Why Doesn't PPC Traffic Convert?!

Don’t make large changes to your strategy too early. Instead, allow your campaigns to run until you have a solid dataset to inform how you fix PPC conversions.
you should add some positive keywords in your campaing
 
The problem with ppc traffic is that you need to do a lot of testing and fund that testing.
With 100 clicks you are far from having gathered enough info to make a decision yet.
I get all that for sure, but the thing I don't get is why with now 300 to 400 clicks there hasn't been 1 conversion - but for my organic search pages I get a conversion every 80 clicks or less. How is it the same traffic or quality of traffic? Or why is ppc traffic so much harder to get to convert.
 
Also, do any of you guys limit the hours that your ads run? I'm getting a lot of misspellings that I'm wondering if they're drunk traffic late at night - I mean seriously, I got a click for one four word keyphrase with every single of the four words misspelled - I'm not sure how that was possible.
 
Well, in regards of tracking i don't use 3rd party tools to track anything! Just capture the click id on the url (there's plenty of java script examples on google) and upload them as offline conversions. People really need to stop feeding 3rd party companies the precious data of our campaigns. If you're working with affiliate networks, you can also setup the traffic source pixel with the aff network (it misses around 10-20% of the conversions) and upload the missing conversions as offline.

Promoting a 99$ payout offer requires you to spend at least 1-2k to get some basic data (over a period of a few weeks). But it seems you already have it from organic search. Use that data and focus on those keywords (you might wanna try similar keywords to avoid lower conversions on your organic traffic). Google and Microsoft ads have very different audiences. Most of the times, the campaign optimization from MS won't work on Google. But Google is a different beast and has 20x more traffic than MS. It's more expensive but the opportunity is way better. At this moment it is expensive everywhere... the cpcs are getting to crazy levels.

Sometimes the more i optimize, the worse the campaign gets. I've campaigns that i run as raw as possible (short tail/most relevant basic KW in phrase) and the algo does all the work for me. Others require ultra targeting and optimization. There isn't a fixed method to optimize campaigns.

If you're getting a ton of clicks and no CVS there's something wrong with your target audience. Maybe you're missing something.

The keywords misspelled are part of the game (and there's huge winners here). Don't worry about it.

In the end just be patient. Search ads requires burning a ton of cash before anything starts to work. This isn't Facebook where the algos do everything for you. Don't worry if things are not working right away. I've been trying to figure out GDN for a few months without any success. But i'll keep trying until something pops :)
 
In the end just be patient. Search ads requires burning a ton of cash before anything starts to work. This isn't Facebook where the algos do everything for you. Don't worry if things are not working right away. I've been trying to figure out GDN for a few months without any success. But i'll keep trying until something pops :)
Thanks for your reply. A couple of questions:

1 - Wondering why exactly does ppc require burning a bunch of cash first, while with organic traffic you can start making money in your first 100 clicks. If it is real people search traffic, why such different results - something seems fishy to me with ppc traffic.

2 - You said that it isn't like Facebook where the algo does all the work, do you find Facebook ads a lot easier? Do you think I should try that instead of ppc? Also, if you know of any good guides for someone new to Facebook ads please drop a link!

Thanks!
 
Thanks for your reply. A couple of questions:

1 - Wondering why exactly does ppc require burning a bunch of cash first, while with organic traffic you can start making money in your first 100 clicks. If it is real people search traffic, why such different results - something seems fishy to me with ppc traffic.

2 - You said that it isn't like Facebook where the algo does all the work, do you find Facebook ads a lot easier? Do you think I should try that instead of ppc? Also, if you know of any good guides for someone new to Facebook ads please drop a link!

Thanks!

1 - Because most people have no idea what keywords convert, or who their audience really is. The problem with Adwords, Facebook, and a bunch of other networks are the CPCs and CPMs. They are crazy expensive. To get data you'll have to burn cash. The same thing will happen with Native ads. You've no idea what placements convert, and to get that data you'll have to spend some serious cash.

2 - Yes! On Facebook you barely do any kind of optimizations. The algos do all the work for you but the CPMs are also a bit high. I used to run affiliate offers there but i stopped 1 or 2 years ago because of the bans. It's inevitable. To run an affiliate offer there you need to run something that's very very white hat where you won't get many negative comments and ad reports. It's a bit tough.

I don't have any guides on that, but there's plenty of information on this forum. Most of the Facebook affiliates have account creation systems or suppliers to keep running offers on that platform.
 
1 - Because most people have no idea what keywords convert, or who their audience really is. The problem with Adwords, Facebook, and a bunch of other networks are the CPCs and CPMs. They are crazy expensive. To get data you'll have to burn cash. The same thing will happen with Native ads. You've no idea what placements convert, and to get that data you'll have to spend some serious cash.

2 - Yes! On Facebook you barely do any kind of optimizations. The algos do all the work for you but the CPMs are also a bit high. I used to run affiliate offers there but i stopped 1 or 2 years ago because of the bans. It's inevitable. To run an affiliate offer there you need to run something that's very very white hat where you won't get many negative comments and ad reports. It's a bit tough.

I don't have any guides on that, but there's plenty of information on this forum. Most of the Facebook affiliates have account creation systems or suppliers to keep running offers on that platform.
Oh, are affiliate ads banned on Facebook? I didn't know that. And, I'm not running ads for anything sketchy, but they still have a problem with legit companies / affiliates?
 
why you not sign up with all the nice door to door credit card salesmen?
 
I would also optimize for mobile most people use their phones and get ads on their phones.
 
WTF are you talking about?
Ppc looks spammy by nature... A lot of people grow immune after a time. Like credit card salesman. There was a time it was new. People tried it and some got ripped off by shady actors so consumers are more careful now

You can prevent this by doing proper customer research. When you fully understand who your target customer is you can do better copy so it doesn't feel spammy or the offer sounds just too good for them that they click regardless
 
Well, in regards of tracking i don't use 3rd party tools to track anything! Just capture the click id on the url (there's plenty of java script examples on google) and upload them as offline conversions. People really need to stop feeding 3rd party companies the precious data of our campaigns. If you're working with affiliate networks, you can also setup the traffic source pixel with the aff network (it misses around 10-20% of the conversions) and upload the missing conversions as offline.

Promoting a 99$ payout offer requires you to spend at least 1-2k to get some basic data (over a period of a few weeks). But it seems you already have it from organic search. Use that data and focus on those keywords (you might wanna try similar keywords to avoid lower conversions on your organic traffic). Google and Microsoft ads have very different audiences. Most of the times, the campaign optimization from MS won't work on Google. But Google is a different beast and has 20x more traffic than MS. It's more expensive but the opportunity is way better. At this moment it is expensive everywhere... the cpcs are getting to crazy levels.

Sometimes the more i optimize, the worse the campaign gets. I've campaigns that i run as raw as possible (short tail/most relevant basic KW in phrase) and the algo does all the work for me. Others require ultra targeting and optimization. There isn't a fixed method to optimize campaigns.

If you're getting a ton of clicks and no CVS there's something wrong with your target audience. Maybe you're missing something.

The keywords misspelled are part of the game (and there's huge winners here). Don't worry about it.

In the end just be patient. Search ads requires burning a ton of cash before anything starts to work. This isn't Facebook where the algos do everything for you. Don't worry if things are not working right away. I've been trying to figure out GDN for a few months without any success. But i'll keep trying until something pops :)
Tracking it directly in gads is a genius idea, thanks!

@arc323 @ClickNinja Yeahh, makes sense with women buying straight on their phones. My clients are female fashion ecoms, lol. I personally buy from my computer (it's more secured, I'm always paranoid someone will hack my phone and card me or something), but mobile purchases really seem to be a thing.
 
Tracking it directly in gads is a genius idea, thanks!

@arc323 @ClickNinja Yeahh, makes sense with women buying straight on their phones. My clients are female fashion ecoms, lol. I personally buy from my computer (it's more secured, I'm always paranoid someone will hack my phone and card me or something), but mobile purchases really seem to be a thing.

It's not just for GADS, it works on most traffic sources that allow offline conversion upload. Just capture the click ID on the URL (google uses gclid for example) and upload the conversions. Google has the CSV examples for conversion upload on their help page.
 
A good rule of thumb with paid traffic is if you want to test an offer you should spend atleast 10x the offer payout. In your case $1k, then see if there is any conversion, if you validated your offer, you can split test landing pages 10x the offer payout each. If one of them is around -50% roi you can optimize that further.
 
It's not just for GADS, it works on most traffic sources that allow offline conversion upload. Just capture the click ID on the URL (google uses gclid for example) and upload the conversions. Google has the CSV examples for conversion upload on their help page.

Man, I can't believe I didn't even think about this. doh! - Been using Zapier to push all purchases to offline events. About to go find me this js snippet and start testing.
 
Man, I can't believe I didn't even think about this. doh! - Been using Zapier to push all purchases to offline events. About to go find me this js snippet and start testing.

I'm no coder. Got my examples from the internet and changed them a bit. Google "javascript fetch url parameters".
Zapier is expensive as hell... Glad this will save you a few bucks!

Last year i got contacted by Voluum for one of their promos and the sale persons told me: "Do you trust company X with your data?". Well he lost a sale but was absolutely right. We shouldn't share our data with 3rd parties if that option is available.

Manually uploading your conversions takes only a few minutes from your day (i can do it in 2 minutes). Do it every 24-48h to keep the algo data fresh.
 
There are too much competition. And many of your competitors don’t invest in ppc for short term profits/conversions, they invest in ads for long term relationships, so they can increase CLV, market other products through email marketing etc.
 
That's a great idea, I'm going to try it. My organic traffic comes in from long articles, so you think I should use those same articles as landing pages then?
Man, I think you addressed the main issue here without noticing.

Your organic traffic converts so well compared to the PPC traffic directly to the offer because the customer is more educated in the journey and have invested more time educating himself about what you are offering.

Run your PPC ads to those exact same lons articles and see for yourself. One thing that is working very good lately even with facebook ads is sending the traffic to pre-sales pages before sending the customer to the landing page.
 
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