Taking a PPC holiday: how to take a break from your ads without disaster
Sometimes the world can be overwhelming – this year, in particular, has taught us all that. We recognise the need to take a step back from work, relax and readjust, and come back feeling refreshed. But if you run PPC campaigns single-handedly, how can you do that without everything you’ve worked hard for crashing down around you?
I think you deserve a break, so here are my top 5 tips for taking a PPC holiday without disaster striking.
1. Organizing your suitcase
Just as you would prepare for your trip by packing a bag, preparing your PPC accounts for your departure is highly important. If you don’t spend time thinking about what you’re packing, that’s how you end up going swimming in your pants.
Organization is what will allow you to relax during your break because you know everything is being taken care of. Choose to take a break when things are naturally quieter for you; with so many holiday events coming up, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, don’t try and give yourself too much to do by going away around an already stressful time.
Make sure you’ve got the basics covered: are your email permissions turned on so anything urgent comes straight to your inbox? Spend some time looking at the foundations of your ad campaigns – if they’re done well then you reduce the chances of running into any problems. Also, be sure to remove any time-specific offers before you leave as you won’t be around to make adjustments after they’re finished.
For added peace of mind, I recommend downloading the app version of your ad manager. Whether that be the Google Ads app or Facebook Ads Manager app, having a quick and easy way to check in on how things are going if you really feel the need will make everything a lot less stressful. The fact many of these apps have limited functionality will work in your favor too as it’ll stop you from getting drawn into making optimal CPC changes and ruining your break.
2. Run things at the right times
A good way to set up hands-off ad management is to utilise ad scheduling. By ensuring that your ads are only running on set days and times, you can focus your resources on your optimal performance times.
Furthermore, use the ad duration feature for ads or extensions which you may only want running for a set length of time, such as Black Friday weekend. This will make it easy for you to structure what you want running and when. If you have campaigns spread across multiple platforms, performance times will vary as different platforms have unique user habits. Creating a schedule for your absence which takes these into account will allow you to leave a smart plan in charge for a few days.
3. Setting house rules
Just like you would if you were leaving a teenager home alone, don’t leave without setting some strict ground rules. Rules are a great way to set in stone a level of control which will ensure things go smoothly when you can’t be there.
Rules I recommend setting up include:
- Budget caps
Depending on what time of the month you’re looking to take a break, and for how long, there are a variety of different rules that may suit you. For instance, setting up a rule that pauses campaigns that have spent a certain budget partway through the month will ensure you don’t overspend in the first half. Other options include an overall budget cap or receiving alerts if you spend over half the daily budget before lunchtime.
Either way, putting some rules in place will make sure you don’t overspend.
- Broken URLs
Set up a rule to pause campaigns which use a URL for a page that’s not working – that way, if a page of your site goes down, you won’t be wasting budget or making a bad impression to new customers.
- Under and overperformers
Just because you’re away from your computer doesn’t mean you can’t be optimizing your ads. Set rules which pause underperforming campaigns so you can look at how to make improvements when you get back. Similarly, allow a rule to increase the budget of a campaign which is knocking things out the park – you want to be able to bring in as many leads as you can, especially as you won’t be present to make real-time changes.
- Optimal CPA
Do you know your ideal cost-per-acquisition? Knowing the lifetime value of your customer is important at all times, but particularly when you’re thinking of having some time off. By having a rule which adjusts your keyword bids based on their cost-per-conversion, your ads will be much more manageable and it’ll be easier to stay on track. This rule will not only help you to maximise the number of conversions you can get but ensure they’re at a sensible price.
There are lots of different automation rules out there that can manage things on your behalf. Be sure not to set up any which contrast against one another. If possible, create your automation rules in the same place for all your platforms so you can clearly see what’s going on.
4. Use automation tools
Make life easier for yourself and use a platform which does everything in one place. If you have Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads running, for instance, it’s a lot of effort to manage them separately. By utilising software which houses all of your ad campaigns, you can make changes across them all in a third of the time.
Here are some of great free options:
- With a little know-how, you can set up PPC scripts to run 24/7. There are unlimited ways you can use them after the initial set up and use them to set up rules as mentioned above.
- Microsoft’s free Digital Marketing Centre holds lots of promise for managing your PPC ads and social media in one place. You can set up automated rules with it to streamline your departure and is well worth a look.
- Adzooma’s free PPC management platform has loads to offer with optimisation, automation and reporting for Google, Microsoft and Facebook ads all under one roof. Inside, you can action all of my tips from custom rule creations to ad scheduling and alerts. Nifty.
5. Relax
Last but not least, enjoy yourself! If you’ve taken the time to set things up and have sufficient backup plans in place, your PPC campaigns will be fine without you. Your campaigns might even be better for it if you return refreshed.
Consider leaving a friendly “back soon!” message for your customers and OOO email for other correspondence giving you extra peace of mind.
Your well-deserved PPC holiday
Many of these tips and tricks can be used all-year-round to make things easier, but even more so if you’re taking a break. Making the most of free platforms out there will take a lot of the workload off your shoulders too. If you’re struggling to do other aspects of your business single-handedly, consider outsourcing to experts for things like SEO, branding and PR. Using technology to support you can make things a lot more hassle-free than you realise.
Enjoy!
Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again
Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.
Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.
Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.
When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.
Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.
During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.
Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy
LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said.
Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes.
Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail on Nov. 6, but the decision and his release on Nov. 15 were not made public until now due to security fears for his life, Maria said.
Shahzad told Morning Star News by telephone from an undisclosed location that the false accusation has changed his family’s lives forever.
“My family has been on the run from the time I was implicated in this false charge and arrested by the police under mob pressure,” Shahzad told Morning Star News. “My eldest daughter had just started her second year in college, but it’s been more than four months now that she hasn’t been able to return to her institution. My other children are also unable to resume their education as my family is compelled to change their location after 15-20 days as a security precaution.”
Though he was not tortured during incarceration, he said, the pain of being away from his family and thinking about their well-being and safety gave him countless sleepless nights.
“All of this is due to the fact that the complainant, Imran Ladhar, has widely shared my photo on social media and declared me liable for death for alleged blasphemy,” he said in a choked voice. “As soon as Ladhar heard about my bail, he and his accomplices started gathering people in the village and incited them against me and my family. He’s trying his best to ensure that we are never able to go back to the village.”
Shahzad has met with his family only once since his release on bail, and they are unable to return to their village in the foreseeable future, he said.
“We are not together,” he told Morning Star News. “They are living at a relative’s house while I’m taking refuge elsewhere. I don’t know when this agonizing situation will come to an end.”
The Christian said the complainant, said to be a member of Islamist extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and also allegedly connected with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the charge because of a grudge. Shahzad said he and his family had obtained valuable government land and allotted it for construction of a church building, and Ladhar and others had filed multiple cases against the allotment and lost all of them after a four-year legal battle.
“Another probable reason for Ladhar’s jealousy could be that we were financially better off than most Christian families of the village,” he said. “I was running a successful paint business in Sargodha city, but that too has shut down due to this case.”
Regarding the social media post, Shahzad said he had no intention of hurting Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Facebook page.
“I posted the verse a week before Eid Al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] but I had no idea that it would be used to target me and my family,” he said. “In fact, when I came to know that Ladhar was provoking the villagers against me, I deleted the post and decided to meet the village elders to explain my position.”
The village elders were already influenced by Ladhar and refused to listen to him, Shahzad said.
“I was left with no option but to flee the village when I heard that Ladhar was amassing a mob to attack me,” he said.
Shahzad pleaded with government authorities for justice, saying he should not be punished for sharing a verse from the Bible that in no way constituted blasphemy.
Similar to other cases
Shahzad’s attorney, Maria, told Morning Star News that events in Shahzad’s case were similar to other blasphemy cases filed against Christians.
“Defective investigation, mala fide on the part of the police and complainant, violent protests against the accused persons and threats to them and their families, forcing their displacement from their ancestral areas, have become hallmarks of all blasphemy allegations in Pakistan,” said Maria, head of The Voice Society, a Christian paralegal organization.
She said that the case filed against Shahzad was gross violation of Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which states that police cannot register a case under the Section 295-A blasphemy statute against a private citizen without the approval of the provincial government or federal agencies.
Maria added that Shahzad and his family have continued to suffer even though there was no evidence of blasphemy.
“The social stigma attached with a blasphemy accusation will likely have a long-lasting impact on their lives, whereas his accuser, Imran Ladhar, would not have to face any consequence of his false accusation,” she said.
The judge who granted bail noted that Shahzad was charged with blasphemy under Section 295-A, which is a non-cognizable offense, and Section 298, which is bailable. The judge also noted that police had not submitted the forensic report of Shahzad’s cell phone and said evidence was required to prove that the social media was blasphemous, according to Maria.
Bail was set at 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US $350) and two personal sureties, and the judge ordered police to further investigate, she said.
Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29 posted on his Facebook page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols, as Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat.
A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice.
Though Shahzad made no comment in the post, inflammatory or otherwise, the situation became tense after Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers telling people to gather for a protest, family sources previously told Morning Star News.
Fearing violence as mobs grew in the village, most Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind.
In a bid to restore order, the police registered a case against Shahzad under Sections 295-A and 298. Section 295-A relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine, or both. Section 298 prescribes up to one year in prison and a fine, or both, for hurting religious sentiments.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.
Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.
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