3 Common PPC Mistakes to Avoid

There are a lot of different things to think about when creating your autism care center’s digital marketing strategy. Everything from your center’s vision statement to your brand colors and fonts is on the table, not to mention determining which different digital marketing initiatives will best support your goals.

When deciding how to spend your marketing budget, it’s important to remember that a key component of an effective digital marketing strategy should be a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. 

While PPC campaigns are comparatively easy to set up, you need a thoughtful, targeted strategy to see real results. Without an effective plan in place, your PPC campaigns will remain stagnant and end up costing you money without generating any real returns.

So what should you avoid when you’re setting up your autism care center’s PPC campaign? Let’s start with the basics. 

What is PPC and Why is it Important? 

PPC is a type of digital advertising where the advertiser (you) pays a small fee every time a user (your prospective patient) clicks on their ad. The most popular form of PPC advertising is Google Ads, but social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer paid ads as well. There are also PPC networks that distribute display ads to a range of high-traffic websites. 

With Google Ads, the client selects the search terms they would like associated with their ad. When someone searches for those terms, their ad appears in the promoted spot at the top of relevant search results. 

Marketing experts love PPC ads because they generate a strong return on investment. Google estimates that businesses make about $2 in revenue for every dollar spent on search PPC campaigns.1 You only pay for the ad when someone clicks through and visits your website, so you know the money you’re spending is at least generating web traffic and, in the best-case scenario, bringing in new clients. 

What are the Most Common PPC Mistakes? 

Many treatment centers launch PPC campaigns without understanding the ins and outs of how they work. You might be making any one (or all) of these mistakes without even realizing. 

1. Targeting the Wrong Keywords

This is one of the most common PPC mistakes, and it can have a significant impact on the success of your autism care center’s campaign. Your PPC keywords should be part of a broader strategy that works in coordination with your SEO.

Consider your center’s differentiators—the services, amenities, expert team members, and other factors that set your care center apart and demonstrate your value—and make sure that your strategy includes keywords around those things. You should also include keywords that will help you rank locally, so your center will be at the top of the list for people searching for autism care in your community.

You can also add negative keywords to further tailor your ads to the right audience.2

2. Setting and Forgetting

Web search algorithms are constantly evolving. And while Google generally makes major changes to the core search algorithm once or twice a year,3 they make smaller adjustments all the time. Many marketers make the mistake of setting up a PPC campaign and never checking the analytics.

If you want your PPC ads to generate meaningful results, you’ll need to routinely evaluate their performance and make adjustments as necessary to keep your campaigns on track.

3. Neglecting Your Website’s Sales Funnel

A good PPC strategy isn’t enough! You also need a website that converts visitors into new patients. One of the best ways to improve your conversion rates is using dedicated landing pages for your PPC ads. For autism treatment centers, the landing page should send visitors directly to your appointment scheduling page. 

Of course, you’ll also need a cohesive, professional website. This means an appealing design, valuable content, and a user interface that’s easy to navigate. Run usability tests on your website along with your PPC campaign to ensure your sales funnel is working correctly.4 

A Good Website Makes a Great First Impression

If your autism care center’s PPC campaign isn’t generating the results you need to support your goals, or if your website isn’t converting like you’d hoped, Dreamscape Marketing can help. Contact us today at 888.307.7304 to schedule a strategy session and transform your center’s digital marketing strategy.

 

For a list of references, please contact us.