Adwords is a wonderful way to drive a stack of tageted traffic to your website...If you understand what you are doing!
However, if you're new to Adwords, or get some apsects incorrect, it can quickly become a money-sucking monster that can lose you not just money but your online business as well.
Time to "come clean". When I originally started using Adwords, in exactly one month, I blew £1300 (yes that's £££'s) and sold three £64 products. Ouch!
I was given some very bad advice (I won't say by whom) and had set up precisely one ad group!.That one ad group contained over 2,000 wildly varying keywords in it, so you can probably see why I got slapped (and beaten)!
That is one devastating great loss for your opening month in the Internet business! Most would have packed up and gone home...but I am a little more persistent than that :>)
So, the message is clear - get Google working with you as opposed to against you and you can make (good) profits using Adwords!
So, what is this "thing" called Google Adwords?
Well, this basic Adwords guide will help you understand the basics of correctly building your first ad group.
So, at the most rudimentary level using Adwords is a way of sending targeted traffic to your web page (squeeze page, sales page, affiliate page etc) so that you can sell things and generate a profit.
You design and place ads on the Adwords system and when someone is attracted to the advert and clicks on it to go to your webpage, you pay for the privilege of that click.
This is where the phrase "Pay Per Click" or "PPC" is derived.
So, how do you determine when your ad appears and who clicks on it?
This is where the clever stuff starts!
What you need to do is identify "keywords" (or phrases) that you think people will type into the search engines to uncover whatever you have for sale.
So, when a searcher submits your keyword or phrase, your ad is triggered by the Adwords system and is shown to the searcher as small ads down the right hand side of the page!
Simple, eh?
Well, perhaps not!
So, how do you develop a winning Google Adwords campaign? There are certain vital steps you need to take.
Research your market - I've given up with the number of times I've heard people complain about losing money on Adwords when it's obvious they simply haven't researched their market.
It's vital that you know and understand your market (intimately), make sure you don't fall into this trap. If you do not research propelry how can you know what is relevant?
Here's some ideas to help with your market research.
Never assume anything.
Find out the reason why.
Find the spending power (a simple Google search will suffice).
Look at and assess the competition (competition is good).
Problem analysis - look for probelms that need a solution.
Explore your keywords. Make sure you know what keywords are relevant to your landing page. The Google Keyword tool is free and as good as any paid tool you can buy, after all it is straight from the "horses mouth".
Lots of keywords doesn't mean lots of profit.
Relevancy is the keyword :>) (sorry, but totally intended)
Look for keywords at the end of the buying cycle, here�s why
If you look at the keyword "Dunlop Super Max 5 Tennis Racket", you may well decide this is a high-quality keyword. However, think about it. Could it be that the searcher is only at the research stage? What would you be searching for if you typed in that keyword phrase?
Pictures of the racket? Researching one brand versus another?
However, if you had the keyword "Buy Dunlop Super Max 5 Tennis Racket" then it's a reasonable bet that a person who types in that keyword has finished their research and is ready to finally BUY the thing!
Which click would you rather have?
By the way, I don't play tennis so I have no idea if this model exists!
Develop your ad groups with small groups of keywords built around a common "root" keyword, this is key to a successful campaign, it ties in with relevancy of results (see later).
Here's some tips for your ad groups.
Tightly clustered groups built around a root keyword
Keyword in the ad headline (a must)
Use the keyword at least once in the ad
Ideally use the keyword in the URL
Use Phrase and Exact match (I don't use broad too many non relevant clicks).
Remember to use negative keywords (in this instance negatives such as Slazenger, Wilson would be relevant)
Write your ad copy. This is a subject in itself and I will write a further article on this subject.
Create a landing page, this is essential. Google will only allow one direct link to each landing page, so whilst you can circumnavigate this, it is preferable to have a dedicated landing page. After all, you do want to build a customer list don't you??
Test and track for increased conversions. You must test and track so that you understand where your sales are coming from. You should always create two different versions of your ad. Check your Adwords account frequently to see which is performing best and try to improve the winning ad.
Again, tracking is a huge subject all on it's own and will be the subject of an entire article. For the record, I use Xtreme Conversions.
So, there you have a basic guide to being successful with Google Adwords.
I hope this short article on setting up your first Google Adwords ad groups has been beneficial. I wish I'd known all this when I first started online!
