Top 5 Pay Per Click (PPC) Mistakes that can cost money

Listed below are the top 5 mistakes that people make on AdWords that leads to higher costs per click, they can be easily addressed with a bit of analysis and planning.

1. Conversion Tracking

Most often, the data collated through conversion tracking is misleading because it may actually be putting forth an enhanced number of conversions, some which may not even have happened. While the Tag Assistant in Chrome is a helpful little tip to keep track of the conversions, it is quite effective to have an integrated CRM which looks into lead generation. This efficiently allows you to keep a tab on conversion, where it has actually generated some leads and allows for accurate analysis of return on investment (ROI).

2. Re-marketing

Remarketing-Target-Audience1Sometimes an organization fails at the process of re-marketing or the strategy used to regain a potentially lost customer’s business. It is quite possible that a company has a poorly set up tracking system which not only allows inaccurate data but also badly collected information. In such cases, it becomes impossible to understand the number of customers who return or who is converted into customers.

It is also necessary to understand if converted customers are being excluded from targeted ads and that the ads are being targeted at different sections of your audience list. Maintenance of these lists can be done by looking into each account on the shared drive of Google Adwords.

 

3. Mobile and Desktop copy

It is also necessary to make sure that the image and text data is optimized for all the mobile and desktop formats supported by AdWords. Make sure your lists are checked regularly both in terms of customers as well as in terms of image as well as text sizing.

By making sure that both your ad copies are more targeted and that they do not use more than 10 general keywords, you can reduce the cost of each click on the customer’s end. This will also ensure that the ad copies are not too general.

4. Optimization of the PPC account

While most businesses understand PPC to be a one-time investment, smart companies understand the need to optimize the organization’s accounts every month. PPC is often considered an additional task and may be supervised by the web development team.

Optimization is the key to reducing loss of money and other resources.

5. Landing Page Quality

Last but not least is that you need to check your account on AdWords to verify if your ad copy leads to a landing page as per the search requirement or simply goes to your website URL. In case they revert to the website, building variations of the landing page which will later prove useful in increasing conversions.

This worth focussing on as a high quality landing page makes it easier for you to win out in AdWords bids at a lower cost per bid point – this can make a dramatic difference to how far your budget goes, a cost per click can change from over $1 a click to sub 20 cents if you do this right – i.e. your budget will go 5 times further, imagine that impact on your business…

Also remember landing page quality is closely related to the SEO qualities of the page, in particular quality of the markup, website performance, content quality and mobile support all have their part to play. So by optimising the SEO you can win out on SEM as well…


 

Resolve these five PPC mistakes as soon as you find that your organization is making them. It will not only help increase ROI but also reduce the unnecessary outflow of cash, so helping your marketing budget go that bit further.

BTW you can use the Website Checker to assist you with your PPC analysis, it will help with working out your landing page quality as this is closely related to SEO qualities.

The following two tabs change content below.

Keith

Director at Aykira Pty Ltd
Keith is a founder of Aykira & has over 18 years experience with everything Internet. From eCommerce to security, mobile to maps; large or small. PhD in Info Systems, member Australian & British Computer Society's, ex Yahoo. Architect/Engineer/Innovator.