Between email marketing, content marketing, SEO and other forms of daily maintenance, it can be hard to determine what to do and how to do it effectively. Even those with strict routines quickly learn that a variety of variables will inevitably interrupt a smooth process, complicating matters more than was expected. When it comes to marketing, it isn’t all about what to do, however. Sometimes, it is about knowing what not to do. With paid search – or any paid solution – avoiding the do nots can be immensely important to your bottom line. Below, we’ll discuss a few examples of what not to do when using any paid search solutions.

Do NOT Use One Approach

Whether you are targeting a large audience for the umpteenth time or reaching out to multiple audiences, it is a bad idea to assume that the same elements that have brought you success prior will work again. Likewise, only targeting one audience with one campaign or approach can inevitably put all of your paid search eggs in one basket, leading to inferior outcomes in a majority of cases. If you want to ensure maximum success for your paid search campaigns, then be sure to utilize a variety of A/B testing options in order to see what produces the best results. Otherwise, you just might end up pinging servers with a bunch of garbage that resonates with nobody.

Do NOT Avoid the Do Nots

While the subtitle may seem like circular logic, we can often forget about a variety of elements that can drastically affect our bottom lines and the effectiveness of our campaigns. When using paid search solutions, keywords are often analysed in order to see what will work the best and what is most cost-effective. Unfortunately, many people forget about negative keywords that can help reduce the likelihood of your campaign wasting impressions in areas where the message will not be received positively. There are many different reasons and examples of why negative keywords should be used, but it will inevitably depend on your specific paid search campaign.

Do Not Forget Your Budget

All too many people want to simply set up a campaign and let it run for a specified period of time. The problem with this? Your campaign may inevitably consume more of your budget (or less) in a given time than was expected. As such, do not forget to assess each budget as often as possible (ideally, on a daily basis). In some cases, this micromanagement will be required in order to ensure you achieve proper saturation in a given paid search niche without going overboard. Pinging servers with too many ads in a short period of time can create a busted budget, so keep a close eye and use each evaluation as an opportunity to shift money away from poor-performing campaigns to better-performing ones for maximum results.

Conclusion

Rather than constantly focusing on what must be done, it is sometimes better to evaluate these issues from what must be avoided. Forgetfulness about budgets, negative keywords and the use of only one approach are just three of the many things you must not do when using paid search.