Pay Per Click Program Mistakes 1-4

Particularly for Google.  

In 2009, that company’s revenues were some twenty four billion dollars, despite the fact that America and most of the world were mired in a deep recession. A year later, it made $28,000,000,000. 

Not only recession-proof, it thrived while others struggled.

Google is able to smile all the way to the bank because there are always millions of Google Ad Words advertisers who seem to have lots of money to burn!

Why do I say this? Well, because most  Adwords advertising is done on an ad hoc, casual basis, filled with money-losing mistakes by advertisers in a seemingly never-ending cycle.  Google, of course, profits whether you write a money making or money losing ad but wouldn’t you prefer to be on the profit making end of Adwords advertising, too?

Ask yourself this question:  Which would you rather have, lots of window shoppers or paying customers?  

Remember, you are going to pay for each and every click on your pay per click program adword advertisement, whether from someone simply curious or someone looking for what you are offering.  Tire kickers and window shoppers always---always---cost you money.  The easiest way to attract these folks is to write your ad so casually that you will likely draw a high percentage of clicks from curiosity seekers, not customers.

Let me give you an example here.  Suppose there are two competing adword campaigns, with each advertiser paying $2.00 a click for the keyword each has selected.  Each sells the same product for the same price.

Campaign #1 revolves around a tightly written, strategically written ad while Campaign #2 is, well, more casual in its approach and draws lots of curiosity seekers rather than buyers.

After a week, each campaign has 500 clicks so both advertisers pay $1,000 to Google.  However, Campaign #1 converted 4% of clicks to its site for $2,000 and a net profit of $1,000 while Campaign #2 converted just 1% of clicks to its site for $500, a net loss of $500.  

What accounts for this dramatic difference?  Think tennis.

Yep, tennis where it has often been observed that the winner is the one making the fewest mistakes.  Adwords advertising is no different.

The only difference between tennis and pay per click program advertising campaigns is that the former involves losing a game while the latter results in a loss of money that was there for the taking.

If the Campaign #2 webmaster calculated how much he or she had been spending on random, curiosity clicks due to poor ads over the course of a year, it would be quite a shock to the wallet, if not to the central nervous system.

Now, in order to write the best Google ad word text, the first thing to do is identify mistakes people commonly make.  The second thing is to let other people make the mistakes, not you.

So, here are four commonly made, expensive, but easily avoidable pay per click program mistakes.

Mistake #1  Targeted Keyword Not In Headline



The most important part of a Google Ad Words advertisement is the headline, 25 letters or less. If you don’t remember any of the other mistakes to avoid, don’t forget this: always, always, always put the specific targeted keyword in the headline.

After all, would you be tempted to buy something from the fellow who wrote the headline in the photo above?

Why do I emphasize this so much?  Here are three (of many) reasons:

First, every search, by every human being, involves a keyword.  Potential customers search for a product or service they want via a targeted keyword.  Give it to them!

Second, a targeted adwords keyword improves your Google Quality Score and may move your ad placement above a competitor that may have paid more money than you for the same keyword.  

Third, most people decide whether to click on an ad after reading the headline, not the text of the ad.  Some studies have shown a five-fold increase in clicks simply from creating a better headline.

And, check out other ways to make your Ad Words headlines catchy and a moneymaker.

Mistake #2  Failing to Research Targeted, Commercial Keywords



I've put "targeted" in red, over and over again, to draw attention to its importance.  The successful Google advertisement targets the exact keyword a searcher uses in his or her search query.  But, how can you know what your searchers are looking for?

Simple: you use the power of technology to quickly, easily, and best of all, for free, discover the words targeted by consumers!    Fortunately, the world's best Google keyword tool is the totally free: Market Samurai keyword module, click (it's really free).

If you don't pay attention to anything else on this page, pay attention to this: the solution is free.

Mistake #3   Making The Ad Overly Broad

Many folks who try Adwords advertising mistakenly assume that an ad should be really broad to attract more visitors.  While this strategy may  result in more clicks, much of that traffic will come from “window shoppers” or readers who feel they need to check out the landing page to see if they are missing out on something good. A high percentage of them will leave your site quickly as they will be disappointed but you will still pay for their expensive, wasted clicks.

You will be far better off taking extra time to write a targeted ad (including your keyword) that appeals to people who are looking for what you are offering.  

Mistake #4  Lack Of Appropriate Supporting Keywords And Ad Groups

There are those who believe that advertising on Google is best done using many ad groups with lots of different keywords. 

This scattergun approach, like Mistake #3, assumes the more clicks the merrier---and hence is more profitable---but fails to recognize that a targeted Ad Word campaign increases the conversion rate at a lower price.  

Avoid this common mistake by developing smaller Adword ad groups with a family of related keywords inside, thereby making it possible for the related keywords to be included in the group.

Remember the admonition at the top of the page:  Google makes billions of dollars whether or not the Google advertisement makes money for its advertiser. 

It's just as easy to avoid money-sucking mistakes as to make them---you'll make more money selling fresh crab than fresh "crap."