What is the most dangerous mistake a newbie could make with Adwords?

[SpyderWeb]

What is the most dangerous mistake a newbie could make with Adwords?

[figment88]

setting a maximum daily spend higher they they are comfortable paying.

[buckworks]

-- Bidding too much for individual clicks ("too much" will depend on your business)

-- Bidding on poorly targeted keywords.

[seasalt]

Assuming a higher clickthrough rate = better success.

seasalt

[Shak]

choosing broadmatch and NOT realising the consequence if managed incorrectly :)

Shak

[Robsp]

Not check your campaign on a daily basis

[skibum]

Not reading up on syndication, content, and matching options, basically all the info that can be found on the G site.

[FromRocky]

The mistakes I made have been posted except the ones about the ad's description. The ad description has only 70 characters long and too short to write an ad to cover all the KWs. These cause the ad disable due to a short cut, the KW disable or low position due to low CTR, or high CTR but no conversion. Solution: small ad groups with better target.

[lukasz]

My number one mistake was to put keyword "widget" when the most popular song at the time was "widget love serenade".
The keyword was suspended in no time.

[eWhisper]

Not reading these boards to fully understand AdWords.

Not having a short term and long term plan to maximize your AdWords account.

[webdiversity]

The biggest mistake to make is to assume that because it's easy to set up an account that you'll get instant results and campaigns will work first time around.

Be prepared to spend some cash, without necessarily making any money, while you learn how to optimise, and be patient.

You'll learn new things every day, adopt and adapt what you learn.

[vibgyor79]

- Entering all the keywords into a single adgroup. Some newbie advertisers pour everything including a kitchen sink into a single adgroup

- Having the same old ad copy for all the adgroups.

[sem4u]

Bidding very large amounts on keywords that do not relate exactly to your product or service.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

* In a general sense: Not learning about the program using available resources such as this forum - and the AdWords FAQ.

* In a particular sense: Using a vast number of really general, only remotely related, keywords. For example, if you sell off-road truck tires, a keywords list full of words like the examples below would be a recipe for poor CTR, poor conversions, and endless frustration:

* tire
* truck
* off road
* wheels
* mud
* rocks
* air
* 4x4
* Chevrolet
* Chevy
* Ford
* Dodge
* Toyota
and on and on...

A really good keyword in the example above? Well, I'd start with:

* off road truck tires (and then build from there)

AWA

[Chicken Juggler]

Check account ballance while in pool.

[SpyderWeb]

Wow: Fantastic response! So many great guide points. What a great community. Thanks for all the insights.