The term "spray and pray" has lots of non-military uses as mentioned in the middle of the Wikipedia page on the topic and you can think of a lot more activities that follow the "spray and pray" model. For example, people send out (the same) resume for a variety of jobs just in the hope that maybe one would stick – if only the numbers are large. Classic spray and pray with one major plus- you need only one job offer to materialize. In contrast, advertising online for a business is where you want a job – with every web visitor that comes your way through PPC advertising like Google AdWords. Every paid visitor costs you money and therefore the very first, and enduring principle should be – not to spray and pray with Google AdWords. Here is what we mean, with questions to ask:
- Keywords are the spray drops: quite literally. You are trying to buy keywords from Google through an auction process by bidding some amount. The keywords can be suggested by the keyword planner or keyword tool that can scan the content of your web landing page. Ask if this is how your customers search? Use only those words and then add/modify your web content to reflect the solutions of problems that your customers are looking for.
- Geography,time of keyword spray : Instead of following the default setting on the Google AdWords settings think carefully about where your customers might search, at what times and change the settings accordingly. A quick look at Google Analytics data gives great insights as to what is happening naturally, that is without PPC advertising. Where are your customers? What times do they search online? What device do they use ? ( Yes you can set devices to mobile.. if you think that's where your customers are).
- Small drops that hit target are better – the broad match problem. The default settings in Google AdWords is broad match, so you need to narrow things down as you get some clicks, and then get some sense of exact match keywords. What are prospects exactly searching for?
- Negative keywords stop the expanse of spray : By defining negative keywords, you avoid the irrelevant searcher. Let us say you are "Visa" credit card. You do not want people who are looking for "US Visa" so you exclude US as a negative keyword. What are your negative keywords?
- Do not accept Google keyword suggestions without thinking: The Google machine keeps giving you keyword suggestions. Consider them, are they helpful for your target market?
- Avoid duplicating keywords across AdGroups or Campaigns. The keywords trigger Ads that are from AdGroups that belong to Campaigns. Avoid duplicating keywords because your keyword bid in one campaign – jacks up the price in another campaign due to the competition.What duplicate keywords do you have?
Think of every keyword like an investment once an Ad generated by the keyword is clicked. Does the keyword, triggered Ad and the landing page delight and attract your customer? … is the final question to ask. Contact StratoServe.