Creating a Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign? Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes

by Romeo Mwafulirwa

We all make mistakes. We have heard that saying a hundred times, and yet it still rings true. Even seasoned pros commit mistakes; and usually mistakes are the best way to learn. Still, especially when you are a beginner at something, it is comforting to know that even the pros mess up at times. Every golfer likes it when Tiger Woods shanks a drive, for example.

Recently, I asked some PPC experts to share their greatest mistakes (anonymously, of course). One of them sent me seven mistakes and said he had made all of them in the lastyear! I know I've committed my own share of mistakes, too. With that, here are five common mistakes PPC advertisers made, and how to avoid them.

1. A lack of keywords in your ad text

When you are writing descriptive ad copy, it is important that you manage to include your keywords into your title and description while maintaining a delicate balance between relevance and clarity. Your ad copy should be created in such a way that as consumers read it, they understand exactly what they can expect when they click on your ad. Creating an ad that contains random words, as opposed to one which describes your site's content and the products or services you offer, will represent a complete failure of a PPC campaign and wasted money.

2. Not having a suitable landing page

It is pointless sending visitors to your website if those visitors don’t like what they find there. If you are advertising for conveyancing services in London, sending the visitor to a Personal Protection Insurance claims web page is misleading and will result in the visitor clicking straight out since the web page is irrelevant.

If you are looking to boost your conversion rate, and with PPC search advertising, you should be thinking about building a specific landing page for each campaign or product or service that you are advertising. People searching for conveyancing services seeing a page dedicated to conveyancing; and people searching for personal protection insurance claims seeing a page specifically for PPI claims. Sending people directly to the home page of your website, unless this is well optimized for conversions can also lower your conversion rate.

3. Failing to track results

In order to have any idea about your PPC campaign’s performance, you must be able to identify which keywords work and those that don't. Bing Ads and Google AdWords supply a vast array of useful conversion tracking tools to help you track how your ads and campaigns are achieving your goals. No PPC conversion data at any level means that a campaign is essentially flying blind.

I can't over-emphasize the importance of creating goals for your PPC campaign; and then comparing your actual performance against these goals so that you can measure your success. Determine both the negative and the positive points of your campaign in order to make it better and avoid spending money unnecessarily.

4. Creating a long list of less than targeted keywords

When you first set out to create your PPC campaign, it’s important not to go "keyword mad" This means that you don't create an endless, useless list of keywords that will only increase the cost and bring you little to no result in return. Only use keywords or phrases that are absolutely relevant to your business and are an indication of what people will find on your website. It’s important to identify your specific niche, and to market directly to users who want the products and services that you offer. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that broader is better. That's just not true.

5. Failing to identify unique aspects of your product or service

Before deciding to go for a PPC advertising campaign you need to make sure that you are clear on what differentiates you from the competition. Once you have identified your unique products or services you will know which keywords or phrases are unique to your business. It is highly recommended to analyze the competition, see what they are offering and which keywords they are using. Next, determine which products or services you offer will give you a competitive advantage over the competition. When creating the ads it is so very important to maintain a balance between keywords, relevance and clarity.

Conclusion

PPC Search marketing is an incredibly powerful way to attract targeted visitors to your website and if managed the right way can provide a large portion of your qualified visitors, leads and sales. So, do your homework and make sure that you get the best possible return on your investment. It is always important to remember that campaign results can often times drastically improve by simply avoiding several common mistakes.

Got any questions or comments? Post them below in the comments section.

Article by Romeo Mwafulirwa

Romeo is a UK based Digital Marketing & Sales Specialist with Digital Marketing Endevours Ltd and has been working in the sales and marketing industry for nearly 4 years. If you like this post, you can follow him on Twitter to receive instant updates.

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