6 PPC Misconceptions You Should Avoid

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is amongst the most misunderstood online marketing strategies amongst business owners, managers, and other decision makers. These misconceptions prevent many businesses, organisations, and individuals from choosing this highly effective advertising strategy. So what are these misconceptions about this form of promotion that you should be aware of?

1. PPC is Expensive

This is simply the biggest misconception about PPC and it is actually false for so many reasons, including the following:

• Your PPC budget depends on how much you can allocate
• You are able to place a cap on your monthly spend on PPC campaigns
• Being smart in choosing the targeted keywords can result in low cost per click (CPC) rates

There are many factors that can bring down your CPC rates, such as:

• Creating highly relevant and appealing landing pages
• Increasing conversion rates on your pages
• Increasing percentage of clicks from prospects

2. PPC Means Immediate Results

Whilst PPC helps deliver faster results compared to SEO, it doesn’t mean that you can always start getting instant sales. You shouldn’t expect that the moment you set and launch your campaign, it is going to have your sales numbers soar. It will be required to run a few campaigns to set the right parameters and design copy before you start seeing the results. It can take even more time and effort if you are targeting niche markets.

3. Google AdWords is All You Need

Google has by far the largest search market share in the world, on both desktop and mobile. This makes Google AdWords the first choice for anyone looking to run their PPC campaigns. This doesn’t, however, mean that all your target audience is using Google. It is likely that your audience is also using Bing and other search engines.

So instead of focusing solely on AdWords, you should first determine where your target audience is. A good PPC PRO agency can generate all the statistics required to help you determine the best platform for your campaigns.

4. Target All Keywords

Another widespread misconception about PPC is that targeting all keywords can help you get high volume of traffic. You should instead focus on the most relevant keywords for your campaign and products/services. If you target all or more keywords, your advertising budget is going to increase significantly.

5. You Should Target Maximum CTR

Another misconception is that CTR is everything and you should concentrate on maximum CTR. Instead you should focus on creating campaigns that help deliver high conversion rates. If you run a campaign with high click through rates but with low conversion, it will take all your monthly budget without any reasonable returns.

Make sure that everything related to your PPC campaign is relevant, including:

• Ad copy
• Landing pages
• Website content

This is important to ensure that those who click on your ads actually get the information they came looking for.

6. Let Autopilot Manage Your Campaigns

PPC campaigns are used to target humans. And the human element always keeps changing. Whilst autopilot is a great feature, it cannot adapt to the market changes like a human-managed account can.

PPC requires you to keep adapting to the changing consumer behaviour. And then you have to experiment regularly with new keywords and combinations. The goal is to get optimal results for your campaigns, not declining sales.

PPC is a very powerful and effective online marketing strategy. It is, however, important that it is well-managed and targeted to achieve your desired goals. You should avoid developing the above-mentioned misconceptions and get the help of experienced PPC experts to set up and run your campaigns.