Almost every day, new products are launched that promise to teach you how to succeed with Google AdWords and other PPC search engines. And it's true, many of these products contain some very interesting tips and strategies that allow you to improve the performance of your campaigns.

However, as long as you don't get the very basics right, all the great tips, tricks and secrets won't be of much help. Secret tips, bells and whistles won't allow you to turn a badly performing campaign into a successful one. On the other hand, simply getting the basics and fundamentals right will allow you to do so.

So, here are the top 10 PPC mistakes that might prevent you from being profitable. Avoid them and your campaigns will thrive:

1. Too many (unrelated) keywords in your adgroups: Keep your adgroups tightly focused and very specific. If you are not sure about a certain keyword, create a new adgroup.

2. No- or not enough negative keywords: Your negative keyword list is as important as your actual keyword list. Check your web-logs and reports on a regular basis and keep your negative keyword list growing. A large negative keyword list allows you to rule out most irrelevant searches and improve your conversion rate.

3. Lack of testing: You can't succeed in this game without constant and continuous testing. Be sure to always have at least 2 split tested ads per adgroup and rotate them evenly. Test various elements on your landing pages. Test your sales page. Test, test, test...

4. Not having enough keywords: It's not sufficient to have 10, 20 or 30 keywords in your campaign. You should at least have a few hundred keywords per campaign. Use keyword search tools, be creative, get into your customers mind, check other websites... to come up with a big enough keyword list.

5. Using mostly generic keywords and keywords everyone else is using: Avoid generic keywords, they are usually expensive and they don't convert very well. Mix in some long-tail keywords and some very specific "buyer" keywords. Also, be creative and come up with some new terms, no one (or almost no one) else is using. If you only rely on the Google Keyword search tool, you will be bidding on the keywords most of your competitors are using as well.

6. Irrelevant ads: Your ads need to be closely related to the adgroup and the keyword(s) they belong to. Ideally you should use the keyword in your ad headline. And that's another reason why having tightly focused adgroups is so important. If you put all kinds of keywords into an adgroup, it becomes simply impossible to write relevant ads. A relevant ad directly answers the question of a potential customer who is searching for a specific keyword. Get to know your customers and write highly relevant, appealing ads with a strong benefit.

7. Weak landing pages: Your landing page has to match your ad. Ideally you should have a different landing page for each adgroup - although that's not always necessary. Re-iterate the benefits, promises, facts... you stated in your ad. Develop these benefits and promises and proof them. Use several strong calls to action on your landing page, make the page visibly appealing and choose an appropriate header image or "hero-shot".

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