Are you pulling hairs out of your head trying to figure out your online marketing campaigns? Identifying the reasons why an online marketing campaign is failing can be extremely difficult at times, but it almost always comes down to poor planning and organization. With that in mind, here are some helpful tips for figuring out why your online marketing is failing and what you should watch out for in the future.

Poor Planning

People tend to start online marketing campaigns, such as a pay-per-click (PPC) or social media campaigns, for unfounded reasons. These include vague ideas such as “needing to increase front page visibility” or “gaining more followers on Facebook.” Although these sound like goals, they are definitely not concrete nor measurable.

Instead, goals should be stated in a more definite fashion. Plan to set goals that sound more like “raise PPC click-through rate by 18% over the next three months” or “attain 300 or more followers aged 30 and up on Facebook over the next three months.” These goals are better, as they have a clear purpose, a measurable variable, and include a specific deadline. These make the goals attainable, as well as allow you to measure your progress on the way towards it. Vague goals don’t afford any of this and often get abandoned, leading to a weak online marketing campaign.

Focusing Too Much On Rankings

Many people will readily say that online marketing is changing day by day, hour by hour–and they aren’t wrong. For example, there was once a time where search engine rankings were everything, and now they are almost worthless–especially if you aren’t implementing the right formula.

The formula you need to use for your SEO involves getting the right traffic, not the most traffic. It also means making sure once your obtain that traffic, that your website or landing page is doing everything in its power to convert that traffic at a steady clip. Ask yourself, what is the point of traffic if it’s not driving any results? It’s basically worthless, so focus your online marketing campaign on getting traffic that converts.

Testing Campaigns

Online marketing campaigns should be tested rigorously and often. That means content, images, keywords, and promotions should be updated according to the daily data and using those results to craft a more efficient campaign and site that converts leads. For example, utilize A/B subject line testing on email marketing campaigns to see which subject line is receiving more opens and conversions, then keep those results in mind for a wide release or your next campaign.

If campaign e-mails are being sent out without being tested and updated, then you are more than likely missing out on a number of potential customers that could have been attained by a more up-to-date, effective and attention grabbing campaign that was unearthed with a little research.

Having a foolproof online marketing campaign is possible, all it takes is organization, a systematic approach, and–most importantly–staying up to date on online marketing trends.