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Understanding Google AdWords
Google AdWords
Unlike many search engines Google, to its credit, clearly
denotes search listings that are paid placement. In
fact, Google AdWords appear in a separate section down
the left side of the screen.
Google AdWords provide an inexpensive
advertising venue for businesses to advertise products
or services to a targeted audience. Advertisers have
the ability to control their budget, target their advertising
based on keywords. Advertisers are also free to determine
the ad contents.
Google AdWords allow for nearly instant
traffic, which can be turned on and off. Traffic results
can be measured, providing information on what is successful,
what isn't and what needs to be changed. AdWords can
be found that work by running a test campaign.
Benefits to AdWords
Advertisers bid on keywords, the more an advertiser
is willing to pay the higher the likelihood the ad will
appear higher in position in the list of ads served.
Google, invariably wanting to make the most from advertisers,
determines placement based on a combination of click
through rate, bid amount and budget. Of course, in order
to maximize revenue and please searchers Google does
have guidelines for ads served and all ads must receive
a minimum percentage click through or they are removed.
AdWord Guidelines
Clearly and accurately describe the website, this is
to the advertiser and searchers benefit. Ultimately,
the more qualified the visitor who clicks the ad, the
higher the likelihood the clicker will convert into
a sale. By providing clear and accurate information,
searchers who click the ad are qualified leads, which
tend to convert more consistently than unqualified leads.
The most effective advertising communicates a clear
message to a targeted audience.
Avoid excessive capitalization, superlatives
and lavish exclamation marks in the ad. By doing this
you are not only serving the visitor you are filtering
unwanted clicks from non-buyers. Due to space limitations
your ad message will need to be concise. Select keywords
that are relevant to your product, service or content.
Call to action phrases are not allowed (i.e. you cannot
use phrases like "click here" in your ad copy.) There
are also no pop-ups.
Steps for AdWord Campaign
1.) Open an account
2.) Target language and country - This
is very important because if your product or service
can not be exported you do not want to pay to advertise
in those countries for which your product or service
can not be sold.
3.) Create Ad Group - design an ad, select
keywords, determine maximum cost per click that you
are willing to spend and define bid amounts.
Title
The title tag is generally the most important part of
the ad be sure to use a short phrase that gets the attention
of your target audience. An underutilized feature at
Google allows you to put a question mark in the title,
the term searched on automatically replaces the question
mark in the title of your ad.
Define max click - Google will suggest
a cost per click, but the recommendation does not need
to be adhered to. Arguments have been heard that #1
position does not always mean increased sales; sometimes
a second position will filter useless clicks and provide
targeted traffic with a higher conversion ration. The
rule of thumb is positions 1-3 garner the most traffic
and best results. Increasing either your maximum cost-per-click
or the ads click through rate will generally improve
the ad's position.
Use keyword variations to reach more prospects.
A variety or spellings and derivatives of keywords will
increase the chances of your ads being served. Be sure
to use common misspellings and plurals in your keyword
list.
Broad match - is targeting keywords in
a loosely defined manner. Ads appear based on keywords
that have been queried by search users. For instance,
if the keywords you are planning on broad matching are
"mountain bikes" and users search for the terms "bikes
that can climb a mountain", your ad will appear; as
opposed to exact match, which requires that the keywords
selections must exactly match the query.
Phrase match - is indicated when quotations
are used in the phrase. A keyword phrase set to phrase
match will only appear when the exact phrase is searched
on. For example "mountain bikes" will appear when searchers
search for "brand name mountain bikes".
Exact match - is when the keyword or phrase
is entered with brackets. The phrase will only serve
ads when the entered search phrase is identical to the
keyword phrase. "Mountain bikes" will only appear when
searchers search for "mountain bikes"
Negative keyword - is helpful in filtering
unrelated phrases. A dash is entered before the filtering
phrase. "Mountain bike -races will not appear if mountain
bike races are searched on.
Landing Page - is important because this
not only helps with tracking, but also provides a focused
and specific landing page for searchers. Information
can be related to the actual search, while also increasing
the conversion ratios for sales. A focused landing page
with content related and using the same terminology
as the actual search, will show the searcher that your
solution is relevant to their needs.
3.) Define budget - in order to maximize
exposure Google recommends a daily budget for each campaign.
Google's suggested budget is helpful in
receiving consistent traffic throughout the advertising
campaign. Keep in mind this is only Google's recommendation;
ultimately it is up to you to determine a budget that
is affordable and suitable.
Google supplies tracking tools that assist
webmasters in determining their return on investment
based on keyword searches and phrases. While the technology
is not perfect and cannot track phone and purchase orders,
it should give advertisers a sense of what phrases and
keywords are converting well in their advertising campaign.
While Google AdWords should not be your
only advertising campaign, but should be a significant
part of your campaign. Google AdWords can certainly
help send those important targeted searchers to your
website. Get started with Google AdWords at http://www.google.com/ads/
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc.
http://www.notepage.net
a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and
wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by
Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
, and http://www.small-business-software.net
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