Healthcare PPC Mistakes To Avoid

Pay-per-click advertising can produce immediate results for healthcare but too many organizations make the same mistakes that result in little more than wasted time and money. With this in mind, most companies work with a Healthcare PPC Agency to reduce exposure to risk and reap the rewards of a solid paid advertising strategy.

But what are these pitfalls that you should know about?

Let’s take a look at some of the most common PPC mistakes to avoid.

7 Healthcare PPC Mistakes To Avoid

     1. The Problem With Improper Bidding

Budgeting is everything in marketing and essential for ensuring a business can actually afford the end cost. However, it’s also essential to have a clear understanding of the bidding process since ignoring this aspect is a common PPC mistake.

For instance, too many businesses blow their budget by throwing money at a list of keywords, without assessing whether these bids are appropriate. This often means the entire budget is decimated because the bid for each keyword is too high.

Pranjal Bora with Digital Authority Partners recommends using a keyword planner to ensure all bids are being placed just before the point of diminishing returns. You can then increase the amount slowly and by setting each bid when the impressions stop going up, you maximize your reach.

     2. Ad Copy That Does Not Demand Attention

Ad copy is just so important and often given too little attention for healthcare PPC ads. It’s true that you can have the best keywords and a targeted audience and still gain little traction due to a poorly written ad that does not inspire or demand attention.

It’s worth refining even the smallest aspects of ad copy because these minor changes can significantly impact the conversion rate. A famous American poet once said, “The things you do not say, make you rich.” This often holds true for PPC ads that fail to convert due to being too long or cluttered while not offering enough substance.

     3. Using a Sub-standard Keyword Strategy

Healthcare companies need to be aware of SEO keyword research and how to optimize their keyword strategy moving forward. Popular search terms change all the time and PPC ads need to change accordingly to keep up with the target audience.

Another common mistake is that healthcare PPC ads often fail to compile and include a list of negative keywords. This list is a last line of defense as it defines search words or terms you definitely do not want your PPC ad associated with.

In short, keyword analysis is a never-ending process and another reason why experts recommend working with a marketing agency when it comes to PPC ads.

     4. The Absence of a Compelling Call to Action

Ad copy is something that every healthcare business should leave to a professional copywriter. That said, one of the main reasons many paid ads do not convert leads is because they have a weak call to action (CTA) or even none at all!

Without a compelling CTA, there is no sense of urgency and no guidance in terms of what the online user needs to do next. Good ad copy needs to not only tell visitors what they need or want, but also what to do. How might this look?

It’s often a good idea to include the user’s search inquiry in the headline of a PPC ad and then follow with next steps in the description below. For some ideas and inspiration, here are some examples of strong CTA.

     5. The Importance of Split Testing (Even for Expert Marketers)

Split testing is an integral part of paid advertising and one that many businesses skip over. Testing two variants of a particular ad allows you to take out the guesswork and allow hard data to guide your decisions. The most experienced marketers in the world still need to split test their ads because it’s rare that a PPC ad will get everything right on the first go.

You can carry out these split tests by creating two or more variations of a PPC ad. More specifically, each ad should be the same as the original except for one minor change. It’s then a case of measuring how this one small change impacts the performance and identifying which ad produces the best results.

     6. Ignoring the Role of Ad Extensions

All too often, healthcare PPC ads appear without some of the most important information, such an address or contact details. Marketing experts see this as a wasted opportunity and a quick way to lose visitors to the competition.

Ad extensions are an easy way to add crucial information, and not only for contact details. For example, you can use ad extensions to include reviews or links to social media on a paid ad. These links are proven to increase click-through rates.

While adding depth to PPC ads, this extra information also improves the ad rank on search engines and provides easy access for customers that want speed and convenience.

     7. Failing To Set and Track Goals for a PPC Campaign

Many healthcare companies engage in paid advertising without having a clear outline of their financial goals and no plan for  calculating the return on investment.

“As much as possible” sounds great but it’s not specific enough when it comes to setting goals for a PPC healthcare campaign. Of course you want as many leads as possible, but you need measurable goals so that you can analyze performance.

Analyzing performance can include anything from tracking clicks and views to counting the number of phone calls that come from a paid ad. It’s just so important to know who is making contact and where they heard about you. Unfortunately for some healthcare organizations, without following this simple process, it’s impossible to determine whether a PPC campaign is even working.