Top 10 Pay Per Click Mistakes

The Terrible 10 Of Pay Per Click Advertising

by Josh Prizer

While it is easy to get started in pay per click advertising, it's even easier to make very costly mistakes. Building a pay per click campaign the correct way means paying attention to detail and continual oversight and management. I've compiled a list of 10 typical mistakes that are found in PPC advertising campaigns.

Big, Bulky and Broad Ad Groups for Your Keywords

It's important to target your ad to be as relevant as possible. Don't group all your keywords into one or two ad groups. Break them out. Keep them tight. This gives you more control over ad variables so that you can be as relevant as possible.

Ignoring Negative Keywords

Negative keywords reduce unwanted impressions, and more importantly, unwanted click throughs. However, with increasing priority given to "quality scores" and click through rates in the PPC engines, it's key to trim the fat from your keyword campaigns. If your company sells "widget management software" then be sure that you have keywords like "-serial" or "-free" assigned as negative keywords (unless, of course, you offer it for free in some manner). You can find good negative keywords in your log files or when you build your lists.

Not Doing Enough Testing

Split-testing your ads is critical. Even the smallest of changes can boost results. In addition to testing your ad copy's "call to action" or value statements, every ad has multiple variables to test. The titles, the two lines of copy, and display url all can be optimized. If you don't have time for hands-on testing, a good professional pay per click management company can run daily split testing for you. You'd be surprised how well this can pay off.

Not Precisely Tracking Results

It's not enough to know that you spend $6,000 dollars a month and get back $12,000 in profit. Your bottom-line numbers need to be precise. The PPC engines will give your click through rates, but you need to know your ROI or costs per action in detail. Tracking results can help you to spend only $5,000 a month to get you that same $12,000 in profit.

Not Tracking Results to the Keyword Level

Proper and exact analytics or using an experienced pay per click management company is essential to get the data you need. If you have keywords that are not performing and leaking your account on a daily basis, you are throwing money away. Getting results to the keyword level allows you to adjust bids for maximum effect. If you have one keyword with a $1.34 earnings per click and another at 37 cents, this is key information that allows you to maximize profits. Lower one bid if you are above your "EPC" and raise another to eek out more profits from that sweet-spot keyword. Don't waste money on a daily basis.

Too Generic of Keywords

Negative keywords may not be enough to keep you from trouble on too generic a keyword. While these generic keywords are often more highly searched and can even be among your best...they can also be riddled with bad traffic. Users who perform a search on a generic keyword may often be at a very early stage in the purchase process. Are you able to turn an effective profit on them? Once again, this is yet another reason why you need keyword-level traffic. It's especially vital on a generic keyword.

Ignoring the Many Long-Tail Keywords

This follows the above item on generic keywords. Building a list and individual ads for the long-tail keywords can be a major time-sucker. It can also be profitable if the task is performed correctly. Those earnings per click will likely vary widely from a generic keyword like "mp3 player," "sony mp3 player" and "sony 2GB S610 walkman video mp3 player." One consumer is doing research, the other knows what they want and is most likely looking to purchase.

Not Monitoring Search and Content Networks Separately

If you don't want to get burned by click fraud or poor traffic, you need to make sure your content network campaigns and your search network campaigns are separated and monitored. If you don't know what this means, chances are you are likely losing money. Ideally, you would have separate campaigns for each, along with precision analytics to know exactly what keyword from which source is converting for you in the content network.

Not Geo-Targeting a Local Business

If you draw most of your business from a local area, the big three PPC engines allow you to geo-target your keywords to that area. This will bring the local market to your doorstep on non-local keyword phrases. This can be hugely profitable.

Not Monitoring Your Campaigns With Frequency

Okay, so you don't do daily split testing even though you should. Maybe you don't continually monitor your earnings per click at the keyword level, even though you should. Still, a lot of PPC advertisers don't even frequently check into their accounts. Google, Yahoo and MSN are increasingly slapping keywords with the "Inactive for Search" status to get you to improve your quality. They may be slowly picking off your keywords -- and your profits -- one by one and you aren't even aware of it.

Making mistakes like the Terrible 10 of PPC Advertising are common, but correcting them can have a huge impact on your bottom line. If you can manage your pay per click ads at a high level or if you can hire them out to a professional pay per click management company...the results for your increased precision and effort will pay off.

Josh Prizer is a Senior Account Executive and (http://www.zerocompany.com/experts.htm) search engine marketing consultant for Zero Company Performance Marketing, one of the premier (http://www.zerocompany.com) pay per click companies worldwide. Visit their site to discover more about how to improve your pay per click ad campaigns and performance.