It’s no secret that PPC advertising is one of the fastest ways to generate new customers through your website. However, what many people don’t realise is that conducting an effective PPC campaign with an optimal ROI is actually incredibly difficult.
With that in mind, we’re going to cover the biggest no-no’s in PPC marketing.
1. Not targeting properly
One of the hardest things to nail down in PPC marketing is proper targeting. And if you struggle with this, ultimately your ads are going to be shown to the wrong people – which means very little engagement and even fewer conversions.
Think of it like trying to advertise a car rental service to someone who can’t drive.
As such, you need to get into the buyer persona, do your keyword research, understand search intent, and position your adverts accordingly.
2. Having poor ad copy
It is so easy to underestimate the value of a gifted copywriter. After all, how hard can it be to write between twelve and twenty-three-words for a PPC description?
The reality is, when you are working with such a limited word count, every single word that you use must be perfect. There must be ZERO fat on your PPC descriptions and unless you are an experienced copywriter with a comprehensive understanding of consumer psychology, you might struggle.
The typical amount of traffic in a Google SERP that goes to promoted posts is below 10% and that is often split between four separate ads.
If you want the best possible chance at not only attracting visitors to click on your ads, but convert into business as well, you’re going to need to get creative!
3. Not A/B testing your ads
A/B testing (or split-testing) is the process of running multiple versions of an advert side by side in order to determine which variation is more effective. It could be as simple as changing one or two words around in your advert or trialling two different versions of a landing page.
Either way, unless you take the time to A/B test, you’ll never be able to achieve optimal performance with your PPC campaign.
4. Not building or optimising landing pages
Depending on the ultimate goal of your PPC ads campaign, you should build and optimise dedicated landing pages.
For example, if you are trying to push a service in a specific location (e.g., SEO company Gold Coast) and you direct ad traffic to a generic home page, you won’t be meeting expectations and thus you’ll lose a lot of your traffic. However, if they click through and end up on a dedicated landing page that has targeted, location-specific sales copy, then you’ll have a much higher chance at converting them into customers.
Of course, these landing pages need to be optimised accordingly. You could have the greatest adverts in the world but if your landing page is not up to par then you are wasting your time.
As briefly mentioned earlier, A/B testing is very helpful in this regard.
5. Failing to study your analytics
Data is the big daddy of modern marketing and if you wish to get the most out of your PPC ads campaigns then you need to sift through your analytics with a fine-toothed comb.
When you fail to study your analytics you’ll never be able to see what is working and what is not. For example, how will you know how many people abandon your landing page the moment they arrive? Or which CTA is attracting the most conversions?
The more data you have (and study) the better positioned you will be to craft a game-changing PPC campaign.
Don’t make the mistake of publishing an ad and assuming that your work is finished. An ad is NEVER complete; instead it should remain forever freeform.
