Top 10 Pay Per Click Mistakes
Pay per click really is a brilliant advertising model
. It offers speed, control and visibility. You can have a campaign live in as little as half an hour and control everything from budgets to landing pages. However if your campaign isn't set up correctly you can end up spending a lot of cash and not seeing the returns you expect. Many search marketers(agencies included) make some fundamental mistakes and in my experience these are some of the more common ones:
Poor account structure The most common mistake in modern PPC is in the way accounts are structured. A poorly structured account will make life terribly difficult and bring you higher costs. There is no perfect way to set u your account, but there are definitely wrong ways of doing it. Take a look at your account and make sure it is structured sensibly with closely themed ad groups and relevant adverts.
Believing that position 1 is the only place to be The search engines would love you to believe that position 1 is the best place to be. It is the most expensive position to be in and can drive a lot of empty traffic. While this is true, position 1 can in some cases be the best position. For example for your brand terms. Some markets are very competitive and expensive and only through testing can you find the optimum position.
Using incorrect landing pages If a user is searching for a specific product or service, take them to a relevant landing page. Not only does a relevant page help your users but it will also help your quality score. Many marketers still link their ads to their homepage, but this is only really of use for your brand terms. Your users shouldn't have to search for the products again once they reach your site.
Only using one match type If your new to PPC or have a team managing it for you, there are three main match types: Broad match (match everything containing the words), phrase (Match to everything containing the words in order) and exact (matches to everything containing only the exact phrase. These match types allow you to qualify your traffic but they need to be used carefully. Incorrect match types can waste your budget and bring you completely irrelevant clicks.
Not testing It is difficult (if not impossible) to get a 100% perfect PPC account. Granted, it may be delivering excellent ROI but there is usually room for improvement. The market changes constantly so you need to keep up and test things such as, new keywords, different ad copy, landing page design etc. Only by testing constantly can you keep up with your users.
Mixing Content (Google Display Network) and Search The content/display network is a truly great place to gain exposure for your brand. There are literally thousands of different sites your ads can be shown on. But this method of advertising is not as easy as the search engines would like you to believe. They work differently and should be treated as such, so always run search and content campaigns separately.
Broad bidding Strategy Each keyword is in its own individual auction and should be treated as such. Many people seek to simplify their bidding strategy and apply one bid price to large groups of keywords. This is incredibly wasteful and you could be left with swathes of keywords with one bid price and a whole array of average bid positions despite the keywords being very similar
Not checking your ads It is easy toassume your ads are fine, after all the data is showing they are receiving clicks and conversions. However, there are competitors out there striving to do better than you. It pays to keep a close eye on what is actually happening in the search results, check your competitor messages, are they more compelling than yours? Is there a more relevant page you can link your ad to? Do you have unwanted affiliate activity? The live results give you the best idea of where you can take your campaigns.
Not making use of alternative search engines Let it be said that Google is by far the biggest search engine when it comes to PPC, but bigger doesn't always mean better. Other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing (MSN) can be more hassle than Google and volumes aren't as high but they do have worthwhile volume. Costs and competition can be up to 80% lower than Google and later this year the Yahoo and Bing will merge so it's a great time to get a campaign going with them.
Relying solely on Bid Management software In the competitive Pay Per Click market, many management agencies sell their services at rock bottom prices. This appears great on the surface, but how can they sell services at such small margins? The answer is often simple; they rely on automated software and not manual management. This isn't to say that automated tools don't have a place in PPC management, because they definitely help with larger accounts, but they are based on rules and have no common sense. These programs are only as good as the rules you set, and the power of a human analysing your account should never be underestimated.
If you're pay per click account isn't delivering the results you expect, then why not get a
free ppc account review from a PPC expert? An account review gives you the chance to gain fresh perspective and could help highlight areas for improvement or give you some good news that your account is in good shape.
Top 10 Pay Per Click Mistakes
By: Gareth
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