Before you run your first ad: five checks.

1. Decide the one action you want.

Pick a single outcome: a phone call, a message, a form submission or a purchase. An ad that asks for several things at once usually gets none of them. Write the action down before you design anything.

2. Check the page the ad leads to.

Open the page on your phone, because most people will click on one. Make sure it loads quickly, the offer is clear above the fold, and the button or phone number is easy to find. If the page is confusing, the ad will waste money however good it looks.

3. Set a budget you can test with.

Start with a daily amount you can afford for two weeks and do not raise it while you are still learning. Small tests tell you more than one large campaign you cannot measure.

4. Set up tracking before you spend.

Install your analytics and the ad platform’s tracking tag, and confirm that a test visit or enquiry shows up. Without tracking you will not know which ad produced a customer, and you cannot improve what you cannot measure.

5. Read the platform’s ad policies.

Meta, Google and other ad platforms restrict some categories, such as health, finance and certain products, and they can reject or limit ads that break their rules. Check the policy for your category before you design the ad, so you are not surprised by a rejection.

Review after 7 to 14 days.

Look at what people did after clicking, not only how many clicked. Keep what works, pause what does not, and change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference.