Almost every "ads did not work for us" story traces back to something on this list being missing. It is worth an afternoon to get all of it in place before the first dollar.
The checklist
- A converting destination. A page that already turns visitors into leads or sales at a known rate.
- A clear offer. One thing, one price or one action, understandable in five seconds.
- Working conversion tracking, tested end to end with a real purchase or lead.
- A known target cost per acquisition, derived from your margin rather than hoped for.
- Business assets set up properly: a Business Manager account, a dataset, payment method, and domain verified.
- Enough creative to test: at least three genuinely different ideas, not three colours of the same image.
- A budget you can run for two to four weeks without needing it back.
Domain verification and asset ownership
Set the business assets up under a Business Manager you own, not a personal profile, and verify your domain. People who skip this discover the problem later, at the worst moment, when access or ad approval becomes an issue.
Decide the success criterion now
Write down what result makes you continue: a cost per lead, a cost per purchase, a number of qualified conversations. Deciding this before you see data is what prevents "well, engagement was good" from becoming a reason to keep spending.
Try it
Go through the checklist and mark what is actually done, tested, and verified rather than assumed. Do not launch until the tracking line is genuinely ticked.