13 biggest adwords mistakes that you need to avoid
Google adwords being the single most popular PPC advertising system in the world is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. However, if not managed prudently, it can be expensive. It is therefore critical that you manage your campaign in a manner that minimises costs and maximises returns on your investment.
This article will discuss in detail the 13 biggest adwords mistakes you need to avoid and thereafter paving the way for a highly successful adwords campaign for you. More in-depth discussions can be found on authoritative platforms like runrex.com.
Lack of ad extensions
One of the biggest mistakes is not having or optimizing ad extensions for your target keywords. Extensions allow you to showcase more information and details about your ad and if they are missing or not used well it could be a costly blunder. It could lead to a significantly less number of “calls to action” and less attention making it effectively a no-brainer. It’s therefore important to ensure you use the right ad extensions
Not using the right keyword matches
Courtesy of adwords, you can add keywords to a campaign either as a broad match, phrase match or exact match. It’s incumbent on you to decide which one(s) to use. A broad match means that your ads will show regardless of the order or what the prospect intends to do, a phrase match means your will show if people search your keyword phrase in that exact order while an exact match means your ad will only show if the term being searched matches exactly the keyword that you entered. It could therefore be prudent to start with exact matches and then move to phrase and broad as and when needed.
Not tracking and understanding profit margins and conversions
This is crucial in all business, ditto in adwords. It helps you to not only improve your short-term profits, but also your revenue. If you can’t track conversions then it’s impossible to track success. You therefore must ensure you embed Google’s conversion tracking code, it might cost a few hours but it is worth the hustle.
Not using the negative keywords feature
Negative keywords are just as important as target keywords, some may argue even more so, as they allow you to exclude keywords that are not a good match for your product and hence lowering cost and increasing revenue. They can be added to both the ad group and the campaign. Negative keywords such as free, porn, naked, porno etc should always be added regardless of your industry or niche for obvious reasons.
Not testing the optimal ad position
It’s important to know the optimal position for your ad depending on your goal. It can be beneficial to be position one or not so much. If your goal is branding then it makes sense being at the top but if your goal is to get results then being in position 3-5 works best. Without testing it’s therefore impossible to know which position is best for you
Not knowing your customer lifetime value
If you don’t know this then how will you know how much to spend on adwords per acquisition? It leads to a waste of both money and time. This value is basically the amount of money a customer is expected to generate over the lifetime of their engagement with your brand. It allows you to easily adjust your campaigns and bid on the strategic keywords that will drive the right customers to your landing page.
Not bidding on your own brand
When you bid on your own brand, you help promote your business and reach out to your social media fans and customers. You also prevent competitors from hijacking your brand and poaching your business and you’re also reducing customer turnover. A lot of people make the mistake of not bidding on their own brand for seemingly solid reasons, for example if your brand is already ranking at number one, but these reasons can still hold you back from running a successful campaign.
Not grouping keywords correctly
Not using ad groups is another critical mistake people make. They end up lumping all their keywords into one ad group rather than separating them into groups based on similar types of keywords. If the ad doesn’t match the keyword then customer is unlikely to click on it. The more you break down your ads and keywords into groups, the easier it will be to optimize and monitor your campaigns.
Trusting your creativity more than the numbers
No matter how much you might like your ad copy, never let what the number are telling come secondary to it. Test the ad with different types of headline, different body copy, different call to action etcetera. This will help you find out what works best based on the numbers, the one with the highest conversion rate, and not based on the ad copy you think is the best based on appearance.
Not knowing your competitors
It’s imperative you know who you’re up against, the type of keywords they’re using, and what their landing pages look like. Take a step back and assume you’re a customer then try to figure out which ad you’d click on. Try to find the reasons why and use them to improve your own ad campaign while continuing testing until you improve your conversion rates.
Expecting too much from your adwords
You always must be realistic and grounded about your expectations based especially on your budget. You can’t expect to make a killing from a modest budget. If you’re also a relative rooky you must understand that it will probably take time before your campaign is up and running. Patience must be the name of the game here.
Failure to direct visitors to the appropriate product or category page
Directing people to your homepage rather than to the appropriate product or category page is another big mistake. You should always ensure the page people land on matches the ad copy they clicked on to avoid prospective customers getting frustrated and jumping ship.
Having poorly written ads
Poor quality ads are an instant turn off. You should always aspire to have ads that are eye catching and engaging. You’ve also got to understand what’s effective if you’re to write and enticing ad. You must get the balance between aesthetics and effectiveness right.
If you avoid these mistakes then you are likely to run a very successful ad campaign, always remembering to target the right people for increased traffic.