Clicks a day on ad words

At this rate I'll never get an clicks!

[WallaceCleaver]

I set-up my keywords in ad words. On the Traffic Estimator table it says that all of my keywords are currently clicked <0.1 times a day. That makes my cost a day $0.00. So, that means that I'm not going to be getting any clicks. When I first started the campaign I went with, let's say widgets. That resulted in a lot of impressions with only 4 click-thrus. I, therefore, changed to more targeted keywords, but in doing so my traffic estimator now reads as mentioned above. What can I do so that I receive quality impressions that result in click-thrus? I don't want to put it back to the broad keyword as I may come up on free widgets or sample widgets, which wouldn't be what my site offers.

[Chris_R]

Not much you can do.

You can either:

1) Add more targeted keywords.
2) Go back to the broad keywords you were using before.
3) Do nothing and get 3 clicks a month.

[mack]

By using target keywords you are only receiving quality clicks. broad or wide ranging keywords are only going to bring in page views not always customers... 3 clicks and a sale is better that 1000 clicks and a bill. :)

[GodLikeLotus]

I also thought the click though rates were very low when we began our own campaign, however, you WILL find that by changes your actual ad and the way in which you describe the site, can make a big difference.

[chiyo]

Agree with GodLikeLotus

But have noticed that Adowords does not seem as cost effective for niche terms than Overture due to their way of calculating keyword costs.

While on Overture generally the more niche (or unpopular) your phrase is, the cheaper it is, on Adwords, adding qualifying words does not reduce the cost (it does not tend to vary much from the shorter phrase and sometimes goes up!) - just reduces your hits (which in many ways is good!) by targeting them.

We get very few hits for each phrase, and are careful which ones we use because of their high cost compared to Overture. This is not a general observation on term costs, but relates only to say 3 word specialist phrases.

[steveb]

A little off-topic I guess, but some of this surprises me. I have one Google ad [word]. My max is $.90, but I normally pay $.88. I get second position. On Overture that second position for that keyword is $15.17. The company that has that second Overture position (first is $15.18) is unable to meet the minimum number of clicks for ad words, while I get about double the clicks that I need.

From my experience, Google is dramatically cheaper than Overture and far more searcher-friendly in that semi-off-topic places simply can't buy their way into the best slots.

I don't know how every keyword universe compares but I'm shocked that anyone would say anything nice about Overture in comparison to Google.

[webdiversity]

Without seeing the specifics of your campaign settings I'd say your flying too low for your ad to be seen on the radar.

Unless you bid high enough your ad will only be seen when Halleys Comet comes around.

One some ad you get a minimum bid, this is due to the old adwords program and being fair to those paying for CPM instead of CPC. For the ads that don't have a minimum then you won't register because your likely to be on the bottom of page 10.

In the first few weeks of your campaign you have to be bold and be prepared to pay more per click than you want to. If you don't do this then you really can't get the full benefit of the ad. Once you get the keywords, price, cost per day, click through rate right then you will find your ad will become more popular and your cost will decrease. It's also important to get the creative right and make the landing point the exact point where your call to action is.

Try using square brackets for your keywords too, as an alternative, [keyword phrase] rather than "keyword phrase". Think of like a performance car, you have to tinker with it to get it working just right.

[chiyo]

steveb, the higher price for Google compared to Overture relates to phrases (2 or 3 words), not single words.

[steveb]

In my field, it doesn't matter if it is one word or a two or three word phrase. Overture costs between ten and twenty times more. Overture is absurdly more expensive than Google for me, but I guess this isn't true for some other people/keywords. Kinda strange.

[Mardi_Gras]

Your experience is certainly not the norm. Overture delivers (for me) many times more visitors than AdWords at a fraction of the cost per click. Glad Adwords works for you - that's what counts.

[steveb]

Mardi Gras, I just checked your keywords (the four word phrase). It appears to me that you pay Overture .28 and should be paying Google .24. Who delivers more clicks is a different issue, but I don't see how you could be paying Google more per click. Are you using Ad Words or Ad Words Select? I've only used Ad Words Select. Maybe you need to convert an old ad words campaign to a new ad words select campaign.

[Mardi_Gras]

should be paying Google .24

Unfortunately, the actual CPC for May was .90 :(

Overture delivered nearly 3.5 times as many visitors at a fraction of the cost per visitor of Adwords (Adwords Select, that is).