Pay per click advertising is a great way to get a product or service noticed. However, if it's not done properly, one can waste a lot of time and money. Here are some PPC mistakes to avoid.
Insufficient Keyword Research
Keyword research is not something that can be done on the fly. While it's a good start to jot down keywords that are relate to the target industry, one must also research what people are actually searching for.
When making a list without any research behind it, there is a tendency to be too general. By using keyword research tools, users can find long tail keywords that will boost the effectiveness of the PPC campaign.
Not Monitoring Campaigns
Pay per click advertising is not a task one can set and forget. Campaigns need to be constantly monitored for effectiveness. Users need to ensure their ad is being seen, clicked on, and is converting.
What headlines are leading users to the complete the goal action? Does one set of copy produce more results than another? Are certain keywords not as effective as planned? All of these are questions that need to be asked and answered.
Not Linking to the Relevant Landing Page
Linking to home page instead of a specific page is one of the biggest mistakes that people make when running a PPC campaign. They'll pick out specific keywords, write a great ad geared towards those words, and then link to the sites homepage.
When clicking an ad, users don't necessarily want to go to the sites home page. They want to go to the page that is relevant to their query. So if someone searched for “dog collars”, don't set the URL to a pet supply store's homepage- take the user to the page with the dog collars.
It takes more work to target each ad to a specific landing page but that is what is going to bring results.
Using a Telephone Number
The likelihood of someone picking up the phone after viewing a PPC ad is virtually non-existent. A PPC ad is not a billboard, so using a phone number is a waste of space.
The space alloted for the ad text should be used to write convincing copy in order to get an online conversion.
Using the Wrong Metrics
Measuring an ads click through rate (CTR) is not as important as measuring the conversion rate. It can be tempting to look at the CTR and be encouraged if the number is high, but with pay per click advertising, the most valuable metric is the conversion rate. It doesn't matter how many people click on the ad if no one buys anything or signs up for whatever is being offered.
Being educated is the first step in running successful web campaigns. Web marketers may also be interested in SEO Mistakes.
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