Advertising using Google Adwords may look easy to many first-timers, but it's quite deceiving. Under that deceptively simple facade is a complicated structure of rules, algorithms, features and options that, if not used correctly, can make managing an Adwords campaign a nightmare - costing you money, time, and sales.
So, I've put together these tips to help any first-time Adwords advertiser get the most from their
campaigns, without wasting money. I think the overall theme here is "targeting, targeting, targeting".
Start small: It can be all too tempting to just start entering tons of keywords when you first start setting up your ad groups, but it's best not to be overly-ambitious at first. Pick the top 5 keywords that represent your products or services, then do your research around those by finding the best (read: most targeted) keywords you can possibly be on and what they're going to cost. You can do this before you start setting up your ad groups by using Google's Keyword Research Tool. Simply type in a keyword that you want suggestions for (you can also choose to get synonym suggestions), and hey presto - there you go.
After you get your suggestions, be sure to select "Exact" under the Match Type column (more on this in tip #3). To see your estimated costs, select "Show Estimated Avg. CPC" from the "Choose columns to display" menu, then put in the maximum cost per click you want to pay. You can also display the "Estimated Avg. Position" column to see where you would be ranked at the max CPC you're willing to pay.
Now, choose 5-10 keywords for each type of product you sell, and which have a decent volume of traffic and high enough positioning for the max CPC you're willing to pay.
Use Ad Groups to your advantage: You'll want to make sure that your keywords are grouped in the best way possible, whether it's by product type, offer type, etc. For instance, if you sell shoes, you may want to set up ad groups around different types of shoes, like women's, men's, and children's. This is not just a way to organize your keywords, but a way to target your ad copy and landing pages and get the best click-through rate and conversion rate you can possibly get. The better your click-through rate, the better your Quality Score, which determines where your ad will be placed and how much you're going to pay per click.
Know your Match Types: Google has 3 different match types: broad, phrase, and exact. Here's how they work:
- Broad - when you first add your keywords, broad match is the default option. The keyword women's shoes, for instance, is simply added to your ad group as women's shoes. Your ad would then show up on any searches that contained the word women's, or which contained the word shoes.
- Phrase - Using the same example, women's shoes would be added to your ad group as "women's shoes" (quotes around it). Your ad would then come up on any searches that contained the phrase "women's shoes", in that order (so, your ad could come up when someone searched for red women's shoes, or women's shoes size 7).
- Exact - Women's shoes would be added to your ad group as [women's shoes] (brackets around it). Your ad would come up on only searches for the exact keyword women's shoes.
Let me just say this: broad match is evil. Don't use broad match. Just trust me on this.
You could use phrase match, but if you're just starting out, the best thing to do is to just use exact match. Exact match has the least traffic, but it's the most targeted, since your ad will only show up on those exact keyword searches. Track your results for a month, then you can either start adding more exact match keywords, or you can add some carefully researched, highly targeted phrase match keywords. Remember: targeting is key. The better your ad is targeted, the better conversion and return on your investment your going to get.
Target your ad copy: Remember what I said earlier about your click-through rate? This is how you can improve it. If you have a compelling ad that speaks to exactly what searchers for your products are looking for, then you'll get a lot more clicks than if your ad was general, un-compelling, or (worse) didn't make sense. If you've grouped your keywords well, then you'll be able to write a good ad that tells the searcher "I have this exact product you want to buy - come take a look!".
If you have an ad group for children's shoes, for example, you may want to write an ad like this:
Brand Name {KeyWord:Children's Shoes}
Huge Selection of Children's Shoes at
the Lowest Prices. Shop Now!
Notice the {KeyWord}...Google has a nifty feature that allows you to dynamically insert your keyword into your ad - use this feature. Research has shown that ads that contain the keyword that was just searched will get more clicks than ads that don't. However, make sure that your ad will make sense when different keywords are inserted using this feature. Your ad may contain the keyword, but at the end of the day your ad will just look strange if it doesn't make sense.
Also notice the ad body didn't have dynamic keyword insertion, but it still hit the target by mentioning children's shoes. This is why it's so important to group your keywords well in the beginning.
Target your landing pages. You've placed your ad on the best, most targeted keywords you can buy, you've written compelling ad copy that gets tons of clicks, and you've got loads of traffic coming into your site - where are you sending that traffic?
This is where your landing page comes in. Simply put, it's where clickers land after they've clicked on your ad. Let's say you sell all types of greeting cards. You're advertising on the keyword [birthday cards], and your ad talks about birthday cards. So, what page on your site would you send them to?
A. Your homepage
B. Your get well cards page
C. Your birthday cards page
If you chose C, you would be correct (and actually making sales). And why not your homepage? While it may convert into sales sometimes, what you don't want to do is make someone go to the effort of searching all over your site for birthday cards (they were just on a search engine, for Pete's sake). Send them to what they were looking for in the first place - you sell birthday cards, show 'em birthday cards without making them look for birthday cards.
While there's a lot of other things that you will need to know to advertise on Google, these 5 tips will get you started and through the setup of your first campaign. I'll be posting more (and slightly more advanced) tips in the near future, so stay tuned!
In the one month that I’ve been a freelance copywriter, my
biggest frustration has been losing projects
to other “writers” who’s proposals
were filled with really bad grammar, horrible spelling mistakes, and even
“text-speak” (you know, things like “ur”, “lol”, etc.); however, their proposed
cost was 10 times less than what I was proposing. Forget the years of experience I outlined,
the variety of samples I provided, the glowing feedback I presented, and the
triple-proofread proposal I submitted. What the buyer wanted was cheap and fast.
You may have noticed that I’ve been posting a lot more than
I have in past months. You may have also
noticed that I’ve starting pimping myself with “Hire Me” links (hey, what else
can I use my own blog for?!). 
