5 Disadvantages Of PPC Advertising 2016

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Are you considering using Pay Per Click (or PPC) advertising to grow your online business? While PPC advertising has many benefits associated with its efforts, it also has a number of risks associated with PPC advertising itself or specific PPC providers.  This can result in considerable costs for your business if not executed properly and responsibly.

Sure, you can make a lot of money if you implement PPC advertising the right way. However, before you just jump in without doing the proper research, beware of the following five disadvantages to PPC advertising that you might not be aware of…

Five Reasons Pay-Per-Click Advertising Might Be A Bad Marketing Strategy

1. PPC Advertising Is Rather Complicated

Search engine optimization (or SEO) is not difficult to learn and implement. However, I’ve had many clients come through our doors asking for help with their PPC advertising campaigns because they just couldn’t figure it out. PPC is a very complicated compared to the old way of doing things (meaning good old SEO). Getting your page rank up is pretty straight forward if you can put in the time and effort. However, trying to raise your Google AdWords Quality score on your landing page is a whole different story and most have to call in an expert to get the job done.

2. PPC Advertsing Is Really Expensive

That leads naturally into the next disadvantage of PPC advertising – it can get downright expensive really fast! I’ve seen misguided clients burn through a few thousand dollars of their AdWords budget in a single day because they were advertising for keywords that were not profitable and forgot that they had to pay for each and every click even if those “clickers” don’t buy.

3. People Tend To Ignore Sponsored Ads

A recent Google survey revealed that 85-percent of people claim to ignore sponsored listings when searching via Google. It’s true; I admit tuning out advertising when I search or post my status update on Facebook, which is unfortunate for the PPC advertisements trying to get me to click.

4. People Are Skeptical Of Advertising

The reality in life is that people all over the world have become skeptical of advertising, including PPC. Marketing efforts are looked upon negatively because, let’s face it, folks know that you are trying to sell them something. And people don’t like to be sold or having advertising slammed down their throats when they are trying to surf the web for information or browse status updates on their favorite social networks. So remember, if you’re using PPC advertising as a major marketing strategy the odds (meaning negative customer reaction to your ads) are already working against you.

5. Choosing The Wrong PPC Marketing Firm

When I say that there are thousands upon thousands of Pay Per Click advertising firms out there offering companies the sun and the moon as far as return on investment for their PPC services—I’m making an understatement. There are plenty of marketing firms and independent providers who can talk the talk, but unfortunately many of them can’t walk the walk. It’s easy to be vague about what the outcome will be in an industry that is rather vague itself. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be picky in the companies you use for your paid marketing.

For instance, it’s always wise to choose a marketing firm based on a recommendation from a trusted source, such as a friend or colleague. Also, while many of the larger firms have a full staff with layers of experience, they can offer your ads a great deal of exposure (meaning your keywords will get good placement in the served advertising). So choose your PPC services from a firm that you trust, that can provide customer references, as well as one that takes the time to explain sponsored advertising to you so you know what you’re spending your money and effort on.