3 Adwords Mistakes that will Suck Cash out of your Wallet

I don’t use Google Adwords a lot for my own business – the vast majority of my traffic comes from naturnal searches thanks to Search Engine Optimisation work.

But where I do use it is as a testing tool to get real keyword traffic information and to test offers and landing pages before investing in SEO work to get them ranked. It gives me confidence that the SEO will be worthwhile if I’ve been able to use Adwords to get conversions (e.g. subscribers to a newsletter) already.

And since Google have recently updated their rules about what they allow on Adwords landing pages, I also use it to get some first hand data on that too.

So I was doing a little bit of testing recently – quite valuable as it happens as it showed up a few excellent keywords with high traffic that just aren’t beign reported by Google’s keyword research tool yet.

But what I also noticed was a number of businesses simply throwing money away using Adwords. Using strategies that simply can’t pay off.

Here’s the first mistake – and while it seems staggeringly obvious I see businesses making it all the time.

Adwords Mistake #1: Sending traffic to a dead page or site.

Unbelievably, for one of the high competition keywords I was looking at, one of the advertisiers was sending traffic to a domain that had been deleted. Presumably they’d forgotten to renew the domain name. They were paying somewhere in the region of $1.50 to $2.00 for every click on that advert – and every one was wasted.

More commonly, I see the same thing where the ad goes to a page that no longer exists (even though the site is still there). This happens when the business updates their website but forgets to redirect the ads to the new pages.

Believe me, Google doesn’t give you a refund for stupidity if you tell them you’ve bought all these clicks that have gone nowhere.

The second mistake is one many people make when new to Adwords.

Adwords Mistake #2: Not Matching Your Ad to the Keywords

I typed in “how to get clients” to google recently – it’s a fairly typical search someone who may eventually be interested in my services types.

One of the ad results was from an insurance company.

Firstly – why would an insurance company be bidding on a phrase like “how to get clients”? It bears no relation to what they have to offer. Chances are they’re new to the Adwords game and are bidding on a really generic phrase like “clients”.

Secondly, their ad read “We provide services that meet our customers needs!”.

Really? Now that’s original.

At least the good news is that they won’t be wasting too much money as they’re unlikely to get many people to click on that ad.

The trouble with using broad keywords is that you end up with large numbers of impressions from people not really interested in what you have to offer. The clicks you’ll get will be from the curious rather than the committed.

Especially when you’re new to adwords you need to be using Exact or Phrase match keywords (that will trigger your ad only when the exact keywords you specificy are used or something very like them). Broad matching leaves you too open to your ads showing at irrelevant times.

And you need to be precise with your keyword selection. Two, three or more words per keyword phrase – making sure they’re phrases people will genuinely use to search for your type of services or related issues – rather than generic phrases.

The third mistake is perhaps the most insidious of all – because it’s a trap so many fall into. It can lull you into a false sense of security – you’ll get plenty of clicks – they just won’t be worth much.

Mistake #3: Not Sending Traffic to a Specific Landing Page

So many Adwords users send the traffic direct to their home page. But think about it: your home page is the most generic on your site. With Adwords, for every click, you know exactly what they were searching for to trigger your ad (it’s the keyword you matched for, of course). So why would you choose to send them to a generic page rather than a page tailored to match what they searched for?

Of course, you shouldn’t.

What you should do is create a specific page tailored to whatever it was the visitor was searching for (a landing page). Group the keywords you’re bidding on into different capaigns depending on what they indicate people were searching for, and have a different landing page per campaign.

Make the landing page as specific as possible to the search. And make sure your ad relates to your offer. If you were promoting a training course on leadership skills, send the clicks to the sales page for the course – not your home page. If you’re trying to get signups for your new membership site – send the clicks there, not your home page.

Now at this stage people sometimes say to me “but I’m not promoting anything in specific”.

In which case you should think very carefully about whether you should be running an Adwords campaign.

Just sending clicks to your home page in the hope you’ll catch them when they’re ready to buy your sort of services generally is pretty much like pouring cash down the drain.

If your objective is to connect with potential clients then your best strategy is to offer some form of free report/video in the relevant area they were searching for, and to use that to build a subscriber base you can communicate to regularly. Just visiting your website once isn’t enough – you need regular communications for them to build the confidence in you to be ready to hire you.

And an offer of something free is much more likely to result in getting clicks than simply promoting a service. Here’s an example: I searched for “improve leadership” and looked at the top two adwords results. One firm’s ad said “Experts in change management and improving business processes”. The other said “Free: over 700 insights of wisdom for exceptional leadership”. Which would you be most likely to click on if you were interested in improving your leadership skills or those of the people in your business?

My guess is the latter – by a long stretch.

So if you’re thinking of running an Adwords campaign – or you already have one running or have someone runnign one for you – make sure you don’t fall into these three traps. Otherwise you’ll spend a lot of money for very little return.

Tags: adwords, google, ppc