Top Ten Common PPC Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

Friday 5th March 2010

Pay per click advertising is one of the best ways to get traffic to your website, especially if you need it fast. Search engine optimisation, or SEO, definitely has its merits, and has an indisputable place in the online marketing landscape. However, SEO can’t cover the entire spectrum of online traffic that might potentially turn into a conversion for you, and PPC offsets SEO’s shortcomings brilliantly. One of SEO’s major drawbacks is that it takes time, which is a pricey commodity, especially in the era of instant-gratification that’s been brought on by the convenience of the Internet.

PPC is a much quicker method of driving traffic to your website; you may start to see results within as little as fifteen minutes after finalising the details of your AdWords campaign. In addition, since you are able to control nearly every element of your PPC programme, pay per click is an excellent way to test the waters before launching a full-scale SEO operation. The progress of your paid search advertising is easy to monitor with the help of an analytics programme, and once you determine which keywords are bringing you the highest quality traffic, you’ll be better prepared to commence with SEO.

That being said, PPC is not all rainbows and sunshine; a marketer who uses PPC successfully will do extensive research into the website being marketed as well as its target audience’s behavior, be vigilant about tracking any fluctuations in the campaign’s results, and make changes accordingly. In addition, there are several mistakes that rookie PPC users make that can be sidestepped easily with a bit of forewarning. Well, consider yourself warned:

1. Don’t try to get everyone to visit your site.

Unless your site is called eBay or Amazon, chances are you don’t have something for everyone. You want to keep the scope of your PPC ads within what is appropriate for the reach of your products or services. In other words, if you’re selling knitting needles, you probably don’t want some 24 year-old man with a motorcycle clicking on your ad (that is, unless, he knits in his spare time). Point being, you want your ads to appeal to the people who are actually in the market for what you’re selling.

Although it may be tempting to bid for broad keywords like that everyone will be searching, this can be a death sentence for your PPC programme; the more popular the keyword is, the more it will cost you every time someone clicks on that ad. So if that biker Googles ‘needles’ because he’s looking for the best needle to use for a new tattoo, your ad might just pop up if you’ve bid on that keyword. And guess what? He’ll be leaving your site just as fast as he gets there. Save yourself the money and bid on long-tail keywords; you’ll get higher-quality traffic at a much lower price per click.

2. Giving out your digits isn’t always the best use of space.

Although it may seem like displaying your telephone number in your ad copy is a good way to get a customer’s attention, try to resist the urge. Studies show that only a small percentage of web users will actually pick up the phone to call a company as the result of an online ad, so save the valuable space for something more functional.

3. Search out the frauds and get rid of them.

Google, like all search engines, has a content network which it uses to circulate your ads. Unfortunately, Google is not able to police every single site in its content network, and there are some that are fraudulent, which can be very expensive for you. Be sure to go over your web analytics often to look for referring sites that have an extremely high bounce rate; these are almost guaranteed to be scam sites, and you can block them from displaying your ads.

4. Get into the holiday spirit.

The holidays aren’t just for boring office parties anymore; seasonal advertisements are a great way to reach more customers with customised ad copy. Throw a few words about a ‘holiday special’, and people are sure to notice.

5. Don’t be irrelevant.

Part of writing good ad copy is drawing in the customer with a promise, like 50% off or free shipping for a limited time. That’s all well and good, but just make sure that promise is kept in a very obvious fashion. If you offer 50% off in your ad, the landing page that ad takes the customer to should also clearly state that there is a 50% off sale going on. If a user comes to your site looking for half-off, they want to see the half-off sign right when they get to the landing page. Don’t make them look for it—more often than not, they won’t bother.

In addition to the danger of losing business with misleading advertising, you’re also risking paying more per click for your ads. The more relevant your ad is the less Google will charge you every time someone clicks on it.

6. Not geo-targeting? Well, you should be.

Geo-targeting is an excellent way to get to local customers, and is a relatively simple fix if you’re not currently using this feature of PPC. Consumers are more likely to trust businesses close by; it’s easier to be confident in a purchase if you know you’ll be able to visit the place of business if things don’t turn out the way you hoped they would. Set up a group of ads for local marketing and you’ll see returns in the form of local customers looking for your service in their area.

7. Don’t generalise, customise!

When setting up your PPC campaign, don’t be lazy. The more you customise the user’s experience on your website, the easier your customer’s life will be. In the end, you’ll reap the benefits, because your customers will thank you by becoming repeat patrons.

One way to tighten up your ad campaign is to direct each ad to the most appropriate page of your website. In other words, don’t make your home page the landing page for every ad you create. If the ad is promoting a new line of shoes, for instance, take the customer directly to the page with the new shoes on it. Don’t make them click through your website to find what they’re looking for; there’s a good chance they’ll be long gone before they do so.

8. Carelessness about outcomes might well result in a failed campaign.

You must treat your website’s PPC as a partner in your business, just as you would any employee; after all, you want your online marketing strategy to work for you. Therefore, you must monitor your campaign as you would track an employee’s progress. The good news here is that PPC is much easier to observe than is the behavior of a human. With the availability of analytics programmes such as Google Analytics, you’ll be well-equipped to track your campaign’s statistics.

9. Pay for what you need, and leave it at that.

One drawback of PPC advertising is that sometimes users don’t know what they’re looking for, and click on your ad without the slightest idea of whether or not they want what you’re selling. Although it’s impossible to completely eliminate those extraneous clicks, there is a way to significantly reduce them: negative keywords.

If you’re not already using negative keywords, you’re probably spending a good part of your budget on clicks from people who only stay on your site for a few seconds. Think of it this way: Say a user is searching for a free sample of makeup they saw on a TV commercial, and they use the search query ‘free lipstick’. If your ad pops up for ‘lipstick’ but there’s nothing ‘free’ about the makeup you’re selling, that’s a click you just paid for that didn’t result in a sale. So use the negative keywords option in Adwords to make sure your ads don’t appear for keywords that don’t relate to your products or services.

10. Don’t write one ad for 50 products.

Here’s another circumstance where laziness will really work against the success of your ad campaign. One mistake many PPC advertisers make is jamming many keywords into the copy of a single ad, hoping to appeal to many searchers with one ad. Not only is this tactic largely unsuccessful, it also has the potential to hurt your overall PPC programme. The more keywords in your ads, the less targeted and relevant they will be. The less relevant an ad is, the more Google will charge per click; Google rewards relevance with lower price-per-click. In this case, the benefits by far compensate for any extra effort it may take to create one ad per keyword.

So there you have it: Ten PPC mistakes you might be making but don’t need to be. Make the necessary changes, and you’ll be saving money, making money, and smiling all the way to the bank.

Andrew Coates
Managing Director
Hot Goanna

Trust Your Pay Per Click Campaign to a Google AdWords Authorised Reseller for Maximum Results

Wednesday 9th December 2009

Organising a Google AdWords campaign is often essential to the proper functioning of a business’ online marketing strategy. After all, paid search is a massively lucrative industry, and for good reason—sponsored results in search engine results pages are placed in prime locations, ensuring that web users see them. In addition, pay per click ads yield results more quickly than search engine optimisation, and they are almost entirely under the control of the company responsible for the AdWords account. As if that weren’t enough, AdWords accounts are backed by Google’s highly advanced search technology and worldwide search and content networks, which provide millions upon millions of potential customers, just waiting to be marketed to.

There are many facets to the successful management of an AdWords campaign, and improper management of an online advertising account can have a damaging effect on the website, and ultimately the company, involved. Enlisting the aid of a qualified AdWords Authorised Reseller will go a long way in ensuring your ad campaign doesn’t get out of control, wasting money and precious opportunities to market to your target audience.

The benefits of a professionally managed AdWords campaign abound, but there are some key advantages to using an Authorised Reseller:

• The Authorised Reseller is sanctioned by Google, and is granted permission to use the company logo, is given a status web page hosted by Google, and is listed in the Google Authorised Reseller Directory.
  
• Google supplies the Authorised Reseller with comprehensive training, enforcing certification exams that are administered every two years to ensure resellers are educated.
  
• Google gives Authorised Resellers specific product training, tools, AdWords support, and access to proprietary resources such as information about changes in Google’s technology.
  
• AdWords Authorised Resellers are experienced in choosing keywords, writing compelling ad copy, and building successful accounts, among other things.
  
• Google’s standards for selecting Authorised Resellers are demanding; there is a rigorous process to ensure the prospective company is a good fit for Google’s philosophy, the company must have access to a “fully equipped technology platform,” and must be extremely proficient in AdWords management even before taking part in Google’s training program.
  

In hiring an Authorised Reseller, you know you are investing in a company that has Google’s hard-won stamp of approval. An Authorised Reseller will be able to help you choose the best keywords for your AdWords campaign, set a bid strategy that will prevent you from overspending on your ads, write creative and effective ad copy that will get new customers to your site, implement both national and local targeting, and analyse statistical reports in order to make recommendations for ways to improve your campaign.

A managed AdWords campaign is one in which underperforming ads don’t fall through the cracks. Successful PPC involves so many elements, it is nearly impossible for one person to handle them all without help. Save your valuable time; rather than trying to learn how to engineer a mediocre PPC campaign that may or may not get you results, hire experts who have already spent the time and money becoming proficient in AdWords.


Andrew Coates
Managing Director
Hot Goanna

Enhancing Your Online Marketing Strategy with Google AdWords

Wednesday 11th November 2009

Online marketing has been around since the advent of the Internet as a public domain, and its parameters are constantly changing. However, one aspect of online marketing that has not changed is its potential for a hugely positive impact on businesses that utilise the Internet to reach potential customers. Online marketing involves several phases, all of which engage a web user in different ways. For example, search engine optimisation (SEO) enables a company to engage a consumer at the search stage, when they are looking for something specific. Email marketing is a more direct promotion method that targets certain individuals who have somehow expressed interest in a product or service. Web 2.0 tools such as social networks like Facebook and Twitter connect with consumers through word of mouth and peer review.

According to a study done by The Media Audit, consumers are online nearly four hours a day, which is an enormous portion of the average person’s day; no company can afford to miss out on that kind of potential for exposure. Pay per click (PPC) is an ideal way to reach consumers who are just waiting to be marketed to, and Google AdWords is one of the best-known channels for businesses that are looking to develop their online presence with PPC.

Google AdWords has the ability to be a business owner’s best resource for reaching out to customers, for a variety of reasons. One of PPC’s greatest assets is that it capitalizes on an undeniable principle of search engine marketing: Web users are looking for something, and smart online marketers will make their websites noticeable to those people who are looking for what they have to offer. For example, a common search term is ‘weight loss’. If your company sells exercise DVDs, you want to make your ads visible to the people who are searching for solutions to their weight loss problems. Pay per click advertising allows businesses to target certain consumers, which goes a long way toward eliminating budgetary waste.

Traditional advertising, such as television commercials and print ads, are all about reaching a target audience, and online marketing is no different. However, the means by which companies are able to reach those consumers are poles apart; this dissimilarity is actually one of the big draws of PPC. Traditional advertising’s targeting methods are dubious at best and completely useless at worst, since there is little a company can do to ensure that their target audience is going to be on the receiving end of their advertising. Take the TV commercial as a prime example. Company X sells life insurance, so they lay out a huge chunk of their marketing budget to air a commercial on a certain network at a certain time. While all their research points to the fact that their target audience will be watching TV at the time their ad airs, what Company X can’t know is that every potential customer they are trying to reach mutes their TV during commercials, effectively negating any positive impact their ad might have had.

This type of thing happens much less with search engine marketing, due to its inherent nature. A company with an effective AdWords campaign will be able to research demographics including age, gender, location, race, and even time zone. This research enables a company to direct their marketing to whoever may be looking for the products or services that company offers, therefore having a conversation of sorts with the web users who have the greatest potential to become their customers.

Andrew Coates
Managing Director
Hot Goanna