AdWords Tips and Suggestions

By Kobesent Solutions


I think it is important to use Overture and AdWords. They are definitely very different, although on average, I spend the same amount of money on each and get the same amount of traffic for each. I run campaigns for each for nearly every one of my clients, so here are some observations I have come across over the past few years. It is very important to know what you are doing when setting up any PPC Campaign or you will most likely fail.


General Info

You must research, research, research before starting any PPC campaign. You need to KNOW what keywords people are searching for and how much they are searching for them. This will save you time and money when you setup your PPC Campaign. Use tools like WordTracker.com, Overture Bid Tool, Overture Keyword Tool, and AdWords Keyword Tool.

I suggest setting up your campaigns, writing your ads, and sorting your keywords before ever signing up for a PPC Account. Do this over 3-4 days, making sure you have everything covered before going in to setup your campaign. If you don't do the research and planning needed, you will get sloppy when you are actaully setting up the campaign and you will miss very important keywords.


Google Specific Tips and Pros/Cons

Google is usually the cheaper of the two PPC Search Engines. It is also the one that will be the most frustrating to setup. All keywords have to get at least a .05% Click Through Rate (CTR) or they will be removed. Here are 5 Simple Tips to make sure this doesn't happen to you and turn off your entire campaign.

1. EVERY KEYWORD SHOULD HAVE IT'S OWN AD GROUP! Is this a pain? YES! Will you thank me later? YES! I sometimes fudge on this rule and put 4-5 similar keyword in a group... but you should NEVER put more than 10 keywords in a group. Why is this? Because if you have an underperforming keyword, it will not turn off your entire campaign. It will also allow you to customize the ads for each keyword, which will get a higer CTR!

2. YOU SHOULD MAKE EVERY KEYWORD AN EXACT MATCH! To do this you will put quotes around the keyword (i.e. "Keyword") when entering it. If you do not do this, Google will show your ad for a lot of keywords that are somehow related to your keyword list. WARNING... You MUST do your research before hand if you want to get optimal traffic using this method. You should know EVERY keyword you want to target, therefore you don't need Google to give much less targeted traffic. If you combine this, with #1, you will have specific keywords with specific ads... Using just these 2 things, my CTR is usually around 4% for an entire campaign. HINT: If you don't want to do all the research needed to get a very big keyword list, use and EXACT MATCH Group and a REGULAR MATCH Group for EACH Keyword. This will allow you to target your keywords AND Get the added Traffic!

3. WRITE KILLER ADS! This is the step that most people forget about. Google gives "extra credit" for ads that have high CTR's. It makes perfect sense... if you have an ad that gets clicked on 9% of the time and are paying $.20 and someone else has an ad that gets clicked on .05% and they pay $1/click, the first option will make Google more money. IF YOU HAVE A GREAT AD, YOU WILL SAVE MONEY! Trust me. So you want to write killer ads now huh? Here are 3 simple things that will help.
 

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