Not getting the results you hoped for from your PPC campaigns? Seeing either little-to-no results or high costs per click? While it’s easy to blame the niche or the internet as a whole, the reality is most of the reasons you aren’t seeing a return on investment (ROI) are things you can control. I’ll help you better understand this complex issue in today’s post.
Your Keywords are All Wrong
It’s not that your keywords are all wrong; it’s that you’re probably using too many. As you assess your campaigns, take a look at which are actually converting. Take the top 12 percent and redirect your budget to those and those alone. Seriously. Ditch the rest.
Most research statistics reflect that the top 12 percent of your keyword list gives you most sales. The other 88 percent are eating up around 60-some percent of your total marketing budget.
What a waste!
It’s still important to experiment and test new keywords. Make sure your campaigns aren’t limited to broad-based keywords. Include longtail terms that are specific to your niche, products, and target audience as well. The goal is to find the best performing keywords and direct your budget accordingly.
Your Bid Budget Needs to Be Adjusted
We’d all like to believe that setting a low bid for clicks is the way to go. It will save you money, right? Well…yes – and no, too.
In the beginning, you should actually allow for a higher budget — possibly even higher than Google recommends for your keywords.
A lack of clicks makes it impossible to determine which of your keywords are performing better (see above). The more clicks you get, the easier it is to collect the data you need to analyze your campaign.
Let’s say, for example, the recommended budget for your keyword is $12 per click. Instead, set your budget at $30 per click. You’re not likely to end up paying that $30; you’ll probably spend a few dollars over the initial $12.
Consider this an investment. Take the data you get in that first week, adjust your budget, and watch your visibility improve.
Your Ad Text is Weird
You only have a limited amount of space for your ad text, so at first it may seem like you need to get creative. This really isn’t always the case. You are better off with clear, concise wording that describes exactly what you have to offer than something witty but vague. Save the creative word play for your landing page.
This next tip matters: the text you use needs to be clear and concise, but it also needs to directly relate to what your audience will see. Don’t, for example, set up an ad about warm winter boots and then send your customers to a landing page advertising your spring special on cute flats. No one likes feeling misled. Your headline and your destination need to match.
Your Landing Page is Tripping People Up
It’s not uncommon for a subpar landing page to be the true culprit when it comes to a lack of conversions. Your PPC ad may be great, but you won’t see any sales if the ad drives traffic to a boring, slow, or unorganized destination. It takes the average web user a mere 10 seconds to decide if the page they’ve landed on is worth exploring. It better not take more than half that time for your entire page to finish loading.
Your landing page needs to load quickly and feature relevant content. Contrary to popular belief, less is more when it comes to content. Vibrant graphics, great video, and easy-to-navigate text are key. This doesn’t mean you can’t include a lot of info, especially if it’s necessary, but what you do add should be organized and skimmable.
Don’t forget to test landing pages, too. Create a couple of different versions and conduct regular A/B split tests. Direct your ads to the one that does best while you adjust the second version or come up with something new. You may even find you have different landing pages for different keyword groups, based on the way those individual audiences react to the unique ways you present information.
You’re Asking for Too Much
What’s your actual goal? Do you want a potential lead to call you for information? Do you want them to download a free form? Should they click on the landing page to complete a purchase online? Maybe you want them to sign up for an email list so you can continue to cultivate the sale.
I’ve seen a lot of landing pages where all of the above are incorporated in different areas. The truth is your visitors aren’t going to perform multiple actions. They’re looking for clear, concise instructions and will likely do one thing for you. Be clear about what that thing is and your action conversions will skyrocket.
Your Audience Targeting is Off
Your marketing team has probably spent a lot of time discussing company goals. You have great ad campaign ideas, timelines for rolling out new products, and targets for conversions.
So what’s the problem?
It’s all about you. Your customers don’t care how many widgets you want to sell this quarter. They don’t even care about your cute marketing graphics. They want to know what on earth your widget is going to do for them. Why do they want it? Do they really want it? What would they rather see instead?
Your landing page needs to answer all of these questions and more. It also needs to offer solutions for potential customers who have more questions. Can they trust you? Can they speak to someone with additional questions or concerns? Make sure your customers are receiving the educational information they are really looking for.
Boosting PPC conversions isn’t difficult, but it can be time consuming. You need to be dedicated to assessing, reassessing, testing, and adjusting your campaigns on a regular basis. Your keywords, ad text, audience demographics, and landing page layout should all be subject to regular scrutiny. The more flexible you are, the less likely your campaigns are to completely flop.
Eric Sachs
SEO virtuoso, CEO @Sachs Marketing Group. Focused on being of service to business owners - helping to better position them in the eyes of their audiences.
