Keep An Eye On Competitors
Keeping track of your key competitors within the pay per click advertising space will give you a good idea of which companies may have the motive to deplete your ad budget.
Watch Your Click-Through-Rates
Monitoring your click-through-rates is easy through PPC platforms such as Google Ads and Bing. Spikes in keyword searches paired with a drop in click-through-rates may indicate someone is generating false impressions, hoping to damage your reputation and get your PPC ad disabled.
Use Geo-Location Features
Using geo-targeting is not only a best practice in the PPC industry, but it is also a pro-active measure in the fight against click fraud. Prevent IP addresses in irrelevant locations from viewing your ad altogether!
Set A Daily Click Limit
Setting a daily click limit will ensure your budget stays within control, and in the event you do become victim to click fraud, the fraudulent clicks will be stopped upon your click limit.
Use A Click Monitoring Service
Using a click monitoring service such as ClickReport.com is a pro-active measure in the battle against click fraud. Such services provide you with real-time alerts and notifications regarding suspicious click activity, optional pop-up warnings to ward off repeat clickers, and specific IP information to help you block certain users from viewing your ads in the future.
Looking for a new idea to organize your ad copy? We suggest segmenting your PPC ads by sales life cycle stage. Its important to know your target demographic and to understand each stage of the sales cycle. The length of a sales cycle could be anywhere from three months to a year depending on the product or service.
Keyword phrases such as "cheap cars" and "discount clothing" usually indicate the customer is in the research phase, while more specific keyword phrases such as "cheap two door sedans" and "men's large flannel shirts" will target those who are closer to making the buying decision.
You'll want to do research to discover the newest target market segment that fits your brand. Finding new markets will not only expand your potential customer base, but it will also widen the reach of your brand and build awareness.
Connecting Communication
By now, most companies realize how important it is to establish a strong social media presence. Social Media allows you to communicate with customers and manage brand image, creating a company account just isn't enough. Push to connect your accounts and create a social media footprint on the internet. Wrote a new blog post? Share it on Facebook, Twitter & Linked In. Have a new Facebook contest? Add it to your PPC landing page! Exhaust and connect all channels of outreach so your content is shared, liked, and passed along to as many potential customers as possible!
Go Mobile
Mobile Advertising is one of the newest marketing opportunities you should take advantage of in 2013. With the amount of time people spend searching, shopping and sharing on their smart phones, you can't afford not to get involved. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile visits and don't forget to run targeted mobile PPC campaigns!
Click Fraud Attacks
Unfortunately, not all of 2013's trends will be positive. As pay-per-click opportunities increase, so do click fraud attempts. It is estimated that approximately 17%-29% of clicks are fraudulent, and PPC platforms such as Google Ads and BingAds will neither display specific information about click fraudsters, nor will they provide real-time alerts when suspicious click activity has been recorded. Static PPC campaigns are the most prone to click fraud attempts, so be pro-active in 2013. Take advantage of ClickReport's free 10 day trial, and see exactly who's clicking on your ads.