PPC is a great way for businesses of all sizes to increase traffic to their sites and boost conversions, but just like any other marketing, there are a number of pitfalls along the way that can trip you up if you’re not sure what you’re doing. If you’ve tried PPC in the past and didn’t see the results you were looking for, there’s a strong possibility that it was as a result of one or more of these six most common PPC mistakes:
1. Using Overly Broad Keywords
Your PPC efforts are only as good as the keywords that you use; so, if you’re using the wrong keywords, your PPC can be domed from the start. In an attempt to get as much exposure as possible, many new advertisers will use keywords that are too broad. Overly broad keywords mean that you’ll be paying for a lot of unqualified traffic to your site. This budget buster can spell disaster!
2. Creating Blah Ads
If ads aren’t compelling enough, all of the time investment of time that you’ve put into creating campaigns and ad groups will be wasted because no one will be clicking on your ads. Without creating ads that stand out from your competitors, you won’t get the traffic you’re hoping to attract with your PPC efforts.
3. Selecting the Wrong Landing Pages
So you’ve nailed the keywords and the ads, but if you send traffic to the wrong place on your site, searchers may leave before converting (making a purchase, filling out a lead form, etc.). Selecting the right landing page is very important to ensuring the success of your PPC. Always land searchers on the page that is most relevant to their search so that they don’t have to do the work themselves to find what they’re looking for.
4. Having Low Quality Scores
A low quality score means that your campaign performance can suffer and you may end up having to pay more to get your ads the exposure you want. Improving things like landing page quality and keyword relevance to your ad text can increase your quality score.
5. Installing Conversion Tracking Incorrectly
Conversion tracking will only help you make the right decisions for your PPC account if it’s installed correctly. Owning a digital marketing agency, I’ve seen both sides of the coin – business owners who discontinued efforts that were actually producing a solid ROI because they thought they weren’t working and also business owners who kept poorly performing efforts running because they thought they were doing better than they actually were.
6. Setting It and Forgetting It
PPC requires ongoing maintenance, so if you just set it up and then let it run unmonitored, your results will likely be less impressive than if you kept up with it regularly.
Hopefully now you have a better sense of where your PPC may have gone off track. If you’re interested in getting back into the PPC game, contact us.
By Kate Pierce. Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Web Consulting for small businesses, Copywriting and Local Online Marketing. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and enjoys cooking, watching sports and spending time outdoors. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about marketing theory and SEM trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
1. Using Overly Broad Keywords
Your PPC efforts are only as good as the keywords that you use; so, if you’re using the wrong keywords, your PPC can be domed from the start. In an attempt to get as much exposure as possible, many new advertisers will use keywords that are too broad. Overly broad keywords mean that you’ll be paying for a lot of unqualified traffic to your site. This budget buster can spell disaster!
2. Creating Blah Ads
If ads aren’t compelling enough, all of the time investment of time that you’ve put into creating campaigns and ad groups will be wasted because no one will be clicking on your ads. Without creating ads that stand out from your competitors, you won’t get the traffic you’re hoping to attract with your PPC efforts.
3. Selecting the Wrong Landing Pages
So you’ve nailed the keywords and the ads, but if you send traffic to the wrong place on your site, searchers may leave before converting (making a purchase, filling out a lead form, etc.). Selecting the right landing page is very important to ensuring the success of your PPC. Always land searchers on the page that is most relevant to their search so that they don’t have to do the work themselves to find what they’re looking for.
4. Having Low Quality Scores
A low quality score means that your campaign performance can suffer and you may end up having to pay more to get your ads the exposure you want. Improving things like landing page quality and keyword relevance to your ad text can increase your quality score.
5. Installing Conversion Tracking Incorrectly
Conversion tracking will only help you make the right decisions for your PPC account if it’s installed correctly. Owning a digital marketing agency, I’ve seen both sides of the coin – business owners who discontinued efforts that were actually producing a solid ROI because they thought they weren’t working and also business owners who kept poorly performing efforts running because they thought they were doing better than they actually were.
6. Setting It and Forgetting It
PPC requires ongoing maintenance, so if you just set it up and then let it run unmonitored, your results will likely be less impressive than if you kept up with it regularly.
Hopefully now you have a better sense of where your PPC may have gone off track. If you’re interested in getting back into the PPC game, contact us.
By Kate Pierce. Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Web Consulting for small businesses, Copywriting and Local Online Marketing. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and enjoys cooking, watching sports and spending time outdoors. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about marketing theory and SEM trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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