Have you ever had a client who did NOT do well in PPC? I have one now, and here’s why I don’t think that it’s simply my being an idiot (although it doesn’t help the case) that’s causing the ads to perform poorly: I’ve been able to do well in every other paid campaign that I’ve ever run. Really well, in many cases, with seriously high conversion rates and excellent ROI. However, I can’t crack this nut.
There are obviously industries that perform best in certain arenas, whether it be organic listings, paid listings, billboards, magazine ads, etc. radio spots, etc. However, I’m on a quest to figure out what I could try to make sure I’m doing everything possible to drive relevant traffic to this client’s site so I wanted to dive headfirst into PPC demographics. Obviously I’m diving in headfirst. How else would you dive?
Anyway, here’s what I can find easily…different people use different engines. Well well well, who knew? Other than that, I can’t find much concrete data to support my half-baked idea about how this one client is not traditionally sought out by people using the internet to find their services. However, does that mean that this is an impossible dream? We’ve had a few conversions, which tells me that there are at least a few (um, 3 to be exact) people who are getting the message.
Here’s something to compound the problem, too: I don’t have access to their analytics. Sure, I can request a report but it’s not the same as being right there in it on a daily basis. I also don’t have the ability to throw tracking code up all over the site, or mess with anything other than meta tags for various reasons. So what DO I have? I have a nice relevant landing page with a contact us form that gets filled out. The contact us form gives a user everything he or she needs in terms of information to provide in order to receive an accurate quote. It really is a lovely form too. I have a nice concise ad that gives a user relevant info, quick and simple. The URL is that of a trusted company in the US and abroad, too. But I’m getting nothing.
I’ve asked the other SEO Chicks/brainiacs about this as well, and they’ve had some excellent insight ranging from the slower conversion cycle for B2B ads to the notion that many B2B “shoppers” will search online and then call or come by in person to do business to my aforementioned half-baked idea of this truly not being a traditional industry that attracts online users. However, does that mean that this is going to be impossible? Are there really some industries that simply do not, at least not at this time, do well online? Can anything be done about it?
So in a post about how to get more user comments, it was suggested that the writer ASK for input. I’m asking…if anyone has ANY advice for me on this one, please let me know. I would be most appreciative.
