Pay-per-click (PPC) is a great marketing strategy to increase traffic as well as potential clientele to your site.  PPC is a fast way to get your business to the top of Google’s first page of search results. It does cost more money, for each time a customer clicks on your ad you are charged for that click. Some business categories have a higher CPC (cost-per-click) than others. The insurance category has a fairly high cost-per-click and it’s also a competitive market, so it is important to make sure you are using Google Adwords or Bing Adcenter efficiently. Below are some tips that could be useful to optimizing pay-per-click campaigns for insurance agencies.
Long tail Keywords
Because keywords are initially expensive, it is best to use keywords that are more specific and detailed. Instead of using the general keyword, “insurance dallas”, try “car insurance in dallas ” for a cheaper, less competitive keyword. You can use Google’s Keyword Tool to help find keywords and variations of keywords to use. It will list the estimated CPC as well as how competitive it is and how many searches a certain keyword gets. It’s a great tool to help expand your keyword list and find longer tail keywords.
Bid on What You Offer
It is important to make sure your keywords are targeting exactly what you offer as a company. Paid traffic is good, but only if it is quality traffic that is turning into leads and potential clients. Make sure you exclude terms that your insurance company doesn’t offer. If you only offer car insurance, make sure your keywords are car insurance related, not medical or home. You can also choose keywords as negatives, to ensure that your ad won’t show up for those unrelated keywords. Remember the more detailed and specific you are about the keywords you choose, the more likely you are to get quality traffic.
Location Targeting
If you are a small local business serving a specific geographic area, then that is where you will target your ads. You can change your targeting settings on Google Adwords by ZIP code, radius or city. You can pick exactly how far you want your ads to reach. But remember, people like local businesses and locations that are close to them. So national targeting or state targeting might not be the best option if you are a small insurance agency in Dallas. Keep it in a radius that is close. You might get less traffic, but you will get more relevant traffic.
There are also many other ways to help optimize your campaign. Remarketing is a great way to target consumers who have visited your site but have yet to convert. They will see your ad on other sites, and it will remind them to come back to you. Also, call extensions are a great option, especially on mobile. This means that your phone number will be displayed underneath your ad, so a consumer can click on it and it will directly dial to your business. For small businesses this is a great way to solidify a lead. There’s also location extensions, call out extensions, and sitelink extensions, you can add to your ad. All of these will make your ad more detailed at no additional cost. Make sure you are including only relevant information, and don’t forget a call to action that will entice people to click on your ad!
