{"id":12987,"date":"2023-12-10T09:46:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T04:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ppcexpo.com\/blog\/?p=12987"},"modified":"2023-12-22T13:38:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T08:38:28","slug":"ppc-management-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ppcexpo.com\/blog\/ppc-management-agencies","title":{"rendered":"PPC Management Agencies: Top 10 Mistakes That Waste Thousands of Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

PPC management agencies will tell you that pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is one of the best ways to acquire new customers in the Digital Age.<\/p>\n

\"PPC<\/div>\n

Publishing an ad on Google\u2019s search network allows your business to reach new customers from across the world, or right in your local area.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see the value.<\/p>\n

When prospective customers see and click your ad, they are brought to your website. From there, you can encourage them to buy, subscribe, sign up, schedule a demo or complete any other action that drives your business.<\/p>\n

There is an element of cost involved. After all, it\u2019s called pay<\/em>-per-click! As this name suggests, every time your ad is clicked, you\u2019re charged a small fee.<\/p>\n

With these costs, there is a risk of losing <\/em>money at advertising. This keeps some marketers away from PPC. They worry that their inexperience will end up costing them more than they\u2019ll benefit.<\/p>\n

PPC marketing doesn\u2019t have to be a grand mystery or an expensive mistake.<\/p>\n

If you want to handle your Google Ads campaigns in-house, instead of hiring one of the many PPC management agencies, there are 10 mistakes that you need to know and avoid.<\/p>\n

These obstacles can cost you thousands of dollars, if you aren’t careful. In this discussion, you\u2019ll learn what these mistakes are and how to stop them in your own PPC campaigns.<\/p>\n

\"PPC<\/div>\n

Mistake #1: Forgetting Your Audience<\/h2>\n

Customers are people, not keywords.<\/p>\n

Since PPC campaigns are so heavily reliant on keyword targets,<\/a> some advertisers forget this distinction.<\/p>\n

In the hype of understanding what people are searching for, which keywords are most popular, the best match type options, etc., you can forget to think about the people behind the searches.<\/p>\n

Even Google recognizes the shortcomings of keywords. Each year they move further away from keyword targeting and more towards audience and interest targeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For instance, Google\u2019s search algorithm uses semantic and contextual clues to identify the intent <\/em>behind someone\u2019s search.<\/p>\n

Google cares less about the actual words being typed into the search box and more about the meaning behind those words.<\/p>\n

The search engine also looks at the individual user when creating search results. This can slightly alter what you see versus what someone else sees when performing the same search.<\/p>\n

This shift in how Google prioritizes search content has urged them to develop the Audiences feature in Google Ads.<\/p>\n

\"Tips\"<\/div>\n

You can view your target audiences and identify which segments are producing the best results. Then, you can refine that audience and dig deeper into the detailed customer profiles that are most engaged. In turn, this allows you to fine-tune your campaign performance!<\/p>\n

Solution: <\/strong>Keywords are still important and they can inform your strategies. That said, they should not be the entire purpose behind the content you produce. You should write for your audiences, not the search engine.<\/p>\n

\"PPC<\/div>\n

Mistake #2: Poor Keyword Research<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t let mistake #1 derail you from thinking that keywords don\u2019t matter anymore. Keywords are still the foundational building blocks that should guide most of your content and messaging strategies.<\/p>\n

Keywords are still the primary means of targeting potential customers through PPC ads.<\/p>\n

If you have the right keywords selected, success and growth should come in no time. Choose the wrong keywords, however, and your strategies will sputter and struggle to perform.<\/p>\n

To avoid poor keyword research<\/a>, it\u2019s important to define what exactly it means. There are several ways to identify a poor keyword.<\/p>\n

\"PPC<\/div>\n

Too Broad<\/h3>\n

A lot of short-tail keywords have this problem. They seem incredibly relevant to your business, but their lack of specificity creates issues. Mainly, you\u2019ll see lots of impressions and clicks, but a low number of conversions.<\/p>\n

For example, if you were one of the top PPC management agencies, you might target the keyword \u201ccross-marketing.\u201d It seems like a reasonable target because this is something you offer clients.<\/p>\n

This will drive people to your website that may not have any interest in hiring a cross-marketing specialist. They may merely be trying to understand what is cross-marketing for their own business.<\/p>\n

All those clicks are going to cost you!<\/p>\n

Pay attention to your shorter, broader keywords. If you\u2019re spending a lot of money on these keywords and not seeing conversions, it\u2019s time to move on.<\/p>\n

Too Competitive \/ Too Expensive<\/h3>\n

Ideally, you want to find keywords that are very popular with search users. The downside is that this also makes them popular targets among your competitors.<\/p>\n

When there is heavy competition for a PPC keyword, it is more expensive. More competition means more bids. Thus, you\u2019ll need to enter a higher cost-per-click (CPC) amount if you want your ads to appear for this keyword.<\/p>\n

Again, you need to think in terms of value. If this is a very actionable keyword that frequently leads to conversions, the added price and competition may be worth it.<\/p>\n

Too Specific<\/h3>\n

Longer, niche keywords make ideal targets. They are relevant to your business and typically have less competition than broader search terms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although, when you get too specific with your keyword targets, you can run into some problems.<\/p>\n

First, very specific keywords do not receive as many searches as broader ones. You\u2019ll have low impressions and clicks for these terms. Hopefully, the specificity makes these keywords very relevant and actionable for your business.<\/p>\n

The second obstacle is that Google may not serve ads to keywords with poor search volumes. You may be creating ad content that audiences will rarely see.<\/p>\n

Too Dated<\/h3>\n

Arguably the most popular keyword faux pas <\/em>is using data that is outdated. In other words, marketers don\u2019t spend enough time reviewing their existing keyword targets and looking for new potential targets.<\/p>\n

Keywords are never set in stone. Your strategies will become stale and stagnant if you aren\u2019t actively monitoring your keywords and on the lookout for new potential targets.<\/p>\n

Performance that may have been increasing over time will start to plateau or even dip. If you aren\u2019t paying attention to these trends, you could be wasting money on overly expensive keywords.<\/p>\n

How do you permanently avoid flawed keyword research? The best option is to invest in a third-party keyword research tool. These tools provide all of the necessary data you need to judge your keywords: CPC, clickthrough rate (CTR), search volume, relevance, etc.<\/p>\n

Ideally, you want to find relevant keywords with low competition and costs but high search volume and CTR.<\/p>\n

PPCexpo Keyword Planner<\/a> is an excellent tool for researching new and existing search terms.<\/p>\n

\"PPC<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The PPCexpo Keyword Planner tool gives you hundreds of relevant keyword results for any search you make. Each suggested keyword is complete with search volume data, estimated CPC values, relevance % and more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an awesome alternative to Google\u2019s Keyword Planner.<\/p>\n

Solution: <\/strong>Take your time with your keyword research. It is not a one-and-done activity; it is an ongoing process. You should take time out of every day\/week to monitor your existing keywords and search for new potential targets. Expert PPC marketers are always testing new keywords!<\/p>\n

\"Tips\"<\/div>\n

Mistake #3: Neglecting To Pay Close Attention To Daily Budget<\/h2>\n

When you create a PPC campaign on Google Ads, you\u2019re asked to set up specific parameters. One of these settings is your daily budget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you set your daily budget to $25, you would expect to spend up to $25 each day on your campaigns. Unfortunately, it won\u2019t always work out that way, depending on your bidding strategy.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, when Google is trying to optimize your keyword bids, it will spend more <\/em>than your daily budget. It can even double it in some circumstances!<\/p>\n

This occurs when Google\u2019s automated bidding<\/a> AI decides that overspending today will achieve higher-than-average results. It\u2019s looking at the data and determining that spending more is the best course of action.<\/p>\n

This may seem insignificant when the budget is only $25, but imagine if it was $25,000. You could be allowing Google to spend thousands <\/em>more on some days than others.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth mentioning that your daily budget is different from your overall campaign budget. Google will never spend more than your overall campaign budget. The daily budget is this value divided across the entire month.<\/p>\n

If your maximum budget is $3,000 each month, your daily budget will be around $99 each day.<\/p>\n

The problem with Google exceeding your daily budget limit is that it could leave you without enough money to cover advertising at the end of the month. You could spend 90% of your monthly budget and still have 10 days left to go.<\/p>\n

Solution: <\/strong>If you\u2019re using any type of automated, smart bidding feature, get in the habit of checking how much is being spent each day. You don\u2019t have to check every single day, but enough that you know how your money is being spent. You can use automatic rules and scripts to implement your actions.<\/p>\n

Mistake #4: Relying Only On ROAS<\/h2>\n

There are many ways to measure the success of a PPC marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

You have access to tons of data, even just within your Google Ads account. All of these metrics matter to varying degrees.<\/p>\n

To simplify the data, many advertisers focus on return on advertising spent (ROAS)<\/a> to measure success. This helps advertisers get their performance down to a single metric.<\/p>\n

ROAS looks at revenue based on what you\u2019ve spent on advertising. It does not guarantee that you\u2019ll be getting the best possible profit for your ad spend.<\/p>\n

There is nothing inherently wrong with this strategy. It is an approach that many advertisers use. However, it does have some substantial limitations. For this reason, ROAS should not be the only <\/em>metric you rely on when measuring the success of your PPC campaigns.<\/p>\n

There are two problems with ROAS:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. ROAS looks at revenue, but not margins and actual profit. You may have a positive return on your ad spend, but that doesn\u2019t guarantee profitability. You may only be netting a few cents in the end. You wouldn\u2019t bet on a stock by just looking at the company\u2019s revenue and not its profits!<\/li>\n
  2. It\u2019s also rare to see a ROAS model that factors in customer lifetime value and future transactions. For most, ROAS provides a short-term glimpse at what\u2019s happening at that moment. It doesn\u2019t give any information on future transactions and where growth is expected <\/em>to be.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Solution: <\/strong>ROAS is an excellent benchmark metric, but it shouldn\u2019t be your ultimate success determiner. Think about future margin on ad spend, customer lifetime values and other metrics as well. The more critically you analyze the performance and trajectory of your campaigns, the better the resulting success.<\/p>\n

    Mistake #5: Not Testing Ad Copy Enough<\/h2>\n

    As mentioned, great PPC marketers are always testing new keyword opportunities<\/a>. You should also get in the habit of testing new ad copy<\/a> variations.<\/p>\n

    Weak ad copy will produce unsatisfactory results, even if your PPC campaigns are designed perfectly.<\/p>\n

    The problem is that there is no perfect recipe for A+ ad copy. The only way you can evaluate what works and what doesn\u2019t is to test.<\/p>\n

    The best way to evaluate different ad copy variations is to use A\/B testing. This is a simple process of writing two variations (or more) of a single ad. Each variation will have one subtle difference.<\/p>\n

    For instance:<\/p>\n