To be successful with any business, there are specific things that need to be done, one of those having to do with advertising. Obviously, once your site is launched, you need to get word out that you are open for business but the key is reaching your target market with a compelling value proposition.
Paid search engine advertising provides an immediate solution but unless done right, it could yield little or unwanted results. Make these common mistakes and your campaign could be bled dry within a week or it will sit idly whilst your competitors grab market share from under your nose.
1. Mistake One – Keyword Phrase Length
The first mistake made with paid search engine advertising is using single keywords rather than a multitude of keyword phrases of varying lengths. Obviously, choosing single keywords, or keyword phrases consisting of just two words, is much easier and quicker but it is can also be a fatal mistake. Unfortunately, a misconception is that when keyword phrases are too long, they are not worth the effort financially.
The truth is that you need a good blend of single keywords and keyword phrases of 2-5 words, which will ultimately boost your company’s profit. While there is some challenge in identifying profitable phrases because there is less aggregated traffic data, conversion rates are generally higher and bid values are much less competitive.
2. Mistake Two - Non-qualifying Copy
Another common mistake seen when using paid search engine advertising is that the written copy is not done properly so as a result, prospective customers are not qualified. The goal of your search engine marketing efforts is to reach a broad audience but an audience consisting of people that want what you sell. Therefore, written copy needs to be focused enough to attract high probability prospects and reduce low probability curiosity clicks.
When your copy is too broad, you may see an increase in traffic (and advertising expense) to your site but it would likely consist of people that have no intention of buying. Therefore, whether you write your own copy or hire a professional to write copy for you, it is imperative that it address the product and/or service you sell so it reaches qualified buyers. Good copy would prompt some type of action on the part of the potential customer.
3. Mistake Three - Less than Optimal Landing Pages
Searchers have a need for immediacy. Everything happens at the click of a button and there is no shortage of content out there. So, if your landing page does not succinctly communicate your offer in a compelling way you run the risk of being viewed as irrelevant.
When attracting a customer via paid search engine advertising it's imperative that your on-page offer is congruent with your ad text to avoid any cognitive dissonance in the mind of the user. Different paid search offers should point to specifically designed pages within the site. Otherwise, prospective customers are going to be disappointed, which means having people leave before they even get the chance to see the benefits your company provides.
4. Mistake Four - Pole Position Mentality
Being first doesn't correlate to better results. Research with our own customers often shows that any increase in conversion rate, by being in the first ad position for a given search term, doesn't always offset the premium you pay to attain that position. Competitive industries with sophisticated paid search competition are often populated by larger competitors with bigger budgets who can afford much higher bid values. These values set the threshold for you to position yourself higher - even if you have a more optimal campaign with higher quality score metrics.
An optimal paid search engine advertising campaign should provide you with the highest volume of high quality traffic at the optimal price. There are often more efficient ad positions that sit below the advertisers willing to pay through the nose for pole position.
5. Mistake Five - Cost Based Bid Optimisation
Wanting good value from your advertising investment is a given. Cheap advertising is very expensive when it doesn't give you an acceptable return. Sure it can seem like there's little to lose but there's a big opportunity that comes with having prospective customers go elsewhere because your offer wasn't seen through the crowd.
Budgets need to be adhered to, however with solid analytics your campaign can be managed according to performance with more invested into better performing keyword phrases and little to none on those that don't.
Ad position, copy and keywords should all be optimised not according to an arbitrary view on what is expensive but on what produces the optimal outcome.
Paid search engine advertising is a highly specialised process requiring creative copywriting, data analysis, competitive research and a broad understanding of the context of your marketplace. All this whilst keeping an eye on your budget and fine tuning your other initiatives. A good agency can often be cost neutral due to the savings they can provide by increasing the efficiencies in your current campaign.
