Manuel L.

The Most Expensive Mistake in Global PPC: Wrong Time, Right Audience. A friend of mine...a sharp B2B performance marketer, was losing his mind over a SaaS client’s PPC performance for their global prospects. “Nothing makes sense,” he said. “Great ads. Great targeting. Terrible results.” So he dug deeper. And the culprit was embarrassingly simple - All their best campaigns were running at the wrong time. Their EST schedule was hitting EU at 3 AM… PST at lunchtime… And APAC barely saw the ads. He changed one thing: time-zone-based scheduling. Here’s what he did (and what most teams don’t): -Split campaigns by region: EU mornings, US late evenings, APAC weekends Switched to automated bidding: Max Conversions handled the “when” better than a human. Trusted data instead of assumptions: Different geos behaved completely differently. Used labels & scripts for painless adjustments: No more manual madness. And the outcome? 32% lower CPA. 27% more conversions. Same budget. Just better timing. His takeaway was brutal but true: Most PPC teams don’t have a bidding problem. They have a timing problem. Shoutout to Brooke Osmundson for her fantastic piece on Search Engine Journal that sparked this entire conversation (link in comments)

10

1 Kommentar

𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 Your Google Ads are running. You picked Smart Bidding. And now you’re waiting for magic. But nothing changes. Your cost stays high. Your conversions stay low. Your results look stuck. This happens to most advertisers in 2026. Not because Smart Bidding is bad. But Smart Bidding needs the right setup. When you give Google weak signals, you get weak results. When you feed it real data, everything shifts. Here’s why Smart Bidding fails: ➡ No enough conversion data ➡ Wrong goal selected ➡ Mixed keywords in the same campaign ➡ Sending traffic to slow landing pages ➡ Too many changes too fast ➡ No tracking setup And here’s how to fix it: ➡ Pick one clear goal ➡ Keep keywords tightly grouped ➡ Send users to fast pages ➡ Track real actions ➡ Let campaigns learn for at least 7 days ➡ Watch trends, not daily noise This is how Google learns in 2026. The system needs clean signals. Clear patterns. Simple paths. If your setup is messy, Google gets confused. When Google gets confused, your money burns. But when you clean your structure: Your CPC drops Your conversions rise Your cost per lead gets stable Your results stay predictable Smart Bidding works best when you stop forcing it And start guiding it. Think of it like this: You’re giving Google a map. If the map is clear, it finds your best customers fast. If the map is messy, it wastes your budget on random clicks. Small changes in structure can unlock big wins. The system is strong. The results depend on how you train it. If your Smart Bidding results are weak, the problem is not the tool. The problem is the setup. Fix the base. Clean the signals. Simplify the path. Then let Google take over. Which Smart Bidding goal do you use more… Max Conversions or Max Clicks? #googleads #leads #marketing #businessgrowth #digitalmarketing

2

My Failed SEO Experiments! #1 Language Translation gone wrong While the translation (as you see on the screenshot) worked to bring some additional traffic pretty quickly... 90% of the traffic goes towards an article in a different niche Economics instead of Marketing. Bringing people interested in investments (based on long-tail queries) rather than Marketing ROI (which is the focus of the calculator). 😭 Why is this bad? It comes with increased bounce rates. Attracts the wrong audience == Lower conversions. 💪 Next steps I am planning to launch more languages to see the effect of auto-translation before sunsetting the experiment. This might be localized to the Greek language, but other languages might work better. > Spanish (high volume - spoken internationally by many) > German (high value - audience is of high value) > Italian (high relevance - I know some Italian and have connections there) ⏱️ This experiment has a March 31st deadline. #2 Vibe Coded Tools The pages of vibe-coded calculators and other tools do bring some traffic, but not enough. The pages were not well-designed, and text was mostly AI-Written (but edited). Traffic to these tools is not great, but they tend to be great examples of what can be quickly achieved by Vibe Coding. 💪 Next Steps The pages need to be re-written (on-page optimizations) The tools updated with improved design and functionality

10

Ranking the worst mistakes one can make to their google ad account High branded spend allocation - S tier. By far the most common google ads mistake I see, agencies pump this to look good on paper but it doesnt grow the brand Poor tracking - S tier, GA4 tracking for ecom is notoriously bad as its delayed. Use website directly if you can Pmax only campaigns - B tier. Pmax is normally the best for good reason but you have very little control of your campaign performance as its all algorithm driven. Running max conversions for Branded campaigns - C tier. Not a huge error but I find running manual CPC has a much lower CPC so you spend less on your own brand term No product reviews - A tier. Reviews on shopping tiles are so important to standing out compared to your competitors, granted you need at least 50 approved reviews for this to appear.

3

"SEO or PPC?" Wrong question. And it might be costing you money. Here's a number that stops most founders mid-scroll: SEO can return 700%+ ROI over time. PPC typically lands around 30-40%. Read that again. SEO is outperforming PPC by roughly 20x. So why does almost every business still treat PPC like the "real" strategy... ...and SEO like a nice-to-have? Because PPC feels like progress. You spend money. You see clicks. You feel in control. SEO feels like waiting. No dashboard lighting up on day one. No dopamine hit. Just quiet compounding you can't see... ...until suddenly you can. Here's what nobody tells you: PPC is rent. The moment you stop paying, the traffic vanishes. Like it was never there. SEO is equity. Every article. Every backlink. Every ranking page. An asset sitting on your balance sheet — working while you sleep. The smartest companies we work with don't pick a side. They use PPC to buy speed today. And SEO to buy leverage for the next five years. One fills the pipeline right now. The other makes sure you're not still paying full price for the same lead in 2030. So the real question was never "SEO or PPC?" It's this: How much of your budget is rent — and how much is equity? Want an honest read on your split? Send us a message. We'll tell you exactly where your dollars should go. No sales pitch attached.

4

2.1% Conversion Rate vs. 6.5% Conversion Rate 💡 If you want actual results, stop focusing on the wrong thing. Here’s what to do: ✅ Build fresh lists every week. Stop using old databases because leads go cold fast. ✅ Focus on quality, not quantity. It’s better to send 80 targeted emails than 200 random ones. ✅ Automate your follow-ups. Most booked calls come after the third touch. ✅ Use a CRM to track interest. You need to see who’s actually ready to buy. It’s not about how many emails you send. It’s about sending the right message to the right person, with a system that works while you sleep. Follow for more practical, tested strategies that help you close more deals!

3

A/B testing one element on a page versus A/B testing entire funnel 🧐 Most brands obsess over how to optimise for elements on specific pages for conversion optimisation. Well that helps but it don't really move the needle. It's because visitors scroll through different pages on your Shopify stores - Homepage>Collections>Product> Cart to decide if the product is right for them and then purchase it. Would it be possible to change elements on collections page based on where a visitor clicks on homepage ?? Or based on scroll patterns on the collections, one delivers a unique experience on the product page only for certain segments for visitors. With Cooee, we enable ecommerce brands to be able to A/B test different elements across full funnel to asses the impact they have on overall journey and on conversion. Data driven, realtime and 1-to-1 personalised - A/B testing for fuelling conversions 🛍️ Shashank Agrawal, Shikhar Jain, Pooja Jadhav, Jyotii Sharma

25

3 Kommentare

Most SaaS marketers are busy… but not effective. Here are 10 simple moves that actually create growth 👇👇 1. Improve Your Landing Page Above the Fold - Your headline, value prop & CTA should explain what you do instantly. 2. Replace Features With Benefits - Customers don’t buy tools. - They buy outcomes. 3. Add Proof Everywhere - Testimonials, case studies, reviews, logos. - Trust = higher conversions. 4. Create Demand, Don’t Just Capture It - If the market doesn’t understand the problem, they won’t care about your solution. 5. Test 3 Variations Per Creative Set - One creative is an opinion. - Three is an experiment. 6. Retarget With Case Studies - Warm audiences convert when they see real results, not generic ads. 7. Build a Content Engine - Consistency compounds. - Content reduces CAC long-term. 8. Track Micro-Conversions - Scroll depth, clicks, time on page. - This shows where your funnel leaks. 9. Own Your ICP - A campaign built for everyone resonates with no one. - Know exactly who you’re speaking to. 10. Focus on Activation, Not Just Acquisition - Traffic is useless if users don’t reach their aha moment. Follow for insights on growth, demand gen, and performance marketing. #SaaSMarketing #DemandGeneration #GrowthMarketing #PerformanceMarketing #B2BMarketing #MarketingStrategy #DigitalMarketing #StartupMarketing #SaaSGrowth #ProductMarketing

6