Wakefly BlogHow to Become a 5 Tool Player in the PPC Game

Ever heard of Mike Hessman? Neither had I, at least not until yesterday when I heard his name for the first time on 98.5 the sports hub. Mr. Hessman is a minor league baseball player for the Toledo Mud Hens, the AAA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. On Monday 8/3/15 he broke the minor league career homerun record with a monster grand slam giving him 433 total in 19 seasons.

I know what you are thinking: what does Mike Hessman and baseball have to do with PPC? Well, hear me out. While I admire his persistence, grinding away at a minor league level is not something any self-respecting PPC specialist should be happy with. I certainly wouldn’t be. In order to become a big league player in the PPC game you need to be talented, supremely confident and always willing to work on your craft. Those are the same traits baseball players need to make it to the pros.

Mike Trout is what baseball people call a 5 tool player. He can hit for average and power, he can run like the wind, he has a great arm, and he expertly plays the field. If you want to be a 5 tool PPC superstar you need to perfect the following basics.

1. Account Structure

The base of every successful PPC account is the structure. Proper structure of an account is the only way to exceed in this game. If you don’t set up your account properly then you will be fighting an uphill battle that you are sure to lose.

2. Keyword Research

The base of every properly structured PPC account is a set of well thought out keywords. There is definitely an art to keyword research and it is not as easy as people think. Sure it may be easy to take a product and come up with keyword after keyword, but finding relevant keywords that will drive traffic and convert at the right price is tricky. There are plenty of tools that can help you along the way including the Google Keyword Planner and SEMRush.

3. Ad Copy Writing

A PPC specialist needs to be great at writing ad copy. After setting up your account and conducting your keyword research it is time to write your ad copy. Ad copy is essential to getting qualified traffic to your site. Remember to get as close as possible to the character limits, include value propositions and use proper punctuation.

4. Ad Extension Use

Ad extensions are extremely important. You should use any and every ad extension at your disposal. At the very least you should have sitelinks. Ad extensions are an easy way to take up more space in the search engine, while giving you more room to tell your story.

5. Industry Knowledge

This may be the most vital item on the list. In order to effectively market your product or service you need to know the layout of your industry. This knowledge is crucial to developing your strategy and achieving success. Should you market in Bing as well as in Google Ads? Should you have a shopping campaign? Should you use the GDN? These all depend on what industry you are in.

I know that these ideas seem pretty basic, but you really do need to be great at all of them to reach new heights in your PPC accounts. Otherwise you might end up like Mike Hessman, a great power hitter, but someone that is lacking in the other 4 tools necessary to make it big. Need help getting called up to the Pros? Wakefly is a Major league talent that is willing to help coach you up in PPC, SEO & Web Development. Learn more here!