Reduce Your Risk Of Click Fraud With Google Adwords

Reports of click fraud with PPC campaigns, especially with Google Adwords, are on the rise, and researchers estimate the numbers are in excess of $1.6 billion as of 2008. Click fraud occurs when a competitor may be clicking on your ads to break your ad budget, or when someone installs a web robot or spider to generate fraudulent clicks on your ads.

PPC networks, including Google Adwords, confirm the existence of click fraud and are working hard to solve it. All we can do as PPC advertisers is to tweak our campaigns to reduce the risk of click fraud. Here are some tips for safeguarding your campaigns:

1. Keep an eye on your click through rates. It is easy to review your click-through rates and conversions with Google. You can even print out a daily or weekly report to monitor any bizarre activity. You might also want to reconcile your click-through rates with your actual web site traffic report. Check for IP addresses and websites that access your site regularly.

2. Set-up a daily budget. Limit your advertising costs on Adwords by setting up a budget. Your budget should be at a reasonable level allowing you to maintain it for several months. If you are a target of click fraud, your losses will only be limited to your specified budget.

3. Lay down a daily click limit. Adwords managers would do well to setup a daily click limit, according to Bruce C. Brown, author of the book "The Complete Guide to Google Advertising". This allows you to track the number of clicks on your ads. Once the click limit has been reached, your ad will disappear from the Adwords network.

4. Limit your Ads to certain locations. Using the geographic location feature is one of the best methods for safeguarding your campaigns against fraudulent activities. Research where your target market is mostly based and focus on running your ads only in certain countries or regions. It would be a waste of money to run ads on regions you won't do business in.

5. Don't be enticed by the free offers of some PPC programs. Some PPC companies offer free services, products or downloadable software to get you to sign-up with them. Be careful in accepting these offers, more so if you have to download a software that 'oversees' your keyword campaigns. Some hosting companies do offer Adwords 'credit' to sign up with them. These are generally safe as long as you are dealing directly with Google Adwords.

You need to report your experience directly to Google if you think you were a victim of click fraud. Google investigates click fraud cases with their own fraud protection team. Report your case as soon as possible to get your campaign back on course.

Keyword Tools For Effective Adwords Campaigns

One of the most important elements of an effective Google Adwords campaign is selecting the right combination of keywords and keyphrases. There could be millions of keywords associated with your niche and playing a guessing game for the 'right' keywords can be costly. Google offers its own keyword selector tool to make the process of choosing keywords easier, but there's are a handful of other tools you can use to fine-tune your campaign.

Almost all Adwords masters use a three-step strategy when selecting keywords. First, they will start with obvious keywords and run them through the keyword tool to determine the volume and types of searches performed. Then, they may start researching synonyms to find out similar and related searches being conducted by their target market. Finally, they will identify underperforming keywords and eliminate or tweak them from the campaign.

The three-step method described above cannot be implemented without a reliable keyword tool. Howie Jacobson, author of 'Adwords for Dummies' gives out the four most reliable keyword tools that you can use for your campaigns: Google Keyword Selector Tool, Keyword Discovery, Word Tracker and a plain Thesaurus.

The most popular tool is Google's Keyword Selector Tool. It is free and you can access it through your Adwords account. The tool allows you to run your keywords on its system and provide you with synonyms or other relevant keywords in your niche. This tool can also compare keywords based on a wide set of statistical data such as search conducted per month, average searches in a year, average cost per click and many others.

Keyword Discovery is a paid service that allows you to manage several lists of keywords, compare data, and produce reports with ease. This is a more robust keyword analysis tool than the free Google Keyword Selector Tool, and is most appropriate for experienced Adwords users and SEO experts. If you're comfortable with paying for the service, Keyword Discovery can help you create comprehensive lists of keywords to help you target very specific groups in your market.

Word Tracker offers both a paid service and a free tool for analyzing keywords. The free keyword tool provides very basic information ,namely, the number of searchers conducted for your keyterm within the month. It's a quick an easy to cross reference search volume for a particular keyword, but the numbers may not be as accurate as the Google Keyword Selector Tool.

Using keyword tools can be an effective way to 'mine' for long-tail keywords and synonyms in your niche. You'll have an opportunity to compare and analyze dozens, even hundreds of keywords easily and can export the data into an Excel spreadsheet or other document for easy retrieval.

Use free keyword tools in building your keyword list for any niche. That's the most important advice I can give to anyone just starting out on Google Adwords. In this way, you get to see how your niche and the mind of your market work allowing you to create effective ads with high click-through rates.

Write Effective Google Adwords Ads

Google Adwords continues to be one of the most effective PPC advertising models on the web, and businesses of all sizes can get started with Google Adwords within a few hours. Writing effective ads is a critical element of the campaign; since you only have a 35 characters of text in each line to get the attention of your audience, the words you select and the statements you make must be very specific and structured in a way that generates clicks.

Expert adwords users follow a basic structure when composing their adwords ad. Read on if you are a new Google adwords user and use these guidelines in writing your first ad.

1. Include your keyword in the Title. Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd, authors of "The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords" state that internet users are more likely to click on an ad if the ad's title or headline contains the keyword or keyphrase they were searching on. Use this to your advantage and capture people's attention instantly.

2. Describe your benefit in the second line. Most readers will respond to an ad that clearly lists a key benefit near the beginning. Make sure you are listing your benefit on the second line, not your offer or a feature. Think about giving them what they want' before highlighting a feature or a special offer.

3. Feature and offer goes in the third line. After 'giving them what they want', its time to support your benefit by stating a feature or your special offer. This line should be simple and concise and make sure this line does not overwhelm your benefit.

4. Place your landing page URL in the last line. You can enter any URL you want on the last line and lead surfers to any page on the web. Many Adwords users make the mistake of assuming that they have to enter their website's homepage URL. You can setup a different landing page for each ad you run to encourage more clicks and even track your performance.

5. Run a similar ad to improve your campaign. You can run two similar but differently worded ads to improve your campaign. We do this to know whether slight changes in words or ad structure can produce more clicks. Track which ad performs better and drop the less effective ad.

All elements needed for success in Google Adwords can be mastered with practice. Remember to track your performance always so that you can pinpoint areas for improvement. In any case, don't delay your usage of Google adwords and follow these tips to start running ads now.

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.

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.

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.

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.