Shopify in 21 Days - Lesson 14: Paid Traffic Methods Training

Search Engine Marketing (Pay-Per-Click)

• What is Pay-Per-Click? Quite simply, it is what is sounds like a form of advertising where you the advertiser pay for each valid click coming from the consumer. When most people refer to PPC, they are generally talking about Search Engine Marketing. The clicks in this case are coming from a search engine like Google or Bing. In theory, this is a simple process of bidding on the correct keywords that will drive traffic and conversions. In reality, it can get pretty complex with many variables.
• Search Keywords and Bidding. Search advertisers compete against one another by bidding on keywords like an auction. Higher bids move ads into better positions for better click through rates (CTR). The price of a keyword is determined by the marketplace, keywords relating to high value markets will generally be more expensive. In addition, broad keywords will get more clicks and traffic but could lower conversions.
• Quality Score and Relevancy. Search engines also grade your landing page (the page your ad links to) and assign a quality score. The quality score is based off of the relevancy of the page to your ad and the CTR. For example, an ad that promises a free bonus that links to an offer without a bonus, will likely have a low quality score. If searchers click away from the page before it loads that would also lead to a poor quality score. A low quality score can be very hard to bounce back from in many cases it is better just to start over with a new URL.
• Testing and Optimizing. It is hard to have a winning campaign without testing and tweaking your product, offer, and your ad copy. One way to do this is though what is called A/B testing, you make small changes and test them against your original. The improvements that work can lead to better conversions and more profits.

Introduction to Facebook Ads

• Business Manager. The first step to fully utilizing Facebook Ads is to sign up for a business manager account this will give you more control over your ad campaigns. Sign up HERE.
• Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads. A campaign is a group of ad sets with  the same goal. Some campaign goals that Facebook offers are conversions, traffic,  and engagement. An ad set is group of ads within a campaign, these could be grouped according to their audiences or other features. 
• Types of Audiences. Custom audiences are typically groups that have already been identified such as a customer list or people who have already subscribed to your email list. Lookalike audience is an audience based on the attributes found in another audience. For example, you may define a custom audience using your email list or Facebook page. Using that as a basis Facebook can then create a larger audience with the same attributes, this can help greatly in increasing conversions.
• Getting your Ad Approved. It should be noted that Facebook has strict policies on what can and can't be promoted on their site. They also keep a watchful eye on how advertisers promote their sites it is a good idea to become familiar with what is allowed and what is not.

Actionable Steps 

1. Experiment with Paid Traffic. The best way to learn about paid traffic is to take the plunge and try out a few ads. Google Ads usually offers $100 dollars in free advertising to new users. Facebook offers very low minimum daily ad spends and you can pause your campaigns at any time. 

Conclusion and Further Training

Congratulations you've completed the Shopify in 21 Days FREE Training! By this point you should have your new Shopify store up and ready to receive orders. If not feel free to go back and revisit any of the previous lessons at any time. However, there is still much to learn about Shopify that wasn't covered in this course. I've included some recommended training courses to advance your eCommerce success and take your store to the next level.

1. Oberlo's Dropshipping 101 Course. This course is normally $49 but for a limited time Oberlo has dropped the fee and made this a free course for everyone. This course focuses on choosing winning products and promoting them using Facebook ads.
2. Google Ads Training. Google themselves offer free training on many of the various types of ads they offer. They even offer certification in case you want to help others optimize their campaigns. All of this is completely free!
3. Facebook and Shopify Masterclass. The Shopify Ninja Masterclass 2019 version is available through fiverr at a steep discount. As a bonus you'll also get the Facebook ads masterclass as well. It's not free but at $35 it's a very good deal.
4. Shopify Email Marketing. Email marketing is essential to increase conversions and retain customers, this free course from Shopify compass will take you from beginner to expert in no time.