Our CEO, Daniel Alvarado, came back with quite the insights to share from this year’s Think Lead Gen by Google. 

The event's main focus was on the changing landscape in digital marketing and how the power of Google AI can drive incremental revenue and achieve business goals.

Google's Think Lead Gen NYC 2023 was a one-day event that brought together marketers, salespeople, and entrepreneurs to learn about the latest trends and best practices in lead generation. The event featured keynote speakers, panel discussions, and breakout sessions that covered topics such as:

• Google's tools and platforms to reach and engage target audiences
• How to measure and improve lead generation performance and ROI

Key Takeaways and Insights

Something that stuck about lead gen is that it’s definitely NOT a:

One-Size-Fits-All

Businesses have different goals, audiences, and strategies, and therefore need different approaches and solutions. Google's speakers emphasized the importance of understanding your customer journey, segmenting audiences, and tailoring personalized messages to match each funnel stage.

One-Time-Event

As a continuous cycle of attracting, engaging, converting, and retaining leads, lead generation takes nurturing in each stage. Google's speakers highlighted the need to create a seamless and consistent experience for leads across all touchpoints, from first impression to final purchase. Testing, analyzing, and optimizing lead gen campaigns was also emphasized to ensure you deliver value to leads and achieve your business's desired outcomes.

Lead-to-Sale Journey (Set Objectives)

As customer behavior evolves, you need to adapt your approach and set up the right foundations to engage with high-value consumers throughout their journey. 

• You want to create a memorable and positive experience for your customers so they keep returning and recommending you to others. 
• You need to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points, tailor your marketing strategy to build trust, loyalty, and satisfaction among your customers, and grow your business in the long run.

Map your lead-to-sale journey

You want to make the most of every conversion, right? But not all conversions are equal. That's why you need to map out your lead-to-sale journey and see where the money is. By knowing the key stages in your funnel and their average values, you can focus on what really matters for your business.

Identify & assign conversion values

To truly measure and improve the impact of your ad campaigns on your business, you need conversion values. These values let you use value-based bidding and set them in Google Ads. This way, you can optimize your ads for the best results.

Position marketing

To grow your business, you need to align your marketing goals with your overall profits. You can achieve this by creating strong and lasting relationships with your partners, based on mutual understanding and trust. By using insights and data, you can communicate more effectively and deliver better results.

3 Key Actions for the Right AI Foundation (Get Ready)

Map

If you want to optimize your lead-to-sale cycle, you need to know which actions are most effective at converting your prospects into customers. There are different ways to assign values to these actions, depending on your business goals and data sources. 

Here are some options:

• Fixed values: You can assign a fixed dollar amount to each action, based on your average revenue per customer or your estimated lifetime value.
• Rule-based values: You can create rules to assign different values to different actions, based on factors such as location, line of business, or product category.
• Predictive values: You can use Cloud AI to automatically generate values for each action, based on historical data from GA4 Web Data and other CRM Data. This is a new and exciting feature that can help you discover hidden patterns and insights in your data.

By using these methods, you can map your lead-to-sale cycle more accurately and efficiently, and improve your marketing ROI.

Measure

Accounting for the value of your conversions more accurately and securely, is made easier through Conversion Values, a feature that allows you to measure the impact of your campaigns with durable privacy-centric measurements. 

You can also opt-in for improved Enhanced Conversions, a tool that helps you optimize your bids and reach more leads with hashed email matching. By using these features, you can increase your conversions on search by up to 5% while respecting user privacy and complying with regulations.

Activate

Take your campaigns to the next level by activating and optimizing them using the values that matter most to your business. Google's AI can help you do that, but it needs your input. The quality of signals you provide will determine how well the AI can learn and improve your results. That's why using 1st party data is crucial for enabling AI to work for you. 

According to a recent report, advertisers who use AI tools see a 30% lift in performance compared to those who don't. And by implementing Target ROAS bidding, you can achieve an additional 14% uplift in your return on ad spend. 

Questions to ask ourselves to determine our L2S (Lead-to-Sales) cycle: 

AI-Powered Campaigns (Take Action)

Adopt AI

Boost conversions with broad match and Performance Max. Switching from exact match to broad match in your target CPA campaigns can increase your conversions by 35%. 

Get ahead of competition through Performance Max campaigns, to help you reach 13% more customers right away and 18% more over time. Definitely the next best way to grow your business and connect with high-quality leads with Google. The power of AI to optimize your campaigns and reach your goals.

Adapt your mindset

Adapting to the changing market is a sign of agility. You can free yourself from the limitations of traditional marketing and embrace a more strategic and growth-oriented approach. Think of it as the difference between cruise control and self-driving cars. You still have the power to steer your business in the right direction, but you have a smart and reliable partner to help you navigate the road ahead. 

AI is the engine that drives your marketing, but you are the driver who sets the destination. You are not competing against AI; you are competing with other marketers who have mastered AI. That's why you must assess your performance and measure your impact with the best tools available.

Leverage Google AI For Your Marketing Plan

Whether you want to improve your PPC, SEO, or social marketing, Google AI can help you achieve your goals faster and easier. But how can you use Google AI effectively for your marketing plan? That's where we come in. We are a digital marketing agency that specializes in Google AI solutions. We can help you design and implement a Google AI strategy that suits your needs and budget. Happy lead generating!

The holidays are coming, which means one thing: Now is the moment to enhance your ecommerce website and make it perfect for all those shoppers looking for gifts. But before you dive into the preparations, there's one important task you must complete and it is optimize your landing pages.

By implementing effective landing page optimization, you can create a shopping experience that entices visitors to return again and again. Here are some landing page optimization tips to help you make the most out of your landing pages this holiday season. But first, let's define what landing page optimization is.

What Is Landing Page Optimization?

According to Hotjar, landing page optimization (LPO) involves enhancing the design and layout of web pages to boost conversions, improve user experience (UX), and convert more visitors into loyal customers. 

LPO, a subset of conversion rate optimization (CRO), focuses on making landing pages more targeted and engaging to enhance their effectiveness. By presenting relevant information to bring the right balance between design and functionality, an optimized landing page persuades visitors to take action.

Getting Creative With Your Landing Pages

Ready to make your landing pages stand out this holiday season? Here are some landing page optimization tips on how you can optimize them for maximum results:

Keep it Festive

Incorporate festive elements into your landing page design, such as seasonal colors, graphics, and images. This will make your page visually appealing and create a sense of excitement and urgency among visitors. Also, consider adding holiday-themed offers and seasonal promotions to entice customers to purchase.

Make it Simple

Don't overwhelm your visitors with too much information. Just give them the key info they need to decide, like your holiday deals and how they can take advantage of them.

The easier visitors find what they're looking for, the more likely they are to complete their purchase. Ensure your landing page has clear and concise navigation so customers can easily navigate your products or services. 

Pro Tip: You can also add a search bar to help customers find specific items quickly, and a section of "you might also like" product suggestions.

Image Quality is Influencial

When it comes to landing pages, especially for ecommerce, images take a big part in the final decision for the purchase. High-quality images are necessary to showcase your products and attract your customers, display their features, colors, and characteristic.

Optimize for Mobile Devices

More and more people are shopping on their phones, so make sure your landing pages are mobile-friendly. This means using large fonts, plenty of white space, and easy-to-tap buttons that are easily viewable and clickable on smaller screens. Some landing page optimization best practices for mobile include using vertical scrolling, reducing image sizes, and simplifying the checkout process.

Decrease Page Load Time

Continuing the previous tip, mobile users constantly search, and faster page loading is the magical wand that keeps them spellbound. The swifter your page loads, the lesser the likelihood of visitors vanishing into the depths. Bid farewell to high bounce rates and effortlessly dispel abandonment concerns.

Use Strong Call-To-Actions

Tell your visitors what you want them to do: shop now, sign up for your email list, or enter a contest. Make your CTAs big, bold, and easy to find. You can also use festive language and imagery to make them stand out even more.

Pro Tip: Use action-oriented language, such as "Shop Now" or "Limited Time Offer," to create a sense of urgency and encourage visitors to take immediate action.

Sprinkle Trust and Credibility 

People want to know they can trust you before buying anything. So, add logos of your partners and testimonials from happy customers. You can also add a phone number or a badge to show you're a legitimate business. Remember, credibility is key to building trust and converting visitors into customers.

Make Sure Search Engines Love Your Page

Search engines like Google and Bing want to show users the best results possible. So, make sure your page is designed for search engines. This means using relevant keywords and phrases in your page title, headings, and content. Also, make sure your page is easy to navigate and has a lot of great content.

Gifts That Keep on Giving—Content! 

Use content that resonates with the season and your audience! Gift guides, holiday tips, or heartwarming stories make your landing page merry and bright. Plus, they provide additional value to customers and can help drive conversions. Good content can resonate with your audience and make them decide on your brand.

Expert Facts: Content can increase returns by up to 40%, build confidence in your brand, and help attract repeat customers. According to the study conducted by Semrush, it was found that users' confidence in a brand can be significantly undermined by content that is deemed poor, scarce, or unattractive. In fact, up to 87% of users are affected by such content.

Test, Test, Test

Don't be afraid to test different versions of your landing pages to see which ones perform better. You can use A/B testing to compare two versions of the same page and determine which leads to more conversions. This will help you determine what works best for your audience, make necessary changes for maximum impact, and make the final sale.

Case Study

A study made by HubSpot found that optimized landing pages can convert 52% more leads than unoptimized landing pages. The study also found that factors like clarity of messages, relevance of content, and compelling CTAs can significantly impact conversion rates. So, make sure you follow these best practices to create high-performing landing pages that will help your business thrive and spread holiday cheer!

Unleashing the Full Potential of Your Landing Pages

Optimizing your landing pages is crucial for your holiday sales if you are an ecommerce business. Following these landing page optimization best practices can create user-friendly, and effective landing pages that drive conversions. 

If you don't know where to start, White Shark Media has the expertise to boost your ecommerce business this season. Our team of experts can guide you through process and help you design,create and optimize landing pages for your business success. Also, our variety of digital marketing services can help you improve your sales. Get in touch!

It’s Q4, and although there is a priority to focus on the holidays, you should also be planning for next year’s marketing plan for your business online. Among ads, social posts, and all, you might be wondering how to create content that connects with your audiences in the new era. Content marketing is not only about producing high-quality and relevant content but also about engaging audiences with what you offer in terms of services and products. Take a look at tips and best practices on how to optimize your content so that it resonates with your audiences for 2024.

How Your Content Creation Will Engage in This Upcoming Year

Tip #1: Know Your Target Audience

The first step to creating content that connects is to know your audience. And how do you do this? Easy, ask yourself the following:

• Who are they?
• What are their pain points, goals, interests, and preferences? 
• How do they engage content? 
• What are their expectations and needs? 

With these answers, you’re ready to create a buyer persona that represents your ideal customer.

What is a buyer persona?

It is a semi-fictional representation of your target audience based on real data and research. It helps you tailor your content to their specific challenges, motivations, and desires.

Tip #2: Storytelling to Make It Interesting

As one of the most powerful ways to connect with your audience, storytelling evokes emotions, sparks curiosity, and inspires action from your audience. It also helps you build trust and credibility in your brand. To use it effectively, you must have a clear structure, a compelling hook, a relatable protagonist, a relevant conflict, and a satisfying resolution. 

Pro-tip: Vivid language, sensory details, and emotional triggers give more life to your story.

Formats for content creation

Optimize your content in various formats, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, case studies, testimonials, social media posts, and more. 

Tip #3: Be Your Businesses Voice

Authenticity is key to creating content that connects; make sure your audience gets the gist of your businesses culture and style through your conversational tone. Your potential customers want to hear from real people who share their values, opinions, and experiences be able to see the human side of your brand. 

How to be authentic content creation

Becoming relatable to your audience means being true to yourself, and to your brand.

Actions to take in your content writing:

• Be transparent, honest, and consistent
• Show your personality, voice, and tone
• Share your stories, insights, and opinion
• Admit your mistakes, challenges, and failures
• Engage with your audience by listening to their feedback

Tip #4: Create Content That Has Meaning & Value

Your content should not only inform or entertain your audience but also help them solve their problems or achieve their objectives, the ultimate goal of creating content that connects. Showcase your products or services in your content, but also ensure you educate or inspire your audience at the same time. When you create content, you build a relationship with your audience by providing value in solving their pain points and what they want to achieve. 

How to create content that speaks to your audience

Offer solutions or benefits that match their needs or wants. You need to deliver quality and relevance that exceed their expectations so that you can become their go-to brand.

Tip #5: Keep SEO in Mind

SEO (search engine optimization) helps improve your content's visibility and ranking on search engines like Google or Bing. It is important because it puts your business in front of more users online and reaches potential customers looking for specific services or products your business offers. 

Pro-tip: Establish authority and credibility in your niche or industry with an SEO content strategy.

How do you optimize for SEO when you create content?

To optimize for SEO, you need to perform keyword research and use relevant keywords in your content's title, headings, body text, URL, meta tags, and images. Using internal and external links can also boost your content's relevance and authority. Fresh and original content that answers the search intent of your audience is how to create content that is worthwhile for your business ranking online.

Plan Your Content Marketing for Next Year

Content marketing that connects with your audiences next year won’t be easy, but it is possible if you follow trends, tips, and best practices. By targeting your audience, using storytelling, being authentic, providing value, and optimizing for SEO, you’ll know how to create content that resonates with your audiences and helps you achieve your content marketing goals. Check out our digital marketing services to get your advertising efforts in place for this upcoming year!

Did you know that in July, more than 25% of Americans kick off holiday shopping? By October’s end, 50% are shopping, and 28% are done. With 87% relying on Google properties, 65% on social media, and 59% on online marketplaces, is your business ready for the season ahead? 

The holiday season is a golden opportunity to engage potential customers with targeted messaging and creative content. It’s time to leverage all the resources at your disposal, like seasonal landing pages, video ads, and banner ads, to reach your target audience and drive conversions.

Landing Pages

Landing pages are excellent tools for driving sales anytime but can be particularly effective during the holidays. All-year-round landing pages are okay if your site stocks products or offers services people buy throughout the year. However, cyclical products or services require a different strategy, with demand increasing during seasonal periods like the holidays.

A landing page about just one product, seasonal discount, or gift package can be a good way to focus a customer’s attention and nudge them to make a purchase. 

Holiday-targeted PPC campaigns must incorporate contextually aligned holiday landing pages that support shoppers' expectations to click on your paid ads. Seasonal landing pages offer a good message match for your customers because they are designed to accurately reflect the promotions of your seasonal ad copy that got them there in the first place. This message match could also help reduce bounce rates.

Still not sure if this strategy is for you? Here are some benefits of implementing holiday landing pages into your holiday marketing campaign strategies:

• Drive more conversions: Remove distractions while providing all the information shoppers need to decide. 
• Increase opportunities for personalization and segmentation: Personalized and segmented assets work to build customer trust and loyalty long term. 
• Track results: Tracking promotions with seasonal landing pages makes it easier to attribute behaviors and metrics. This might include clicks, purchases, time spent on the page, and bounce rate.

Video Creatives 

Have you been influenced to make a purchase by a video you watched online over the past 3 months? If the answer is yes, there is a reason why. People turn to YouTube when shopping every day; in fact, YouTube is the #1 platform used to research a product/brand or decide about a purchase. During the holiday season, online video is a major source of discovery and inspiration for consumers. 

Implementing Holiday YouTube ad campaigns can help you reach key audiences where they are consuming content and drive conversions.

Capture customers' attention along the conversion funnel by:

• Creating compelling video campaigns with various video ad formats to engage customers in different ways on YouTube and across video partner sites.
• Common early-season activities for shoppers include searching for gift ideas and turning to YouTube creators for reviews and inspiration. Now is the time to strategically share gift guides, promotions, discounts, etc, and create video content to spark ideas and gift lists.

Banner Creatives 

According to Google, about a third of consumers in surveyed markets are spending more time making decisions (30%), considering more brands (30%), and considering more stores/retailers (29%).

Creating display and remarketing PPC Banner Ads is a great way to reinforce holiday campaign messages and create brand recognition among audiences during the discovery and decision stage.

Invest in visually striking banners that grab attention and communicate your key messages effectively.

Extra Tips and Best Practices

Expanding your digital marketing efforts during the season takes research and planning for success. So make sure to:

• Define your business objectives and target KPIs to develop a strong holiday marketing strategy. Whether you want to promote a new holiday product line or drive traffic to new locations, get clear on and prioritize your holiday goals. 
• Use data to build your strategy, analyze your top-selling products, brands, and pricing benchmarks, explore the competitive landscape, and get ideas for even better performance. 
• Attract deal-seekers by adding promotions, local promotions, and sale prices. In fact, 48% of consumers say they buy from new brands offering better deals/prices more often.
• Consider sustaining your holiday advertising throughout the week and past Dec 25th. Last holiday season, consumers spent on average $4.2 billion on weekdays and $4.4 billion on weekend days, according to a Mastercard credit card analysis conducted by BCG.

Accelerate Your Holiday Marketing This Season

The holiday season is not a time to slow down on your digital marketing efforts, if you’re not in front of shoppers early, you’re leaving sales on the table. Seasonal landing pages are a key tool to gain traction for your new e-commerce winter lines, Black Friday, or Christmas promotions, they offer a good message to match for your customers because they are designed to accurately reflect the promotions of your seasonal ad copy that got them there in the first place.

Navigating the holiday marketing landscape can be challenging. Our team is ready to guide you every step of the way to build a winning holiday marketing strategy. Whether it’s selecting the right channel to start your holiday advertising efforts or creating seasonal landing pages, videos, or banner ads, don’t hesitate to reach out.

How did we get position #1 for the keyword “What should my target CPA be” in the United States?

Or for the query “What makes a good CMS”?

You’ve come across a blog article that explains it all! Read through as we reveal our tips and tricks to rank higher in the organic channel.

Aside from ensuring:

• An SEO strategy that covers relevant on-site optimizations
• Optimizations that cover voice search
• Competitors’ analysis
• Improving domain authority

This blog covers specifics on how to succeed in the expectations of Google’s Core Web Vitals. For that, you’ll find:

• What Are Core Web Vitals?
• Steps to Rank Higher With Core Web Vitals
  • Step 1: Check on How To Optimize for Core Web Vitals
  • Step 2: SEO Best Practices to Improve Site Speed
  • Step 3: Identify Improvements in UX

What Are Core Web Vitals?

These are a set of metrics that Google uses to measure the user experience of a landing page. 

Are these essential to rank higher? In a nutshell: Totally, YES! In fact, in Google’s words:

“We highly recommend site owners achieve good Core Web Vitals for success with Search and to generally ensure a great user experience. This and other page experience aspects align with what our core ranking systems seek to reward.”

Now that we’ve quickly covered what are Core Web Vitals, let’s review its components.

The 3 Core Web Vitals

To know how to improve Core Web Vitals, how to check Core Web Vitals and fix them, marketers and developers need to think of user experience as the ultimate goal; these are top metrics that help identify specific areas of improvement:

How to Improve Core Web Vitals With These Metrics?

Here is a scale that helps you measure good user experience. Your site should aim to optimize towards a GOOD score:

Now that you know goals, let’s go over how to check web core vitals to fix them.

Steps to Rank Higher With Core Web Vitals

Step 1: Check on How To Optimize for Core Web Vitals

To evaluate if you need to optimize Core Web Vitals, check where you need to improve your site’s UX; you can use the following tools:

1. Google Search Console
2. PageSpeed Insights
3. Lighthouse
4. Chrome UX Report
5. Web Vitals Extension:

Let’s review each one to give you perspective!

Google Search Console (GSC)

There are many ways to access your GSC; we prefer using the option “Core Web Vitals” in the Experience section, where you can access specifics for mobile and desktop:

PageSpeed Insights

Insights on how to improve Core Web Vitals by showing approval or fail status for each vital on a site:

Lighthouse

A Chrome extension that gives you a complete audit on how to fix core web vitals:

Chrome UX Report

Also referred to as CrUX and similar in function to the tools mentioned above, it helps measure how to check Core Web Vitals by giving you an analysis of how well your site is following best practices for UX:

Web Vitals Extension

Supports how to check Core Web Vitals by measuring the 3 Core Web Vitals metrics in real-time:

Step 2: SEO Best Practices to Improve Site Speed

Now that you have an audit for how to fix Core Web Vitals on Google, it’s time to work on improving your website’s speed:

Enable Compression

For this, you can use Gzip through your hosting. This software helps reduce the size of your CC, HTML, and JavaScript files larger than 150 bytes.

Reduce Redirects

Redirects are useful when URLs change, and you want to avoid users experiencing a 404 error. 

Tip: When you use a redirect, the user may face additional time waiting for the HTTP request-response cycle to complete.

Leverage Browser Caching

We recommend you use a tool to review expiration date usage for the cache. The longer, the better, as it prevents users from reloading the entire page. 

Pro-tip: If your site’s design does not frequently change, you could leave the expiration date up to 1 year.

Use a Content Distribution Network

CDNs are servers that help distribute the load of delivering content so that visitors have faster access to the site.

Optimize Images

Use formats easily compressed by the web, such as PNG. A tool that can help you reduce the size of the images is TinyPNG.

Step 3: Identify Improvements in UX (User Experience)

Although the page speed is part of user experience improvement, we recommend you consider the following for your website as well:

1. Make use of white space
2. Use attractive CTAs (calls to action)
3. Make sure users can easily spot hyperlinks
4. Take advantage of bullet points to segment key information
5. Use multimedia content such as images, videos, and infographics
6. Write clear headlines with their respective hierarchy



7. Keep the layout of your pages consistent
8. Avoid 404 errors
9. Review responsiveness and mobile-friendliness

It's Time for You to Optimize Your Site for Google's Core Web Vitals

Google’s recent introduction to Core Web Vitals serves as a guide to give all website owners better visibility on how they stand in users' eyes and how to improve Core Web Vitals for a better user experience. Ensure a “Good” CWV score to increase your business website ranking online.

Now that you know how to optimize for Core Web Vitals, get ready to experience a new level of performance on Google! However, if you are still trying to figure out the action plan to tackle all possible areas of improvement for your site, feel free to reach out to our team of experts.

With back-to-school full throttle, online shoppers are at the peak of their intent to stock up and ensure they are ready for the new school year. According to the National Retail Federation, back-to-school spending in the U.S. is expected to reach $41.5 billion in 2023, up from $37.1 billion in 2021. That’s a big jump and a huge opportunity for businesses to capture the attention and wallets of parents and students looking for services and products for the new academic year. So, because your back-to-school ppc strategy is already in motion, you already have a front-row seat to witness a jump in sales. Wait, you don’t? Okay, you still can target those procrastinating and last-minute shoppers!

Shape the Focus of PPC Campaigns

With increased competition and evolving consumer behavior, more is needed than just launching PPC campaigns and hoping for the best. You need to know how to optimize your back-to-school PPC strategy to target the right audience, deliver the right message, and drive the right action.

Success Story

Our client has an online clothing store that sells an innovative brand designed to provide style and comfort for teachers and parents.

Tips for Your Back-To-School PPC Strategy

Here are some tips on how to optimize your PPC campaigns for the back-to-school season, boost engagement and sales.

1. Plan Your Back-to-School PPC Strategy Early

Give yourself ample time to map out your budget, set goals, create engaging ads, and develop your advertising strategies to ensure successful back-to-school PPC campaigns. If you wait until the last minute as you enter the busy season, you may skip fine-tuning your back-to-school ppc strategy and sacrifice your PPC campaign’s full potential. 

Your objectives (and target audience) will determine how early you should start your BTS marketing strategy. 

Tip: Back-to-school dates differ between kindergarten, elementary school, college, and post-graduate. 

2. Be On Top of the Latest Trends for BTS Marketing 

Looking at the latest trends in the retail industry serves as inspiration for creating seasonal shopping campaigns, like back-to-school. 

You’ll always want to analyze data from the past year for better insight. Here are a few to get you started:

• Clothing, accessories, and school supplies were the primary retail categories for back-to-school shoppers in 2022.
• Over 65% of shoppers will use their smartphones while shopping.
• 49% of shopping will occur In-store, 35% online, and 19% are unsure how they will shop.
• Shipping influences buying intent, with 79% expecting free shipping and delivery within two days by 26%.

Tip: Review previous BTS campaigns by analyzing performance to give you further insights into marketing trends, services, or products to focus your new campaigns around.

3. Do Your Keyword Research

Keywords are the foundation of any PPC campaign, as they determine when and where your ads will appear on search engines. To optimize your PPC campaigns with a back-to-school strategy for the season, you must do your keyword research and identify relevant and high-value keywords that align with your target audience’s search queries. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Microsoft Advertising Keyword Planner to find popular and trending keywords related to your services or products.

Some questions to ask yourself when choosing your keywords are:

• Search volume: How many people are searching for this keyword?
• Competition: How many advertisers are bidding on this keyword?
• Cost-per-click (CPC): How much does it cost to bid on this keyword?
• Relevance: How relevant is this keyword to your products or services?
• Intent: What is the goal or purpose of the searcher behind this keyword?

You should also use different keywords, such as:

• Broad keywords: These general keywords cover various topics, such as “backpacks” or “laptops.” They can help you reach a large audience but may also attract irrelevant or low-quality traffic, so keep this in mind.
• Exact keywords: Specific keywords that match exactly what the searcher is looking for, such as “backpacks for college students” or “laptops with touch screens.” They can help you target a niche audience but may also limit your reach.
• Long-tail keywords: Phrases that consist of three or more words, such as “best backpacks for college students 2023” or “laptops with touch screen under $500”. They help you target a highly qualified audience but may also have a low search volume.

Pro-tip: You should also use negative keywords for which you don’t want your ads to appear, such as “free” or “cheap.” This best practice can help you avoid wasting money on irrelevant or unprofitable clicks.

4. Segment Your Audiences

Audience segmentation divides your target audience into smaller groups based on their characteristics, preferences, behavior, or needs. By segmenting your audience, you can create more personalized and relevant ads that appeal to each group’s interests and pain points. You can also adjust your bids, budgets, and targeting options accordingly.

You can segment your audience for the back-to-school season:

• Demographics: Segment your audience by age, gender, location, income, education level, etc. 

  Example: Target parents with children in different grades or students in other schools or colleges.

• Psychographics: You can segment your audience by personality, lifestyle, values, attitudes, etc. 

  Example: Target parents who are price-conscious, quality-oriented, adventurous, or academic students.

• Behavior: Segment your audience by their online behavior, such as browsing history, search queries, purchase history, etc. 

  Example: Target parents who have searched for specific products or categories or students who have visited certain websites or blogs.

• Intent: You can segment your audience by their goals or purposes behind their searches. 

  Example: Target parents looking for deals or discounts or students looking for reviews or recommendations.

Pro-tip: You can use tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Audience Network to collect and analyze data about your audience and create segments based on various criteria.

5. Design Compelling Landing Pages

Landing pages are web pages that your visitors land on after clicking on your ads. They are designed to persuade them to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter, buying a product, downloading an ebook, etc. Landing pages are crucial for optimizing your PPC campaigns for the back-to-school season because they can influence whether your visitors convert or bounce.

Some of the best practices for designing compelling landing pages are:

• Match your landing page with your ad and create a catchy headline
• Use a relevant image or video
• Highlight the benefits and features of your service or product
• Include social proof
• Add a clear and standout call-to-action
• Optimize for mobile devices

PPC Management That Will Connect Audiences With Your Business 

Now that you have learned how to optimize your PPC campaigns for the back-to-school season by getting started early, following trends, performing keyword research, segmenting your audiences and having engaging landing pages, you can increase your traffic, conversions, and sales during this peak shopping period. 

If you need further guidance, we’re here to help with PPC management. We are a digital marketing agency specializing in PPC, SEO, social media, and video marketing. Let us be your partner in creating and managing effective and engaging campaigns that will reach and convert your target audiences this season.