I started advertising with adwords. Read all their FAQ's, manuals etc. I'm not using any exact match keywords. All are either "phrase matching" or broad match.
I set up my campaigns and initially set my daily budget to $50 and CPC to 0.05.
All my keywords are active meaning Google did'nt ask me to increase the CPC.
But i hardly get any impressions. In the entire day i get around 100 impressions and 1 click. Similar situation is with my other campaigns. Although my daily budget is set to 50$ - I'm hardly spending $3.00 a day.
I thought maybe my CPC is too low. First I increased it to 0.10 - still no luck, then yesterday i increased it to 0.15 - got around 150 impressions and 2 clicks. Today I increased to 0.20 - and so far i have 200 impressions and 2 clicks.
What am i doing wrong?
Any advice from Adwords experience ppl
Thanks in advance
--Sarah
Are you competing against your own organic search listings? It's hard to outbid your own high-ranked free listing!
Can you re-phrase your ads to make them more appealing? More targeted on the keyword(s)?
Are your ads specific to the keywords, or do you have a lot of only-loosely-related keywords pointed to one 'general' ad? It may help to move some keywords to a different campaign, making each campaign more-specifically focused, with the ads closely-matching the keywords/phrases.
Are you bidding on each keyword/keyphrase CPC separately, or are you using the 'default' adgroup-level bid for all of them? Sometimes the bids needed to achieve a particular position vary widely between related keyword -- even between singulars and plurals. You can use that fact to your advantage.
What is your position in the list of ads on Google search? There's often a big difference in clickthrough between positions 1 through 3 and positions 4-6!
Jim
Thanks for your advice.
To answer your questions:
1)Are you competing against your own organic search listings? It's hard to outbid your own high-ranked free listing!
I'm not sure I understand the question :)
2)Can you re-phrase your ads to make them more appealing? More targeted on the keyword(s)?
Oh yeah I have done that a lot. I read thru several tips about which words to use to make the Ad more appealing.
3)Are your ads specific to the keywords?
Yes my ads are very specific. Infact each ad is related to the product that I sell and takes them to the appropriate landing page on my website.
4)Are you bidding on each keyword/keyphrase CPC separately?
Well I have a default bid for the adgroup. But as I keep monitoring it, which ever keyword is showing more impressions, I increase the individual CPC for that keyword.
5)What is your position in the list of ads on Google search?
Well its no where near what your saying :)
The best average position I have recieved is 9.4. The worst I have is 21.6 :(
Is it because my account is new and I have no history. I have read on the forums that it makes a difference.
Should I keep trying to increase my CPC till i start seeing some impressions and then lower it back or?
Thanks for your time and suggestions.
Appreciate it
--Sarah
1)Are you competing against your own organic search listings? It's hard to outbid your own high-ranked free listing!
I'm not sure I understand the question :)
I'm asking about the natural search ranking of your web site for the same keywords you're bidding on in adwords. I've seen complaints that someone bid very high and placed very high on the adwords listings shown in Google Search, but hardly got any clicks. But looking at the search results, that person's site came in at #1 or #2 in the free ("organic") search results on Google. So or course, the ad got few clicks compared to the larger listing in the search results -- the search lisitng had more relevant information displayed in the page description, and the company name was the same. If your web site is buried in the natural search listings, then start here [webmasterworld.com].
That reminds me. Some folks do well by bidding on both the Search network and the Content metwork. Others report better results after opting-out of the Content network. Try both.
5)What is your position in the list of ads on Google search?
Well its no where near what your saying :)
The best average position I have recieved is 9.4. The worst I have is 21.6 :(
Well, raise your bid until you are #1, 2, or 3, and see what happens. Don't let the high price scare you. You need to find out what your CTR is at those bid levels. Then track the conversions. You have to figure out the ROI - return on investment; If it costs $1.35 per click, and takes ten clicks to make a sale, then you need to sell something that makes a $13.50 profit just to break even. Of course, it's better if you sell a product that results in a $135.00 profit or better...
Is it because my account is new and I have no history. I have read on the forums that it makes a difference.
Yes, and because your CTR is low. And part of the reason your CTR is low is because your ads are not showing in the top 3 positions.
I encourage you to 'explore' the results of raising your bid dramatically, even if just for a few days. Consider the extra cost as an investment in gaining knowledge (and improving CTR to lower CPC). Then track the impressions-clicks-sales process and figure out what your return on investment for each bid is. Only by doing so can you set your bids based on knowledge.
You will probably find that once your ads are near the top of the list, the CPC begins to drop as your CTR goes up. If the rest of the sales process is sound, then your ROI --while initially marginal-- will increase as the CTR goes up and the CPC goes down. But you'll never know if you stay at the #9 - #21 level!
Everybody's area of the products/services market varies, so it's impossible to give a set of cookbook rules. But on the few campaigns I've run, I crank the bid up to hit position #1, 2, or 3 right away -- to the point of monetary pain. Then after a few days, sit back and assess the situation. If the CTR goes way up, and sales increase to cover the cost of the ads and leave a tidy profit, fine. If the CTR shoots up, but sales don't justify the cost, then re-assess the keywords, the ad text, the landing page, and the rest of the sales checkout process to find out why the sales don't result. Everything from the ad to the "Submit order" button has to be right, and you must make a good profit in the end. Margins vary widely, but obviously if 50% of your profit is taken by the click cost to make the sale, then something needs a lot of improvement.
Anyway, I'm more of a "casual user" than an expert at adwords, but your thread was looking lonely, so I gave it a shot...
Jim
THANKS A LOT. That was so much information for me :)
As I am new I had no idea about how to go. You've atleast shown me a direction to go on. Appreciate it.
All evening i've been reading the messages on this forum and trying to learn what worked for some ppl and what did not. I've just reached page number 15 so far.
But Like you suggested - I'll give it a shot and see how things go for me. After all you only learn by experience....
But thanks again for sharing your ideas.
Will update you in a week abt how things are going.
--Sarah
