The #1 Mistake Businesses Make When Running Their Own PPC Campaign

Going it alone with any digital marketing strategy comes with an element of risk: a risk that your time and resources will amount to nothing.

And while there is always a period of trial and error, it is always best that you do your due diligence and research a given strategy before putting it into practice.

In this article, we’re going to highlight the #1 mistake that businesses make when they run their own PPC campaign.

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1. Jumping In Without Properly Understanding PPC

The assumption that throwing money at some PPC ads and making a return on your investment is a costly assumption indeed. There is so much more to a PPC campaign than meets the eye, and it is not something you can jump straight into and expect to succeed.

It’s no different than trying to build a social media presence for your business: you’ve got to understand the landscape before posting away.

As you start to explore the world of PPC, you’ll understand why it is a full-time job for many people. In fact, you can find a dedicated PPC agency that specializes in this one form of digital marketing. With that in mind, it is definitely worth putting the time in before getting started.

You need to have a solid landing page: where are you directing these website visitors to? If you get your targeting right and you do your research, you should have a pretty solid idea as to what they are looking for – and thus be able to direct them accordingly. For example, if you send them to your home page, they’re going to feel underwhelmed when presented with generic, non-specific information. However, a dedicated landing page that addresses their biggest objections – and, indeed your proposed solutions – will be far more effective.

You must test constantly: don’t write one version of your ad copy and then start the campaign without split-testing. For the best results, you should have multiple ads and imagery so you can try several and see which resonates best with your audience. In doing so, you can see what clearly works and what does not, and then dial-in your messaging with great accuracy.

You will have to track the right metrics: here are the biggest, most important metrics you must measure if you wish to get the most out of your PPC campaign.

Cost per click
Click through rate
Conversions
Cost per acquisition
Quality score

Don’t be too broad with your keywords: and finally, you really need to do your keyword research before getting started. If your keywords are too broad, you will likely struggle with conversions. For example, “cheap flights” is highly competitive and far too generic. “cheap flights from London to New York” however, would be far more likely to result in a conversion.

Conclusion: Consider Hiring The Professionals

Again, PPC is a full-time job in itself. There are dedicated professionals who do nothing but craft world-class PPC campaigns for their clients – with a wealth of experience to guide their efforts.

Yes, it’s always worth experimenting and testing the waters with PPC as a small business owner, but if you really want the path of least resistance and to focus your precious time elsewhere, our advice would be to hire a professional PPC agency to handle it for you.