How to Create Successful AdWords Campaigns | 2
How to Create Successful AdWords Campaigns
To find out what was happening, I wrote to Google. In their response, they said: “Keywords that are slightly below the minimum threshold are placed under evaluation status ('in trial') until we're statistically confident their CTR is well below or above 0.5%. When we're confident of their overall CTR performance these keywords may become 'normal' or 'disabled.' We may also slow ad delivery for all of your in trial keywords if these keywords continue to perform poorly, allowing you time to improve upon both your in trial and on hold keywords.”
Even though I used Wordtracker for my keyword searches, Google said: “Our unique keyword technology considers many other aspects such ad text, keyword matching types, and location targeting, to determine a keyword's success. In addition, you can only have a limited number of in trial keywords per account, so when this limit is reached, additional keywords will be moved to on hold status with priority given to those keywords with higher predicted CTRs. Keywords on hold will be moved to trial status when space becomes available; there is no limit for on hold keywords.”
“Accounts that perform well will be rewarded with a greater number of in trial keywords. The limitation placed on the number of keywords that may be placed in trial helps ensure that users continue to see the most targeted, relevant ads via the AdWords program.”
“If your account reaches the maximum number of keywords permitted in trial, and you want to make space for keywords to move from on hold to trial status, you will need to delete in trial keywords.”
“However, because keywords are placed in both states with priority given to keywords with a higher predicted CTR, it isn't possible to specifically select which keywords move from on hold to trial status. The best way to help ensure regular ad delivery is to create targeted, relevant ad text and keywords; this way, your ads are more likely to earn a CTR above the minimum requirement.”
To gain a better understanding, I wrote to Chris Carpenter, who made the following suggestions:
• In campaigns, add keywords even if they have no searches, because in
the future they may have some, also, put your keywords into separate campaigns,
so you’ll have campaigns of keywords that are tightly related and are
getting CTRs above 1%.
• Place keywords that get no traffic or have poor CTR’s into another
campaign. This way, your campaign that is doing well is not slowed down because
of poorly performing keywords.
Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
When looking at building an AdWords campaign, there are several components that are essential to its success. In the Google Cash download, you’re given a bonus component, a transcript of a talk presented by Jonathan Mizel and Perry Marshall, which introduces you to several concepts that are vital to a successful AdWords campaign. Here are some examples:
One of the many mistakes that new advertisers make is to place a large number of unrelated keywords into a campaign. In order for a campaign to have a measure of success, the keywords need to be tightly focused and should relate to one another. Another error is writing a title that doesn’t match the keywords.
The brute force method. This is a strategy often used in business, where if you persist and try harder, you’ll succeed. That doesn’t work with direct marketing. What you’re doing is creating a series of tests, with the idea that one of them will catch on. If an ad doesn’t work, it’s not a failure, simply a test that didn’t work.
With an AdWords campaign, you can make use of negative keywords. Let’s say that you’re selling a music related software product. As an advertiser, you want qualified customers, not a user who wants something for free. To make sure you don’t get these users, simply put (– free) in your list of keywords. That way, if someone types in free music software, as an example, your ad won’t show up.
When creating your ads, Marshall recommends placing a strong verb in the headline. i.e. Play the violin. Self Defense made easy. Using a strong verb creates a mental image of something happening.
When you create your ads, you have the option of saving the campaign with one ad, but Marshall recommends that you go back and write another ad. You can use a variety of strategies, such as writing a new ad that’s completely different, writing an ad where you keep the same headline while only changing the content, writing an ad where the content stays the same while changing the headline, or writing an ad where they are almost identical, except for one word in either the content or headline.
Google will give these ads equal time, rotating them for position. In a day or more, you can come back and see which one has the highest CTR. Keep that ad and delete the other one, then write a new ad. The goal is to find ways to improve your CTR.
Parting Thoughts
Becoming an affiliate using methods such as Site Build It or James Martell’s method is the more traditional approach, but success takes time, from 4-6 months (or longer) before you begin to see monetary returns. In contrast, AdWords marketing provides a faster response, but it can be a rough ride, especially in the early stages.
If you're new to the concept of AdWords, I recommend starting with Google Cash. In combination with Google Cash, The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords is recommended if you’re thinking of spending up to $500.00 per month in advertising dollars or if you run a business.
eBooks, Software, and Further Reading
Free tools such as Overture’s Keyword tool and View Bids tool are useful, but getting the results you’re after is more time intensive. If you intend to create a lot of campaigns, have a look at either the AdWords Analyzer or KeyWords Analyzer. These two programs are the subject of a review that will be covered next week.
When building web pages, the Web Position application is a useful tool to track your results.
Google Resources
An explanation of the AdWords Minimum CTR and Performance Monitor
How to create a targeted keyword list
In my opinion, two indispensable books on direct marketing and copywriting
are:
“Tested Advertising Methods” and
“How to Make Your Advertising
Make Money,” both by John Caples, Vice President of BBDO, Inc. These books
will go a long way in helping you to write ads that sell.
Created: March 27, 2003
Revised: December 23, 2004
URL: http://webreference.com/authoring/adwords/1
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