Advertising with Google Adwords

Google AdWords is getting great reviews...

Google.com is one of the largest search engines today. It is fast, accurate and one of the most visited websites on the Internet. Literally thousands of searches are conducted daily on Google for your keywords related to your site! Beyond the engine itself, there's a new route you can take in order to benefit from Google.

You can now advertise on Google very affordably using their AdWords program. Your AdWords text ads appear on search result pages for the keywords you buy, and can be targeted by language and country. For example, to reach collectors of tin toys, you might buy the keywords "toy collector," "tin toys," etc. (For more information on AdWords, visit Google at https://adwords.google.com/AdWords/Welcome.html.)

Pricing for AdWords is based on the rank in which they're shown. Google positions your ad based on how many users click on it over time. Accounts are opened with a credit card and no minimum deposit is required. The trick is to choose very targeted keywords that will trigger your ad , which means that only very targeted buyers will ever see your ad and your conversion ratio will be high.

If your keywords are highly targeted, many of the people who see your ad will instantly become buyers and, if done right, you will actually get your money in before you even pay Google! Because there are thousands of searches a day, Google alone can be one of your biggest sales drivers with its great AdWords program.

For more details, see the Google AdWords pages -- they have plenty of tips. Remember, it is more effective to have about 20 targeted keywords that are specific and related to your site, than it is to have just one. So come up with 20 very specific and targeted keywords if you really want to win this game hands down.

When running a Google Adwords Internet marketing campaign, it's important to keep some key principles in mind. Sure, anybody can give Adwords a shot. But without having a clear plan, many Internet business people will give up frustrated. Adgroups get paused, keywords get deleted, CTR (Click Through Rate) plunges down and cost multiplies. Even worse, nothing converts! Its frustrating, specially for a beginner. But before throwing in the Google Adwords "towel" consider these Ten Tips to Bring a Google Adwords Campaign to Life. With the tips from this tutorial in your toolkit, it's possible to turn Adwords magic into Adwords science.


1. Selecting Appropriate Keywords and Phrases

Selecting appropriate keywords and phrases is the most crucial element of the entire campaign. This is what controls where and who you want to see your Creatives.
A good strategy of gathering keywords is to make a list of all relevant words starting from the broad matches. This will help to put the scope of your campaign into perspective. For instance, if a store is selling NBA apparel and equipment, start with words like basketball, NBA, Lakers, Spurs, and so on. From here, narrow everything down into more specific and focused keywords. These focused keywords will give higher quality impressions since they are more targeted and likely more interesting to the searcher.

The more targeted keywords might be basketball jerseys, NBA jerseys, NBA shirts, or NBA videos. Narrowing this down even further finds phrases like Lakers jerseys, NBA finals videos, or Spurs warmers. Looking even more closely brings Kobe Jersey, Jordan videos, Raptors jacket and so on. You get the idea. Expect these targeted keywords to get a higher CTR making your Adgroups safe from deletion for non-performance.

Also, never underestimate the power of negative matching keywords. Broad matching general keywords is attractive, since it promises a large number of impressions. Just make sure to use negative words cleverly to minimize irrelevant matches and maximize the broad match keywords. As an example, there are usually thousands of searches every month for naked pictures of famous athletes. Unless this is your business, better add this as a negative match: - nude, - naked, Kobe.

When selecting keywords, use all of the resources that are available to you. Key to success often depends on the ability to put yourself in the mind of your target audience. Make liberal use of language tools like a dictionary or a thesaurus to understand the language of your market better. In addition, Wordtracker and the Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool can be very useful.

2. Creating and Organizing Adgroups Effectively

With your keywords selected, it's time to categorize and organize your campaign effectively. With categorization, it should be easy to locate keywords, spot repeating keywords, and spot top performing keywords and creatives. It should also be easy to restructure or relocate keywords into new Adgroups.

Grouping all related keywords together into an Adgroup will help you do this. Adgroups are the major grouping category within a Google Adwords marketing campaign. For instance, all of the Laker's Jersey keywords go in one adgroup, videos in another, and so on. The more focused and specific adgroups are, the easier it will be to track performance and to do optimization.

Consider an Adgroup that is getting a high number of impressions, let's say containing the keyword Kobe Bryant, It might be a good idea to isolate the keywords related to Kobe Bryant Jersey in a separate adgroup along with the appropriate creatives and add negative keywords as needed. Lesson: An organized set of adgroups makes it easier and faster to optimize performance.


3. Providing the Right Creative Ad Title

The title is the first and most dominant text that a searcher will see in your creative. It's the first line in the ad, in highly visible color, and in relatively bigger font size. Get the attention of the searcher! Jersey is a poor title. Soccer Jersey is relatively better. Why not World Cup Jersey? Or 2002 World Cup Jersey? Even better, World Cup Jersey 50% Off. If the ad doesn't capture the searchers interest, don't expect him to read everything underneath it.

A majority, if not searchers do not read, but just quickly browse the results and the ads. Title text is especially critical for broad matches. The title text is in bigger font size for a reason. Make wise use of it.


4. Making Wise Use of the Two Lines and Character Limit

Simply flipping the lines can make a difference; that's how important theses two lines are. This is where you say everything else that you can't squeeze in the title. However, these 2 lines also have a character limit. It's critical to choose the right words and details. What sets your product from the rest? What else are you offering? Are there any promos or aspect that might interest the user? If it is important to the searcher, fits the size limit, and follows the Google editorial guidelines, then publish it.

If the promo or any detail in the ad has ended, or the product has sold out, make sure it is updated. Always. Otherwise precious clicks will be wasted when dissatisfied searchers permanently leave for another site.


5. Including Keywords in Title and/or Text

Including keywords in the creative title or text will make it more relevant to the searcher. Google will display any search terms in bold if they are found in the ad creative. This significantly helps in getting the attention of the user. If the search phrase is Mia Hamm Calendar, any of the words in this phrase that are found in the creative will be in bold characters. Bold characters signal the searcher that your ad is relevant, thus, increasing the chances of getting clicked, increasing the position of the ad and click-through rate (CTR), and ultimately, increasing the chances of getting a sale or subscription.

6. Experimenting With Keywords, Ads, Adgroups and Campaigns

What sold yesterday may not sell today or tomorrow. What didn't sell yesterday may sell big time today or tomorrow. For some products, Spanish text may work better than English text in some ads. The point is, experimentation is required to find what sells. Figure out what title, text or keywords catch attention or convert better. Flip text lines, include numbers in the title, or isolate keywords and creatives.

Think like a scientist. Do mirror ads with different texts that link to the same page, or ads with same text but link to different pages. Incorporate famous names like Tiger Woods or Nike or Yankees. Do not be afraid to experiment, because something good is bound to come up. Mistakes in an Adwords campaign are cheap. You are welcome to make mistakes, but make sure to learn from them every time. If something doesn't work, change it. If it does work, use it, learn from it, extend the idea, and see if it applies to other adgroups.

As an example, If Wayne Gretskey sells, then make a Wayne Gretskey Jersey adgroup and ads, Wayne Gretskey Signed Shirt, Wayne Gretskey Caps, and so on. Tools like Conversion Tracking Tool, reports and the real time figures make it easier to check and analyze if the changes are working or not.


7. Monitoring Campaigns and Adgroups

It is very important to monitor campaigns and adgroups as frequently as possible, especially if changes have recently been made.

There are three prime reasons for closely monitoring a campaign. One is to see how well the campaign or Adgroup is performing. This let's you see which keywords or creatives are performing well and shows which ones deserve extra investment of time and money. Next, monitor a campaign to prevent getting keywords or creatives from getting deleted due to non-performance. When you spot nonperformance, act on it immediately. Finally, to come up with new ideas on how to advertise or write the next creatives based on the reports. As stated in tip #6, what sold yesterday may not sell today or tomorrow. What didn't sell yesterday may sell big time today or tomorrow. Take monitoring seriously!


8. Analyzing CTR, Reports, Cost, Position, Conversion Rate and all their Implications

Click Through Rate (CTR), Cost, Position, Conversion Rate and others are among the important the multitude of variables in the Adwords equation. However, these figures are meaningless if they aren't analyzed in context.

Use this data to make the right decisions for a campaign. For instance, if creatives are getting top positions, but are producing a very low CTR, then there must be something wrong. Try revising the creative, use a more specific keyword or phrase, or include more negative keywords. If the cost is high, but conversions are low, then consider pausing the adgroup, and editing before continuing. Learn to analyze these implications of changes. From there set goals for your campaign. For instance, aim to limit the costs in the next month or maintain a 5% CTR average for the week. Having these goals can help to maintain your motivation while you are optimizating.


9. Making Use of Accessible Helpful Tools

Tools are available to make the optimization job easier and faster. Take advantage of them, especially if they are useful, easily accessible and free. Word Tracker, Google keywords suggestion tool, Conversion tracking tool, or even Overture's keyword inventory are all useful in your process of optimization.

10. Studying Your Product, Competitor, and Industry

A soldier doesn't go to battle unprepared. He reads the situation, identifies the enemy, and brings the necessary weapons. Same goes with running your adwords. Know the industry, the competitors, the product, and learn the right approach. Selling sports merchandise? Then learn the sport. Do research. Surf the net for news. Get to know what's hot and what's not. When are the finals? Who won last year? Who's the best player? Who's Mia Hamm? What were the top selling products last month? How many competing bids are there for the Maradona signature jersey? What are the titles for the competing creatives? Do your homework!

There, that's Ten Ways to Bring an Adwords Campaign to Life. Follow these simple concepts and start getting more from your Google Adwords Campaign.

© Eversun Internet Marketing Team