We’ve mentioned countlessly the many changes currently underway since the Google Marketing Next 2017 Conference, along with many changes Google has recently made in an attempt to give marketers more control over their paid-search. However, with so many features available to marketers, it can be difficult for businesses to determine which features—or combination of features—can help them reach their target goals, especially in a digital landscape which requires constant strategy development for businesses to adequately compete with new competitors arising at every corner. So, in the process of figuring out what strategy will work for you—whether it be through AdWords experimental features, trial and error, or A/B testing—we suggest that you avoid these 5 common AdWords mistakes so you can reach your revenue goals, in a digital landscape which requires time, patience, as well as trial and error to really discern which features will work best for you in the long range. So here are 5 common AdWords mistakes to avoid:
- Not identifying the correct target audiences:
Understanding how to appeal your ads to target audiences is extremely important to your AdWords success—however, problems generally arise in this sphere if you do not properly identify those audiences that are most likely to convert on your website. For this reason, it’s extremely important to know HOW to identify these audiences so you can increase your AdWords revenue and ROI. How can you do this? You can analyze your current AdWords data to identify the types of audiences that are most likely to convert, you can use trial and error to see what kinds of ads are most appealing to what audiences, or you can use analytical tools such as Google Analytics, Twitter Analytics or Facebook Insights to identify the audience types that are engaging with what types of social media content. Whichever route you choose, it’s crucially important that you identify your consumer-bases and the types of ads that will appeal most to them so you can experience the AdWords success you’ve been waiting for.
2. Not using the audiences feature correctly:
As we’ve just mentioned, identifying your target audiences is crucial to your AdWords success. However, if the audience features in AdWords are not used correctly, any time or energy you’ve spent in identifying target audiences will be pointless. So, what can you do to avoid this issue? Do not confuse ‘target and bid’ with the ‘bid only’ in the target settings. If you want just to adjust bids for previous web visitors, then the ‘bid only’ feature is perfect. But if you are more interested in limiting the exposure of the ad to a targeted audience list, then the ‘target and bid’ option would be perfect. This option is also great if you are financially constrained and can only appeal your ad(s) to specific groups.
- Incorrectly using automated rules:
Not too dissimilar from number 2, if you do not correctly use automated features to help you appeal to your target audiences, then your ads will not generate as many conversions as you expected. For example, if you’ve determined that your target audience, Caucasian males 35-50, are most likely to convert between 11AM-4PM, automating your settings to this time-frame would be an intelligent decision; otherwise, you run the risk of displaying ads to a consumer-base that is much less likely to convert. You can also automate the ad-display frequency and the labels displayed in these ads, among many other options.
- Not using the correct keywords:
It sounds simple, but not using the correct keywords is a MAJOR problem when it comes to your AdWords success. If you do not use those keywords which will trigger your ads once relevant search queries are made, you run the risk of missing out on a huge pool of potential converters who are in search of your goods and services. But really, it starts at a very basic level—first properly matching keywords which represent the product or service which your ad display is an important start. Then using the keyword combinations that will align with the most frequently used search-queries is another important aspect. However, the latter takes slightly more time, requiring trial and error to discern whether Broad, Phrase, or Exact Match modifiers will be most effective for what specific ad-campaigns. In whichever way you choose to make this determination, please know it’s crucially important to use those keywords that most effectively represent your products and draw in relevant search queries. You can check out LXRMarketplace’s Keyword Combinator to learn more about finding these keywords.
- Not trusting your data
The last mistake we’d like you to avoid is not trusting your own data. We are totally aware that, as a small business, you will have your own idea of what represents your brand and how to go about that. But unfortunately, the reality of what will generate the most conversions may be radically different from what you have in mind. For this reason, it’s very important that you analyze your data to discern HOW you will construct your ads to appeal to your target audiences. You may feel that Caucasian middle-aged women are most engaged with your lip-stick ads as an online cosmetics retailer, but after studying the audience that converts the most, you may find that Latina women 14-25 are most likely to convert after clicking on these ads. So, trust what your data has to say so you can develop the insight you need to generate solid results.
So here it is! 5 AdWords mistakes to avoid as we move into 2017. It’s certainly an exciting time with so many new changes currently underway in an attempt to give marketers more control in a digital landscape that is forever changing. However, in the quest to generate as many conversions as possible, it’s equally important to avoid certain mistakes, as it is to identify those features which will help you experience AdWords success, especially since strategy development takes time and effort to really master. And one wrong mistake can send all these efforts crumbling to the ground.