Adwords Newbie

[olba]

Hi!
I am new to the Google Adwords. I have been practising the natural and organic methods of optimizing websites but in my new project, I have to utilize Google Adwords. I'd like to know a few things if you can be of any help.
1.I have set up my keywords and adwords ready to start my campaign, since its a new website, how does one guage the conversion rate of certain keywwords? or is it after the campaign has begun that I can determine the conversion rates and acquistion costs?

I appreciate your inputs.. thanks

[trannack]

Have you put Google analytics on the pages? Also it takes anything from a few days to a couple of weeks - and recently even longer - for Adwords to properly worm any new stuff. So be patient before you start over tweaking anything. There are a load of other tools available - some free and some not, that can track performance.

[eWhisper]

I would also suggest using the AdWords conversion tracker.

It will allow you to run reports based upon conversions by keyword or ad copy.

[olba]

Thanks for the responses.
for starting, I can have an assumed conversion rate of 3, and depending on the performance of my keywords,it would adjust itself..

[Pengi]

Hi - welcome to Webmasterworld

It took me 3 weeks to recover what I lost on day 2 because I bid too much for a particular Adgroup.

Unless you have very deep pockets, it's probably a good idea to start your bids very low and them increase them as necessary to achieve the level of returns you're seeking. actual performance can vary enormously from topic to topic, site to site, Ad to Ad and keyword to keyword, so it's hard to suggest a good figure.

AdWords will "tell you" if your bids are too low for your ads to show. Once they are showing, expect the performacne to improve over the first few weeks.