Many businesses have had a dabble into Pay-per-Click marketing and many have come away feeling cheated that it didn’t work for them. As most successful companies know, it does work and works very well, so how come the difference in opinion?
The reason PPC doesn’t work for everyone is usually a combination of reasons which can include,
• Too small a budget in a competitive industry.
• No conversion tracking or reluctance to have it installed.
• No search volume.
• Vanity keywords.
• Limited budget.
• Too many changes too fast.
• Poor website
• Products are not competitive.
• Client expects instant results
• Business is failing and PPC is a last ditch effort to keep afloat.
• List is NOT exhaustive.
One of the greatest drawbacks is trying to explain to clients that any kind of marketing and that includes offline conventional marketing, will not bring you results overnight. A strategy takes time and effort to develop and return the kind of ROI you are looking for.
So, we’ve put together a list of the three most important things to look out for if you’re about to embark on PPC.
It Takes Skill
PPC isn’t a job for a bedroom-based student. Not only does it take skill and strategy, it also takes a good understanding of Google Guidelines, it requires creativity and marketing common sense. Anything less and you are throwing your money away. Identify and engage a professional agency that is a Google Partner and build a relationship. Keep your distant from those who promise the earth, remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Communication
You can’t just hand everything over to an agency and say, “There you go, get on with it”! A successful PPC account needs communication between both parties. No one knows your business better than you do and know one knows his or her industry like your PPC account manager. Together, you will both know what each other is doing and therefore avoid potentially expensive overlaps. A word of warning though, don’t dabble, let the agency do their job and let them run the account. You run your business.
PPC – For Life
PPC is for life, not just for Christmas. Ok, so it’s an old joke but the sentiment is spot on. You’ll get a good return on your investment if PPC is done right. Making changes to your website or launching a new product? PPC helps, expanding your product range or rebranding? PPC is there to help you through it. So you see, even when you reach the level of business and ROI you’re happy with, PPC keeps the playing field level and the sales rolling.
Don’t Let Your Competitors Win
Lets face it, more and more shopping takes place online: more and more searches take place on smart phones so if your not using PPC you are seriously missing out on an advertising medium that can reap you dividends. So what are you waiting for? If you aren’t using PPC, you can bet your competitors are!
