4 Ways to Mess up your Pay-per-click marketing strategy

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Don't track your site statistics
Example: If I don't know what traffic my site is receiving, how can I tell if my pay-per-click strategy is gaining me anything?
Solution: Your web host should have a nice system of charts and graphs that show you what kind of traffic you are getting on your site. If your host doesn't provide this service - get a different host. Then check your stats at least every month. If your pay-per-click strategy isn't at least generating more traffic, you need to change your strategy. Hopefully, you are also seeing an increase in sales or contacts from your pay-per-click efforts.
Use keywords and phrases that will be highly used by people who won't become clients
Example: If I use the word "web site" as a keyword, I will come up in the list for everyone who types the words web site in the pay-per-clicks and other sites that use them. There may bea lot of people searching on 'web site' who have no interest in web design training or in hiring me to do a web site. This is bad because I pay every time they click in a pay-per-click site, but I have no potential Return on Investment (ROI). How mercenary of me! Really, I'm happy for people to use these materials, I don't want to pay to have them find me!
Solution: Choose your keywords and phrases very carefully. Instead of "web site", I might use "web site development" or "web site planning" or even better, locate myself by using "web development montana." The last one would be my preference because I prefer to get to know my clients personally, even though I have had out-of-state clients.
Don't decide what type of placement you want and why
Example: If I just try to be #1 in all the pay-per-click sites, I might actually be paying more than I need to.
Solution: Research the particulars about each pay-per-click site before open an account. Find out what other sites pick up their listing. Find out how many listings those sites pick up. If you are position #3, it will cost you less than for position #1, and you may be where you want to be in the sites.
Just pay the bills without analyzing the return on this investment