If you want to get more traffic to your landing page, one of the most approachable strategies is utilizing a pay per click (PPC) advertising campaign. Working with Google, Facebook, or a similar platform, you can set a budget and bid automatically, getting placed in search engine results pages (SERPs) and paying for each person who clicks through to visit your website.
If done right, it can be a massive source of revenue and a reliable strategy that can follow you throughout the course of your business’s development. But there are also many ways it can go wrong.
Fortunately, if you work proactively and understand the potential risks, you can guard against those risks and maximize your chances of success.
The Top Ways PPC Campaigns Fail
These are some of the top ways that PPC campaigns fail:
- Account suspension. First, there’s a chance your Google Ads account could be suspended. When this happens, you’ll be unable to place new ads and any currently running ads will be temporarily removed. Usually, suspensions are only handed down for gross violations of Google’s terms of service; for example, if you break the law or if you’re accused of giving users malware, it could trigger a suspension. But sometimes, accounts are suspended in error. This usually isn’t a permanent failure, since you’ll have the opportunity to petition for an overturn, but it can still cause hiccups in your campaign.
- Investing too little. If your budget is too small, it could make it hard to get seen – or build momentum when you discover a useful strategy.
- Investing too much. By contrast, you could overspend on keywords and ads that simply aren’t doing you any good.
- Spreading out over too many keywords. You’ll have the power to choose specific keyword and phrase targets for your campaign. But too many PPC ad managers attempt a “shotgun” style approach, targeting a wide range of different keywords and hoping for something to stick. Remember the Pareto principle; as it applies here, 80 percent of your results are going to come from 20 percent of your keywords, so be prepared to whittle down that list and focus on your best money makers.
- Bidding too low. The lower your CPC is, the better, right? On some level, this thinking is accurate; a lower CPC, given the same flow of traffic and conversion rate, should yield higher profits. But it’s also possible to bid too low and box yourself out of some potentially highly relevant keywords.
- Failing to understand your audience. Your ad writing and placement matters. If you want to make a sale, you have to make the right pitch – which means you first have to thoroughly understand who your audience is and how they think. Many PPC campaigns fail because of lack of market research or poor targeting.
- Failing to adjust for the competition. You might have a great strategy in place, but what if a competitor is already following that strategy? It can be tough to gain momentum if you don’t have a way to work around them. To improve your odds, you have to study the competition and come up with a game plan to beat them.
- Copying others’ techniques. Of course, you also can’t simply copy a competitor’s techniques or write all your ad copy based on templates you found on the internet. You have to be original if you want to stand out – otherwise, your campaign could fail.
- No system for measurement and analysis. If you want to succeed in PPC, you have to pay attention to your performance. Which of your ads are succeeding? Which ones aren’t generating any momentum? It’s not enough to create ads and hope for the best; that’s like throwing darts blindfolded. You need to be in a constant state of observation and reactivity.
- Stagnation. In the early days of your PPC campaign management, you might hit a steady stride. You could have some keyword targets and bidding strategies that generate a profit for you – and it’s tempting to keep things going this way, as steady as possible. However, it’s dangerous to become complacent. If you want to keep growing, you’ll need to keep finding new ways to improve.
Why It’s Never Too Late
One big takeaway here is that it’s never too late to be successful with a PPC campaign. Even if your first efforts completely fail, you can always start from scratch with fresh research, new targets, and a new budget. You’ll also get to start with much more knowledge and experience than you did in your first run – which means you’ll be much better equipped to handle the challenges you’ll inevitably encounter en route to better marketing.