If you are new to the game or have been doing this for years, you can still make some mistakes with your PPC campaigns that will harm performance and bring down results. On average, people, businesses, and corporations lose $1.63 for every $1 spent on Google Adwords campaigns due to poor planning, unclear strategy, and lousy implementation (according to a recent study by Chitika).
So, this article will cover seven of the most common mistakes people make when running a campaign, as well as what you should do instead!
What is PPC Advertising
PPC is an acronym for ‘pay-per-click advertising, which means that you only pay if people click through your website. You set up ads with keywords relevant to what you offer, and these ads show on the search engine results pages (or SERPs).
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People can then click on your ad and be directed to your site. For example, if you set up a PPC campaign on Google AdWords, your ads will also appear on the top and right-hand side of Google.com search results.
Why Choose PPC
PPC is the quickest way to gain targeted traffic. Google Adwords works on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning that if you are fast enough, your ads can appear at the top of the search results straight away. It will be highly beneficial for anyone new to their industry or very little brand awareness.
The great thing about PPC advertising is that you only pay when people click on your ad, which means you can keep track of how many clicks per day each campaign gets. You can also set daily limits on how much you want to spend for each campaign per day (called ‘bidding’), so it doesn’t matter if your budget is big or small – you will never overspend on your campaigns.
You can also easily segment your audiences to target specific demographics, locations, and devices, so you only pay for the people most likely to buy from you. You can then set up different offers or ad copies for each of these segments to optimize the performance of each campaign. Again, this will help you find out what ad copy and offers work the best with specific audiences so that you can scale your campaigns into higher profits.
Common PPC mistakes are widespread but can be mitigated with the expertise of a PPC agency which can help businesses avoid errors such as improper keyword targeting, neglecting ad extensions, and failing to optimize landing pages, ensuring a more successful and cost-effective pay-per-click advertising campaign.
Not Targeting Your Audience
Before launching your campaign, take time to think about who you want to reach out to. You need to know which keywords they would use in their search queries so that your ads show up when they’re looking for them.
Such a strategy is called targeting. If you don’t target appropriately, then it’s likely that your ads won’t appear on the search result page at all! Be sure to take the time to research your audience so that your ads are seen by the people you want to reach out to.
Bad Match Type Selection
If you use broad or phrase match types, any search query can trigger your ad. If this happens, there is no way for Google’s system to determine what the searcher wants, and therefore your ad won’t show up.
Instead of making things difficult for yourself, choose exact match types only. It will ensure that only searches with those words trigger the display of your ads while also saving money on clicks!
Bidding on Your Brand Name
When running a PPC campaign, it can be tempting to bid on all sorts of keywords related to your business. However, it’s not a good idea to bid on your brand name.
If you’re bidding on your brand, then you won’t know whether someone is searching for the official website or their second cousin’s pet iguana that also has your company’s name! You can end up spending a lot of money if you do this and will be left wondering why no one ever clicks on your ads.
Using Irrelevant Descriptions
Your ads should include a clear and brief description of what they offer. However, do not mistake using irrelevant descriptions, as this will lead to low click-through rates and poor-quality scores, which will cause your costs per click to rise.
Instead, try to keep things as concise as possible while at the same time focusing on the most important things that you offer.
Not Using Negative Keywords
If your campaign is set to target a particular geographical area, be sure to add ‘no’ before any keywords associated with locations you don’t serve. For example, if you run a sugar daddy eCommerce store from New York and don’t want your ads to show up for searches in Miami, then use “keyword –Sugar Daddy Miami.”
In this case, it’s important to exclude the city of Miami so that your ad doesn’t appear on someone looking for items related to your brand there.
Poor Landing Page Quality
Your ads should direct people towards a high-quality landing page that meets their needs. Landing pages with irrelevant content or too many pop-ups will cause people to close them immediately and probably never return.
To prevent this, ensure that your website is clear about what it offers and why people should bother clicking through to it.
Not Analyzing Results
Once your campaign is up and running, be sure to monitor the performance daily. Analyze which ads are getting clicks and how much money they are bringing in for you. If an ad isn’t performing well, try tweaking the keywords or the targeting of the audience to create better results!
In addition, setting up conversion tracking will enable you to see whether people who click on your ads go on to purchase anything, giving you valuable insight into what’s working best for your business.
The Bottom Line
Making sure you avoid the mistakes mentioned in this article will prevent headaches and wasted money! Not only that, but it’ll ensure that your campaign continues to operate smoothly with high levels of performance.
