Wait! Even though I posted yesterday about how to spend your first advertising dollar, it’s not time to spend it yet.

First, you have to make sure that money is not going to be wasted because you were not prepared. Here are three things you absolutely must do before you run your first ad campaign.

1. Make sure you can track the results. Send people to a URL or page on your site that is specific to the campaign so you can see how many visits it drives. Or use an offer code so you can see how many sales it drives. Whether or not your ad campaign succeeds, the key is knowing how it performed so you can establish a baseline and learn from it before moving forward.
    
2. Make sure everything is functioning properly. Make sure you test ads, links, forms, and phone numbers. Don’t leave anything to chance. You don’t want to find out that you spent your entire budget on an ad campaign that was broken for one reason or another. Take the extra time to be certain.
    
3. Make sure you’re optimized for conversions. You need to be ready to make the most out of any potential customers that take action. That means sending them to the right page on your site, and making sure that page is optimized with a clear call to action. If there is any follow up needed, like emails or retargeting ads, make sure that is ready to go from the very beginning. The last thing you want is to minimize your potential returns because you were not ready for the traffic.

The goal is to make your first ad campaign effective. And the more you prepare, the more effective it will be. Best of luck!