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If you’re looking for someone who understands the ins and outs of PPC marketing, you don’t need to look much further than Jesse Willms. For the past 17 years, Willms has managed to create hundreds of millions of dollars worth of product sales by successfully implementing internet marketing campaigns across various industries.
This includes over $500m in direct marketing revenues while running his health and wellness supplement company, Terra Marketing group. Case in point, Jesse knows his stuff. In this article, he shares his knowledge on the most common mistakes people make with their PPC campaigns so you can refine your strategy and improve your ROI.
The current state of PPC marketing
Looking back, it’s safe to say that 2020 threw everyone an almighty curveball. Nobody could have possibly predicted that we would be dealing with the effects of a global pandemic and that many of the world’s nations would implement strict lockdown measures in order to prevent the spread of the virus.
Interestingly, we often see that global events such as this tend to impact PPC campaign performance, and as you might expect, Covid-19 was no different.
Some industries saw huge increases in volume and performance, such as business management, which benefited from the massive rise in remote working tendencies in locked down nations. At the same time, others were not so fortunate, such as travel and tourism, bars and restaurants, and the live entertainment industry, which all struggled for obvious reasons.
With that said, PPC remains integral to the success of millions of businesses worldwide, with 79% of marketers stating PPC is hugely beneficial to them. On that note, here are five of the most common mistakes you should avoid when running your PPC campaigns to ensure you get the most out of your marketing budget.
1 - Not understanding the fundamentals of a successful PPC campaign
If you feel like your campaign is underperforming, it’s important to go back to the drawing board to make sure you have the fundamentals of your PPC campaign in place before attempting to address more complex issues.
“Most of the time, the reason your PPC campaign is failing is due to basic flaws in your campaign planning. Think about the goals of your campaign. Are you trying to increase sales or encourage sign-ups?”
“If you don’t have your end goal in mind, it can feel like you’re wandering around in the dark without ever being sure if you’re making real progress. Keep your customer in mind at all times and define your target audience as specifically as you can,” says Willms.
2 - Keyword cannibalism
Keyword cannibalism is one of the main culprits behind a lackluster PPC campaign. This occurs when the same keywords have been placed in multiple campaigns or ad groups, which eventually leads to the person running the campaign competing against themselves in the auction.
“If left ignored or unmanaged, keyword cannibalism will seriously harm the potential ROI of your PPC campaign. The negative consequences manifest themselves in many ways, such as diminishing page authority, rising CPC costs, and a much lower conversion rate.” says Willms.
3 - Not using negative keywords
According to Google, a negative keyword is “a type of keyword that prevents your ad from being triggered by a certain word or phrase. Your ads aren’t shown to anyone who is searching for that phrase. This is also known as a negative match.”
Image source: WordStream
In other words, removing negative keywords eliminates searchers who aren’t looking for the products or services that you offer, increasing the effectiveness of your campaign.
“When refining your PPC campaign, don’t just focus on pausing the poor-performing keywords; you also need to eliminate some search queue altogether. Highlighting negative keywords and removing them from your campaign ensure your ads reach the best potential audience and dramatically improve your click-through rate (CTR) and your conversion rate,” explains Willms.
4 - Neglecting your landing pages
PPC visitors are 50% more likely to make a purchase compared to organic visitors, but this is only true if your landing page is up to scratch. You can have the most successful ad in the world, but if your landing page underperforms, then you will have a hard time converting.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the trenches of your Google Ads account when your campaign is struggling. However, it’s important to look at your landing page to see if there are any improvements to be made. Your LP needs to have a clear call to action (CTA), and clear, easy to understand language that is relevant and matches the language in your advert,” explains Willms.
Here is a quick checklist of the things your landing page needs to consist of:
- A catchy headline
- A value proposition
- An obvious CTA
- Relevant language to your advert and target audience
- Mobile-friendly design
5 - Spreading your budget too thin
40% of brands say their PPC budget is lower than where they want it to be. In truth, it’s quite rare that people have access to the optimal budget required to reach their maximum potential audience.
This is precisely why it’s vital to ensure you make every penny count and that your campaign is refined down to a fine art so that you know you’re spending your money efficiently.
“One big mistake that I see businesses make time and time again is spreading their PPC marketing budget too thinly. If you have a smaller budget, it’s futile to try and market everything you offer to every potential customer. That’s simply not effective.”
“You will find much greater success in spending your budget wisely by picking and choosing your spots. Look for areas of low competition where your product and service performs well. Focus on the areas that produce a good ROI and double down on your strengths, maximizing your spending in those places,” says Willms.