Looking to send paid traffic to your site? Great! Expanding your digital marketing campaigns by using Google Adwords is a great way to get your brand message in front of your target audience. However, although creating an Adwords account is quite easy, generating a positive return-on-investment (ROI) can be a bit more challenging.

If you aren’t experienced in PPC advertising, it’s highly likely your PPC campaigns will not turn a profit.

We’ve prepared this list of the 7 most avoidable mistakes that most companies make to help you get the ROI you’re hoping that your PPC campaigns will produce.

Broad Keyword Targeting

As a new advertiser you have to be able to generate enough revenue from your PPC campaigns to justify the amount you spend. Broad keyword targeting will make it unlikely that you’ll be able for you to bid for the top position, so keep it simple. Start with groups of five to 10 long-tail keywords. Only use broad keywords when you can ensure your ROI will be positive.

Using Too Many Keywords

As previously stated, starting with groups of five to 10 long-tail keywords is highly recommended. Many companies try to create landing pages and PPC ads for each target keyword, this is probably one of the most common mistakes. Using more than 10 keywords can also be an issue, so this is also something you’d want to avoid.

Search Network with Display Select Ad Campaigns

Although Google always pushes search network with display select combination campaigns, it’s better to stick with display and search. However, ensure your ads follow best practices for each campaign style.

Sending Traffic to Your Homepage

By sending your visitors directly to your homepage every time, you’re not making it easy for them to find what they need. This will cause them to leave your site, or even worse bypass conversion. Instead send your PPC-secured visitors to appealing, engaging landing pages designed specifically for your PPC campaigns. Although it’s more work for you, you will reap the rewards of your efforts.

Omitting Negative Keywords

With PPC, always remember that you pay-per-click, using a negative keyword will help to generate higher paying customers. For example, using – before the word cheap can help you keep away buyers looking for the absolute cheapest price.

Not Rotating Ad Variation Displays

For split testing purposes you should always create ad variations. Typically, Google will display the ad it thinks is the better-performing ad, therefore your split testing won’t be fair due to uneven ad variation display. There are four ad rotation options that can prevent this from occurring:

• Optimize for Clicks
• Optimize for Conversions
• Rotate Evenly
• Rotate Indefinitely

To keep your data clean you’d want to choose the “Rotate Indefinitely” option.

Failure to Measure ROI

With PPC campaigns it’s an absolute necessity to measure your ad clicks and how many are actually converting into paid customers. Without properly measure your campaigns effectiveness you’re just throwing your money down the drain. These measurements can assist your in planning future campaign costs down the road by showing you what campaigns were successful, which weren’t and with groups and keywords worked and which didn’t.

Track your website conversions by defining your sales funnel first and setting up Google Analytics goals. This way you’ll know for sure which of your campaigns are giving you a positive ROI.

We’d love to hear your experiences with PPC advertising. Share your mistakes with us, so you can help others learn how to avoid them.