Small business often goes through several changes while they trying to drum up new business. Marketing by bringing attention to their online offers with paid advertising is a popular method for immediate traffic. According to the WordStream Incorporated research department, small businesses waste about 25 % of money dedicated to pay per click marketing efforts.  This money slips through the cracks due to easy to identify problems with management style and errors in strategy.

Adwords is a popular cost per click network that many small businesses rely heavily on for their advertising needs.

Adwords is a must if you want to get competitive! #Small Business Marketing #Small Business Branding http://t.co/I6jK0SEXon

— Small Business Angel (@PhxDigital) October 9, 2013

WordStream recently interviewed 500 businesses that were routinely losing part of their pay per click budget. Many small to medium sized business owners do not take the time to manage their Adwords account. This is essential if the ads are going to receive necessary improvement throughout the campaign.

The loss of business that occurs does have an impact on the number of leads that are gathered. The amount of qualified people who fall through the cracks during the marketing campaign is substantial. Most small business owners have purchased leads in the past. Purchased leads are not always qualified nor are they always easy to reach. When a customer is reaching out and finds an advertisement online they are valuable.

Many small business owners are ignoring the mobile markets when placing their ads.  According to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers’s annual Internet Trends report the average American checks their personal phone 150 times daily.  Consumers are going online for email, to check their social media pages, and to perform internet searches. Many of these activities show ads from the Adwords network.

About 250 of the 500 businesses in the Word Stream study have activated the tracking features within their Google Adwords account. They will have no way to now which ads within the campaign are bringing in leads that covert to sales, business sign ups, or newsletter subscribers.

Only 5 percent of small business operations are set up to send fresh leads to the correct phone number and extension. Giving a general contact telephone number is not enough in cost per click campaigns that are geared to a specific type of lead.

Word Stream has several resources to help small business owners see where they are in error. The tools are in place to help business owners of all sizes fully maximize their marketing budget when using cost per click.

Small business owners that do not go through the proper training and follow up with proper management techniques will continue to lose money.  Logging in to the account during the campaign and going through the free resources offered by Word Stream will help to minimize loses.  Word Stream has free webinars that claim 20 minutes is all the time needed to start seeing an improvement in ppc campaigns.

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