PPC can be profitable with an optimized campaign. Very rarely does a campaign perform well right out of the gate. Try these 5 optimization tips for PPC and see the $$$ Grow. Tip #1 – Focus on phrase and exact match. This will allow you to maintain the most control over your keyword and query matching, without sacrificing too much volume. This will also help you cut overall costs and CPA in general since you’re not wasting spend on loosely matching broad keywords. If you’ve already exhausted phrase and exact match, you might consider adding modified broad match variations to enhance the reach of your top-performing keywords. Tip #2 – Avoid having too many campaigns. This is a big no-no for small budget accounts because you run the risk of spreading your daily campaign budgets too thin. You’re much better off focusing your efforts on 1-3 well-structured campaigns, with deeper ad groups if necessary. This will help ensure that you don’t suffocate your top-performing keywords. You might also consider using AdWords shared budgets if you feel like your budget is already spread to thin, but I haven’t had much success with this in any of my smaller accounts. Tip #3 – Segment ad groups by match type. Although opinions surrounding this concept tend to vary, I’ve found that this is a good way to maintain better control over reach and match types. Since we’re dealing with small accounts here, you probably aren’t interested in spending too much time on them, so it will allow you to quickly control poor performing ad groups with excessive CPAs. In addition, this will also create the opportunity for embedded negatives. Tip #4 – Breakout your poor performers. The idea is simple; move your poor performing keywords into their own campaigns or ad groups, and leave your best performing keywords so they remain unaffected. This will allow you to ensure that your best performing terms aren’t limited, while also cutting back on wasted costs from non-converting keywords. Tip #5 – Leverage branded campaigns when possible. If you’re like me, you probably already know that some campaigns perform better than others. Branded campaigns, for example, tend to have higher conversion rates simply because of the brand recognition. If you haven’t established much of a branded presence, it is still worth spending the time to create a campaign for your branded terms. As your impressions grow over time, users can become more likely to recognize and do business with your brand.