Mistakes of Pay Per Click Advertising: The Terrible 10
While it is simple to get started in pay per click advertising, it’s even easier to make very costly mistakes. Building a pay per click campaign the correct way means paying attention to detail and continual oversight and management. I’ve compiled a list of 10 typical mistakes that are found in PPC advertising campaigns.
Large, Bulky and Broad Ad Groups for Your Keywords
It’s important to target your ad to be as relevant as possible. Don’t group all your keywords into one or two ad groups. Break them out. Keep them tight. This gives you more control over ad variables so that you can be as relevant as possible.
Not Taking Advantage of Negative Keywords
Pay per click advertising has placed more importance than ever on click through rates and quality scores. It is vital to fine tune your impressions by getting rid of the non-relevant phrases that are lowering those CTRs. If you are selling an item such as “software for widgets” then be certain you also have those negative keywords like “-free” if you don’t have a free trial version. One way to find irrelevant keywords that are costing you is to check your log files of your site.
Not Doing Enough Testing
An often neglected, but very important result-booster is the split testing of your ads. Even minor variations can increase your effectiveness. Obviously, you can rework such items like your one-of-a-kind value statement or your different calls to action, but there are many variables of each ad that can be optimized. Your display url, the ad title, each line of copy — all of that may be effectively tested. This can be time consuming, which is why a quality pay per click management company can be a great investment, especially if they offer daily split testing. Effort here pays off.
Poor or Non-Existent Tracking
If you do get into testing ads and fine-tuning your keyword lists, it’s only as effective as your tracking. Any PPC search engine will give you your ad spends and click through rates, but what about the bottom-line success? Knowing that you made $14,000 off of a $7,000 ad spend is fine, but if you dig deeper with your tracking you might be able to make that same $14,000 with only $6,000 a month in spend. That savings ads up.
Not Tracking Results to the Keyword Level
Proper and exact analytics or using an experienced pay per click management company is essential to get the data you need. If you’ve keywords that are not performing and leaking your account on a daily basis, you’re throwing money away. Getting results to the keyword level allows you to adjust bids for maximum effect. If you’ve one keyword with a $1.34 earnings per click and another at 37 cents, this is key information that grants you to maximize profits. Lower one bid if you’re above your “EPC” and raise another to eek out more profits from that sweet-spot keyword. Don’t waste money on a daily basis.
Too Generic of Keywords
Negative keywords may not be enough to keep you from trouble on too generic a keyword. While these generic keywords are often more highly searched and can even be among your best…they can also be riddled with bad traffic. Users who perform a search on a generic keyword might often be at a very early stage in the purchase process. Are you able to turn an effective profit on them? Once again, this is yet another reason why you need keyword-level traffic. It’s especially vital on a generic keyword.
Ignoring the Many Long-Tail Keywords
This dovetails into the previous item. Building out lists and ads for long-tail keywords can be a time-consuming process, but worthwhile if done right. You’re going to have different earnings per click for the keywords “dvd player,” “sony dvd player” and “sony dvd player model DVP-NS57P/B.” One consumer is doing research, while the other is likely pricing for the specific model they want and is ready to buy.
Combining Search and Content Networks
If you don’t want to get burned by click fraud or poor traffic, you need to make sure your content network campaigns and your search network campaigns are separated. If you don’t know what this means, chances are they aren’t separated in your account and you’re likely losing money. Ideally, you would have separate campaigns for each, along with precision analytics to know exactly what keyword from which source is converting for you in the content network.
Not Attracting Local Clients Through Geo Targeting
If you draw most of your business from a local area, the big three PPC engines allow you to geo-target your keywords to that area. This will bring the local market to your doorstep on non-local keyword phrases. This can be hugely profitable.
Not Continually Monitoring Your Campaigns
Okay, so you don’t do daily split testing even though you should. Maybe you don’t continually monitor your earnings per click at the keyword level, even though you should. Still, a lot of PPC advertisers don’t even frequently check into their accounts. Google, Yahoo and MSN are increasingly slapping keywords with the “Inactive for Search” status to get you to improve your quality. They might be slowly picking off your keywords — and your profits — one by one and you aren’t even aware of it.
Making mistakes like the Terrible 10 of PPC Advertising are common, but correcting them can have a big impact on your bottom line. If you can manage your pay per click ads at a high level or if you can hire them out to a professional pay per click management company…the results for your increased precision and effort will pay off.
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