Top 5 PPC Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Last Updated on September 20, 2018 by Kuldeep Bisht

Irrespective of brand stature, many renowned professionals commit most basic of PPC mistakes. You might put in huge investments and strategize with the best professionals but it might not lead to productive gains if you are guilty of even one of the most common PPC mistakes.

Here is list of 5 PPC mistakes and how to deal with them:

#1 – Not Understanding the Intent of Your Search, Display and Social Audience

You might start off on the wrong foot if you forget to differentiate amongst your Search, Display, and Social Audience. The needs and behavior of these three differ on many levels. Here are the traits of your audience and how you can appeal to them:

Search Audience looks for specific products and might get irritated if there is no prompt solution or lack of information. They are the prospect buyers who will readily buy products if provided with the convenient process. Always think of the search audience persona before creating a campaign and use demographic and geo-targeting.

You can tag anyone wandering aimlessly looking for a product online as Display audience. This set of the audience makes you sweat over your strategy as they are clueless about product or services they want to opt for. Ensure you provide with adequate information to appeal to them as they respond to soft-sell tactics.

For Social Audience it is necessary to provide them with tailored and unique experience and you might have their attention. Provide them with a smooth transition from social to the landing page. A detailed product description or service information for high priced sell can be a good idea.

#2 – Not Using Google Value Track Parameters to Uncover Conversion Insights

People commit the mistake of not identifying their valuable customers before finalizing PPC campaign.

First, it is recommended to identify your valuable customers you can use “Top Paths Report”. You can track every bit of buyer journey in order to get hold of the point which ultimately led to the sale. You can find the report under “Tools > Attribution > Top Paths.”

Next, use Google ValueTrack parameters to set up a tracking template at account level by:

• Signing into your AdWords account
• Clicking on the “Campaigns” tab.
• Then clicking on the “Shared Library” in left menu
• Clicking on “URL options”
• Then clicking on “Edit” which is next to “Tracking Template”
• Entering {lpurl}, “?”, and ValueTrack parameters you want to use, separated by “&”
• Clicking Save

Optimize your PPC campaign with the interests of your valuable customer and you will ultimately get more conversions.

#3 – Ignoring Copywriting While Creating Landing Pages and Ad Copies

You have to impress your visitor the moment they land up on your page. Don’t let them be put off by the trashy content or unnecessary gimmicks. Focus on quality as well as on quantity if it is necessary for both Landing pages and Ad copies.

For Ad copies

Focus on the objective and the end goal instead of following the herd.

E.g.; Say, you are into automobile restoration. The objective is to restore a defective automobile. The appropriate Ad copy can be: “Need restoration services?” or something precise and specific like “restoration services for automobile”.

Here are some tactics:

• Grab audience attention by keeping your ads current.
• It always pays to adopt to-the-point approach
• Use numbers to your advantage to highlight your efficiency.

For Landing Pages:

To enhance the conversion rate it is necessary to:

• Use concise words to provide information. Do not opt for length explanations instead opt for concise copywriting.
• Use customer testimonials, positive feedback or add video testimonials to establish trust.
  
• Use similar lingo as that of your customers. They need to identify with you and should be able to understand what you are talking about.
• Use A/B testing to evaluate the success rate of landing pages. Create alternative versions based on your customer preference and see which one maximized conversion rate.

#4 – Wasting Too Much Money on Keywords That Aren’t Converting

It is important to constantly monitor the campaign dashboard and avoid bidding on keywords that aren’t converting.

Here are some easy hacks to stop wasting money on unnecessary keywords:

• Identify keywords that are converting from SEO and use those keywords in your campaign.
• Monitor your bids daily and adjust them accordingly.
• Go for long-tailed, specific keywords that easily converts.
• Bid on exact-match unless you have a regular ROI.

#5 – Not Adding Enough Negative Keywords in Your Campaign

Negative Keywords help you devise a PPC campaign which is more focused. It can help you:

• Reach to people who are interested in your services.
• Prevent your ad being displayed to people who might land up on your page for services you do not offer.
• Excludes keywords which do not bring any return.

Below are some examples of Negative keywords that should be added to every campaign:

• Free
• Cheap
• Torrent
• Torrents
• Youtube
• Craigslist
• Ebay etc.

Now, that you are aware of the most common PPC mistakes, make sure you are not guilty of committing them. Rest you can only acquire more business with a near perfect PPC campaign.