, and company size.
Step 2: Set your campaign goals
What do you want to achieve with your performance advertising campaign? Do you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your goals, you can choose the right campaign settings and targeting options.
For example:
If you want to increase website traffic, you could choose a campaign goal of "Website traffic." This will tell the platform to optimize your ads for clicks.
If you want to generate leads, you could choose a campaign goal of "Leads." This will tell the platform to optimize your ads for conversions, such as people signing up for your email list or requesting a demo.
If you want to drive sales, you could choose a campaign goal of "Sales." This will tell the platform to optimize your ads for transactions.
Step 3: Create your ad groups
Ad groups are groups of keywords and ads that are related to each other. When you create an ad group, you'll choose a set of keywords that you want your ads to show up for. You'll also create an ad for each keyword.
For example:
If you sell shoes, you could create an ad group for the keyword "buy shoes online." You could then create an ad for this keyword that says "Shop our wide selection of shoes online and get free shipping on orders over $50."
Step 4: Set your budget and bidding strategy
Once you've created your ad groups, you'll need to set a budget and bidding strategy. Your budget is the amount of money that you're willing to spend on your campaign each day. Your bidding strategy is the way that you want to bid on keywords.
For example:
You could set a daily budget of $100 for your campaign.
You could choose a bidding strategy of "Target CPA." This will tell the platform to bid on keywords in a way that will help you achieve your desired cost per acquisition.
Step 5: Launch your campaign
Once you've set your budget and bidding strategy, you're ready to launch your campaign. The platform will review your campaign and then start showing your ads to people who are searching for your keywords.
Step 6: Monitor and optimize your campaign
It's important to monitor and optimize your campaign on a regular basis. This will help you ensure that you're getting the most value for your money.
For example:
You can check your campaign reports to see which keywords are performing well and which ones are not.
You can adjust your bids and targeting options to improve your results.
In the next section we will look at some of the best practices to keep in mind while setting up your performance advertising campaigns.
Best practices for performance advertising campaigns
Before you launch your campaign, it's important to follow some best practices. Here are a few tips to help you create successful performance advertising campaigns:
Set clear goals and objectives for your campaign
Before you launch your performance advertising campaign, it's important to set clear goals and objectives. What do you want to achieve with your campaign? Do you want to increase website traffic, generate leads, or drive sales?
Once you know your goals, you can choose the right campaign settings and targeting options. This will help you ensure that you're on track to achieve your goals.
Target the right audience
One of the most important things you can do to improve the performance of your performance advertising campaigns is to target the right audience. This means showing your ads to people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
There are a number of ways to target your audience, such as:
Demographics: Age, gender, location, income, etc.
Interests: Hobbies, activities, and other interests.
Behaviors: Past online behavior, such as websites visited and products purchased.
Create compelling ad copy and creatives
Your ad copy and creatives are the first things people will see when they come across your ads, so it's important to make a good impression. Your ad copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive. Your creatives should be eye-catching and relevant to your target audience.
Here are a few tips for creating compelling ad copy and creatives:
Use strong headlines and descriptions that grab attention.
Highlight the benefits of your product or service.
Use clear and concise language.
Use high-quality images and videos.
Make sure your ads are relevant to your target audience.
Set a budget and bidding strategy
When you create a performance advertising campaign, you'll need to set a budget and bidding strategy. Your budget is the amount of money that you're willing to spend on your campaign each day. Your bidding strategy is the way that you want to bid on keywords.
There are a number of different bidding strategies available, such as:
Cost per click (CPC): You pay when someone clicks on your ad.
Cost per acquisition (CPA): You pay when someone takes a desired action, such as signing up for your email list or making a purchase.
Target return on ad spend (ROAS): You set a target ROAS and the platform will bid on keywords in a way that will help you achieve that target.
Track and optimize your campaign regularly
Once you've launched your performance advertising campaign, it's important to track and optimize it regularly. This will help you ensure that you're getting the most value for your money.
You can track your campaign performance using a variety of metrics, such as:
Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click on your ad when they see it.
Conversion rate: The percentage of people who take a desired action after clicking on your ad.
Cost per acquisition (CPA): The average amount of money you spend to acquire a customer.
By following these best practices, you can create performance advertising campaigns that are effective and efficient. Remember to set clear goals and objectives, target the right audience, create compelling ad copy and creatives, set a budget and bidding strategy, and track and optimize your campaign regularly.
In this blog post, we've discussed the following:
What performance advertising is and how it works
The benefits of using performance advertising to increase website traffic
How to create a performance advertising campaign
Best practices for performance advertising campaigns
Common mistakes to avoid in performance advertising campaigns
Now that you know the basics of performance advertising, it's time to take action! Here are a few things you can do:
Sign up for a free trial of a performance advertising platform, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads.
Reach out to a performance advertising agency for help with your campaigns.
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