<\/p>\n
“<\/span>Clients gather, and now my marketing begins. It shall not end until profit wains. I shall steal no copy, hold no negatives, father no low positions. I shall waste no budget and ignore no bids. I shall optimize and keep my costs low. I am the sword in the ad market. I am the watcher of the clicks. I am the shield that guards the realms of conversions. I pledge my strategies and working life to the Ad’s Watch, for this night and all nights scheduled.<\/span><\/i>“<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2015The Ad’s Watch oath<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Just as Jon Snow confronted his vows to the Night\u2019s Watch, you too must have the courage to say \u2018no\u2019 to a hopeless AdWords account and move on. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pay-Per-Click advertising is certainly not for everybody. The space is populated with many companies that offer products, services, or advertising budgets that simply aren\u2019t compatible with Google AdWords. Many of these businesses approach PPC like some approach blogs or Facebook pages; they do ppc advertising because everybody else is doing it. However, approaching your business’s\u2019 advertising management in a manner reminiscent of \u00a0junior high school peer pressure is a huge mistake. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When developing a marketing plan for PPC, you have to make sure that your strategy is:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
- Well thought out <\/span><\/li>\n
- Finite in focus<\/span><\/li>\n
- Has clear objectives<\/span><\/li>\n
- Works within a realistic budget.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
That said – you can do everything \u201cright\u201d and still<\/i> not get the results you need. <\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Maybe the online auction market is too competitive for your vertical.<\/span><\/p>\n
Maybe the volume you need carries a cost-per-click that is prohibitive to meeting your cost-per-acquisition goals.<\/span><\/p>\n
Maybe there just isn\u2019t an efficient way to drive relevant traffic to your business at volume. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If any of these are the case, it\u2019s time to make some tough decisions about where to place your marketing budget.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Return on Investment<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
Return on your investment of ad spend is king when deciding whether the continue with your pay-per-click ads. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
It can take months to optimize your campaigns and drive the performance required to make your investment worthwhile. At times, you will put months of optimizations and work into your account and receive little to no value in return. There are one of three things happening here:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
- You are advertising on the wrong platform <\/span><\/li>\n
- Your current strategies aren\u2019t working and you need to commission an expert or agency to help<\/span><\/li>\n
- Reaching your targeted goals simply isn\u2019t obtainable due to natural market forces. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
If you aren\u2019t finding success on AdWords long after cleaning up your campaigns and consulting experts – then maybe Google\u2019s platform isn\u2019t for you. Consider trying others like Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, or Yahoo Gemini. Each has pros and cons, but there is a lot of potential to find a platform that works perfectly for your business scope. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you aren\u2019t confident that your strategies are effective – or you find yourself questioning whether you are up-to-date on the latest Google AdWords best practices – then you should certainly consider finding a reputable freelance expert, agency, or strategist to help you to audit and hone your strategies. I personally tell my clients in advance whether I think AdWords is right for them after I\u2019ve done research on their industry, keyword CPCs, and competition.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sugarcoating conversion expectations or KPI estimates hurts both parties in the short term<\/strong> instead of creating a healthy, mutually-beneficial relationship in the long-term. This doesn\u2019t mean that we never push forward to see if our best-chance strategies work out, but setting realistic goals can help to properly set expectations and ensure that we significantly cut waste and give our clients a clean out if AdWords isn\u2019t right for them.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Before starting an AdWords campaign, decide on how much budget<\/strong> you can allocate to the work, how long you will run campaigns<\/strong> in pursuit of positive results, and determine a reasonable timeline<\/strong> to hit your goals. An 800% return on ad spend doesn\u2019t happen overnight, so you can miss out on some big business opportunities by not showing patience during the campaign build and optimization process. <\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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![\"Image](\"http:\/\/52.203.240.20\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Jon-Snow-and-the-Nights-Watch-at-Castle-Black.jpg\")