Common things that can go wrong and cost you money very quickly when you set-up and operate your own ppc campaigns, versus hiring a professional PPC management company like Camrud Advertising.
Don’t Fall Victim to the Built-In Pitfalls of the System
Unfortunately, because of the way Google advertising is set up, these errors don’t just mean you have less effectiveness — they also cost you money. And a lot of it!
Do you realize Google Ads is actually subtly set up to take advantage of people who are inexperienced at using their interface? I’ve often wondered exactly how much income Google makes every day on mistakes in initial campaign settings before unsuspecting do-it-yourselfers catch on or quit.
PPC platforms have many ways to separate a fool from their money!
I don’t blame people for getting excited when they discover Bing or Google advertising. They are fantastic tools – when in the hands of a pro.
I won’t go into all of the subtle ways you can spend too much for your return right out of the chute in this article, but pay heed: their standard of ‘statistics may not be available for 3 to 12 hours’ can cost you a lot of money before you know what you did wrong.
I Can Save You As Much As You Spend on My Services
Here is our list of 7 of the top ways you can spend more money than you need to:
- Falling for First Page Bid Warnings. When a person first enters their keyword bids into Google, they are given a warning message saying “Below First Page Bid” on some phrases. It is written in big scary orange letters too. The first instinct of amateurs is to raise their bid, because of course they want to be on the first page. When the bid is sufficiently high in Google’s estimation, the warning sign is turned off. Often times new users will let this run for several days before discovering that their ads actually are showing in the first position, which is usually overkill and may trigger a bidding war. An experienced PPC management company will use their instincts and experience to bid the proper amount.
- Not Using Negative Keywords. PPC Management companies who know what they are doing realize that setting negative keywords can be nearly as valuable to your success as choosing good keywords. Most companies who handle their own Adwords campaigns do not even know what negative keywords are, or where to find them. You can easily spend double what you should be spending by ignoring this aspect of pay per click advertising.
- Low Search Volume Message. Another scary red-lettered message that Google Adwords places in your freshly minted keyword lists is the message “Low Search Volume”. When clicking on the dialog bubble, they give you this warning: “Users don’t search for this term very often on Google properties, so it’s not eligible to trigger your ads.” Well, this is an out and out lie. It is, in fact, eligible, and some phrases perform quite well despite never having this message turn off! Again, an expert PPC manager will know when this is accurate, and when it is not. They will make the proper “match-type” adjustments.
- Wrong Match-type for the Intent. Match-types can be incredibly tricky for people not turning their campaigns over to PPC management companies. We go beyond just making sure each match type is represented. In fact, you will get much different results if you do that method, versus selectively applying a strategic mix of the three main match types. Don’t know what match-types are? Definitely hire a professional Denver PPC Company!
- Ignoring Quality Score. Quality score is determined by Google Ads based on several factors that are beyond the scope of this article. The point we want to make is that a good quality score can allow your ads to be shown above others on the results page even though you bid less than a competitor for the same phrase. Skillful PPC management companies will work with your ad text, your headlines, your landing page titles, subtitles and content, as well as your overall website, if you have the budget, to get you top quality scores.
- Campaign Settings Errors. If you have tried setting up you own campaign, you know how complex the settings panel can be! As in all of these list items, using the wrong settings for your goals can cause you to blow budget before even getting started. One of the most common errors involve ill-conceived geographic settings. Another big one is the allowance of Google to show your ads for how they determine “plurals and close variants”. Don’t leave it to them to determine.
- Not Proactively Setting Up Your Account. Most amateurs react to data after the money has poured out, rather than be proactive to conserve money. According to Google, “Performance data isn’t available instantly, and some metrics are only updated once a day. When gauging your account performance, it is helpful to know that some recent account data may not be showing up yet”. Unless you have a good Denver PPC management company, this isn’t taken seriously. We hear from clients that they had hired a pro, and still ended up spending way too much money right out of the gate. Well, the fact is a lot of pros react too.
We tend to take a more conservative approach. We set-up your site more carefully. We bid conservatively to start with, capturing only a small portion of the market until we can be sure of trending; and we avoid accidental off-topic clicks through keyword research, negative keywording, and effective match-typing.
Hiring Competent PPC Management Companies Pays Off
I sincerely hope that this article saves you money, but the real purpose of it is to impress upon you the value that your Denver Pay Per Click Manager brings to the equation. I save you money and get you clients. I’ve been working with PPC advertising since 2004.