7 Common SEM Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Every day, Google processes over 3.5 billion search queries. Many of these are related to products and services. Yet as a business owner, how can you harness that traffic to increase sales?

One way is with a search engine marketing strategy, though many people fail to get this right.

Read on as we discuss the common SEM mistakes you must avoid.

Google processes 3.5 billion searches every day

1. Not Concentrating on Your Website

You can have a huge budget for marketing businesses online with the greatest adverts, but if your website is not up to scratch it is for nothing. Many people spend time concentrating on their marketing but fail to pay attention to the website. As a vital element of the sales funnels, you need to get it right.

One way you can do this is by creating unique landing pages. If your marketing efforts have directed people to your site, you risk losing them if they land on the main page. They then have to search the website for what attracted them and many will leave.

With a landing page, they can be turned into a conversion much quicker. Tailor the page to any offers, sales, or products you have marketed.

2. Not Sticking to a Budget

Even the biggest organizations stick to a budget when creating an SEM campaign. The hard part is not setting it, but sticking to it. It can be very easy to add funds to areas that are going well and reallocate them from ones that seem to be dragging.

The problem with this is that it then becomes very hard to track any return on investment. If you have a budget and stick to it, you can see what returns are. Second campaigns can then be started using the information gleaned from previous metrics.

You should never let SEM campaigns run on autopilot. Don't allow automatic charging to credit cards or have invoicing post charge. If you have the resources, then you should even consider allocating budgets day by day and adjusting the campaigns as and when they come.

3. Failing to Combine It With SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a real headache. It is vast, covering how you optimize your website all the way to the content you keep on it. That does not even include the arduous task of getting backlinks to your website.

The truth is that if you want to be successful in the digital environment, you cant avoid it. You are also throwing money away if you concentrate on one without the other. SEM and SEO should always go hand in hand.

If you don't address your SEO, you won't get the long-term organic traffic that it brings. SEM campaigns will bring you visitors, but once you stop spending this will halt.

Conversely, SEM can kick start your search engine optimization efforts. Traffic flowing to your website is a key indicator that the site is relevant and you will begin to travel to the top of the SERPs.

4. Not Using Negative Keywords

When creating an SEM campaign, the focus turns to keywords. Yet just as important are keywords you should be excluding. These are negative keywords.

Imagine your search term is 'how to wear a scarf'. You don't want to be playing clicks for keywords such as 'how to wear' as you could be paying for traffic for people who want to know about ties, sneakers, and other items. This term then becomes a negative keyword.

Of course, fewer people will be exposed to your campaign. However, the traffic quality will be much higher and you won't be throwing away money.

5. Neglecting a Great CTA

A call to action (CTA) is an instruction to the reader of a text or advertisement. It informs them on what they should do next. Without it, you will get viewers who drop off and do not know where to go once they have taken in the information.

With a CTA, the simpler the better. It could be an instruction to find out more, learn more or see here. For retail campaigns you may see commands like add to cart, buy here or order now.

Ideally, the CTA should move them toward your final goal. If you want them to buy a product, then cut to the chase and add buy now or add to cart. If you want them to sign up for email lists, then tell them to learn more or find out.

6. Bidding on Competitor Names

There are no real reasons you should bid on competitors' names, particularly brand ones. The only reason you would do this is to prove a point to them, which is going to cost you money. Instead, make sure your marketing spend is focused on enhancing your own efforts, not sabotaging someone else's.

7. Geo-Targeting the Wrong Places

Your business is unlikely to serve the whole world. As such, it is important you know the areas it does cater to and you tell this to the ad platform.

Imagine you only ship to the United Kingdom. When you make an ad account in Bing, it automatically defaults to the US and Canada. One in Google automatically has a worldwide setting.

By not correcting these, your ads will target North America and then the rest of the world. This is a lot of wasted money for your SEM campaign.