Are you currently running or thinking about creating your first pay-per-click (PPC) campaign? We’re not surprised. It’s a great way to attract eyeballs on your website and to make new sales. Lots of entrepreneurs and companies swear by PPC to draw business every single day.

But make no mistake: A PPC campaign needs to be done properly. Some of the frustration with pay-per-click campaigns comes from experiences that people have, because they don’t quite know what to do or the campaign has been mismanaged. So let’s talk about 5 of the top mistakes and what you can do to avoid them for your next PPC campaign.

1. Targeting the Wrong Demographics

This is one of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs and companies make with their PPC campaigns. It is critical that you have a strong sense of who your customer is – before you launch your PPC campaign.

But what if you really aren’t sure who your customer is? What do you do then? We recommend you start by thinking of your “ideal customer”. When you first started your business, who did you think was going to buy your products? Quite likely, you had an idea of who it would be. If you sell self-tanning supplies, it could be people under 50 who go to popular vacation spots, such as Miami, Florida. Sit down and brainstorm about this customer.

Now look at your Google Analytics. This should give you some demographic information about who is visiting your website. While it may be a bit different from your “ideal customer”, it can give you a direction of who is coming to buy from you. Perhaps your customers are older or younger than you first thought they would be. Look at your customers’ interests and specific cities they are from. Now use this information to create your PPC campaign, when deciding who your target customer should be.

2. Bad Bids

This is probably the top reason you should go with an experienced SEM specialist to manage your PPC campaign. A great PPC campaign is both an art and a science to it as well.

The first thing you’ll want to do is set a monthly budget. No one other than you can tell you what this amount should be, because you know what you can afford to spend. It is better to get 20 good click-throughs that you’ve paid for each day, than to set a budget you can’t afford and have ads that never convert.

3. Ad Copy That Doesn’t Work

Hiring an experienced writer can make a tremendous difference in what your PPC campaign delivers. But here are a few helpful tips, to avoid ad copy mistakes that most newbies make:

1. Re-read your ads for spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.
2. Don’t rush to put your ads out. We know you’re eager to get started. If you’ve written your PPC ads, put them aside for a couple of hours at least or even a day. Then look at them with fresh eyes and see if there is anything you would want to change or improve. This little hack can make a huge difference!
3. Spy on your competition. No, really! Take a look at what other businesses in your industry are doing with their PPC campaign. Now, we didn’t say to copy them! But seeing what they are doing may “spark” ideas and have you realize the benefits and uniqueness of what you have to offer, so you write terrific ad copy.

4. Beginners That Don’t Do A/B Testing

When you do A/B testing, you simply have more data to work with. You see right away what is working and what isn’t. If you are new to running pay-per-click campaigns, or even doing a new one for a product or a service – we highly recommend that you do A/B testing.

Not every ad is going to be a slam dunk “winner”. If you have ad “A” and ad “B” then you will be able to distinguish what your target audience gets excited about.

5. Not Reading Your Reports or Paying Attention to Your Data

This is likely one of the top reasons that entrepreneurs and companies hire an expert, because they’ve learned the hard way that they need someone experienced to monitor the PPC reports and data every step of the way through the campaign.

Your PPC campaign has a much stronger chance for success when you are prepared to “tweak” it if you realize that keywords are not successful or are drawing the wrong type of audience. By saying “I’m too busy” you are just tossing money out the nearest window.

A PPC campaign can easily bring new business to your company. But it truly pays to call in the pros to manage it right. As you can see, a pay-per-click campaign takes patience, time and a bit of effort for everything to come together properly. Invest in your business and hire the services of a pay-per-click professional that can create a top-notch PPC campaign for you!