Are you trying to get more out of your company's pay-per-click marketing campaign? It can't hurt to go over the following basic checklist to see if your efforts are living up to their potential.

In an article for Search Engine Journal, Dave Thomas notes that it's important to review why you are doing PPC, examine what is and is not working, consider how you can fix whatever isn't succeeding, and analyze your return on investment (ROI). He also points out a number of things you need to keep in mind with every PPC campaign.

First, you need to make sure you know your audience. Thomas believes that this is just as important as choosing the correct keywords. If you market to the wrong group, they're not going to buy what you have to offer, so you're just throwing away all that time and money. You will see rewards on effort spent researching your customers.

When you know who you're reaching, you'll get a better idea of how to reach them – which brings us to the subject of keyword optimization. You need to choose the right keywords to make it easy for customers to find your site and what you have to offer. That may mean using more precise keywords than you have been using up until now, to keep from getting lost among many others who all seem to offer the same thing.

Speaking of keyword optimization and using precise terms, have you considered the advantages of using negative keywords with your PPC campaign? They aren't mysterious or frightening things. Consider this: if you sell new Star Wars figures, and ONLY new ones, you probably don't want your ad popping up for the search phrase “vintage Star Wars figures.” It might if you're using only “Star Wars figures” as the search phrase to trigger your ad. By using “vintage” as a negative term, you avoid wasting your money and searchers' time. I'm sure you can think of many similar examples in your own field.

As you're creating your PPC ad, remember that everyone loves a good deal. Putting an enticing deal in your ad will make it difficult for potential customers to NOT click through. Keep your deal relevant to your company's offerings, so you attract customers who are truly interested in your products or services. For example, an accountant could offer a list of the 10 most overlooked tax deductions and how to take them, or a discount on a client's first appointment.

Finally, the best way to know whether you're truly getting the most  you can from your PPC campaigns is to track and test them regularly. That means you need to change them. But you need to be scientific about it. Thomas recommends testing a whole series of ads at the same time, changing only one variable at a time. You should check which ones convert best – and at which times. Conversion rates vary based on the time of day, time of year, and other time-based factors, especially in seasonal businesses (hotels, accounting services, etc.). “In order to compile data to see how your return on investment (ROI) is doing, link your PPC account to the Google Analytics program to see which advertisements drove visitors to your land page and those that led to a sale,” Thomas advises.

Pay-per-click marketing is a lot of work, but it doesn't have to be a struggle or a mystery. With a little research and some important tweaks to your current approach, you can get better results and a larger ROI. Good luck!

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