Advertisers that first make campaigns in Google Adwords usually make the same mistakes. If your campaigns are generating a large number of clicks but no sales, you may be doing any of the following:
- Opting into the content network with the same bids as the search network without any tracking. By default a new campaign is opted into the content network and search network. The content network has a lower conversion rate than the search network on average and is often the source of click-fraud. A lot of wasted clicks are generated here. Always start out only in the search network and see if that is profitable, then consider opting into the content network. Set-up tracking and separate bidding in the content network.
- Bidding on general phrases that are broad matched and only loosely relevant to the product without adding negative keyphrases or otherwise narrowing the matching. This will generate a lot of clicks but no sales. Consider using phrase match or exact match for general terms or add negative words that may show up in queries that aren’t related to buying your product. Safer yet, bid only on specific terms at first then build the list to include more general terms.
- Putting users on the home page rather than the most relevant page that is closest to a purchase, signup, or contact. For a product being sold online, you’d ideally make the destination URL that of the page that has, in the least, a product description, picture, pricing information, and a buy button.
Correcting these mistakes is the first step to creating a profitable pay-per-click campaign in Google Adwords.
