1. Add additional keywords/phrases to get more impressions - we already have the relevant generic keywords sewn up and most of the 'obsure' 2/3 keyword terms get disabled by Google anyway because the CTR isn't great on those. I don't think there's much that can be done with this option.
2. Direct certain keywords to specific landing pages to improve conversation rate (about 5% for our best keywords) - currently all visitors searching on all of our keywords go straight to the homepage but if we direct specific visitors to tailored pages maybe we'll get more enquiries? Hmm... could help but probably only slightly?
3. Go with another PPC advertising program like Overture? Do you generally run campaigns with several PPC providers at once or just AdWords? Just who is as good as Google anyway?!
All advice much appreciated! :)
Those are all part of the game, but perhaps I can give you some input as a long-time Goog/Ovt advertiser.
1. Add additional keywords/phrases
While impressions are good, clicks are better. If you are seeing 1000 impressions and 10 clicks, then there are definitely things you can do to improve your CTR.
most of the 'obscure' 2/3 keyword terms get disabled
So you're getting impressions, but not enough clicks. Same as in my first comment (expanding on these in a mooment ...)
2. Direct certain keywords to specific landing pages
Absolutely. This is where you have the most control. Imagine walking into a car dealership and having to go through 4 rooms before you get to the showroom. Personally, I'd only make it through the first two ...
3. Go with another PPC advertising program
Maybe, if your budget supports it and your target demographic uses Ovt and its affiliates regularly. You can expect to pay a lot more for Ovt clicks, because the exclusive means of getting to the top of the pile is to outbid your competition. With Goog, you can pay much, much less for the top positions if you can increase your CTRs.
More detail about my comments ...
Impressions and CTR
A low CTR indicates that your ads are not "speaking" to the people who are searching on your terms. It's a simple as that.
Take a term like "auto". How many impressions is that going to get? A huge number, because such a broad term can apply in so many different contexts. "automobile" is better, fewer impressions, but very difficult to predict what the searcher is seeking based on such a broad term. "infiniti automobile" is getting better, with fewer impressions, but a much better idea of who you are pitching your ads to, and therefore more control over the campaign. "infiniti automobiles chicago" is even better, as the localization instructs you in where people are interested in doing business.
Lots of impressions can be easily misinterpreted unless you look at the underlying data.
To increase your CTR, one of two things must happen: either you will be able to tap into the minds of searchers and write the single perfect ad that grabs them and makes them click, or you need to test and refine a range of ads that appeal to different mindsets.
Suggestion #1: Limit your AdGroups to a few closely-related terms each, and write at least 4 distinctly different creatives for each AdGroup. Say, 1 for greed, 1 for fear, 1 for common sense and 1 for wackiness. Goog will help you refine your ads by showing those with the highest CTR more frequently. After a while, review the numbers they post in your AdGroup, and revise the lower-performing ads. Either revise them to be more like the more-successful ad, or try entirely new creatives to test a different segment of your target audience ... or more accurately, what you think is a different segment.
Consider, too, how you are appearing with regard to the DisplayURL. Is your domain name good? How are you displaying it? Is it not good, and so needs more help from the creative text to encourage searchers to click?
Give a couple of weeks or so before you go about radically altering your creatives, as cyclical searching is the norm.
Note that your CPC will go up to near your MaxCPC with the newly refined ads, as they are untested, but that amount will go down as the ads prove themselves, one way or another.
Landing Pages
Abso-freakin-lutely the most important page on your site to the visitor who lands there. While PPC SEs demand there be relevance to the term, you need to make the landing pages as specific as possible to the term/visitor for better reasons than that: To close sales, or to establish a trust relationship with the visitor so your inhouse sales force can close the sale.
Many sales professionals look at the landing page as your only chance to close the sale. If the visitor starts clicking on your other links, they are "cooling off", and are less likely to contact you or add your product to their shopping cart.
Some suggestions: Hit them right away with your offer, even before you satisfy their need for information; use content on the landing page as the foundation for the building sale, so their next click completes the effort.
The more "valuable" the landing page, the more likely you are to close the sale. The more visible the sales opportunity is to the visitor on the landing page, the better your chances are for closing the sale.
Other PPC Programs
Well, yes, there are hundreds if not thousands of other PPC engines. Goog and Ovt are pretty much the biggest, right now, but MSN is testing their own system, and there are many overseas that may be better at attracting people in those areas.
Whenever we ramp up a new PPC campaign, my boss remarks, "it doesn't cost us anything until they click, and then we have a chance to recoup". I don't agree, but he's the boss.
More terms increases the potential for exposure. More terms across more engines also increases the potential for exposure, and increases your costs almost immediately. Instead of paying for one click, you pay for one per engine.
Aggressive monitoring of your PPC conversions is required when you start branching out. You must also aggressively remove/modify poorly performing terms/ads as soon as you recognize they are not doing what they should to keep your low-performing click costs down.
It does cost money just to have them dangling out there.
Summary
1. Ad refinement, multiple ads, experimentation and tracking and analysis and more refinement are the keys to improving CTR.
2. Make landing pages that sell immediately, or substantially contribute to your sales process. Refine them frequently (monthly) if they are not doing their job.
3. More PPC ads = greater exposure on all fronts; monetarily and potential sales-wise. The bigger you get, the most critical tracking and analysis become. Don't go too long without setting up a system that you can use to evaluate term/ad/sales performance all the way through your system. It's much harder to set it up when you have tens of thousands of ads running.
Hope that's helpful!
