They say “email is king,” but they should probably give the crown to Google. Thanks to Google’s flagship digital advertising enterprise, Google AdWords, an entire industry has been created. Keyword phrases like “AdWords consultant” go for more than 30 dollars per click for a reason, and it’s because so many people are using AdWords. It’s one of the most effective ways to grow your business online. The average company that invests 1 dollar in AdWords campaigns will see 2 dollars back in revenue. So, it’s safe to say that Google is King. Google owns and operates one of the largest display networks in the world, allowing you to get your product or service in front of 80% of the world’s internet users.
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But with great power comes great responsibility. It’s not enough to create decent ad copy and launch an AdWords Ad into PPC campaigns. To get the best conversion rates and most competitive cost-per-click for your PPC ads, there are several deadly mistakes you’ll want to avoid. Doing any of these five things can sink your AdWords ads and cost your business precious ad spend.
1. Fail to use the right keywords in the ad copy.
Yes, it’s true that keywords can make or break an AdWords campaign, and that’s why marketers will spend a lot of time and energy trying to find the right keywords for an AdWords ad. But the thing is, few marketers spend as much time and energy on creating killer ads that use those optimised keywords in the ad copy. A lot of businesses will mistakenly believe that if a company’s ad ends up displaying on the SERPs for search queries, then that’s all the ad needs to do. But that’s not entirely true, and failing to use the right keywords in your ad copy can sink your campaign.
The thing is, consumers are more likely to click on an ad that matches the keywords and phrases used in their search terms. But so many marketers find it a time-consuming task to create unique ads for each ad group or ad extensions. Also, business owners may not see the importance of investing in the extra time it takes to make a unique ad copy with optimised keywords. But a great way to destroy your click-through-rate and conversions is to use the most generic and boring ad copy possible.
2. Fail to identify negative keywords in settings.
When you identify negative keywords for your AdWords campaign, you’re telling Google not to show your ads in searches that use those particular keywords and phrases. Why is failing to identify negative keywords a bad thing?
Let’s say you’re trying to sell a dating service. But you didn’t take the time to identify negative keywords for your ads. Your ad could start appearing under the search terms, “dating service scams.”
Any and all types of publicity and exposure aren’t necessarily good for business. The fact is, some keywords and phrases can harm your AdWords ads. You also want to identify negative keywords people can use as search terms where the traffic from them is unlikely to result in a sale.
3. Not using locations.
Many people who are new to online business think they can target customers from any location in the world. But that’s not always a good thing for your bottom line. When you create location-specific ads, you’ll bring in higher-quality traffic that is more likely to convert. People located in different areas will shop differently and also behave differently online. If you sell clothing, you’ll have an easier time selling sandals to someone who lives in a geographic location that is warm year-round, versus trying to sell those same sandals to someone who lives far north of the Equator. Shoppers located in areas with different incomes and lifestyles will also need ads to display that are tweaked for their specific tastes and interests.
4. Send all your PPC traffic to the homepage.
Why bother making targeted ads that take visitors to a dedicated landing page when you can send them the homepage instead? After all, you might think that if they go straight to the home page, they’ll be able to see all your products and services, right?
Wrong.
People who click on ads are looking for a specific and fast solution to their problems. Why invest in creating optimised, keyword-rich and specific ads copy if you’re just going to send the clickers to a generic home page? You should take the time to invest in sending targeted audience members to dedicated landing pages that meet their needs and offer the solutions they want. If you don’t, they are going to click away and find the answer elsewhere, and it’s probably going to be your competitor who will give it to them. Make sure your ad copy keywords and phrases match the shopper’s search terms, are also streamlined with your landing page’s topic and keywords phrases.
5. Forget to test and tweak.
Hardly anyone gets everything 100% right the first time. The same principle applies to marketing. You might launch a great ad that converts well at first, but perhaps the landing page needs to be tweaked, or your interested in seeing how much more you can get visitors to convert.
It’s important to experiment with different metrics in Google AdWords, such as the amount of bidding on your brand and keywords and changing around match types to include broad match. Testing and tweaking also allow you to improve your quality score, which is one of the most critical metrics Google uses to display your ads.
At Australian Internet Advertising, our team of PPC ad experts has been optimising Google AdWords campaigns for a range of businesses and niches. Contact Australian Internet Advertising today and see what we can do to increase your sales and conversions with Google AdWords.
