Almost every business now dabbles in the world of pay-per-click advertising, but only a small percentage of it is effective. If your ad is showing up in the bottom right-hand corner of the Google search engine, chances are you’re doing something wrong.
Learn from the pros and avoid these top 5 rookie AdWords mistakes we see almost every day:
1. Campaign setup up
Proper campaign set up is crucial to a good AdWords account. Often enough, many people don’t set it up properly, leaving them with disappointing results. There are several things that should be paid close attention to, including your target area.
For example, if you serve Ottawa, do you also have clientele coming from outside of the city? If so, you’ll want to include a radius around your target area.
2. Low scoring keywords
Everyone has an idea as to what keywords they should be targeting, however it may not turn out as they want it to. It is always recommended that you target your main keywords, but also be open to variations of them. For example, if you own a bakery you’ll want to target keywords such as “Ottawa bakeries.” You should also target more specific keywords such as “custom birthday cakes” or “gluten-free cookies.”
Surprisingly, these keywords often have a much higher score than the more general terms. If you would like to check out your keyword score, be sure to add the Quality Score metric to your columns. The higher the score out of ten, better!
3. Budget
Your budget affects your campaign success more than you think. If you’re in a competitive market, you should expect to be paying top dollar for your targeted keywords. For those interested in starting a pay-per-click campaign, be sure to get a rough idea as to how much each of your targeted keywords will cost. Finding out that one of your “must-have” keywords will cost you $25 per click can quickly deter your pay-per-click ambitions.
If your budget is too low, it can prevent you from succeeding even in a fairly moderate market such as local bakeries. With a budget of $50 a month, you’ll have to keep in mind that with an average of $2-$3 per click, you can only expect to get up to 16 clicks per month. There is no telling how many of those clicks will convert until you really get things up and running.
4. Not including negative keywords
Keywords are extremely important, but negative keywords are almost just as important when it comes to running a successful AdWords campaign. For those who have already been running a campaign, your ads have probably showed up for some strange keywords such as “free cakes.”
To keep this from happening, simply create a negative keyword list. In this example, you’d want negative keywords like “cheap cakes” or “pancakes.” By creating a negative keyword list you’ll get better impressions, ensuring a better conversion rate.
5. Not thinking outside of the box
Google makes it pretty easy to learn how to use all of their tools, and AdWords is no exception. However, not thinking outside of the box may inhibit your campaign ambitions. Simple and basic search ads can only take you so far. To reach the next level of success, take advantage of extensions and one-of-a-kind remarketing images.
There are many other tips and tricks to running a successful AdWords campaign. Although deciding to DIY may save you money initially, it may end up costing you quite a bit of money in the long run. Get in touch with one of us at seoplus+ if you would like to begin a successful AdWords campaign.
