How to Stop Wasting Money on Online Ads in the Caribbean

With over 12 years in the online advertising space, we've combed through the data and picked up a few tricks to ensure that your ad spend is effective. If you're looking to get started with online ads, here are some tips for making sure your money is going to good use.?

1. Start small, then scale up.?

The first step is to start small, then scale up. It's tempting to spend millions of dollars on ads and hope you'll see results. But it's better to spend a few hundred bucks, keep track of what works and what doesn't, use that data to make decisions on how much more money and time you should spend in the future.??

2. Advertise to your list.?

You can advertise to your existing email list. They've already told you they like your product so you know they'll be interested in hearing about it again. Advertising to your email list is free, and there are many ways to do this. You could send an email out with a discount code for everyone who purchases, or send an email with the link to all new products and have them subscribe so that they get emails from time to time when there's something new coming out (you can also use this as another opportunity to get feedback).?

3. Make sure you have a dedicated landing page for each campaign.?

A dedicated landing page is one that is specifically designed to capture leads from your ad, and then funnel them through to the correct place in your sales funnel. You want a clear, simple message that gets across the most important benefit of what you're selling. If the person clicks on your ad and lands on a generic page where they can't figure out how to register or buy right away, they'll get bored and leave. They may also be annoyed by having been sold something without being given an easy way to make it happen right away—and then they're likely never coming back!??

With good copywriting skills (which we'll talk about later) it should take less than 60 seconds for someone interested in what you're offering to go from clicking through an ad straight into filling out their information so that they can get access to whatever product or service it was advertising.?

?A good example of one such site would be this . You see immediately what AC Marketing Caribbean is about by looking at this page.??

4. Use retargeting ads (carefully).?

If you want to use retargeting ads effectively, make sure that your site has at least one product or service that people are visiting your site to learn more about. If all you have is a landing page (i.e., a page where someone clicks an ad and then leaves), don’t bother with retargeting yet—it will cost you money without generating any sales.?

Set up conversion tracking so you know where your leads are coming from. You should be measuring everything. It's like the old adage: you can't manage what you don't measure. If you're not tracking your spend and where it comes from, how will you know if your ads are working??

You may ask if it's worth the time and effort to do this, since Google is already doing it for me! The answer is yes— and there are a few reasons why this needs to be done manually:?

• You need to know how much money you're spending on advertising at all times. The same goes for any marketing activity; in fact, anything that costs money should be tracked closely so that when budgets run out or need adjustments, they can be made in real time (or better yet—before!). With Google Ads' automated tracking system, there's no way of knowing whether or not an ad has even been seen by anyone other than yourself unless someone clicks through from another website (which isn't always easy).?
• Setting up conversion tracking allows us as marketers (and business owners) insight into which types of ads result in more conversions for our businesses - whether those conversions were through leads generated via phone calls/emails/etc., sales made online or offline through retail stores etc... This information helps us determine what type of content works best given our target audience demographics so we can create more effective campaigns down the road while saving both time/money doing so!?

5. Use behavioral targeting so that you're only advertising to people who are likely to be interested in what you're offering.?

So you've decided that you want to use online advertising. Great! Before you spend a single cent, find out what pages people are coming from. You can do this in Google Analytics by going to Acquisition > All Traffic > Organic Search and looking at the keyword report. Make sure that you're only targeting your ads based on pages within your site—this is an easy way to make sure that your campaigns don't waste money on irrelevant clicks.?

This is also a good place to see how effective your ads are being so far. If someone comes from an ad for "shoes," but ends up buying a dress instead, it means the ad wasn't working for them so well—and now I know what not to advertise for in the future!?

6. Turn off or adjust your keyword match types so that you're only advertising to people who are looking for what you offer.?

In order to save money, you need to be clear about your own goals. If your goal is to lose weight and get in shape, it wouldn't make sense for you to advertise on sites that sell gym equipment and fitness clothes. Instead of wasting money on ads that won't help you achieve your goal, focus on ads that are relevant to the people who are most likely going to buy from you anyway (e.g., people looking for fitness equipment).?

Once you've identified your target audience, figure out where they hang out online and place ads there. For example: if you're trying to reach fitness enthusiasts who are looking for new workout routines, search Google for terms like “free exercise videos” or “best yoga classes near me”—topics related directly with what they want!?

?As much fun as it might be brainstorming ad ideas with friends over beers at happy hour after work each day (and I'm all about hanging out with friends), don't let yourself get distracted by their suggestions or other people's goals in general before figuring out what yours are first!?

7. There are many ways to make online ads more effective and not waste money on them?

First, make sure you're advertising to your audience. If you're selling electric cars, don't show an ad about lawnmowers and fishing poles!?

Second, use the right ad type for the right situation. For example, if someone's searching for "electric cars," they want to see an image-based ad that shows a picture of one (in this case). If someone is just browsing around with no specific search term in mind or has just installed an app (so they don't have any cookies), then display text-based advertising by showing a headline that explains what the offer is. Also, remember that some people will only want to see mobile ads while others will only be interested in seeing desktop ones; make sure your campaigns are set up accordingly!?

Thirdly; make sure each campaign has its own dedicated landing page so users know exactly where they need to go when clicking on your ad text/image or banner image respectively every time because confusion leads directly back onto our last point: conversion tracking!?

Learn more from our CEO, Pauline Joseph, about how to stop wasting your money on online ads in the Caribbean by viewing the video below: ?

Conclusion?

In this article, we've covered some of the most effective ways to stop wasting money on online ads. While there are many different types of ad campaigns that can help you reach more people and grow your business, it's important to keep in mind that each one has its own set of unique benefits and drawbacks. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to learn more on how to stop wasting money on online advertising.??