Have you attempted to create an ad for Google, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, and it just didn’t bring the results you wanted? 
They say that making mistakes is the best way to learn… but when your company’s ad spend is involved, maybe, the fewer mistakes, the better. 
Whether you’ve created a paid ad campaign before or are just getting started, these 4 tips can save you from making these basic mistakes that can occur when people create a paid ad.
Have you tried to create your own paid ads yet? Check out our previous blog posts for some tips on how you can do this!

Reason 1 – You’re not targeting the right audience. 

You should know exactly who your audience is, and be able to answer these questions:
  • Have you created a persona for your ideal target audience? 
  • Do you know their demographics? 
    • What are their ages? 
    • Where are they located?
  • Where do they spend most of their time online? 
Once you’re able to answer these questions, creating a highly targeted audience becomes a lot easier. 
More often than not, a smaller, targeted audience reach produces better results than a sizeable unspecified audience reach. 

Reason 2 – You’re not utilizing keywords in your Ad Copy 

Ad copies should have a simple, short and easy to understand message. 
There are only a limited number of characters you can fit into an advertisement. Think of it like you’re writing a poem. Every word should count and be chosen intentionally. 
Additionally, make sure you take into account the search intent of your customer. Find out the reason they’re searching for these words and design your ad to answer their inquiry.
For example, the search term “umbrella Vancouver” could have multiple search intents, including:
  • Someone wanting to buy an umbrella in Vancouver
  • Or someone wondering if you need an umbrella in Vancouver (uhm, yes!)

Reason 3 – Your ad doesn’t lead to a landing page. 

After your customer clicks on your ad, does it lead to your homepage or does it lead to a specially designed webpage that is designed to increase conversions? 
Landing pages should contain all the answers your customer is looking for and have a clear call-to-action (CTA), to reduce the fallout rate. 
You want to eliminate the number of steps a customer has to take to get the answer they’re looking for. If your ad promises that a customer can buy a 10 ft stuffed dinosaur when they click the “Buy Now” button, then the page they’re loading better lead to that product page, and not to your homepage! 
You want to make sure your customer stays on your website and doesn’t go to your other competitors.
Make it easy for your customer to find the information they need by creating a landing page for your ad. This way, they won’t feel the need to look elsewhere and your conversion rates will start to skyrocket.  
 

Reason 4 – Your loading time is too high

Loading……loading……loa- 
Does your website take more than 3 seconds to load? Studies have shown that sites taking more than 3 seconds to load experiences a 40% drop off of customers instantly.
We’ve all been there, and we all know how annoying a slow loading website can be. 
You can decrease your website’s load time by using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. 
Now my little fledglings, take all that you’ve learned and fly with it. Try it out, go make some paid ads!
If you have any questions or need help crafting some paid ads, you can contact us here. 
Good Luck!
—Soulpepper

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