With the holiday season right around the corner, you’re probably considering several marketing opportunities to gain more customers for your e-commerce site. Although organic search results are always preferred, during the holiday season, it can be beneficial for your business to invest the money into paid search.

Here is a beginner’s guide to getting your business started with PPC:

Where to get started?

As the e-commerce environment becomes more competitive, the chances of ranking high on organic search results decreases. The foundation of online marketing relies heavily on the relevant keywords in the search queries of your consumers which is why keyword research is becoming more critical.  There are plenty of free keyword research tools out there to help you with your research. We are very fond of the Google Keyword Planner which is sometimes regarded as the alpha and omega of keyword research tools.

Google Keyword Planner

You have to have an Adwords account to access the keyword planner, both our free.

You will find the Keyword Planner under Tools and Analysis.

As with any other marketing campaign, PPC ads should be tested, re-tested, and then tested again. By monitoring your campaigns, you can see which keywords and copy get the most clicks, and that will allow you to adjust your other campaigns accordingly. During the holidays most businesses will be looking to increase traffic to their e-commerce site and may be bidding on similar terms. On top of PPC, product listing ads (PLAs) on Google are anticipated to be a big portion of media budgets this season.

A strategically designed approach with PPC will ensure you are not missing out on potential holiday traffic.