PPC marketing is among the fastest ways to acquire customers for your business. However, planning and correctly running the campaign is not exactly a cakewalk. Did you know that only $1 goes toward converting a customer from every $92 you spend? It is mostly because only 8% of people pay enough attention actually to click on an online ad.
Many businesses invest money in paid online ads, and the lack of results makes them think a PPC strategy is not for them. But in most cases, only a few simple errors stop them from securing a quality score. So, what are the common PPC mistakes to look out for?
What are PPC Advertisements?
Learning what is a PPC strategy is essential before you proceed to mistakes. Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a form of digital marketing where you pay each time a user clicks on your ad. It allows you to attract new customers and grow your venture.
You must have noticed top listings marked “Sponsored” in Google results when you search for something. Those are examples of PPC search advertisements from Google Ads. PPC advertising makes your brand more visible and takes them to high-value pages for specific audiences.
6 Common Mistakes That Kill PPC Conversions
When done right, PPC advanced strategies ease reaching more target buyers. You must accurately and efficiently plan and manage your campaigns to be effective. In short, detour the common PPC mistakes and pitfalls many companies commit when curating their ad campaign strategy.
Here are some missteps you must avoid to create a seamless PPC strategy.
1. Not Targeting Real People With Your Ads
You have beautifully crafted your campaigns and ad groups with negative keyword lists in place with relevant and captivating ad copy. That is great, but are you actively optimizing your campaigns for specific audiences?
Do your messages have a sense of humanity?
More essentially, are they relatable?
People will not buy from your brand if your ads and landing pages sound like they are for a faceless audience. Your target customers need a reason to trust you to interact and engage with your brand. You must converse in their language and create marketing copy that resonates directly with them to get more conversions.
For instance, you can embed humour or real-life stories people can relate to. It will make them listen and read and increase their chances of purchasing.
Ensure your ads are relatable, even if it is only general humour. However, you will fare better if your ads reach the target base and address their pain points and needs.
2. Using Poor Landing Page Copy
Finding or avoiding a bad copy is hard on the Internet, especially when it is everywhere. However, what you can do is eliminate the odds of losing conversions because of a bad copy. How do you do that? Simple, step up your landing page game!
Here are a few tips you can employ to optimise your landing pages:
- Remove the main navigation bar from the landing page.
- Write a direct and concise CTA to encourage purchases.
- Address typical questions, concerns, and reasons for buying your product in the copy.
- Highlight the benefits rather than the features.
Each campaign should present a unique landing page where customers can connect with the content. Further, ensure your landing page takes less time to load and is desktop- and mobile-friendly to reduce bounce rates.
3. Showing Ads Mostly to People who Know you
Being short-sighted and not looking at ads in the context of the broader customer journey is among the most standard PPC mistakes. Most business owners run paid ads on social media platforms targeting the existing consumer base.
Are you doing the same? It is time to turn the tide if yes.
Do not advertise and target the same audience over and over again. You miss out on potential leads if you spend a substantial budget on social media advertising.
It would help to target people who have yet to interact with your brand. Reach out to new segments and tailor your ads for them. Even if a click does not bring immediate ROI, it may reveal an intent to engage with your business later down the road.
4. Running Campaigns on Auto-Pilot
Many businesses set up the campaign, optimise for a few months, and leave it once they achieve the expected results. Unfortunately, neglecting your campaign and having it on autopilot is not the solution to save time and money.
Lack of analysis and optimisation reduces the experimentation scope to zero. And it can be bad news for your digital business when the industry sees new digital innovations come up daily.
Optimisation is a continuous process which does not happen only once a month or year. Embracing PPC advanced strategies can help you stay relevant and facilitate informed marketing decisions.
5. Not Tracking Your Campaigns
Creating and throwing money at a PPC strategy without knowing the proper metrics is like inserting coins in an unmonitored vending machine. You know what you are putting and want but are still unaware of what you will get.
While getting lost in numerous metrics will be unfavourable, you must track your progress. It is essential to know how your ads are performing.
You must regularly analyse performance from the beginning to understand if the campaign is trending less or more costly per click. Conversion rate is one significant metric to measure.
Now, what is the conversion rate in PPC? Although 2.35% is the average conversion rate, a good rate should be over 10%.
6. Not Optimising the LP & the Sales Pitch
PPC advertising asks for a holistic approach; you need to remember this fact. If your ads perform poorly, the advertisement might not be the problem.
Changing a word or using a different colour scheme can make a noticeable difference between an uninterested scroll and a click-through.
Adjusting or tuning your campaigns will not work when the landing page or sales pitch is improper. Ensuring consistency in communication at all touchpoints in the customer journey is paramount.
You must consider and check all the aspects before you modify the advertisement.
Conclusion
Pay-per-click advertising is a direct ticket to increasing traffic on your website. However, you must carefully consider your PPC strategy from start to end for it to be a success. Doing otherwise means simply wasting money and inviting a slew of issues that can impact the effectiveness of the advertisements.
If any of the listed PPC mistakes sound familiar, you are not alone, nor do you need to worry. All it requires is a careful look at your campaign to identify the areas of improvement and make necessary changes. You will surely see your conversions accelerate over time with the correct strategies.