Thursday, June 4, 2009

How to Create Your Google AdWords Campaign

Google Adwords is still the undisputed leader in pay-per-click advertising and traffic generation systems on the Internet today. Use it well and you can get a lot of highly targeted traffic to your websites and blogs. Knowing the basic mechanics of how Google Adwords operate is not enough. You also need to know proven strategies and tactics for a successful PPC campaign such as writing compelling ad copies, developing ad groups and biding for the right keywords.

There are basic principles that everyone must follow to use Google Adwords efficiently regardless of one's product and market. Follow these procedures to help you set up an effective AdWords campaign.

1. Use the wizard to set up your AdWords account. If you're new to Google AdWords, you'll find it easier to get through the initial account set up process using the Adwords wizard. The wizard will walk you through all of the basic account management tools; this is the area where you can select the regions you want your ads to run, and set up your campaigns within a few clicks.

2. Produce effective ads. Each component of your ad must follow a particular formula for it to be effective: A keyword or keyphrase must be used in the headline. State a benefit by the second line. Mention special promotions or product features in the third line. Finally, the fourth line must contain a URL link back to your landing page or website. This proven formula is taught by best-selling adWords strategy books; such as Perry Marshall's "The Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords" and Peter Kent's "Pay per Click Search Engine Marketing for Dummies".

3. Use the right keywords. Google provides users with a robust Keyword Selector tool that allows you to generate lists of highly targeted keywords and keyphrases related to your niche. Explore this tool as much as possible when you are setting up your campaign, and even when you are looking for appropriate keywords for your website or blog.

4. Find out how to do keyword matching. You can conduct broad matches, phrase matches and exact matches inside Google's keyword selection tool for your collection of keywords. This allows you to get additional relevant keywords for your campaigns. There is also a feature tied with Adwords called negative match. Negative match allows you to specify words that when entered by someone searching google, will not result in your ad running in the person's web browser.

5. Create a budget. One of the best feature Google Adwords offers is the ability to specify a daily budget for your campaigns. Just enter the total amount you are willing to spend daily and Google will automatically take funds from your account. Start with a low budget first to minimize risk. Get some data first at the start of your campaign. You want to know the exact cost of a lead and the actual keywords that convert to a sale. You can then optimize your campaign based on your data and at the same time set a higher budget allowance for even bigger rewards.

Friday, May 29, 2009

How to Avoid the Common Mistakes when Using Google Adwords

Establishing a successful Google Adwords campaign can be tough for both beginners and experts alike. Tougher still if you are entering a new niche or just starting to operate in an unfamiliar market. You can always spend a lot of time on market research and spying on your competitor but you will only advance once you create an ad and concentrate on optimizing it. Then again, just placing an ad out there won't instantly lead to success. The truth is a lot of people discover how quickly they can lose all their time, effort and money invested in Adwords by committing simple mistakes.

These costly mistakes are addressed in the book The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords. Written by Perry Marshall, the book is all about getting excellent results from Adwords campaigns consistently.

Below are five common mistakes you must avoid to get you started in raking in huge traffic from your target market:

1. Not writing keywords in your ad's body. Most ads I see only utilize keywords on their headlines. Do not neglect the body of your ads as 1-2 keywords or keyphrases placed in there will make it more relevant to search engines and your market alike.

2. Send traffic to your site's homepage. The purpose of a site's homepage is to provide broad information about the site and what it offers. There's a good chance that your visitors will turn away if they have to exert effort to get the information they came for in the first place. This ultimately results in a low conversion rate and lost sales. Make it easy for your visitors by stating your offer upfront on a landing page.

3. Using 'broad match' in the Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool as the basis of your research and campaign. As the name suggests, the 'broad match' selection is only useful for an overview of your chosen niche or market. The whole point of keyword research is to know the precise words or phrases your target market uses when searching for information in Google. Make use of 'phrase match' and 'exact match' instead to find out the exact keywords or keyphrases that will lure in your prospects.

4. Use of low-performing keywords. Discovering the exact keywords your target market use takes time. Monitor your Adwords campaign regularly to check if your keywords are performing as expected. If they're not, look for other keywords to focus on. The Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool has a 'synonym' feature you can use to produce new keywords and make the most out of your campaigns.

5. An uninteresting headline. Each ad on average only has a second to grab the attention of viewers before they move on. The headline of your ad serves as the hook to reel in visitors. It's the most prominent part of your ad and the quality of it will determine if the reader checks out the rest of the ad or not. State the most important benefit you're giving in your headline to compel viewers to read the body of your ad and click through it.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Getting High Quality Traffic Through The Keyword Selector Tool

It is essential to know which keywords or keyphrases you should use that will allow people to easily identify your ad when you begin creating and writing for your Google Adwords campaign. An expert in Google Adwords, Perry Marshall, advises all pay-per-click managers and Adwords users to utilize Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool in each ad's design. This free tool allows you to find the most profitable and popular keywords in your niche, and can also help you drill down related keywords that you can use for other campaigns or just general keyword research. The Keyword Tool is especially helpful for fine-tuning your efforts when ads are performing poorly; if you've written an ad using low-traffic keywords, there is a good chance that your ads are not being clicked enough to make your ad effective.

Here are some more ways to use the Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool effectively for your Adwords campaign:

1. Start with a broad search. Many people make the mistake of using very specific keywords or keyphrases when they first begin conducting research with Google Adwords, but this can leave you with only mediocre results. Start with a broad search instead and drill down your results using the 'synonyms' tool that offers suggestions and variations as part of the results.

2. Use a set of similar keywords as you create different ad groups. Make sure you are creating an entirely new ad group for every campaign so you can keep track of what is working - and what isn't. You can also make use of the 'relevant keywords' feature already built into the Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool that helps you narrow down your search with ease.

3. Use a 'negative keywords' strategy. Sometimes optimizing your Google Adwords campaign will involve taking away words that do not work for your market; the Google Adwords tool can be tweaked to stop showing certain words that may not be relevant to your particular niche. For example, if you are selling greeting cards but your basic search keeps showing results for 'free greeting cards,' you can eliminate the word 'free' by designating it as a negative keyword. The Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool will now only show you results without the word 'free.'

4. Use the Site Content feature if you don't know where to start. Google can scan your web page and offer suggestions of keywords based on your site's content. For example, if your home page provides information about services and trends in your marketplace, these may be strong keywords for your particular niche. When the scanning process is complete, you will see a list of highly targeted keywords related to these ideas and topics in your results.

5. location, location, location. Many people fail to realize how important adding a location - whether it's a town, city or state - to your key term or keyphrase really is. This is especially important if you offer products or services within a particular zone or area; the traffic you can generate from these keywords may be much higher than a general search, and will get you highly targeted, even qualified traffic. Consider appending a keyword or keyphrase with a location to determine the best combinations for your ad campaign.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Improve Your Marketing With Google Adwords And Split Testing

When it comes to using Google AdWords ads to attract customers, your CTR or clickthrough rates are the key to getting the biggest bang possible for your marketing buck. Perry Marshall, an online marketing expert, suggests the those seeking to increase the effectiveness of their AdWords advertisements to employ the strategy of split testing. By split testing, you can begin to determine the precise effectiveness of each of the keywords and phrases in attracting attention and, as a result, clicks from members of your target audience. By paying attention to what really works in your marketing, and perhaps running two or more advertisements simultaneously, you can gain valuable insights into what drives your customers.

Split testing isn't simply for AdWord, however; the knowledge you obtain from split testing performed on just about any area of your site can be easily applied to the creation of effective AdWords, and help you develop a more advantageous online presence. As a springboard for your own ideas, here are five examples of areas in which split testing can be effective.

1. Your signup pages. Whether you have a newsletter signup box on your homepage, or are just collecting e-mail addresses for a free download, running a split test in this area can help you determine what types of freebies your visitors respond well to. The words and marketing copy you use in these areas can be manipulated to deliver different messages; when you've defined what the most effective messages are, it also becomes easier to insert these messages into a Google Adwords ad.

2. Your website's "shopping cart." One area of your site that can yield important clues to what makes your customers tick is the "shopping cart." Looking at what customers do on this section will tell you more about their buying habits, as well as what they're truly interested in. Split testing can be applied to your site's shopping cart as well, perhaps by experimenting with messages presented to customers during the process of checking out. In this vein, it is also a great idea to monitor what items are most commonly searched for on your site.

3. Individual product pages. If a customer is viewing the page for a specific product, they're definitely interested, but the specific copy on this page can be an essential factor in motivating him or her to make the decision. Make sure that the copy used on your product pages is attention-grabbing, and use split testing to see which variations of a message get the best results. Long-term monitoring of the effects of product pages copy can bear considerable fruit both in increased sales and knowledge that can be applied in your Adwords ads.

4. Sales letters. Sales letters have always been of great value to online marketers, as they encourage the recipient to make an immediate decision to click through to your site. These letters are perfect for split testing, as they allow you to track which key messages you should emphasize in order to provoke an immediate response from your target audience, insight which can be easily and beneficially applied to your AdWords advertisements.

5. Email messages to customers. Any electronic messages you send to potential customers can be fine-tuned for greater effectiveness using split testing. Even if you don't send out a full newsletter, the tweaking of even autoresponder messages, and the subsequent monitoring for clickthroughs, can yield valuable information about how to attract a greater audience to your site.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Exclusive: Ways To Lower Costs And Optimize Google Adwords Campaign

Building Google Adwords campaign is a dynamic process that involves fine tuning and polishing to get an optimal result, however, most people would rather turn to experimenting until they find out it's too late, and their resources have already been drained.

Many well-known gurus in Google Adwords such as the author of The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords Perry Marshall) believe that the way you manage your ad campaign has a huge bearing on your ad campaign's success rate. Specific techniques were shared by Marshall in relation to significantly building results for your campaign and recommended some essential tips to better refine it.

Applying the same techniques that experts and affiliate marketers follow doesnt have to be that expensive; the truth is, you can create your ads at a lower cost than what your competitors normally pay out for, through the following: identifying specific keyword segments, evaluating your results, and constantly replacing your ads. Reap more benefits and spend less in Google Adwords using these simple steps:

First: As much as possible, avoid aiming for top spot placement.The first or top spot in the Google 'Sponsored Searched' results is typically seen as the one producing the most conversions from visitors, but this is a fallacy because in reality, the second and third spots usually get the higher conversion rates. Choosing the 2nd or 3rd spot not only provides necessary exposure of your ad campaign to your market, it also is cost-savvy to do so. For example, it's more likely that a visitor looking for information goes through the entire list in the search and as thus gives the same focus to all the ads in it.

Second: your list must not contain any negative keywords. Hundreds of clicks can be generated by certain keywords or keyphrases, still, you have to be cautious since your ad's conversion rate depends on them. The presence of negative keyword in your ad campaign may affect the overall quality and quantity of your traffic, people may actually feel frustrated if they don't see the info they are searching for. This case may be addressed by replacing the keyword with synonyms or other related words; and this particular technique is essential in rapidly improving your CTR even after any minor alterations or modifications.

Last: avoid bidding on keywords that are too general. Aiming for a very targeted traffic towards your site does not necessarily mean it's fine to be wasting resources (such as time and money) by bidding on broad match keywords. Refer to the 'advertiser competition' results for those keywords; and if the bar is colored more than halfway, you may encounter difficulty bidding for a lesser price with the word. Instead, observe those that have low color indicator although this may require you to go through the list; remember, any keyword that is not highly competitive can also allow you to bid for a lower price. The 'exact match' feature of Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool can facilitate your search even better.

Your Google Adwords ad campaign's conversion rates can be enhanced in varied ways, at the same, ensuring you are dealing with your target market efficiently. Maximize your campaign with any of these strategies and start bidding on winning combination of keywords without spending too much.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Winning With Google Adwords - 5 Things You Need To Know

For those unfamiliar with the medium, creating and maintaining an Adwords campaign may seem a daunting task. In reality, however, the process doesn't have to be anxiety inducing. Those who aren not getting the results they need from traditional marketing tactics should not be afraid to venture into the realm of marketing online with Google Adwords.

Online marketing gurus like Perry Marshall have already laid the groundwork for meeting your marketing goals with Google Adwords, and achieving this success is much easier than you probably think. As a matter of fact, you can skip all the books and seminars you thought you'd have to spend days or even weeks reading and attending, and simply follow the step by step method described below.

Here are just five steps for creating a winning Google Adwords strategy:

1. Take advantage of keyword tools available online. Perry Marshall suggests that Adword users not look a gift horse in the mouth with regard to the myriad tools and applications available online to help marketers with keyword decisions. Keyword Universe from Wordtracker is one great tool that can help you find effective keywords and related words.

2. Watch your competition. If you're still unsure about how to approach the issue of keywords, don't underestimate the utility of simply looking to see what your competitors are bidding, and what they're willing to pay. How does one access this information, you ask? Well, on www.spyfu.com, you can do this and more. Use this information to guide your decisions in regard to what keywords and keyphrases to pursue and how much to spend.

3. Use text effectively. An Adwords ad contains only a very limited amount of text, and so it stands to reason that you will want to use the allotted space as efficiently as possible. The two key lines at your disposal should address the benefits of what you are selling first off, with remaining space listing or two important features.

4. Shoot for page one. Rather than cutting back on your bid prices, which may result in your ad not even appearing on page one of sponsored search results, it is better to reduce your budget, which will allow you to maintain a first-page position.

5. Employ the useful strategy of split testing. Split testing, a pet strategy of Adwords guru Perry Marshall, consists of simultaneously running two or more ads and comparing the results in order to more accurate gauge what strategies and phrasings effectively attract traffic, and which do not. By doing this, you can get relatively fast feedback, and perhaps even secure lower prices on useful keywords.

Getting started with Google Adwords is a simple process, but you need to begin with the right approach to get results immediately. Start things off with these five steps so you can start getting clicks and driving traffic to your blog, website or sales page with ease.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

5 Adwords Advertising Secrets Revealed

Using Google AdWords to generate hits for your site may initially feel like a roll of the dice, but in reality there are some strategies that work, and some that don't. Creating a good Internet marketing plan requires that you take lessons from those who came before you; if you neglect to do this, you'll simply end up wasting your time and money.

Perry Marshall and other successful individuals know from experience what it takes to attract customers to your website. With the five tips that I will explain in this article, you can feel assured that you are not entering into your online marketing efforts unprepared, but rather taking a path that has brought success to countless others.

#1: Playing Mindreader

Understanding a customer's needs and wants is an essential part of every marketing campaign, but when you only have two or three lines to capture a prospect's attention, you need a formula that works. Perry Marshall encourages advertisers to write copy that 'enters the conversation going on in the customer's head.' Essentially, this means learning enough about the prospect to determine the exact words and phrases they might use to explain their problem - and their ideal solution. Capturing this key phrase or sentence and wrapping it into the lines of the Google Adwords ad is one of the best ways to generate traffic.

#2: Pick a Relevant URL

Making sure the URL linked within the text ad is a valuable way to create a sense of relevancy for your customer. The URL you display should link directly to the landing page, free download or other offer you are advertising within the ad. This also helps with SEO, and is a proven method of attracting more attention than using only the URL to your website.

#3: Create More Than One Ad Campaign

Two marketing campaigns launched at the same time, with similar keywords and phrases will help to give you insight into what works and what doesn't. After you've learned which ad is most effective, you can go ahead and delete the poor performer.

#4: Be Creative with Keyphrases

When competitors are already buying highly competitive keywords, it's time to you're your keywords and key phrases to the next level; all you need to do is bid on longer phrases that turn out to be complete sentences or variations of the phrase. This can help you capture a larger market, without missing out on those valuable keywords; it can also help you brainstorm synonyms and alternatives for your keywords.

#5: Benefits First

Listing benefits then features is a tested and proven method that can help you attract high quality traffic almost immediately. Since you only have a couple of lines to work with, positioning keywords and phrases in just the right format is essential; make sure your benefits are listed first to grab the reader's attention, and then you can list a few features to close the deal - and get that click.

These time-tested tactics were developed by today's successful Internet marketers, so applying them to your project will help you avoid beginners' mistakes. With these five tips and a little experience, you should have no trouble crafting an advertisement that will net you a considerable increase in high-quality site traffic.