Pay Per Click advertisement is a great marketing tool and can help a company get new customers almost as soon as the ad is published on the Internet. However, the web is a rapidly changing business platform and things can go wrong at any time. Even the most reputable PPC company can't guarantee you a steady conversion rate throughout the year. These days, AdWords provides marketers with an option to check ups and downs in the conversion rate. It's a useful feature as you can be aware of the success of your marketing campaign and take necessary steps ifthings do not go so well. As long as people are clicking on the ads, there is nothing to worry about, but if you notice a surge in the conversion rate, here are some the crucial factors you should examine to find out what went wrong. 

Position of the Ads

If you lost your ad position and simultaneously the conversion rate went down, the main reason is likely to be tough competition. The competitor companies may have increased their bids and pushed your ad down the search engine result pages. The counter attack strategy in such condition is simple-increase your bidding rate. However, make sure that the costlier bidding rate is justifiable from the ROI perspective. Some companies pay impractical amounts of money to stay on top and that certainly improves the click through rate, but the vendor actually loses money because the customer's purchase amount is lower than what he had paid to acquire him.

Impressions

In case your ad position didn't change and your CTR is the same, but the impression is low, then, most likely one of the two things mentioned below has happened.

• Search volume is low- This happens for various reasons. People are not so interested in shopping because vacations are over, a new product may soon arrive in the market, or something else. In that case, it is better to keep the campaign same because these things are beyond your control and the situation will be normal once again very soon.
• Negative keywords- This is one of the gravest mistakes often made due to negligence and lack of information. You may have no idea, but the seemingly irrelevant keyword you added a couple of weeks ago may have sabotaged your client's PPC campaign. For example, if you are promoting Puma's running shoes and used the keyword "speed" in broad match, it will remove your ad from searches like "Puma evoSPEED," which is one of the most popular running shoes offered by the brand. Generally, professionals working in a PPC company don't make such foolish mistakes. Still, it's advice worth remembering.

Conversion rate

If the ad position, impression, and click rate all remain the same, yet customers are notbuying, then the fi
rst thing you must check are your ads. If you have just published a new ad, the content may not be good enough. Did you include an offer that is outdated? Did you mention an item "in stock" while its not?

• Check the landing page- Is your client's landing page active? Check it by clicking on an ad. If its loading properly, make sure the filters are still the same. If a customer clicks on the ad to see "smartphones," the landing page should show him smartphones, not the other products your client sells.
• Competition from other vendors- If everything is fi
  ne and yet people are not purchasing from your client's site, take a look at the competitor ads. Are they offering insane discounts? Did they launch a "satisfied or money back" policy? If competitor sites start giving some really good benefits to the target audience, talk with your client and ask him to offer something similar. Otherwise, nobody will click on his PPC ads.
• New competitor surfaced- If the already known competitors are not offering something exclusive,probably a new competitor has arrived in the market. Do some research to know what strategies they have adopted to outperform your client.

The last thing you must do is organize your client's AdWords account in such a way that you can identify any irregularities in the conversion rate immediately. Managing bigger campaigns with hundreds of ads can be a difficult task for even the most veteran PPC company because the marketing executives may not even notice when things go wrong. Therefore, customize AdWords Scripts to make sure you get notified as soon as the KPIs change. Sarmista Aun is currently working in a professional digital marketing company in India. She has expertise in AdWords campaign management. She provides guidance to all new advertisers who have stepped into the field of online marketing.

Source: www.themail.com