Setting up an effective pay-per-click (PPC) campaign can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you’re doing it without the help of a professional. So, we thought we’d let you in on a few common PPC mistakes that you can very easily fix, or avoid altogether.
Our goal in telling you about these avoidable PPC mistakes, is that you gain a lot of traction, a lot of traffic, and a lot of conversions by doing PPC correctly.
#1: Not Defining Your Negative Keywords
You’re tossing tons of moolah down the drain if you don’t set up your negative keywords (correctly) because the wrong people are seeing your ad, and possibly clicking on it, only to bounce a second later.
Figure out the words that you do NOT want involved with your PPC campaign. It may take you a bit longer, but the ROI will be reward enough.
#2: Ignoring the Expanded Text Ads Upgrade
If Google or Bing is telling you to upgrade to Extended Text Ads, pay attention. In doing so you’re allowing for a more detailed ad, giving your customers info on your product and why they need it.
The search engines’ goal is to provide the best value and the best information to a searcher, so if your ad offers the insights your users are looking for- that’s a big plus.
#3: Too Many Broad Match Keywords
Don’t get crazy with the broad match keywords, specificity can be and will be your friend. I mean, you’re spending money on these words, make ‘em count. Sure, the broad matches may get you some traffic, but I promise that a solid keyword list with exact match offers far greater room for success.
#4: Your Location Targeting is Undefined
Yes, you’re probably well aware of this, but that’s why it gets overlooked, it’s too easy. When you set yourself up with all the PPC bells and whistles, be sure your location setting is targeting the country you want it to be targeting.
#5: Not Setting Up Ad Scheduling
It’s insane to not use this handy helper. You may have a sale running for a few hours, or you may be staying open late for VIP customers, or maybe you’re having a pop-up over the weekend- whatever the reason, if your ad shows up at irrelevant times, no one’s coming to your killer sale.
Scheduling your ads will only benefit you and your customers, so take the time to set it up properly.
#6: Not Using Google Analytics
If you think Google Analytics is unnecessary, think again. It’s amazing and offers soooo much insight and detail into your company. And I mean, hello, it’s free- are you nuts not using it? Nothing is better for your business than an educated decision on how to run it. That’s what Google Analytics does for you. It gives you all that knowledge… FOR FREE.
Use it. See results.
#7: Not Testing Before Making Changes
The information derived from testing is invaluable to your company. You cannot just decide mid-PPC campaign to change it all in its entirety, that’s dangerous. Test, test, test.
First, figure out how well the current campaign is going- get the data. Next, set up a test campaign with just one of your running campaigns and review how it performs prior to trashing your old strategy, spending a load of dough, and not getting the anticipated results. The test will let you know if you’re making a sound decision.
#8: Wrongly Targeting Mobile Traffic
If you don’t know by now, let me be the first to tell you: mobile traffic is big. It’s like, huge. All the rage. That said, your website should 100% be mobile-friendly. THAT said, if it’s not mobile-friendly (fix it fast), don’t target mobile traffic. No one likes wasting their time on sites that don’t work, so don’t let it happen.
#9: Bad Landing Pages
Oy. What’s worse than a non-working mobile website? Seeing an ad that promises to do one thing, clicking it, going to the landing page, and not seeing what the ad promised.
Your landing page should be relevant, inspired, and compelling- completely related to your ad, with an easy-to-find and use CTA. You want the landing page dedicated to your ad to be just that: dedicated to your ad. Be specific with it and don’t lead the customer astray.
#10: Combining Search and Display
Search ads differ from display ads. Search ads come up when a user is searching for something on the search engines. Easy enough. Display ads come up when a user is online shopping or reading or whatever, and ads for items previously searched for appear on the right side of the web page.
See the difference? Your customer will. It doesn’t take a lot of time and it’s pretty easy to set up, so separate your search and display campaigns for more successful results.
The Takeaway
Knowing your audience is half the battle, so fine-tune your PPC campaign in all the right ways to really get the ROI, traffic, and following. With all the moving parts it’s easy to let something get away from you when setting up a new campaign, even super easy things, pay attention to the details and read the data in order to ensure a successful PPC campaign.
If you want some help on your new or existing PPC campaign, we know all about it. Call us today and let’s chat.
