As I manage quite a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount few PPC campaigns I always notice the silly and sometimes not so silly mistakes that microsoft windows 7 professional student discount advertisers make with their PPC programs. Mistakes when creating PPC ads, click fraud detection, and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount lack of testing are just a few of them. Fixing each of these mistakes could mean an microsoft windows 7 professional student discount extra 70% of revenue or a savings of thousands of dollars every month.

Below is a list (we all love those lists don’t we?) of the most common mistakes marketers make with their Pay-Per-Click(PPC) advertising campaigns.

1. Bidding Broad - It’s important to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount not be lazy when setting up that campaign of yours. Every industry has microsoft windows 7 professional student discount their giant keywords that bring the most traffic but there are microsoft windows 7 professional student discount many more variation of keywords that are being searched. The more you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount focus on the “long tail keywords”, the less you’re going to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount pay per click. Furthermore, your ads will be ranked higher if the microsoft windows 7 professional student discount keyword is closer matched. Take your 100 keywords and make them into 200 by just looking at your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount own web statistics for exact keyword variations people use to search for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount your product.

2. Fighting for #1 Spot - Most of the time (from my experience), being #1 ad in paid search results is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount not the brightest strategy, especially if you’re paying a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount lot per click and the keyword is broad. I found that microsoft windows 7 professional student discount one of THE best ranks in paid search is being #3 (top left side for Google). Look, most people do research before they buy online. Being #1 could mean that you’ll attract visitors who microsoft windows 7 professional student discount might have not used the right keyword for their search or microsoft windows 7 professional student discount ones that are just starting their research and thus … you’ll be remembered last when they are ready to buy.

3. Avoiding Geo-targeting - Even if what microsoft windows 7 professional student discount you sell works all over US or world, people are still more keen on using a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount local provider or at least a company that recognizes “their state”. It’s just a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount psychological thing. Google and other search engines allow you to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount geo-target your PPC ads by state. Create 50 ads and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount drop in the state name inside the ad. You will surely get a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount higher click through rate (CTR) and thus a lower CPC. Furthermore … right from the start, your visitor will know that you “recognize” their location.

4. Losing Relevance on Landing Page - Whatever you say in your ad … repeat it on the landing page where you’re taking the visitor! If you are advertising an 80% sale in your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount ad, you can be sure that people are looking for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount it when they land on your landing page. If they don’t see it … they leave. It’s kind of like a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount scent they pick up on when they read your PPC ad and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount look for when they land on a page you take them to.

5. Getting Rid of Fraud Networks - Every paid search engine, be microsoft windows 7 professional student discount it Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc, has a network to which they distribute your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount ads. Unfortunately, many of these networks are fraudulent and do not refer quality traffic. Look into your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount web statistics and find domain names that bring you traffic with a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount high bounce rate. Usually it will be around 90%. Google allows you to drop these domains into a “negative excluded sites” folder while Yahoo and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount others make you call them to address the problem. Doing this microsoft windows 7 professional student discount will prevent you from paying for garbage traffic.

6. Being Boring - I still see marketers go online, search for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount a keyword, look at the advertisers (competition) and create ads to fit in with the “community”. Silly right? Unfortunately, very true. Anytime you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount create a paid ad you MUST look at what is already being said by the microsoft windows 7 professional student discount advertisers and come up with something unique and yet relevant. It’s a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount tough one but you have to identify what is unique about you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount and why people should buy from you. Just make sure that microsoft windows 7 professional student discount it’s what your target market wants and cares about.

7. Using Telephone Numbers - Using a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount telephone number within your PPC ad is an eye catcher … that’s all. Not many people will pick up their phone and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount dial your number if they see your ad. So what you’re doing is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount just wasting space that can be used for a good message. Tests have microsoft windows 7 professional student discount been done and this was proven quite a few times … get rid of that phone number in the ad.

8. Not Bidding for Your Name - If your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount competition is targeting your company name as a keyword I’d suggest taking legal actions (if applicable). In our company we send out those legal letters at least every other month to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount a competitor. If you’re in a different situation … bidding for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount your keywords will mean more traffic and another real estate space devoted to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount you on that search results page. I’d even bid for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount the company name if there were no competitors at all. You will pay around 0.05 to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount 0.10 cents per click and see the amount of searches (impressions) that microsoft windows 7 professional student discount are done for your brand name. A little of extra statistics that microsoft windows 7 professional student discount shows you the possible growth of your company.

9. Lack of Affiliate Control - The company name is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount usually the highest converting keyword. Your affiliates know this and advertise under your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount company’s name in paid search. What happens is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount that not only do you now have to pay your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount affiliate for the sale “they” brought in, but you’ve already paid your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount due with your own advertising methods for that customer to know your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount name before the search. Be sure to prevent your affiliates advertising in paid search for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount your company’s name. All they are microsoft windows 7 professional student discount doing there is collecting the cash from your own advertising.

10. Not Separating Content Match from Search Results - This is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount a mistake 101. Yes it takes time, but any campaign should separate their regular search advertising from microsoft windows 7 professional student discount content match. This will allow you to get better reporting, set different cost per click, different budget and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount overall have a cleaner look at both of these campaigns. Just separate into 2 campaigns. Both will have microsoft windows 7 professional student discount same keywords but one campaign will be created only for “search” and the other one for “content match”.

11. Ignoring the Seasonal Copy - It works. Including a seasonal discount or a “holiday special” in your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount ad copy is a great way to increase your CTR and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount get more sales. Furthermore, your ad will clearly stand out from microsoft windows 7 professional student discount the rest. Make it a Christmas special, Spring special, Summer blow out, etc. Make it microsoft windows 7 professional student discount relevant to “today”.

12. Lack of “Exact Tracking” - You must be microsoft windows 7 professional student discount able to track every visit to your site from PPC advertising by the microsoft windows 7 professional student discount exact keyword, campaign and ad group used. To do so you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount can set variables (yourcompany.com/?keyword) or microsoft windows 7 professional student discount integrate your PPC campaigns with your website analytics software. This is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount the only way you can really calculate the effectiveness of every keyword you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount use to get traffic.

13. Paying for Negative Keywords - Google and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount other search engines allow you to report keywords for which your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount ads should not be shown. If you’re paying for “broad match” keywords, you’ll see a lot of visits from people who’ve typed your keyword with a word “free” or “stock” or “jobs”. Do you want to pay money for visitors who’re looking to pay $0 for what you sell? Do you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount want to pay money for visitors who are researching stock info on what microsoft windows 7 professional student discount you sell? Be sure to use that “negative keyword folder” to get rid of these worthless clicks.

14. Mistaking CTR with conversion rate when testing ads - We love to test and that’s great, but what microsoft windows 7 professional student discount should marketers look for when choosing which ads to keep and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount which to delete? Looking only at the CTR (click through rate) is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount a false indication of a better performing ad. If you add a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount word “FREE” to your ad, you’ll see a jump in your CTR but what good will it do?

15. Not Using Keywords in Ad Copy - This is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount a simple one. Put keywords into your ad copy for which you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount are serving the ad. Not only will your ad be more relevant but the microsoft windows 7 professional student discount keywords in it are going to be bold.

16. Not Calling Google - Ok, I am not a fan of being a “rat” or telling on someone, but my friend … when microsoft windows 7 professional student discount it comes to business and playing fair, you have every right to microsoft windows 7 professional student discount raise a flag when you see a competitor engaging in bad techniques. You’ll notice some of your microsoft windows 7 professional student discount competitors creating multiple accounts and having 2 ads simultaneously on the microsoft windows 7 professional student discount Google PPC results page. Google has a policy against this. Call Google and microsoft windows 7 professional student discount let them know if your competitor is doing anything that’s against the rules of the search engine. You’ll be amazed how quickly they take care of the problem.

17. Avoiding Brand Name Keywords - It is microsoft windows 7 professional student discount unfortunate, but many companies do not take advantage of their competitors. How do you microsoft windows 7 professional student discount do this? Bid on their brand / company name. Think about it … anyone searching for microsoft windows 7 professional student discount your competitor could easily be your customer instead. Why not have microsoft windows 7 professional student discount your ad show up under that keywords? What if they are still shopping around? What if they are searching for your competitor’s name because they saw their TV or microsoft windows 7 professional student discount radio ad. Bottom line is, bid on your competitor’s brand names. Most of the microsoft windows 7 professional student discount time the ROI on those keywords is excellent. If you get a microsoft windows 7 professional student discount “legal letter” from the competitors and it holds water, I’d suggest comply with it.

Feel free to let me know if you have more to add to the list.

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