GuitarZan - 1:32 am on Jun 11, 2004 (gmt 0)

Hey,

>>4.Turn off content targeting and search network

Do you know where to look at these ads? No. Leave them alone until you feel confident that you know where they'll be showing and that you can make them work – get comfortable with Google first. Conversion rates and CTR's change dramatically for each search property, not to mention content targeted ads. Get acquainted with Google before you move on to the others.<<

Do you start off most Campaigns with only Google being allowed? Or do you start them off with both Google & the Search Partners?

>>5.Test different creatives and positions

How much of a difference will being in the first position, as opposed to the second, third or sixth position make, for your net profit? The answer is that it depends on your creative, industry and who else is bidding on your keywords. The bottom line is that you should know. Test your creative in each position and work out where it will be most effective, from an ROI point of view. Remember also that the AdWords ranking algo works on a CPCxCTR basis (it's actually more complicated than that, but that gives an idea as to why out of two ads with similar CPC's, one will be higher because of a higher CTR)

You can also test your creatives. Write 5 or 6 different ads and set them to run evenly (Google will run the one which preforms best by default, but you can set them to run evenly in your campaign settings). The creative which gives you the highest ROI is the one you should go with. You should probably run this kind of test for more than just a day.<<

I heard that you should always be testing a new creative. Wouldn't that make it hard to start testing creatives in certain positions? I agree that this is a good thing to do, but it seems pretty complex for a beginner. What would the most effective way of going about this be?

>>7. Optimise your creatives

Optimising creatives is another topic entirely – but there are some easy wins (depending on, again, the strategy being appropriate for your campaign): one, for example, is using a keyword specific url. If you're selling Nike AirWalk shoes you might want to set the URL on your creative to display as: www.example.com/nike/nike-airwalk. Keep in mind that this has no relation to the real click through URL – but it looks better than your domain name – and certainly better than a long line of numbers. Keep this relevant however, because otherwise you could cheese people off if they don't find what they're looking for.

Another easy win is to not include superlatives, like 'world's best' and 'most loved product' or ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Google will just disapprove them. If you do mention a price or something else (like: the UK's best selling mobile phone) then you must back that up on the landing page for the ad.

One of the most important things to remember that the ad copy is one of the most crucial things for making people click through. This sounds obvious, but there are a lot of very bad creatives out there.<<

I agree... Have a display URL that is relevant. Ad copy is important. I have heard countless times that your ad should not sound "hypey", and should be focused... Meaning relevant to the landing page/product you are trying to sell. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

>>8. Track conversion and ROI (Return On Investment)

Track everything. Google will track impressions, clicks and click through rate. Just because an ad has a high CTR doesn't mean that it is making you money! You can use Google's own conversion tracking codes, or you can use your own software. If you don't know how each keyword is preforming – then you won't be able to optimise your campaigns, by turning off the keywords that aren't working and investing more in the keywords which are.<<

Agreed. A lower CTR ad can produce a better ROI. An example would be using a hype type ad that gets a good CTR, but people leave almost immediately... Whereas a relevant ad may get less clicks, yet the user stays longer, and may make a purchase.

Is there any other things that can be added to tracking? Like what is an effective way to start? How to organize it? How many Clickthroughs will you give a KeyWord that doesn't produce profit before you can it?

>>9. Work out your CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)

How much is each sale costing you? Are your Google AdWords listings preforming as well as your Overture listings? Your SiteMatch listings? Your offline marketing? You should know how much you're paying for each order/sale/download/enquiry/whatever on each channel – only then will you be able to set CPA targets to work towards and know which channel is best for you.<<

I assume you do this by taking your expenses divided by your sales? What is SiteMatch?

>>10. Don't enter into bidding wars

It is easy to get into bidding wars with your competitors. You want to be number one and so does your competitor. The best thing to do is to take a step back, ten deep breaths and consider how important it really is to be in the number one spot. If you can justify it, fine but otherwise: let your competitor be number one, slot into the number two slot and wait. If you have a better product, your clickthrough rate will get you to the top – and you'll still be paying the same as you were in the second position.

More and more people are using automated bidding software. This software will update at a set interval to keep the ad in the desired position. Doing battle with this kind of software is even more frustrating and less rewarding than trying to outbid a competitor.<<

Back to number #5 you said something about testing your ads in different positions to see what the ROI is like in each one. That would seem to take an awful lot of time... Do you guys use any of this software to help you out?

<<Make sure you know a keyword is working (more importantly, know why it is working) before you invest more.>>

Could you explain this a bit more please. Why a KeyWord is working?

<<14.Keep a close eye on your competitors

Is your competitor doing something better than you? What keywords do you share with your competitors? Can you discern their strategy? Do they use automated bidding software? Do their landing pages have some magic which you should be emulating? This is the sort of stuff you can find out and the kind of stuff that you need to know.>>

What is a good way of doing this... Again it seems like a lot of time invested when you are running a lot of Campaigns.

Thanks,

C.K.