Google Adwords provides great possibilities for the advertiser. It can and has transformed the fortunes of many businesses. In my own experience its where the majority of new business leads and sales come from for many of those who have embraced its ability to put their product message and usp's in front of literally thousands of potential customers per day, whilst only paying for traffic received.
Google has become such a common part of peoples online shopping and research experience that there arent many of us in the modern world who wont use to it to help find our next holiday deal or ease the burden of our Christmas shopping. This all of course means that Adwords as an advertising medium cannot be ignored by any business looking to attract new sales.
Though no-one could not deny the fact that the World Wide Web provides a cheaper alternative for other advertising mediums, such as TV and radio, the costs have also risen for the past few years. A good example is the Google Adwords advertising. That’s why it’s very important that you manage your Adwords campaign effectively or get a 3rd party expert to do it for you.
Top Tips in Adwords Management
1. Keyword research. You should undertake extensive keyword research initially to help work out which keywords to bid for. There are sophisticated resources available that will allow you to identify keyword competitiveness and cost. It is often a good idea to list a large nunber of phrases and phrase extensions as often niche keywords can produce the best and most cost effective results. Keywords research is vital. Listing the most obvious keywords will usually mean listing the most expensive ones which are unlikely to generate a good return.
2. Know what your cost per conversion needs to be. A common mistake is always bidding too high for keywords when the conversion rate is such that you will be making a loss on any purchase resulting from Adwords. Know what your cost per sale needs to be, identify your conversion rate and from this you will know what your cost per click needs to be.
3. Select the ideal landing page. You need to monitor which ads produce the highest clickthrough rate and which produce the best conversion rate. Adwords allows you to show ads with different landing pages in rotation so it is very easy to work out which landing page produces the best results. Similarly make sure your landing pages have good call to actions otherwise conversion rate will always be weak.
4. Use the matching options. Google Adwords allows you to use different matching options on the keywords listed. Most wont take advantage of this feature and will suffer as a result. It is imperative that negative keywords are used as these will increase both clickthrough rate and quality score.
5. Measure, measure, measure. If you can understand what is affecting the conversion rate you can manipulate it. High conversion rate means lower cost per conversion means greater profit. Use Google Analytics to help you work out what is and isnt working with the campaign.
8/09/2009
@Google Adwords
Google's UK advertising revenue this year is likely to outstrip that of Channel 4 in the UK and may soon approach ITV's. About £900m c.5% of the total advertising spend each year. And most of that comes from SMEs who would never consider a 15 or 30-second slot on TV but can use AdWords very effectively.
AdWords is not just any old advertising however. Like the web itself it is one of the most powerful direct marketing tools - for direct marketing read cost controllable and cost effective marketing with known results.
When you compare AdWords with local press or radio advertising or even the 'hassle' of setting up and controlling direct mail or door drop campaigns it's no wonder it has become so popular. There is no minimum spend per period, you can turn it on and off, you set the cost effective goals you want and you only pay for results. What's not to like?
Like all direct marketing there are 7 golden rules:
1. Understand the cost per lead and cost per sale you can afford on a customer lifetime value basis i.e. the value [cashflow and profit] to you of a customer over the length of the customer relationship rather than a single time period or sale
2. Test, test, test and track, track, track everything
3. Reinforce success and eliminate failures
4. Understand and target the audience / list (research you keywords properly for what people actually search on not just your great aunt's best guess)
5. Make your known audience real offers - the offer is more important that the product and the creative, but less important than the keywords - what is your best offer? Put yourself in the customers shoes and think what they think: "what's in it for me?"
6. Describe you product and price well - this may not be all in the advert but it has to be on the landing page (the page that users click through to from an advertisement optimized to achive the desired action from the potential customer)
7. Think about your creative pitch and refine it.
The AdWords concept is simple. You create ads that Google shows alongside regular search results. Your ads appear when somebody searches for keywords with which you have told Google you want to be associated.
The confusing part about AdWords is that Google doesn't charge a set price for ads. Instead, the more you bid compared with others who have bid on the same keyword, the more likely your ad is to appear near the top of the sponsored links. BUT, Google also looks at how many people click through on each of your ads.
This is great for them as it maximizes their income but means we all have to work harder than in a simple auction. For example, if you set a maximum bid of 25p for the word widget, and the next highest bid is 50p but they have a click through rate (CTR) of 15% and they only have a CTR of 5% from whom does Google earn more?
For every hundred impressions you give them £3.75 and the competition only £2.50. But it doesn't stop there because your and their CTR might vary dependent on your page position or time of day or day of week and has to be compared with all these (and more things, such as your total budget) for other advertisers too. So Google does a lot of calculating and we have to do the same. By the way, Google rarely charges you your maximum bid but is 'content' to maximize its income!
Since you cannot directly control your click through rate and position managing AdWords is a big challenge and can consume a great deal of time. And If you do not manage AdWords campaign effectively you could waste a lot of money.
So, its all great stuff but how do you make it work? Well here are 10 key things to think about:
1. Decide on your budget and maximum cost per click. Never commit substantial funds until you know basic results.
2. Decide where you are going to show each campaign - understand the difference between the search and content networks
3. Research your keywords in detail - understand what people actually search for and look at the keyword matching options
4. Group similar keyword themes together in manageable numbers
5. Make sure you think about the offers and calls to action you have and test them constantly to find the best result by product, service, keywords group etc.
6. Make sure you are constantly testing the contender v the champ in your actual advert to improve the results
7. Make sure the landing pages tell the whole story and are 'easy to action' i.e. fill in the form, make the purchase etc with minimum hassle. Think about applying for Google Website Optimizer. This allows you to test changes in the website content of your pages in order to determine what will be most effective in getting conversions. You choose what parts of a page you'd like to test and Google will run experiments to help determine which content on your site users respond to best.
8. Google Analytics tells you how visitors found your site and how they interact with it. You can compare the behaviour and profitability of visitors who were referred from each ad and keyword. Track your detailed results daily using the analytics tool. Understand the goal and funnel process to get more leads, sales.
9. Think about AdWords Editor, which is a free, application that can be downloaded for managing your account on your PC rather than via browser. If you have a large number of campaigns or keywords AdWords Editor can save you time and help streamline your workflow.
10. Decide whether you / your company has the skills and time to optimize you AdWords campaign or whether you are best getting professional help.
AdWords is not just any old advertising however. Like the web itself it is one of the most powerful direct marketing tools - for direct marketing read cost controllable and cost effective marketing with known results.
When you compare AdWords with local press or radio advertising or even the 'hassle' of setting up and controlling direct mail or door drop campaigns it's no wonder it has become so popular. There is no minimum spend per period, you can turn it on and off, you set the cost effective goals you want and you only pay for results. What's not to like?
Like all direct marketing there are 7 golden rules:
1. Understand the cost per lead and cost per sale you can afford on a customer lifetime value basis i.e. the value [cashflow and profit] to you of a customer over the length of the customer relationship rather than a single time period or sale
2. Test, test, test and track, track, track everything
3. Reinforce success and eliminate failures
4. Understand and target the audience / list (research you keywords properly for what people actually search on not just your great aunt's best guess)
5. Make your known audience real offers - the offer is more important that the product and the creative, but less important than the keywords - what is your best offer? Put yourself in the customers shoes and think what they think: "what's in it for me?"
6. Describe you product and price well - this may not be all in the advert but it has to be on the landing page (the page that users click through to from an advertisement optimized to achive the desired action from the potential customer)
7. Think about your creative pitch and refine it.
The AdWords concept is simple. You create ads that Google shows alongside regular search results. Your ads appear when somebody searches for keywords with which you have told Google you want to be associated.
The confusing part about AdWords is that Google doesn't charge a set price for ads. Instead, the more you bid compared with others who have bid on the same keyword, the more likely your ad is to appear near the top of the sponsored links. BUT, Google also looks at how many people click through on each of your ads.
This is great for them as it maximizes their income but means we all have to work harder than in a simple auction. For example, if you set a maximum bid of 25p for the word widget, and the next highest bid is 50p but they have a click through rate (CTR) of 15% and they only have a CTR of 5% from whom does Google earn more?
For every hundred impressions you give them £3.75 and the competition only £2.50. But it doesn't stop there because your and their CTR might vary dependent on your page position or time of day or day of week and has to be compared with all these (and more things, such as your total budget) for other advertisers too. So Google does a lot of calculating and we have to do the same. By the way, Google rarely charges you your maximum bid but is 'content' to maximize its income!
Since you cannot directly control your click through rate and position managing AdWords is a big challenge and can consume a great deal of time. And If you do not manage AdWords campaign effectively you could waste a lot of money.
So, its all great stuff but how do you make it work? Well here are 10 key things to think about:
1. Decide on your budget and maximum cost per click. Never commit substantial funds until you know basic results.
2. Decide where you are going to show each campaign - understand the difference between the search and content networks
3. Research your keywords in detail - understand what people actually search for and look at the keyword matching options
4. Group similar keyword themes together in manageable numbers
5. Make sure you think about the offers and calls to action you have and test them constantly to find the best result by product, service, keywords group etc.
6. Make sure you are constantly testing the contender v the champ in your actual advert to improve the results
7. Make sure the landing pages tell the whole story and are 'easy to action' i.e. fill in the form, make the purchase etc with minimum hassle. Think about applying for Google Website Optimizer. This allows you to test changes in the website content of your pages in order to determine what will be most effective in getting conversions. You choose what parts of a page you'd like to test and Google will run experiments to help determine which content on your site users respond to best.
8. Google Analytics tells you how visitors found your site and how they interact with it. You can compare the behaviour and profitability of visitors who were referred from each ad and keyword. Track your detailed results daily using the analytics tool. Understand the goal and funnel process to get more leads, sales.
9. Think about AdWords Editor, which is a free, application that can be downloaded for managing your account on your PC rather than via browser. If you have a large number of campaigns or keywords AdWords Editor can save you time and help streamline your workflow.
10. Decide whether you / your company has the skills and time to optimize you AdWords campaign or whether you are best getting professional help.
@What Is Google Adwords?
Google lets you buy advertising space next to their free listings, on a cost per click basis. Your ad shows up when keywords you choose are searched for, and you pay when people click on your ad. This is called "Pay-Per-Click" Internet advertising.
Google Adwords is the biggest and most advanced Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising system developed and maintained by Google. You might have already seen Google Adwords if you are a Google user, they are the small advertisements or ads you can see next to the search results on Google. They may also appear in Google's Partner sites like Ask Jeeves, AOL, Teoma, Earth link and others. You can even have your ads show up on Google webmail sevice, GMail, when users send emails that include content
relevant to the keywords you had bidded for.
Adwords is a terrific complement to any existing advertising campaign, but probably should not be used as the sole marketing channel for your website. This program allows you to control your advertising budget by giving you the ability to set the maximum price that you're willing to pay, per click, and also a maximum allowable daily advertising budget. You choose the keywords that you would like to target, bid on the maximum per click price you'd like to pay, and Google will send focused traffic to your website. According to Google, Adwords text advertisements boast a standard click-through rate four to five times higher than traditional banner ads.
Adwords Vs Overture
Overture is the main competitor to Google AdWords. Overture is strictly price driven, which requires a ton of editors to perform countless hours of maintenance. Google is a highly mathematical company, and protect the quality of their listings in two ways: they have editors, and more importantly they monitor click through rate.Overture does not always show the correct ads in the correct websites, so it lead to low Click Through Rates (CTR) too.
What is Click Through Rate in Google Adwords ?
As more and more people click on your ads when they see it in Google or any of its partner sites, your click through rate increases. Click through rate is a rough approximation of relevancy, in many ways this parallels the idea of grading the web on links. A relevant ad will have higher click through rates than a non relevant listing.
It is smart to avoid choosing keywords that are too vague or general. To generate highly qualified prospects you have to choose very specific keywords. This way, competition for the keyword will be lower, and it will cost less per click, and you won't be throwing money away on expensive, unqualified leads. For example, if you only sell Green Widgets, don't bid on the term "Widgets" it is too broad and you'll pay for clicks from people searching for "Red Widgets"
What is Cost Per Click in Google Adwords ?
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) as the name suggests, is the amount of money you will have to pay Google Adwords when somebody clicks on your ad. Your CPC is automatically lowered to one cent more than your closest competitor. Google Adwords does not show you, your competitors bid price to you unlike Overture.
Create a budget and stick to it. In marketing, there is a saying, "I waste half my advertising dollars, but, the problem is, I don't know which half". It's difficult to know how effective the Adwords program will be if you're also utilizing other marketing channels (as you should be). When checking out, give your customers the option to let you know how they found your website. If you find Adwords is paying off, then it may be smart to increase your budget. It also may not be very cost efficient to bid for the #1 spot for every keyword. The #2 position may be almost as effective, but cost only half as much.
Google Adwords is the biggest and most advanced Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising system developed and maintained by Google. You might have already seen Google Adwords if you are a Google user, they are the small advertisements or ads you can see next to the search results on Google. They may also appear in Google's Partner sites like Ask Jeeves, AOL, Teoma, Earth link and others. You can even have your ads show up on Google webmail sevice, GMail, when users send emails that include content
relevant to the keywords you had bidded for.
Adwords is a terrific complement to any existing advertising campaign, but probably should not be used as the sole marketing channel for your website. This program allows you to control your advertising budget by giving you the ability to set the maximum price that you're willing to pay, per click, and also a maximum allowable daily advertising budget. You choose the keywords that you would like to target, bid on the maximum per click price you'd like to pay, and Google will send focused traffic to your website. According to Google, Adwords text advertisements boast a standard click-through rate four to five times higher than traditional banner ads.
Adwords Vs Overture
Overture is the main competitor to Google AdWords. Overture is strictly price driven, which requires a ton of editors to perform countless hours of maintenance. Google is a highly mathematical company, and protect the quality of their listings in two ways: they have editors, and more importantly they monitor click through rate.Overture does not always show the correct ads in the correct websites, so it lead to low Click Through Rates (CTR) too.
What is Click Through Rate in Google Adwords ?
As more and more people click on your ads when they see it in Google or any of its partner sites, your click through rate increases. Click through rate is a rough approximation of relevancy, in many ways this parallels the idea of grading the web on links. A relevant ad will have higher click through rates than a non relevant listing.
It is smart to avoid choosing keywords that are too vague or general. To generate highly qualified prospects you have to choose very specific keywords. This way, competition for the keyword will be lower, and it will cost less per click, and you won't be throwing money away on expensive, unqualified leads. For example, if you only sell Green Widgets, don't bid on the term "Widgets" it is too broad and you'll pay for clicks from people searching for "Red Widgets"
What is Cost Per Click in Google Adwords ?
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) as the name suggests, is the amount of money you will have to pay Google Adwords when somebody clicks on your ad. Your CPC is automatically lowered to one cent more than your closest competitor. Google Adwords does not show you, your competitors bid price to you unlike Overture.
Create a budget and stick to it. In marketing, there is a saying, "I waste half my advertising dollars, but, the problem is, I don't know which half". It's difficult to know how effective the Adwords program will be if you're also utilizing other marketing channels (as you should be). When checking out, give your customers the option to let you know how they found your website. If you find Adwords is paying off, then it may be smart to increase your budget. It also may not be very cost efficient to bid for the #1 spot for every keyword. The #2 position may be almost as effective, but cost only half as much.
@And Then There Were Adwords… An Introduction
If you have been looking into Internet marketing, you have probably seen Adwords mentioned now and again. Why don’t we cover the basics of the program.
And Then There Were Adwords…An Introduction
Adwords is the name of the pay-per-click system offered by Google on its search engine as well as search engines it supplies advertisements to on the net. Sort of anti-climatic, but I couldn’t think of anything more dramatic.
In the world of Internet marketing, search engine optimization is the best way to make significant sums of money. You pursue search engine optimization by tweaking pages so that they appear high in the search results for a keyword you would like to be listed under. For instance, you might be a poet and have your site appear in the first few rankings on Google, Yahoo and MSN when someone searches for “poetry.” To do this, you would optimize your pages, a subject beyond the scope of this article.
One problem with search engine optimization is it is a tricky beast. Not everyone can get high rankings and, even if you do, it can take three to nine months to see the results of your work. That is a long time to wait, so the search engines came up with a short term solution. While they were certainly trying to be of assistance, it is also a good way for them to make money.
The solution is called pay-per-click advertising. There are various names, but the basic premise is pretty simple. While you wait for the optimized pages to get high rankings, you can create ads and pay for placement on the various search engines. As a result, you get immediate traffic to your site. On the downside, you have to pay for it which means you better be keeping an eye on your return on investment.
The pay-per-click service on Google is called Adwords and is one of the better ones out there. You create an account with Google, create a small advertisement linking to your site and submit a credit card. Every time someone clicks on your advertisement, Google bills you. Bidding is a subject unto itself, but that is essentially how the process works with Google Adwords.
There are a couple of downsides to Google Adwords. My biggest pet peeve is the size of the ads. You are allowed very little space, so qualifying traffic before they click your ad is pretty difficult. Click fraud is the second area that gets people hot and bothered. Essentially, you just have to accept that a certain percentage of clicks are bogus. I have problems with acceptance [a few girlfriend can verify that], so I try to get organic rankings as quickly as possible.
Overall, however, Adwords has definitely proven to be the best platform for me. Some hate it, some love it. You don’t have the right to rant one way or the other until you try it.
And Then There Were Adwords…An Introduction
Adwords is the name of the pay-per-click system offered by Google on its search engine as well as search engines it supplies advertisements to on the net. Sort of anti-climatic, but I couldn’t think of anything more dramatic.
In the world of Internet marketing, search engine optimization is the best way to make significant sums of money. You pursue search engine optimization by tweaking pages so that they appear high in the search results for a keyword you would like to be listed under. For instance, you might be a poet and have your site appear in the first few rankings on Google, Yahoo and MSN when someone searches for “poetry.” To do this, you would optimize your pages, a subject beyond the scope of this article.
One problem with search engine optimization is it is a tricky beast. Not everyone can get high rankings and, even if you do, it can take three to nine months to see the results of your work. That is a long time to wait, so the search engines came up with a short term solution. While they were certainly trying to be of assistance, it is also a good way for them to make money.
The solution is called pay-per-click advertising. There are various names, but the basic premise is pretty simple. While you wait for the optimized pages to get high rankings, you can create ads and pay for placement on the various search engines. As a result, you get immediate traffic to your site. On the downside, you have to pay for it which means you better be keeping an eye on your return on investment.
The pay-per-click service on Google is called Adwords and is one of the better ones out there. You create an account with Google, create a small advertisement linking to your site and submit a credit card. Every time someone clicks on your advertisement, Google bills you. Bidding is a subject unto itself, but that is essentially how the process works with Google Adwords.
There are a couple of downsides to Google Adwords. My biggest pet peeve is the size of the ads. You are allowed very little space, so qualifying traffic before they click your ad is pretty difficult. Click fraud is the second area that gets people hot and bothered. Essentially, you just have to accept that a certain percentage of clicks are bogus. I have problems with acceptance [a few girlfriend can verify that], so I try to get organic rankings as quickly as possible.
Overall, however, Adwords has definitely proven to be the best platform for me. Some hate it, some love it. You don’t have the right to rant one way or the other until you try it.
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