By Donna Knight
So, you’ve tried all the other marketing techniques you have read about, and you’re now ready to work some of that pay per click magic. What you may not know is that this form of online wizardry needs more than just a sleight of hand. It requires careful planning and a good sense of what should be expected.
I’m talking about Google AdWords. This is a advertising system that allows you to advertise your site through a short ad that is displayed prominently in every page of a Google search performed on keywords relevant to your business. Your ad is just like a tiny classified ad. The way it works is that advertisers like yourself bid on certain keywords. The winner of the bid gets his link shown at the top of the page on every query that contains the winning keywords.
Unlike other pay-per-click systems such as Overture, the bid price is not the only consideration in awarding keywords. Your Click-Through Rate, or CTR, also plays an important factor in the rank of your ad. CTR is acquired by dividing the number of times a user clicks on your link whenever it appears on search engine results by the number of impressions. An impression is whenever your site’s ad appears in a search query. For example, suppose your site’s ad appears 200 times in several searches. Your impression would be 200. Suppose also that 2 users click on your ad during this period, your CTR would be 2/200, or 1%.
The best thing about AdWords is that the winner of the bid only has to pay when a user actually clicks on his link. This method has given birth to the term Pay Per Click, or PPC. This is much less expensive than paying per impression, like advertisers did in the early days on the internet.
Here are some strategies to help you develop a strong AdWords marketing campaign.
1. RESEARCH YOUR KEYWORDS WELL. If you have an existing business, make sure that the keywords you choose are commonly searched words or phrases that people type in their search queries. If you have yet to set up a business, make sure that the keywords you are considering are actually profitable, meaning, they cater to a market with a high demand, also known as a “hungry market.”.
2. CONSIDER CREATING MULTIPLE ADS FOR EVERY KEYWORD. By having several ads appearing for the same search query, you would be able to determine which works best. The ad that performs best should be used as a control for subsequent ads to try to beat.
3. SET A BUDGET YOU’RE WILLING TO SPEND PER DAY. Google allows you to set a cap on the number of hits you could generate in a day. Study your budget and come up with a ceiling that would not eat up a major portion of your projected earnings.
4. WRITE YOUR ADS WELL. Ad writing is not a place to get sloppy. The quality of your ad affects your clickthroughs. Use words that will attract the readers’ attention. The words should be powerful without being full of hype. The length of your ad is very limited, so don’t write more than you need to, but make sure you mention the benefits of what you’re advertising.
5. ALWAYS STUDY YOUR ADS. Even if your ads have a high ranking on Google’s search pages and are producing a passable CTR, you should always take time to study and refine your ads. Changing their structure from time to time would also help in winning back the attention of those who have viewed them before. Get rid of ads that are not performing well and create new ones.
6. CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION. Check the high-ranking ads of those competing for the same keywords. You should never copy but looking at competitor’s high-ranking ads will give you an idea of what the target market is looking for. If the competitor’s ads are the top, that means they are saying to your potential customers what they want to hear.
7. TRACK YOUR ADS. There are many tools available on the net that would allow you to track which of your ads produce the most visitors. These tools will help you a lot in weeding out non-performing ads and discovering a pattern that makes your successful ones tick.
8. DESIGN NOW, ADJUST LATER. Since Google considers CTR before awarding top listing for a keyword, it is important that you produce a site that is rich with informative content. Content is what attracts visitors and increases your site’s sales conversion. Once you have a high listing for a keyword and your ads are producing a consistent number of hits, you could adjust the sales copy on your landing page to try to convert more of your visitors into successful sales. Great sales copy can also be informative despite being a sales pitch.
It is said that Google AdWords levels the playing field between rich and poor advertisers. This does not mean it is easy and inexpensive. What it means is that while corporate advertisers play it dumb because they have large sums of money to waste on advertising, you can win the competition against them by playing it smart and following some simple precautions.
Donna Knight is a Computer Trainer and Website Promotion Specialist. She has built over 200 websites and helps new site owners promote their site cheaply. For tips that will help you save money and save time in your online marketing efforts, visit her Internet Marketing Tools blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
Copyright (C)2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact.