Pay Per Click is not as easy as you think

I had a meeting last Friday with a client who was spending US$ 750 / month on Pay Per Click Advertising. He asked me to log into his account to make sure his bounce rates were not through the roof and of course they were. He informed me that he set up his own PPC campaign and was very proud of himself. His bounce rates were 69% and his Click-Through-Rates (CTR) was 31% – this meant that only 3 out of 10 users who found his site clicked-through.
He was paying for his website to show up for given keywords on Google, but only 3 out of 10 users who clicked actually used it. This meant that he was wasting 7 out of every 10 dollars. US$ 7 doesn’t seem like a lot, but thats US$ 525 / month. When I looked at his website, I highly doubted that the remaining 3 users converted because his website did not look or feel credible.
When you create a PPC campaign, my advice is to really understand how to properly set up a PPC campaign. Google Adwords has the best information online. Please make sure you get a proper list of keywords to target by cross referencing Adwords keyword tool with other online keyword tools like Wordtracker and/or Trellian.
Be smart with your copy, look at your competitors copy and decide what would make a user click. The most important advice I can give is to target a range of related industry keywords and make sure they have different landing pages. As a user it is frustrating to click on a link and not land where I “expect” to land. Remember that giving a user what they expect is the difference between a successful online business and an online brochure. Is your website an online brochure?