The #1 Mistake Made By PPC Newbies & How To Avoid It

I read the threads in this forum to get insight on what people that are new to PPC marketing are experiencing. This helps me with my business. I own a programmatic ppc traffic network and it's successful. Because of this I get a unique bird's eye view of what works as well as what doesn't. I review support tickets and this allows me to know what problems people have and what the solutions are. I'm not a "guru" but I'm a successful businessman in the global digital marketing space with an established brand and presence. Some of my clients are some of the world's top brands and companies as well as few celebrities and public public figures. I'm saying this to inform you of qualifications for informing you of what you are about to learn, not brag or boast. What I have to convey will indeed help anyone that is new to ppc marketing.

So now, let's dig in and get to the point. The number one reason that most people that are new to ppc marketing fail or lose money is not because their funnels or landing pages. It's not because of the sales copy or image placement. It's not the lack of using psychological triggers. The reason that most ppc marketing newbies fail is because of unrealistic expectations and not knowing enough. Sounds weird, right? Let me explain with an analogy. When people go on a vacation or travel, they choose their clothing based on the weather at their destination. If people do not do this then there is a high probability that a person would be improperly dressed for the weather during their vacation, right? Now, just say that the vacation destination is your goal which would be a desirable outcome for your ad campaign.
If you don't do not have a clear understanding of what to expect, then no matter what you do, the odds will be against you. Are we at an understanding on this? For those that did not get what I just stated, allow me to make my point more clear: If you subscribe to idea of an unrealistic outcome, you will never reach a realistic goal.

There are dominating narratives and myths about PPC marketing that are inconsistent with reality and with this post I will destroy the core those lies and inform you of what realistic expectations truly are. Forget about what EVERY ppc marketing guru has ever said. These so-called "gurus" want you to think that they are the traffic masters. The real traffic masters are PPC traffic network owners, hands down. No other type of person or company within the digital marketing industry is legitimately in any kind of position to know more about internet traffic than the traffic providers and high volume publishers. Even the "gurus" buy traffic from companies like mine. Selling traffic is what has made google what it is.

It is disrespectful and insulting to a person's intelligence to make person that is new to ppc marketing think that they can start making thousands or millions of dollars in short order and without spending at least a little money. Take a look at the many sales pages and WSOs that the "gurus" and so-called "experts" have.....do you notice that most have a common message that is subtly or blatantly conveyed? What is it? It's the idea that you can make something from nothing. No matter what anybody says, that is crap notion in the ppc marketing space. You most certainly will spend some money in order to generate more money. The "Free Traffic" products.....some of them work but NONE of them will or can deliver the amount of traffic that you need to grow or really make some significant money.....and the people selling these products will never say what i just told you. They want you to buy their products, this is how they are really making their money.

Don't listen to anybody that cannot show you real clients that are outside of the digital marketing space. Digital marketers make up a very small percentage of the world's population. If the person you are listening to about digital marketing cannot show you REAL clients, do not trust what they say. It's good to promote affiliate products but everybody who is anybody knows that the best money comes from business clients and contracts.

Another common lie or myth is that cheap clicks are the best.....yeah, only for your budget but not for your ROI. I am not saying that it hasn't been done by somebody somewhere, but as a ppc traffic network owner I have never seen a profitable campaign campaign for any ad campaign that only spent $0.01 or less per click. It is unrealistic to expect a successful ad campaign to come from the cheapest traffic you can find which brings me to the next myth or lie about ppc marketing....bot clicks and click fraud.

All of the major ad networks serve crap traffic at high prices. This includes Facebook and Google. A lot of the clicks that people and businesses buy from these ad networks are worthless. Don't think so? Go ahead....run an ad with an average or below average budget and let me know about the results. You can use something like click tale or crazyegg to see everything for yourself.

To make big money promoting anything on the major ad networks you will indeed need a big budget....hundreds to thousands of dollars just for testing. There is a lot of risk. There is a high chance that you will lose money and lot of it if you do not know what you are doing. If you know what you are doing then you know that you need expensive tools to get the job done. Most people can't afford the tools or the budget required to make big money or a high ROI with the major ad networks. That's just the truth....consider the average cpc rates and bid minimums across the board. Wild, right? Yeah.

Some people think that they should be seeing conversions or leads coming after 50 or 100 clicks. That's crap. You will need to run on average 300 to 1,000 clicks to test anything for profitability. Show me an ad campaign that made big money with less clicks than that and I will show you a unicorn with a rainbow coming out of it's a$$.

Direct linking does not work well for most promotions. Always capture the lead. If you are not capturing leads, you are totally screwing up and need to stop everything that you are doing. One of the primary purposes of ALL digital marketing is LEAD GENERATION. Why? Because leads are the lifeblood of any and every business. The lead always comes before the sale. So, if you are not capturing your leads before you send them to your offer or promotion, you are totally skipping the lead generation process and because of that you can never get to the lead engagement and nurturing process. Think about it....you hear it all of the time....the money is in the list.

Split-testing is FUNDAMENTAL and ESSENTIAL with ppc marketing. If you are not split-testing your creatives, landing pages and funnels I can assure you that your results will not be good or anything of what you want or desire. Split-testing......DO IT. This means that you have to make landing pages and banners, etc. Do not be lazy.....DO IT. It's necessary.

That's all for now but I will continue this thread. Let me know your thoughts.