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New to Adwords - I get clicks but ZERO sales

         

shkurata

11:05 pm on Dec 26, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hello, everybody,
I'm new to Google Adwords and I'm trying with couple of campaignes, but still don't have any results. I spent about $60 on the lowest cost per click and tried different kind of products: herbal, software, pet's sruff, porn sites, and I recieved only clicks. Please, somebody , give me an advice and courage to continue. I'm starting to believe that selling with Google Adwords is a myth. I'll grateful for any kind of help.

tedster

11:38 pm on Dec 26, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Welcome to the forums, shkurata.

Sounds like it could be a problem with your landing page. The fact that you get clicks means that your ad is functioning to some degree. None of those clicks buying means this traffic isn't converting. It could be that your landing page isn't what these people were looking for (i.e. fine tune the ad to better target your traffic) but it seems more likely to me that the page itself just doesn't sell -- doesn't convert.

Any successful PPC campaign requires a combination of factors that need to be fine-tuned: the keywords chosen, the ad itself, and the strength of the landing page. Also, spending $60 is a very low level test -- especially if that amount was spread all around the various markets you named.

Adwords definitely can work and work well - bringing the advertiser a solid bargian for their marketing dollar. At the same time, it can be a major flop if any one of the areas I mention is week. I've clicked on an Adwords ad and ended up on a page that offered me no obvious way to make a response to the offering. Some big businesses may be able to afford Adwords just for "branding" purposes, but most need some sales.

shkurata

4:46 am on Dec 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks for the advices, in fact I don't have my own web page, I signed up with some affiliate programs and I think the problem migth be there. I just put the affiliate code in the place of the URL and it seems to be working. But is it normally for one product to receive 100 clicks and no sale.

crak_bot

4:56 am on Dec 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I agree with tedster on all his points. Also, at least in my opinion, there are some things that will not be profitible with adwords. Either because of the CPC, the amount of competition, or the type of customer who searches for your terms or a combination of all of these things.

For example, I sell two types of products which are actually very similar and located on the same site. Adwords is very profitible for the one type of product but loses money when I try with the other product. I've given up trying to tweak adwords to make the unprofitible one do as well as the other.

In the end I think Adwords is like the stock market. If you do your homework and know what your doing, you can make money. If you don't know what your doing, you can lose a lot of money very quickly and have no idea why.

Good Luck

shkurata

11:35 am on Dec 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thank you,crak_bot,
can you tell me where can I find some e-books which will help me with my campaignes.

crak_bot

11:15 pm on Dec 28, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I have not found any good Adwords books as they all seem to be of the "Get Rich Quick" variety.

Your best bet is to read through these forums and the google adwords message boards. Start slow and monitor everything.

However, if anyone knows of a great book on how to run adwords please post about it.

Jim

tedster

5:25 pm on Dec 29, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Also make sure you read all of the information Google has online:
[adwords.google.com...]

There's a lot of help there, especially when you're just getting started.

nathanso

12:42 am on Jan 7, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



shkurata, In your Campaign Management tab, check if Content Network is active or not (I recommend not, at least in the beginning).

I'm not sure if G is defualting Content Network on or off these days, but it it's on it means your ad is not only appearing on G's search results but also on any number of AdSense publishers' sites (Ads by Goooooogle), and that is an open invitation to click fraud, which could explain your zero conversion ratio.

utica

1:04 am on Jan 7, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



It's defaulting ON as of an hour ago.

shkurata

7:09 pm on Jan 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What do you say about Search Network option.

ferraristi

3:57 pm on Jan 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What you are trying to do is known as arbitrage and was a huge money maker when adwords first started. I tried to do the same thing awhile ago but also failed as there is so much competition that my keyword bids had to be too high and I couldn't make a proft.

I have since found a couple of products that are converting ok using this method. Some days I lose money but overall, over the period of a month I have made a profit.

I guess the message my advice is to keep at it if you can afford to and try to hunt out products that will sell but for which there is little competition. This will keep your click costs down. Not easy though

ferraristi

3:59 pm on Jan 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What you are trying to do is known as arbitrage and was a huge money maker when adwords first started. I tried to do the same thing awhile ago but also failed as there is so much competition that my keyword bids had to be too high and I couldn't make a proft.

I have since found a couple of products that are converting ok using this method. Some days I lose money but overall, over the period of a month I have made a profit.

I guess the message my advice is to keep at it if you can afford to and try to hunt out products that will sell but for which there is little competition. This will keep your click costs down. Not easy though