5 Common PPC Mistakes Almost Every Business Makes

5 Common PPC Mistakes Almost Every Business Makes

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be a potent digital marketing tool as long as you use it with clarity, intent, and to its fullest potential. However, this can be challenging at times because it is not an exact science. It can take a bit of trial and error to achieve a good return on investment. With some research and tinkering, you can reap excellent rewards – up to $2 in revenue for every $1 spent, according to Google. To fast-track this success, it is best to avoid these five common PPC mistakes.

1. Not paying attention to data

Before making any hard and fast decisions about how your campaign is doing, and which ads and keywords to target, carefully analyze all the available data. You may find that you are doing well overall, with plenty of clicks and conversions, and so you might decide to keep your current spread of ads as it is. However, parts of your campaign may be working well, while others are not working at all. One or two of your ads may be carrying your entire campaign. Analyzing the data allows you to shift your strategy and spending to maximize your results.

2. Not using negative keywords

Many marketers either forget, neglect, or choose to ignore negative keywords. This can be a big mistake. While it may seem counterintuitive to target keywords that are meant to keep people away from your website, it is actually one of the best ways to establish your niche and make sure that you attract only visitors who are most likely to become paying clients. You would be doing both yourself and internet users a favor by establishing these limits at the very beginning. Yes, negative keywords will lead to less traffic, but they will eliminate only the non-converting visitors and ensure that you get the right traffic.

3. Not using ad extensions

Ad extensions can increase your click-through-rate by 10-20% – and they don’t cost any extra – yet many people forget to include them in their campaigns. As extensions can increase your ad’s reach, they can provide better value for money, and they offer more ways to reach you while increasing your online visibility. They may include contact details, site links, invitations to download an app (if you have one) or testimonials from your customers, among other things. Be sure to include as many of them as you can.

4. Forgetting to bid on your own brand keywords

You should always run at least one campaign that is dedicated to your own brand keywords. The main advantages of doing so are that brand keywords are generally much cheaper, yield higher search scores and convert much better than generic keywords. By neglecting to set up brand keyword PPC campaigns, you miss out on opportunities to capture your market.

5. Targeting the wrong keywords 

Sub-optimum keyword selection is a mistake that many companies make in their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. It can be particularly costly when it comes to PPC, as choosing the wrong keywords can result in either no hits at all or hits that don’t convert to sales, but which you still have to pay for. One of the best ways to target your PPC ads is with long-tail keywords. The main characteristic that distinguishes long-tail keywords from short-tail ones is that they usually consist of two or more words that resemble detailed queries. In contrast, short-tail keywords generally consist of single words or phrases without context. Using long-tail keywords will narrow your traffic considerably and help ensure that your PPC costs are worthwhile.

For an effective, error-free PPC campaign that gives you the highest possible ROI, it’s best to engage the services of a professional search engine optimization company. WSI New Media Marketing in Greensboro, a proud member of the global WSI family, is a digital marketing company with considerable experience and success in strategies such as SEO marketing, PPC, content marketing and more. Contact us for more information.