Avoiding Pay-per-click mistakes: Don’t drop Winning Ad Campaigns!

Here’s a fairly common mistake that is made by the newbie to the pay-per-click scene.

So you’ve started a Google AdWords campaign, and you’ve registered as an affiliate with several different products, and you’ve found at least one product that’s making you money.

Let’s say you’ve found a toy company that pays you 10% of the sale to promote their products (just for a tangible example we’ll refer to it as ‘Toy Company #1’)

You’ve played around, tweaked your ads, and you’re getting a little success. Bravo! Things are running in the black, and you’re making steady profits.

But wait, you’re still combing the Internet, looking for new and better opportunities when bam, all of a sudden you find Toy Company #2. Wow, Toy Company #2 looks really great. It pays a 20% commission on all sales, and the landing page seems easier and more intuitive than the landing page for Toy Company #1.

Being the wise and quick-to-evolve pay-per-clicker you are, you swiftly join the affiliate program for Toy Company #2 and set up an ad campaign for it, using many of the same ads and keywords that you’ve had such great success with in promoting Toy Company #1.

Surprise! Toy Company #2 is a great find! It converts much better than Toy Company #1 and moreover it pays much more per sale! You’re ecstatic! Greater success!

And then comes the mistake. Thinking ruefully what a sucker you’ve been all along for promoting Toy Company #1 instead of Toy Company #2, you pull the plug on your ad campaign for Toy Company #1.

It’s only human nature to want to do this. After all, Toy Company #1 wasn’t performing as well as #2 is. You aren’t seeing nearly as high a profit margin.

But the hard truth of the matter is this: Toy Company #1 was making you steady money! It wasn’t running in the red. It wasn’t a drain on your budget or resources. It was a winner.

Profit is profit. Every little bit adds up. Sure, Toy Company #1 wasn’t making you much money, but even a little bit of profit is more than you had. Imagine if you found seven more companies that performed like it – at the end of the month, all those ‘little’ profits would add up to a ‘big’ overall profit.

The best solution is to keep the ad campaign that’s already working, and add new campaigns that show even better profits to it.

But what about the fact that you’re now competing with yourself? On the surface it doesn’t seem to make sense to promote two different products that are aimed at the same audience.

The answer to this objection is simple. Why shouldn’t you compete with yourself? That way, no matter which choice the consumer makes, you win. Some of your audience, for whatever reason, just isn’t going to buy products from Toy Company #2. Some of them will only buy from Toy Company #1. Don’t you want to make profits from those people too?

The lesson is simple. Don’t drop winning ad campaigns!