A majority of our clients come to us with PPC campaigns that are ridden with mistakes of varying degree. Some of them are small enough to go unnoticed and while others obvious and crying to be corrected.

In this newsletter, which is the concluding part of Oversights that Lead to Paid Campaign Downfall, we would continue discussing PPC mistakes that can potentially kill your PPC campaign.

16. Lack or absence of appropriate testing: You will be amazed by the kind of improvement you can achieve, both in terms of CTR and conversion rate, by doing simple tests such as A-B split testing.
    
    Writing a few variations of the same Ad and testing their performance can have a huge impact on CTR. Employing the best performing Ad copy can significantly bring down the cost per click. In addition to this, it is imperative to test landing pages to check their conversion potential. Having a good CTR would be worthless if your landing page fails to convert visitors into customers. Not to forget that testing Ad positions and their corresponding ROI is equally important.
    
    
17. Testing too many parameters: While testing is important, going overboard can prove to be counterproductive. In other words, testing too much at once will not produce the desired results.
    
    It is always advisable to test one variable at a time and limit the number of variables to be tested. Suppose you wanted to test 3 different titles, along with 3 different first lines and 3 different second lines. If you test one variable at a time, you would end up testing 27 different Ad copies in total. It will not only consume time but money and is therefore not recommended. Testing three variations of the same Ad copy for performance is a much better option, especially in the case of limited budget and time.
    
    
18. No or suboptimal tracking: Performance tracking is paramount and its importance cannot be stressed any more than it already has been. Without performance tracking, you could be wasting a lot of money.
    
    You can easily track visitors coming to your PPC landing page and associate these visits to exact keywords and Ad copies that produced each visit. You can also track if any of these visitors performed the desired action (conversion). There is an abundance of web analytic software that can help you track visitors, and at the same time are easy to install and use.
    
    Targeting keywords and utilizing Ad copies that convert better can help achieve a better return on investment – the ultimate goal behind any marketing campaign.
    
    
19. Measuring the wrong KPIs: Which one would you rather prefer; a 10% CTR with 2% conversion rate or a 5% CTR with 3% conversion rate. Simple calculation would reveal that with 1000 impressions, $1 cost per click (CPC) and $50 value per conversion, option 2 ($75 earned for $50 spent) is better than option 1 ($100 earned for $100 spent).
    
    Measuring the correct performance metrics is the most crucial contributing factor to the success of your PPC campaign. Getting it wrong is not an option.
    
    
20. Confusing CTR for conversion: Taking click through rate (CTR) for conversions is where many of us go wrong. While CTR is a key performance metric, it is not an absolute performance metric. We say this because high CTR does not guarantee an increase in conversion rate.
    
    High CTR can be easily achieved by bidding for high search volume keywords and using trigger words like “Free” in the Ad copy. Looking solely at CTR is a false indication that an Ad is performing better.
    
    
21. Building a big fat list of ineffective keywords: While setting up a PPC campaign, many of us get tempted into adding as many keywords as possible without sparing a thought to its usefulness. Building a long list of irrelevant and generic keywords would not serve any revenue goal.
    
    No doubt they can drive large volume of traffic but such visitors would leave just as quickly as they arrive because they will not find what they came looking for. You would need to tailor the keyword list to be in sync with your offerings.
    
    
22. Failing to leverage dynamic keyword insertion: Dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) can work like magic if done right and catapult the click through rate. Dynamic keyword insertion helps you to show searchers the relational relevance between their searched term and your Ad.
    
    If you were to search for "hotel in Seychelles" and find an Ad exactly matching you query, you are mostly like to think "Wow they have exactly what I want" and click on the Ad. It increases the likelihood of click and conversion.
    
    
23. Wasting money on negative keywords: Google and other search engines allow you to run a search query report which allows you to see all keywords that triggered an Ad. If you are running Ads on broad match, it is imperative that you scrutinize the search query report and prepare a list of keywords that are triggering your Ads but are not relevant. You will then have to add them to the negative keyword list to stop your Ad appearing for irrelevant searches.
    
    You don't want to be attracting irrelevant visitors to your landing page especially when you are paying money to get them there.
    
    
24. Overlooking seasonal aspects: Targeting keywords and adapting Ad copies to match the seasonal fervour is a less practiced but highly effective strategy. Christmas special, summer bonanza, etc. Ads not only stand out from the rest but are also known to trigger higher CTR and generate more sales.
    
    Seasonal PPC management can contribute significantly to the campaign’s quarterly results if not monthly.
    
    
25. Filtering out non performing networks: Every search engine, be it Google, Yahoo or Bing (formerly know as MSN), has their own network of websites to which they distribute your Ads. However, not all of these websites would send quality traffic your way and the only way of knowing it is analyzing the placement performance report.
    
    This report will help you to single out and block non performing/spam websites in the network. Additionally, it can be used to select best performing websites and you can run a targeted CPM campaign for them.
    
    
26. Under utilizing valuable online space to display number: This one is controversial and people may be equally divided in their opinion on whether or not to do it. Generally, people are not too tempted to call till they have found a bit about you and the only way of doing it is checking out the landing page. If this be the case, displaying your contact number in the Ad copy is a waste of valuable space which can be utilized better otherwise.
    
    However, this particular facet may work both ways and needs to be tested on a case by case basis.
    
    
27. Ignoring day parting: If you can afford to run your PPC campaign 24/7, this is not for you. However, most of us run on a budget and therefore day parting is a great way to effectively manage your budget.
    
    If you are in B to B industry then you could potentially maximize your budget by running your campaign during business hours and business working days. It is also recommended if you are targeting a time zone other than yours.
    

The list by no means claims to be the "holy grail" of PPC mistakes. There are many small and silly mistakes along with complicated ones that you may or would come across while managing PPC campaigns. However, this list mentions the mistakes that are seen time and again. We sincerely hope that this list plays a pivotal role in helping you keep your PPC campaign in excellent shape.

Do let us know if you found this information useful. We would look forward to hear from you.