Let’s face it... Google Adwords is not the only source of traffic on the internet, nor is it free. However, if you cannot convert the traffic you get from the pay-per-click traffic on Google Adwords, your site surely won’t convert the casual visitor who may or may not be ready to buy what you are selling.
When spending money for pay-per-click (PPC) traffic, whether it is from Google Adwords, Overture, or a 2nd-tier PPC network, the key is to track your traffic to see if it converts into sales. There are many software products and online services that can track your traffic. For a recommendation, visit:
http://www.superiormarketingpartners.com/adtracking.html
Many people that have tried Google Adwords have lost their shirt, so to speak. Some keywords on Google Adwords are cheap (keyword phrases start at a nickel per click). Some keyword phrases on Google Adwords can cost tens of dollars per click. If you end up paying high per-click prices on Google Adwords and don’t sell a high-ticket item on your site, even the most enviable sales conversion rate won’t turn a profit.
There are several tricks to advertising on Google Adwords that unless you know them, it becomes almost impossible to turn a profit on your advertising.
Secret #1 - Only bid on exact match keywords
Google Adwords has a few different ‘keyword matching options’ available. When a keyword is placed in brackets like this:
[keyword], it is called an ‘exact match.’ This means that only when someone enters that EXACT keyword phrase will your ad appear. It might occur to you that by limiting your keyword(s) to only exact match, you are eliminating all those people that may be searching for the phrase "cheap widgets" or even "widget" singular, since only the keyword "widgets" plural is an exact match. Believe me, this is exactly what you want. Sure, it will take extra time to create an adgroup within the Google Adwords system for each keyword phrase you want to bid on, but you will know with 100% certainty which keyword(s) are converting into sales this way. If you do NOT use the exact match option in Google Adwords, then there is absolutely no way to know which keyword(s) are resulting in sales on your site.
Secret #2 - Bid to be in position #2 or 3
When someone searches on Google for your keyword, the first page of search results are going to reach the most people. What you want to do is position your ad in one of the top 3 spots. You don’t want position #1 necessarily, because that position costs the most and doesn’t give you much more benefit than being in position 2 or 3. You pay less for these spots than position 1 and gain most of the benefit.
By being in one of these top spots, your ad gets a higher ‘click-thru rate’ (CTR). This is good is because the Google Adwords system actually rewards you for having an ad with a high CTR by charging you less per click! Google Adwords exists to make money for Google. If they have two companies advertising for the same keyword, and your ad pulls a 10% CTR and your competitor’s ad for the same keyword pulls a 5% CTR, then Google Adwords makes more money from your ad. Google Adwords rewards you for this higher CTR by charging you less per click than your competitor!
Secret #3 - Negatively qualify your ads
Admittedly, the problem with having an ad that has a great CTR is that it gets a lot of clicks! Unless your traffic converts into sales, it’s hard to turn a profit on your Google Adwords ads. The key is to put words in the ad that DISCOURAGE people from clicking on the ad unless they ‘pre-qualified’ to convert to a sale. For example, if you have site that sells widgets that cost $10.00 each, then put something in one of the lines of text in your ad like ‘Widgets cost only $10.00.’ The only catch is that if your ad isn’t getting a very good CTR in the first place, then a negative qualifier is only going to reduce your CTR.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Google Adwords New Keyword Research Tool
The AdWords team have rolled out a completely overhauled keyword suggestion research tool. Smooth user interface and updates make using the new tool a much better experience.
In this article I will share some alternative uses for the AdWords Keyword Tool and run down the new features in this beta release.
Accessing the Beta Keyword Tool
To access the new beta AdWords Keyword Tool login to adwords.google.com, click the “Opportunities” tab, find the current Keyword Tool link and then click the (beta) link.
The general purpose of this tool has always been to help advertisers find relevant, popular keywords.
As it turns out, the AdWords Keyword Tool is pretty useful for publishers and developers to get a glimpse at this data for various reasons.
7 Alternative Uses of Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Cover all the bases of a specific niche.
Discover areas of interest to publish content about.
View what phrases are trending or becoming extinct.
Improve keyword optimization on your website.
Target untapped, low competition keywords.
Find complementary keywords for articles to boost ranking.
Find exact match available domain names to purchase.
New Keyword Tool Beta Features
The new AdWords tool enables you to search by keywords and a URL simultaneously. Additionally you can filter or browse results from popular defined categories found in the sidebar.
Also new in this beta release is the ability to search broad matches (the original standard) as well as Exact Match and Phrase Match keywords.
Once your searches are complete and you’re satisfied with keywords you see you can download all data for each keyword result or the entire table and let further research begin.
In this article I will share some alternative uses for the AdWords Keyword Tool and run down the new features in this beta release.
Accessing the Beta Keyword Tool
To access the new beta AdWords Keyword Tool login to adwords.google.com, click the “Opportunities” tab, find the current Keyword Tool link and then click the (beta) link.
The general purpose of this tool has always been to help advertisers find relevant, popular keywords.
As it turns out, the AdWords Keyword Tool is pretty useful for publishers and developers to get a glimpse at this data for various reasons.
7 Alternative Uses of Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Cover all the bases of a specific niche.
Discover areas of interest to publish content about.
View what phrases are trending or becoming extinct.
Improve keyword optimization on your website.
Target untapped, low competition keywords.
Find complementary keywords for articles to boost ranking.
Find exact match available domain names to purchase.
New Keyword Tool Beta Features
The new AdWords tool enables you to search by keywords and a URL simultaneously. Additionally you can filter or browse results from popular defined categories found in the sidebar.
Also new in this beta release is the ability to search broad matches (the original standard) as well as Exact Match and Phrase Match keywords.
Once your searches are complete and you’re satisfied with keywords you see you can download all data for each keyword result or the entire table and let further research begin.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Google Adwords Guide to Success
Most businesses want a cost-effective way to bring in more customers. The challenge is to find prospects who are thinking about your products at the exact time that you reach them.
With the advent of Google AdWords, it's possible to target prospects at the very moment they're thinking about buying your products or services. If someone runs a Google search on digital cameras, they only see ads for digital cameras. If someone performs a search on organically grown coffee beans, they only see ads for organically grown coffee. Google AdWords enables you to implement precisely targeted advertising.
Read on to learn how to maximize your success with Google AdWords. With proper preparation and execution, starting Google AdWords can be like planting a money tree that will provide your business with a steady stream of revenue.
What is Google AdWords?
Open up a Web browser and go to the Google website. Type in the search term "coffee" and click search. Essentially, two types of search results come up: on the left and below the search box are the organic search results that nobody has sponsored. On the right side of your browser window, and sometimes above the organic results are the Sponsored Links. The Sponsored Links are paid advertisements. Sponsored links are always identified as such by the heading Sponsored Links.
As participants in what is actually automated auction, each of these advertisers (or Sponsors) is bidding for the keyword "coffee". They only pay if someone is interested enough to click on the advertisement; if nobody clicks on the ad, the cost to that advertiser is zero. The higher the advertiser bids on a keyword, the higher in the rankings the ad appears, and the more likely it is that web searchers will see the ad. Ranking means visibility, though you do not have to be at the top of the rankings or make the highest bid in order for prospects to see your ad and click on it. Your goal is to get the lowest Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and the highest quality clicks (sales and leads) for your budget.
Find your Niche
Often, many companies compete for popular keywords (e.g., coffee). On the other hand, popular keywords get millions of searches, so there may be enough clicks to go around -- in this case, you don't need to be the highest, or nearly-highest bidder in order to achieve good results from your campaign. The only way to find out if a particular keyword will work for you is to try it out. The problem is that many other advertisers may also be bidding for the popular keywords, so your cost per click (or CPC) is likely to be high. You are more likely to get a low CPC with more obscure, highly targeted keywords. It will take some thought to come up with the right keywords for your particular site and product.
Our coffee roaster would probably want to try the keyword coffee, and watch it like a hawk as it could result in many low quality clicks (not many conversions to leads or sales). If a keyword does not produce high quality clicks after a reasonable trial period (a couple weeks), then remove it; it may even be obvious sooner that a particular keyword is costing money but not producing results.
Perhaps our coffee roaster sells shade-grown coffee that protects Central American songbird habitat. While far fewer people are likely to search for "shade-grown coffee" than for "coffee", the more targeted term is likely to yield a lower CPC and higher quality clicks.
Do some brainstorming and write down an initial list of keywords that matches your market niche. This process of finding targeted keywords will be a useful exercise to help you focus your campaigns and maximize your return on investment.
Getting Started
The first thing you need to get started with AdWords is a goal. Is your goal to make direct sales via ecommerce on your website? Is your goal to capture sales leads that you can follow up with to make the sale? Alternatively, is your goal a combination of both of these outcomes? Once you have determined a goal, you need a website that helps you achieve that goal.
Your website should be eye-catching and well organized, and include landing pages for your products or services. To see some examples of landing pages, perform a search for your services, and look at what other companies in your market are doing. The landing page for your advertisement might be your main website or homepage if your website focuses tightly on one product or service that you're advertising (e.g., this permission-based email marketing website). Otherwise, the landing page should be a page within your website that focuses on the specific product or service you're advertising.
If you're selling directly from your website, your site should include a secure ecommerce system. Any good, technically competent web design firm can set this up for you.
If you want sales leads, then your site should include a call to action to persuade people to request more information. The way they submit a lead is to click on a link to a lead capture form. You need a form that, at a minimum, sends you -- or the appropriate sales staff -- an email containing the lead's details. Ideally, the system would also create a lead for you in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system such as SalesForce or SugarCRM.
Whether you're selling directly from your website or capturing leads, your website should always provide obvious ways to contact you using whatever method the prospect feels most comfortable with: a contact form, email, or telephone. Some company websites make it hard for users to figure out how to contact the company for more information.
It's important to have a number of people -- both inside and outside of your company -- test your website's ease of use. Prospects should never have to wonder how to buy from you, or how to contact you to ask a question about your products and services.
Sign Up for Google AdWords
Once you have a goal, web site, and landing page, you're ready to sign up for Google AdWords. Learn by doing -- it's easy to write the advertisement and select keywords using the tools that Google provides during the sign up process. In addition, some web hosting providers have collaborated with Google, and can offer you a free AdWords coupon to get you started.
If you plan to spend at least $30 per day on AdWords, Google offers a JumpStart program to help you get started using the program. Google JumpStart specialists will help you create a campaign. The cost of the program is $299, but Google will apply that as a credit toward the cost of your initial clicks. Not having used JumpStart myself, I cannot vouch for its quality, though Google generally offers high quality services.
Campaigns and Ad Groups
The Campaign level is where you set your daily budget, language targeting, location targeting, ad distribution preferences, and the start and end dates for your campaigns (if applicable).
The Ad Group level is where enter your keywords and the advertisements themselves. Each Ad Group has one or more ads. Write at least two ads for each ad group so you can try different approaches and compare the results.
In my experience, it has been beneficial to create multiple campaigns so I can experiment with different parameters and compare the results. I keep campaigns that work well and delete those that do not.
Targeting
Choose the language you want to target, and then the countries or territories. This requires some thought. Can you offer your product or service globally, in the United States, or in just your city or region? You can target your campaign to the world or to specific countries, regions, states, or cities.
For even more precise targeting, you can target your campaign to a certain number of miles from your business or even an area bounded by coordinates. Choosing carefully will ensure that you maximize the return you make on your investment in the advertisement.
Write your Advertisements
You have a 25-character title get searchers' attention, and a 70-character ad to make them interested enough to want to click on your ad. This isn't a lot of text, so make your content pithy.
Write the Headline, the text of the ad, and enter the Display Link (always link to main page of your website), and then enter the Destination URL (your landing page). As we discussed above, the Destination URL might be your main page, or a page within your website that's dedicated to selling the product in question. Below are a couple of fictional ad examples. I don't work in the coffee industry, but I do enjoy a good cup of coffee.
Headline: Shade Grown Coffee Beans
Description line 1: Shade grown coffee. Tastes
Description line 2: better & saves valuable rainforest.
Display URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com
Destination URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com?&utm_id=coff1
Another example:
Headline: Shade Grown Coffee Beans
Description line 1: Coffee that tastes better and
Description line 2: protects valuable rainforest.
Display URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com/
Destination URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com?&utm_id=coff2
Conversion Tracking
Tracking the conversion rate of your campaigns -- i.e., how many sales or leads you generate from your investment -- requires a little preparation. You will need to have your webmaster embed snippets of code into the appropriate pages on your website. Google explains how to do this in its online AdWords documentation.
Google Analytics
In the fictional advertisement examples I gave above, you may have noticed the codes in the destination URL's: "coff1" and "coff2". These are tracking codes that facilitate the tracking of a wealth of information by Google Analytics.
Google Analytics, which Google integrated with AdWords, is a very powerful service for tracking the success of both the organic and paid search results for your website. It will help you better understand your website visitors' experiences in detail. In addition, you can learn which keywords attract the best prospects, and which of your campaigns deliver the best return on investment. You can use Google Analytics to track marketing campaigns other than AdWords as well. Unfortunately, Google Analytics is too big a topic to cover here, though there is plenty of information on it online -- the Google website is a good place to start!
Choose Your Keywords
As I mentioned earlier, it's important to pick good keywords. Initially, choose both general keywords and narrowly targeted keywords, and carefully evaluate the results. Keep keywords that generate results, and remove keywords that aren't working for you. You'll probably need to run your campaigns for a while before you have enough information to determine which keywords are succeeding for you.
In the keyword space provided in the setup process, list the keywords or keyword phrases you would like to use. Because people tend to type fast when they search the web, be sure to include common mis-spellings of your keywords. Here are some example keywords that our fictional coffee roaster might use:
coffee
coffe
shade grown coffee
shade grown coffe
shade grown
shade coffee
coffee shade grown
shade grown coffee migratory birds
benefits of shade grown coffee
gourmet coffee
gourmet coffee beans
gourmet coffees
coffee beans
gourmet coffee beans
organic coffee
organic coffee beans
certified organic coffee
coffee beans organic
mail order organic coffee
bulk coffee
To generate more keywords, enter a keyword into the Keyword Tool Box and click on Get More Keywords. This will generate additional keywords, some of which will be relevant to you, and some of which will not. Keep the relevant keywords and toss the rest.
Now, you have a good starting list. Later, you will want to add new keywords, and remove non-performing keywords. A good keyword is one that yields you conversions into customers or good leads.
Google Search versus Google Content Network
Google AdWords can place your ad in two places: in Google search and the content network. Google search provides results from searches that prospective customers run directly using www.google.com. The content network consists of Google partner sites and sites that run advertisements through Google's AdSense program.
In my experience, Google search has yielded more quality clicks than the content network. The content network is worth trying, but I recommend you put it into a separate campaign so that you can measure its results against your Google search campaign.
The content network is an opt-out service, though it's not possible to opt out during the setup process. To opt out of the content network for a specific campaign, you can go back to the Campaign Settings and uncheck the checkbox for content network.
Then, set up a separate campaign where you focus on the content network and opt out of the search network. Compare the results between the two campaigns. It is possible that you'll find Google search is more productive than the content network but, of course, your results may be different from mine.
If you want to keep it simple until you are more comfortable with AdWords, I recommend that you start with the search network. Then, come back in a few weeks and set up a separate campaign to try the content network, and compare the results with those you generate through the search network.
Your Daily Budget
Your daily budget for your campaign is the ceiling on your daily spending. You can set this number to whatever figure you want. It's a good idea to start out with a relatively low daily budget while you refine your AdWords effectiveness. As your ad campaigns succeed and bring you more business, you'll likely want to increase your budget.
Start with a daily budget of about $10 to $15 per day, and gradually increase that amount as you fine-tune your approach.
Your Bid
In addition to your daily budget, you will need to set a maximum bid that you are willing to pay as a Cost Per Click (CPC). This require some trial and error to get right. Being the highest bidder is not really what that you want. Instead, you want to get the greatest number of quality clicks for your budget. If you bid too high, your CPC will be too high and will eat up your budget too fast; if you bid to low, you won't generate enough clicks or sales.
You might try starting with a bid of $2.50, and see what happens for a day or two. Then gradually raise or lower the bid, depending on results. If clicks consume your daily budget in a couple of hours, then lower your bid. If the advertisements aren't getting many clicks, raise your bid. Continue this process until you find the optimal bid.
Leads and Sales
What if visitors are clicking on your ad but aren't buying from or contacting you? That likely means your ad is working but your website or landing page is not persuading prospective customers to take the next step. It can also mean that your product or service needs some work to become more competitive. Compare what you offer to your competitors.
The simplest things can make a dramatic difference. When your landing page is not getting you conversions, change one aspect, then wait to see what happens over the next day or two. That way, you can determine which changes work. Don't be afraid to try possible solutions, knowing that some changes will fail and some will work well.
Recently, one of our landing pages was not generating a suitable number of conversions. I made some minor changes to the wording on the page and conversions started going up the next day. On another page, we replaced our very simple order form with a much more elaborate version. Our sales for that service immediately plummeted. We simply changed the order form back to the simpler version and sales picked up again immediately.
Harvesting From the Money Tree
The Google AdWords money tree is now planted, optimized, and working to bring you leads and sales. What do you do now? Harvest it, of course, by solid follow-through and by providing the best possible service for your clients.
Go back from time to time, and take a look at your results. Make adjustments to your budget and bids as needed. Write another advertisement that takes a slightly different tack. Remove an ad that's not producing high quality clicks for you. Make some improvements to your website to see if you can increase your conversion rate.
Practice Kaizen -- a Japanese word for continuous, incremental improvement. Even if your Google AdWords money tree is providing good yields, there are always ways to improve its performance.
So pour yourself a cup of good coffee, and get started using Google AdWords today!
With the advent of Google AdWords, it's possible to target prospects at the very moment they're thinking about buying your products or services. If someone runs a Google search on digital cameras, they only see ads for digital cameras. If someone performs a search on organically grown coffee beans, they only see ads for organically grown coffee. Google AdWords enables you to implement precisely targeted advertising.
Read on to learn how to maximize your success with Google AdWords. With proper preparation and execution, starting Google AdWords can be like planting a money tree that will provide your business with a steady stream of revenue.
What is Google AdWords?
Open up a Web browser and go to the Google website. Type in the search term "coffee" and click search. Essentially, two types of search results come up: on the left and below the search box are the organic search results that nobody has sponsored. On the right side of your browser window, and sometimes above the organic results are the Sponsored Links. The Sponsored Links are paid advertisements. Sponsored links are always identified as such by the heading Sponsored Links.
As participants in what is actually automated auction, each of these advertisers (or Sponsors) is bidding for the keyword "coffee". They only pay if someone is interested enough to click on the advertisement; if nobody clicks on the ad, the cost to that advertiser is zero. The higher the advertiser bids on a keyword, the higher in the rankings the ad appears, and the more likely it is that web searchers will see the ad. Ranking means visibility, though you do not have to be at the top of the rankings or make the highest bid in order for prospects to see your ad and click on it. Your goal is to get the lowest Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and the highest quality clicks (sales and leads) for your budget.
Find your Niche
Often, many companies compete for popular keywords (e.g., coffee). On the other hand, popular keywords get millions of searches, so there may be enough clicks to go around -- in this case, you don't need to be the highest, or nearly-highest bidder in order to achieve good results from your campaign. The only way to find out if a particular keyword will work for you is to try it out. The problem is that many other advertisers may also be bidding for the popular keywords, so your cost per click (or CPC) is likely to be high. You are more likely to get a low CPC with more obscure, highly targeted keywords. It will take some thought to come up with the right keywords for your particular site and product.
Our coffee roaster would probably want to try the keyword coffee, and watch it like a hawk as it could result in many low quality clicks (not many conversions to leads or sales). If a keyword does not produce high quality clicks after a reasonable trial period (a couple weeks), then remove it; it may even be obvious sooner that a particular keyword is costing money but not producing results.
Perhaps our coffee roaster sells shade-grown coffee that protects Central American songbird habitat. While far fewer people are likely to search for "shade-grown coffee" than for "coffee", the more targeted term is likely to yield a lower CPC and higher quality clicks.
Do some brainstorming and write down an initial list of keywords that matches your market niche. This process of finding targeted keywords will be a useful exercise to help you focus your campaigns and maximize your return on investment.
Getting Started
The first thing you need to get started with AdWords is a goal. Is your goal to make direct sales via ecommerce on your website? Is your goal to capture sales leads that you can follow up with to make the sale? Alternatively, is your goal a combination of both of these outcomes? Once you have determined a goal, you need a website that helps you achieve that goal.
Your website should be eye-catching and well organized, and include landing pages for your products or services. To see some examples of landing pages, perform a search for your services, and look at what other companies in your market are doing. The landing page for your advertisement might be your main website or homepage if your website focuses tightly on one product or service that you're advertising (e.g., this permission-based email marketing website). Otherwise, the landing page should be a page within your website that focuses on the specific product or service you're advertising.
If you're selling directly from your website, your site should include a secure ecommerce system. Any good, technically competent web design firm can set this up for you.
If you want sales leads, then your site should include a call to action to persuade people to request more information. The way they submit a lead is to click on a link to a lead capture form. You need a form that, at a minimum, sends you -- or the appropriate sales staff -- an email containing the lead's details. Ideally, the system would also create a lead for you in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system such as SalesForce or SugarCRM.
Whether you're selling directly from your website or capturing leads, your website should always provide obvious ways to contact you using whatever method the prospect feels most comfortable with: a contact form, email, or telephone. Some company websites make it hard for users to figure out how to contact the company for more information.
It's important to have a number of people -- both inside and outside of your company -- test your website's ease of use. Prospects should never have to wonder how to buy from you, or how to contact you to ask a question about your products and services.
Sign Up for Google AdWords
Once you have a goal, web site, and landing page, you're ready to sign up for Google AdWords. Learn by doing -- it's easy to write the advertisement and select keywords using the tools that Google provides during the sign up process. In addition, some web hosting providers have collaborated with Google, and can offer you a free AdWords coupon to get you started.
If you plan to spend at least $30 per day on AdWords, Google offers a JumpStart program to help you get started using the program. Google JumpStart specialists will help you create a campaign. The cost of the program is $299, but Google will apply that as a credit toward the cost of your initial clicks. Not having used JumpStart myself, I cannot vouch for its quality, though Google generally offers high quality services.
Campaigns and Ad Groups
The Campaign level is where you set your daily budget, language targeting, location targeting, ad distribution preferences, and the start and end dates for your campaigns (if applicable).
The Ad Group level is where enter your keywords and the advertisements themselves. Each Ad Group has one or more ads. Write at least two ads for each ad group so you can try different approaches and compare the results.
In my experience, it has been beneficial to create multiple campaigns so I can experiment with different parameters and compare the results. I keep campaigns that work well and delete those that do not.
Targeting
Choose the language you want to target, and then the countries or territories. This requires some thought. Can you offer your product or service globally, in the United States, or in just your city or region? You can target your campaign to the world or to specific countries, regions, states, or cities.
For even more precise targeting, you can target your campaign to a certain number of miles from your business or even an area bounded by coordinates. Choosing carefully will ensure that you maximize the return you make on your investment in the advertisement.
Write your Advertisements
You have a 25-character title get searchers' attention, and a 70-character ad to make them interested enough to want to click on your ad. This isn't a lot of text, so make your content pithy.
Write the Headline, the text of the ad, and enter the Display Link (always link to main page of your website), and then enter the Destination URL (your landing page). As we discussed above, the Destination URL might be your main page, or a page within your website that's dedicated to selling the product in question. Below are a couple of fictional ad examples. I don't work in the coffee industry, but I do enjoy a good cup of coffee.
Headline: Shade Grown Coffee Beans
Description line 1: Shade grown coffee. Tastes
Description line 2: better & saves valuable rainforest.
Display URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com
Destination URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com?&utm_id=coff1
Another example:
Headline: Shade Grown Coffee Beans
Description line 1: Coffee that tastes better and
Description line 2: protects valuable rainforest.
Display URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com/
Destination URL: www.goodshadegrowncoffee.com?&utm_id=coff2
Conversion Tracking
Tracking the conversion rate of your campaigns -- i.e., how many sales or leads you generate from your investment -- requires a little preparation. You will need to have your webmaster embed snippets of code into the appropriate pages on your website. Google explains how to do this in its online AdWords documentation.
Google Analytics
In the fictional advertisement examples I gave above, you may have noticed the codes in the destination URL's: "coff1" and "coff2". These are tracking codes that facilitate the tracking of a wealth of information by Google Analytics.
Google Analytics, which Google integrated with AdWords, is a very powerful service for tracking the success of both the organic and paid search results for your website. It will help you better understand your website visitors' experiences in detail. In addition, you can learn which keywords attract the best prospects, and which of your campaigns deliver the best return on investment. You can use Google Analytics to track marketing campaigns other than AdWords as well. Unfortunately, Google Analytics is too big a topic to cover here, though there is plenty of information on it online -- the Google website is a good place to start!
Choose Your Keywords
As I mentioned earlier, it's important to pick good keywords. Initially, choose both general keywords and narrowly targeted keywords, and carefully evaluate the results. Keep keywords that generate results, and remove keywords that aren't working for you. You'll probably need to run your campaigns for a while before you have enough information to determine which keywords are succeeding for you.
In the keyword space provided in the setup process, list the keywords or keyword phrases you would like to use. Because people tend to type fast when they search the web, be sure to include common mis-spellings of your keywords. Here are some example keywords that our fictional coffee roaster might use:
coffee
coffe
shade grown coffee
shade grown coffe
shade grown
shade coffee
coffee shade grown
shade grown coffee migratory birds
benefits of shade grown coffee
gourmet coffee
gourmet coffee beans
gourmet coffees
coffee beans
gourmet coffee beans
organic coffee
organic coffee beans
certified organic coffee
coffee beans organic
mail order organic coffee
bulk coffee
To generate more keywords, enter a keyword into the Keyword Tool Box and click on Get More Keywords. This will generate additional keywords, some of which will be relevant to you, and some of which will not. Keep the relevant keywords and toss the rest.
Now, you have a good starting list. Later, you will want to add new keywords, and remove non-performing keywords. A good keyword is one that yields you conversions into customers or good leads.
Google Search versus Google Content Network
Google AdWords can place your ad in two places: in Google search and the content network. Google search provides results from searches that prospective customers run directly using www.google.com. The content network consists of Google partner sites and sites that run advertisements through Google's AdSense program.
In my experience, Google search has yielded more quality clicks than the content network. The content network is worth trying, but I recommend you put it into a separate campaign so that you can measure its results against your Google search campaign.
The content network is an opt-out service, though it's not possible to opt out during the setup process. To opt out of the content network for a specific campaign, you can go back to the Campaign Settings and uncheck the checkbox for content network.
Then, set up a separate campaign where you focus on the content network and opt out of the search network. Compare the results between the two campaigns. It is possible that you'll find Google search is more productive than the content network but, of course, your results may be different from mine.
If you want to keep it simple until you are more comfortable with AdWords, I recommend that you start with the search network. Then, come back in a few weeks and set up a separate campaign to try the content network, and compare the results with those you generate through the search network.
Your Daily Budget
Your daily budget for your campaign is the ceiling on your daily spending. You can set this number to whatever figure you want. It's a good idea to start out with a relatively low daily budget while you refine your AdWords effectiveness. As your ad campaigns succeed and bring you more business, you'll likely want to increase your budget.
Start with a daily budget of about $10 to $15 per day, and gradually increase that amount as you fine-tune your approach.
Your Bid
In addition to your daily budget, you will need to set a maximum bid that you are willing to pay as a Cost Per Click (CPC). This require some trial and error to get right. Being the highest bidder is not really what that you want. Instead, you want to get the greatest number of quality clicks for your budget. If you bid too high, your CPC will be too high and will eat up your budget too fast; if you bid to low, you won't generate enough clicks or sales.
You might try starting with a bid of $2.50, and see what happens for a day or two. Then gradually raise or lower the bid, depending on results. If clicks consume your daily budget in a couple of hours, then lower your bid. If the advertisements aren't getting many clicks, raise your bid. Continue this process until you find the optimal bid.
Leads and Sales
What if visitors are clicking on your ad but aren't buying from or contacting you? That likely means your ad is working but your website or landing page is not persuading prospective customers to take the next step. It can also mean that your product or service needs some work to become more competitive. Compare what you offer to your competitors.
The simplest things can make a dramatic difference. When your landing page is not getting you conversions, change one aspect, then wait to see what happens over the next day or two. That way, you can determine which changes work. Don't be afraid to try possible solutions, knowing that some changes will fail and some will work well.
Recently, one of our landing pages was not generating a suitable number of conversions. I made some minor changes to the wording on the page and conversions started going up the next day. On another page, we replaced our very simple order form with a much more elaborate version. Our sales for that service immediately plummeted. We simply changed the order form back to the simpler version and sales picked up again immediately.
Harvesting From the Money Tree
The Google AdWords money tree is now planted, optimized, and working to bring you leads and sales. What do you do now? Harvest it, of course, by solid follow-through and by providing the best possible service for your clients.
Go back from time to time, and take a look at your results. Make adjustments to your budget and bids as needed. Write another advertisement that takes a slightly different tack. Remove an ad that's not producing high quality clicks for you. Make some improvements to your website to see if you can increase your conversion rate.
Practice Kaizen -- a Japanese word for continuous, incremental improvement. Even if your Google AdWords money tree is providing good yields, there are always ways to improve its performance.
So pour yourself a cup of good coffee, and get started using Google AdWords today!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Google AdWords The Good and the Bad
I’ve talked a lot of smack about the PPC technique of making money online. Well, to be honest, it’s a necessary evil, and used correctly, you may even make some money off of it. The question is how you go about doing that.
The first step is selecting your PPC advertising network. There are many options out there. The most well-known one is Google AdWords. Yahoo is still ranking up there, but since Bing took over their paid search, no one actually seems to know where Yahoo will be. I would be wary of them, although they are still one of the bigger players out there. In addition to Google AdWords, the other two top-tier PPC networks are Microsoft adCenter and Yahoo Ambassador (again, pending governmental approval, who knows how long that will last). I would also recommend taking a look at the following five smaller PPC ad networks:
· AdBrite
· LookSmart
· Bidvertiser
· Miva
· JumpFly
Please note that these are all targeted toward the US; if you want something for the UK, Australian, or general European market this post may not be for you.
In my next several posts, I will focus on-and-off on the positives and negatives of each network. Let’s start with Google AdWords.
Pros of AdWords:
· You will be seen on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for Google search queries – it’s a great way to maximize your exposure. This definitely increases your chances for visibility in a very competitive world.
· AdWords has awesome tracking – like most-to-all of Google’s products. (I am a HUGE Analytics junkie. I could never understand why you would want to pay for an Analytics program when you have Google Analytics at your fingertips for free.)
· It’s fast – you can be set up in, say, five minutes.
Cons of AdWords:
· Clicks generated?
o Using Google AdWords is a double-edged sword. Yes, you want your ads to be visible in the search engines, considering how many users visit the search engine results pages for a given keyword. However, most people do NOT look at the advertisements at the top/right-hand side of the page simply because they know that the results located in those areas ARE advertisements. (Which is the point of SEO – it’s organic, thus people click on those results, believing them to be the most naturally relevant for their search queries.)
· Amount of training time
o It takes a while to become an expert in AdWords – and a tidy sum of money. You will fail in the beginning, simply because you don’t know what you’re doing. You can read all of the AdWords tutorials that are available back-to-front. It won’t matter. Until you actually get out there in the field (so to speak), you are NOT an AdWords expert. It will be a costly experience.
The first step is selecting your PPC advertising network. There are many options out there. The most well-known one is Google AdWords. Yahoo is still ranking up there, but since Bing took over their paid search, no one actually seems to know where Yahoo will be. I would be wary of them, although they are still one of the bigger players out there. In addition to Google AdWords, the other two top-tier PPC networks are Microsoft adCenter and Yahoo Ambassador (again, pending governmental approval, who knows how long that will last). I would also recommend taking a look at the following five smaller PPC ad networks:
· AdBrite
· LookSmart
· Bidvertiser
· Miva
· JumpFly
Please note that these are all targeted toward the US; if you want something for the UK, Australian, or general European market this post may not be for you.
In my next several posts, I will focus on-and-off on the positives and negatives of each network. Let’s start with Google AdWords.
Pros of AdWords:
· You will be seen on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for Google search queries – it’s a great way to maximize your exposure. This definitely increases your chances for visibility in a very competitive world.
· AdWords has awesome tracking – like most-to-all of Google’s products. (I am a HUGE Analytics junkie. I could never understand why you would want to pay for an Analytics program when you have Google Analytics at your fingertips for free.)
· It’s fast – you can be set up in, say, five minutes.
Cons of AdWords:
· Clicks generated?
o Using Google AdWords is a double-edged sword. Yes, you want your ads to be visible in the search engines, considering how many users visit the search engine results pages for a given keyword. However, most people do NOT look at the advertisements at the top/right-hand side of the page simply because they know that the results located in those areas ARE advertisements. (Which is the point of SEO – it’s organic, thus people click on those results, believing them to be the most naturally relevant for their search queries.)
· Amount of training time
o It takes a while to become an expert in AdWords – and a tidy sum of money. You will fail in the beginning, simply because you don’t know what you’re doing. You can read all of the AdWords tutorials that are available back-to-front. It won’t matter. Until you actually get out there in the field (so to speak), you are NOT an AdWords expert. It will be a costly experience.
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