7 Deadly PPC Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

November 6, 2009 by Mike Morgan
Filed under: PPC

It is true that, if it is done right, PPC marketing is one of the most effective and fastest ways to drive highly targeted traffic to your products, services, affiliate programs, CPA offers, etc.

And the fact is success in PPC marketing is affected by lots of key elements or critical components.

That is …

To successfully accomplish your objectives through PPC, you have to coordinate all the critical PPC marketing components to work as one system.

But, If you fail to implement these critical components, you will badly suffers and lose lots of money. As a result you will be kicked out of PPC game badly and quickly.

So, if you want to get the most from PPC marketing, you have to know the common deadly PPC marketing mistakes and learn how to avoid them.

In this report I will show you 7 of the most deadly mistakes PPC marketers commit and how to avoid them so as to use PPC marketing to drive highly targeted traffic and massive sales.

Here are the deadly mistakes and how to avoid them.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #1: Bidding on the Wrong Keyword

One of the fundamental requirements for running a successful Google Adwords advertisement campaign is brainstorming and coming up with a list of profitable keywords.

Most marketers are unaware of keyword issues and use the wrong keywords in their campaign.

Lots of them use a generic keywords which are used by searchers which are focusing for search of information and very expensive keywords. As a result they make no sales and lose lots of money.

As this is critical, let me clarify it.

Let’s say you are bidding for very generic keywords like “dvd”.

Now …

The point that you need to be aware is that the person searching for the generic keyword such as “dvd” could be looking for variety of things such as

Dvd player
Dvd player software
Dvd player manual
Dvd player maintenance

… There could be lots of reasons why the person is using “dvd”.

That is …

You do not exactly know what the person is really looking for.

So, if you are bidding for such kinds of keywords, you conversion rate would be very …very low and most probably you would lose lots of money and kicked out of adwords game quickly.

The second most important reason why using highly generic keywords is very dangerous is that they are mostly used by the Big Brands.

The fact is …

These big brands have millions of dollars to invest in PPC marketing related activities. They invest millions of dollars to build sophisticated and super high speed machines and software programs that automate their PPC marketing activities.

So, if you have a very little budget, fighting with these brands is like committing suicide.

The third important point is that these keywords are very expensive.

So, if you want to get the most from PPC marketing, get rid of generic keywords. Instead focus on narrowly targeted keywords.

That is …

When ever you select your keywords, focus on the keywords which have high probability of good conversion – Just find the so called money keywords and focus on them.

The more targeted are your keywords, the more qualified buyers will be attracted.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #2: Creating Irrelevant and Weary Copy

One of the most important elements of successful PPC marketing campaign is creation of a successful ad copy.

Ad copy is generally aimed to invite your qualified visitors into your landing page.

But, lots of PPC marketer have a bad understanding about Ad copy; as a result they create either boring ad copy or an ad copy which attracts untargeted visitors.

As a consequence of this, either their ad is not noticed or they drive unqualified visitors and lose thousands of dollars due to non converting clicks.

So, if you want to get the most from your PPC marketing activities, you have to create a powerful ad copy which attracts visitors are exactly looking for your products or services.

You also have to write compelling ad copy.

That is …

Write compelling and relevant ad.

If you want visitors to click your ad and take the desired action you want, you need to create an ad copy which is highly relevant to the keywords you are bidding and to the products that you are promoting.

At the same time, your ad should be ultra – super magnetic which attracts only the customers who are exactly looking for your products or services.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #3: Targeting your ad To the Wrong audience

What makes PPC marketing so effective is that by properly setting your campaign, you can make your ad to reach only to the targeted audiences.

Expressed in other words …

What makes PPC marketing a source of highly targeted traffic is that it allows you to have full control to decide where your ad should appear.

This enables you to reach the right audience for your products or services.

For example, if most of your customers are located in Canada, you can adjust language and location targeting setting so that your ad appears only to the Canadian audience. This would enable you get the right audience for your products or services.

But, if you set your campaign to reach to the wrong audiences, you will lose lots of money due to clicks of your adcopy by wrong audiences. Its consequences is so bad that you should avoid it.

And, the best thing about PPC marketing is that by properly setting your campaign, you can easily make your ad to reach to the right audiences.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #4: Not Testing and Tracking Or Testing and Tracking The Wrong Way

PPC marketing is all about focusing on what is profitable.

And, the fact is you will not know what is profitable unless you test and track and do it the right way.

So, if you want to focus on what is profitable and make the most money from PPC marketing, you have to test and you have to make tests the proper way

Test, test, and test – This is the difference between success and failure in PPC.

You also have to Track Your Keywords, conversion and sales

By testing and tracking you will be able to control your activities. This will help you on how to focus and get the most form your campaign.

If you are not testing and tracking, you will not be able to exactly know the losers and winners.

Not testing and tracking is just like a ship sailing with out a compass.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #5: Failing To Maintain Good Quality Score Through Out Your Account

Quality score is one of the most important metric that plays a great role in the success of your Google Adwords campaign.

Just like search engine optimization is carried out to boost the page rank of your website on the natural search engine results page, improving the quality score is important in boosting your keywords performance in the sponsored search engine results page or Google Adwords advertisement campaign.

So, if you want to build highly successful Google Adwords advertisement campaign, it is mandatory that you have high quality score through out your campaign.

When ever Google decides the maximum cost per click of your keywords, it takes into consideration the quality score of your keywords.

If you have good quality score, you will pay less cost per click. But, if you have bad quality score, Google will set big cost per click for your keywords.

So, in order to get the most from your PPC marketing activities, you should always optimize and improve the quality score so as to reduce the cost per click your keywords and get the most from PPC.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #6: Directing Visitors Into Your Homepage

I am sure PPC marketing can help you to drive highly targeted visitors to your website which are exactly looking for your products or services.

And, as it has been mentioned again and again, you have to do the right way in order to exploit the power of PPC marketing.

Usage of the proper landing page is one of the few important key elements that you need to be aware of.

The fact is …

If you send your PPC traffic into a page which is themed around a general subject, it will be difficult to persuade your visitors to take action. But, if you send them into relevant page which is themed around the main keyword, it will be easier to persuade your visitors and take what so ever action you want.

So, never …ever send clicks to the home page, instead send them into specifically designed landing page.

Build Custom, Focused Landing Pages which are relevant to the search query keyword and ad copy.

If you really want to get a high conversion rate for your landing pages and win the PPC game, make sure that your landing page is customized with the keywords that you are bidding and the ad copy you use.

Make also sure that your landing pages goes parallel to the promise offered in your ad copy and focuses on the keyword that you are bidding.

PPC Marketing Deadly Mistakes #7: Failing To Optimize Your Landing Page Conversion

It is often observed that a small change in your campaign elements, especially in the landing page could boost your profits to a great extent. This is done by continuously optimizing your landing page elements until you get the optimum result.

Conversion optimization is all about designing and crafting your landing page and its components on the needs of your audiences and provide the easiest and best experience.

Therefore, maker sure to continuously optimize your landing page to get the most success from your efforts.