The basis of a good PPC campaign is choosing the right list of keywords. It’s vital to be sure that you’ve searched and researched high quality keywords and phrases to get the best results. Make a long list, and check out all the avenues open to you. Start with a very popular keyword – for instance, “credit”. Lots of people search for this word every day. However, it’s hard to rank well for this term, since it’s also used by plenty of other advertisers. How can you improve your chances? Broaden your scope to include related terms.

This is where you need to think like one of your customers and start using the words they will type into their search engine at home. The word credit goes with many services, things like credit cards, credit reports or consolidating poor credit to name just a few. So when you’ve got yourself a list, you can start to narrow it down further.

These longer concepts become a series of terms that people search for, all related to your basic keyword. “Credit” becomes “free credit report”, “get better credit”, “bad credit loan” and “consolidate credit cards”. There are lots of other options, and these words are just a little different from the original keyword. You can keep expanding from there.

Stay with what works, it’s always best to keep things simple. But at the same time, experiment if you are not getting good numbers for your campaign. If you are stuck, try adding specific organization names, there are many companies out there associated with “credit”.

Try adding an extension like .com or .org or .net to the end of the search term. You can even try to target specific countries like .au for Australia or .ca for Canada. People still include these in their search sometimes. By including them in your ads, you are increasing your chances of a targeted click and sale.

General keywords are often a waste of resources as the bidding for these is fierce. Try to concentrate on related terms and phrases. Phrases can be turned around so that the same words can reach a different set of viewers. Again, this is all about getting inside your customers heads and trying to see through their eyes. What is it that they will type when they want your product?

A good keyword list is the best way to start out a PPC campaign. Once you get a winning combination of words you are on your way to success.