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By Sharon Housley
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
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, so
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/
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