6 Reasons why PPC isn’t Working for You

When everything is done right, PPC can be one of the most powerful marketing tools out there. But when it goes wrong, it can be easy to throw in the towel and blame everything on it. However, while sometimes PPC may not be the best suited for your application, in many cases, failure is caused by errors that could’ve been easily avoided. Let’s take a look at why your campaigns might be failing and some solutions to correct them.

Using the Wrong Settings

Setting up your ads properly is very simple and takes but a few minutes but make mistakes here and the performance of your ads might be seriously affected. The first thing you have to make sure you get right is the campaign type. The type you choose has to be aligned with your goals and will have an influence on where and which types of ads you can display.

The other thing you have to decide is your whether your ads will be displayed on the search network or on both search and display. When your site is on the display network, your ads will show up in AdSense ads featured on websites. Some people like display ads while others want to only have their ads show up when people search for their terms. It’s up to you which one works the best for you. But if you’re new to PPC, we strongly suggest you start with search only as it will be easier to monitor.

Location settings is another thing a lot of people get wrong when they get started. Some people try to cast a wide net to attract the highest number of people, but it’s usually a better idea to target areas that are close to you. Consider using zip codes or GPS coordinates to zero in on specific areas, especially if your service is local by nature.

You should also consider which type of ad rotation you want. Going with default settings isn’t always the best idea. The “optimize for clicks” option will display the ads that have the chance of performing the best based on their previous performance. What it doesn’t compute, however, is that other factors that have absolutely nothing to do with the ad could’ve affected performance. In our experience, the “rotate indefinitely” option is much better for getting clicks and really testing which ads are working the best.

Your Ads are Wrong

In other cases, your ad might be wrong. Maybe the headline isn’t eye-catching. Or there’s no call to action. Or maybe your particular business could benefit from a call only ad where you’ll be able to track phone calls generated and get leads that way.

Creating great ads is an art, and you can’t leave it to chance. Your ads should be relevant, specific, attractive and sometimes even thought-provoking. And you should also make sure that your keyword appears somewhere in the copy. Just making one adjustment could send your click through and conversion rates skyrocketing. If you want to learn how to make great PPC ads, check out this information.

Poor Keyword Research

Your keyword research will be just as important as your ads when creating a campaign. You have to know which keywords are selling and how much you should be willing to pay for them. There are some paid and free tools out there that will allow you to perform some keyword research. Some will allow you to see some of the analytics before having to switch to their paid version. You have to pick words that are cheap enough to get a ROI, have little competition, but still enough traffic to make a difference.

If you’re strapped for cash right now, Google’s Keyword Planner is ok if you’re just getting started. You’ll be able to search for ad group and keyword ideas, see how you can expect them to perform, and start budgeting.

Poor Understanding of Negative Keywords

Some people completely overlook negative keywords either because they don’t think they make an impact or simply don’t understand how they work. Negative keywords are any keywords that could trigger your ads without being related to your service. If you’re running a construction company, for instance, you’d want to filter out words like “jobs”, since many people might be looking for construction jobs. Your ads will not be shown as often, which will reduce the chances of people clicking on them. But you have to be careful with negative keywords as too many could reduce impressions greatly.

You’re Not Targeting the Right Audience

PPC allows you to pinpoint the kind of audience you want to target, and you have to take advantage of this feature if you want to be successful long term. So make sure that you research and truly get to know your audience. Then work on developing campaigns tailor-made for them and push them through whichever step they are in the sales funnel.

Once you know exactly who your audience is, you can go with even more advanced targeting and start looking at demographic targeting options. You could start targeting customer groups that are likely to be in a specific household income range, gender, age group, or parental status.

You Aren’t Tracking your Conversions

Another reason why you may be failing at PPC is that you either don’t monitor or poorly monitor your results. If you don’t test your conversions and constantly test your ads to monitor not only those who get tons of clicks but those who actually turn visitors into sellers, then you’re wasting your time and your money. By using conversion tracking tools, you’ll be able to see which ads, ad groups, keywords, and campaign are converting the best. You’ll also be able to see if changing landing pages could increase your conversion rates and A/B test different landing pages for different ads.

Conclusion

PPC is one of the most efficient and easy to monitor marketing methods you can find online. However, you have to make sure that everything is done properly and that you take the time to test and tweak your strategy until you get the desired results.