PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ad campaigns are a great way for new businesses to generate a steady flow of traffic to their website and can help established businesses supplement their SEO efforts, but these campaigns only work if the ads are properly designed to take advantage of the right keywords and target the right audience. To business owners unfamiliar to the world of Adwords, crafting the perfect PPC campaign can seem like trying to learn a foreign language, and missteps abound for those without the experience or time to effectively manage their campaigns.
The four most common (and damaging) PPC mistakes companies and webmasters make include:
#1: Remarketing State-Specific Ads to the Entire U.S.
For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of Google Adwords, “remarketing” is the practice of showing someone who has previously visited your website (but failed to make a purchase) an ad for your product or service when they perform a similar search. This type of advertising can be extremely effective, providing a subtle “hey, we’re still here!” reminder to potential clients, but it only works if your ads are targeting consumers that may actually need your product or service. Remarketing the ads of dental practice in California to a user in New York City, for example, does absolutely no good, and targeting national or global customers with local products or services is tantamount to lighting money on fire. To fix this misstep, double-check to make sure your ads are targeting the right locations.
#2: Letting Underperforming Campaigns Live
Every now and then, it’s okay to pour money into “sleeper” campaigns that take little out of the budget but generate consistent revenue over time. In general, though, if an ad shows up below position 7, it’s probably not doing your company much good. Rectify this issue by closely monitoring each campaign over a six-month period; if a particular campaign is flagging, best cut your losses and try a new approach.
#3: Ignoring Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are words or phrases that prevent your ad being triggered by a user’s search. For example, if your keywords are “golden retriever puppies” but someone searches for “FREE golden retriever puppies,” your ad might be returned, even though your particular puppies are certainly not free. By specifying “free” as a negative keyword, you help make sure your ads appear only to people looking for what you offer, and this, in turn, will increase your click-through rates (CTR) and reduce your average cost-per-click (CPC).
#4: Mismatching Ads & Landing Pages
Nothing is worse than clicking on ad only to be taken to a page that has nothing to do with what you were searching for, and companies that fail to align ads with their respective web pages will see their campaigns fail to produce the desired ROI as well. If ads aren’t converting, perhaps it’s time to rewrite the ad or retool your content your content to make it more relevant to the user. And for the love of Google, don’t just send ads to the homepage!
In Conclusion
If your business’ Adwords campaigns aren’t living up to their potential, your company may have fallen prey to one of these PPC pitfalls. If you don’t know where to begin to fix the problem, contact Alecan Marketing Solutions today. Our hands-on team will help you create engaging, relevant ad campaigns that boost ROI and generate steady traffic to websites.
