It’s hard to resist the temptation of managing your Google Adwords campaign by yourself. After all, there are so many PPC companies out there promising you traffic for countless of keywords. It’s hard to tell which ones really know what they’re doing.
Here are eight deadly mistakes you can make when running your Google Adwords campaign by yourself and why you must avoid these like your life depends on it!
1. Keyword Overkill
Many advertisers think that paying for so many keywords will result in wider coverage and stronger brand penetration, but this is wrong on three counts:
- First, this will siphon your marketing dollars instantly.
- Second, this will not necessarily deliver ROI, especially if your reason for placing the keywords is to simply draw traffic to your website and you’re losing the focus on converting traffic into actual sales.
- Third, the various paid keywords could end up as unnecessary placements and unnecessary expense.
The way to go is to launch targeted keywords and to pace the launch of these keywords according to your well thought out marketing strategy.
2. Boring, Silly, and Poor Copy
Adwords allows you to write 95 characters into the advertising copy. Make it count!
Some advertisers think that because they are already paying for Adwords placement, this should automatically translate to prospects getting interested.
Think again.
You’re not the only one advertising, and your competitor could be burning the proverbial midnight oil polishing the 95 words until they are golden.
So don’t ever write boring, poor, or silly copy on your Google Adwords, like these:
Write a headline and a call-to-action. Let people know what number to call, or what to do next. Make it easy for people to connect with you and make a purchase.
Just for laughs, check out these really silly copies:
Source: https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/funniest-google-adwords-ads.924117/
3. Not Fully Utilizing Adwords Campaign Set Up Options
Placing Google Adwords is nothing different from placing adverts on newspapers in terms of not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to maximising your ad’s exposure.
Google sets some campaign options to default. If you think your adwords placement already looks pretty, think again. Here are some the options you might be missing out on especially if you’re placing the ads yourself:
- Ad Groups: A group of similar keywords which allows you to place / impose adverts by group.
- Ad Targeting: Do you know the penetration hours of your Ads? Ad targeting allows you to run your ads according to penetration: you can target your ads by keyword, geographical target, time of day, content, and by mobile platforms. Now that’s a lot to wrap your head around, right? Pay attention to these targeting tools and you will have a robust campaign that delivers maximum results.
- Keyword Insertion: The Keyword Insertion tool lets Google insert keywords on your ad text to make it more relevant to users.
Here are some examples:
- Match Types: You can preset the conditions under which Google will match the search result with the search keyword entered. There are five match types: Broad, Broad Modifier, Phrase, Exact, Negative. Learn more about keyword match types to optimize your Google Adwords campaign
4. Not Using Conversion Tracking Tool
You will have more success managing your adwords campaign if you measure conversion. Google has a free Conversion Tracking tool which you can download, implement and use.
5. Not Using Google Analytics
Another tool that Google offers for free is Google Analytics. To measure the performance of your website’s traffic so as to make strategic and informative decisions, use Google Analytics.
6. Not Understanding Google Adwords Marketplace
This results in poor positioning of the ads which can lead you to unnecessarily fork out dollars after dollars of your marketing money to no success.
7. Choosing Your Website Homepage As The Only Landing Page.
When visitors click on an advert, they want to be taken exactly where they can take action. If your advertisement text reads “Fast Loan Approval. Apply Now” they expect to be taken to an Application Form. Unless your application form is found on the homepage, then please link the advertisement to the unique landing page that allows visitors to take action fast.
8. Neglecting Split Tests
When you have an active campaign which you know is costing you money, you ought to be smart about it by testing, testing, and testing your advertisement and website for conversion. How do you test your advertisement? Test it for the copy or text, for the geographical target and the penetration time. How do you test your landing page? Test it for conversion. There are free A/B split testing plugins which you can use especially if you are running a WordPress site. If you have been paying top dollar for an advert and yet your conversion is low, then check your landing page. Believe it or not, there are advertisers who run Google Adwords which when clicked take the visitors to a 404 error page! Don’t let this happen to you.
Conclusion
While it is perfectly okay to run your Adwords campaign yourself, remember that it can be a costly way to learn by experience. An ideal set up is to get a professional team to run your campaign for you. This way, you will be able to experience a successful Google Adwords campaign, allowing you to focus on your business, without wasting time and money.
