Google
Adwords Guide
You probably have already heard about the new marketing tool from
Google.com on the Internet. Their advertising service is called
"Adwords" and allows you use Google.com for marketing.
Your ads will be displayed on Google's website when people initiate
a search. Your ads can also be displayed very targeted among many
thousand websites that partner with Google in a program called "Google
AdSense". Adwords is the Google.com version of a pay-per-click
advertising model. That means users click on your ad and will be
redirected to your website or a specific URL that you have selected
when creating your ad campaign.
What do you need to know about Adwords? Adwords is a way to spend
a lot of money on advertising very very fast. BUT ? Adwords is also
a way to spend marketing money very selective to a targeted audience.
Adwords can be very expensive for the advertiser if not properly
planned and tested.
When you setup a Google Adwords ad campaign, you choose certain
keywords for which your ad will appear on search results on Google.com.
You also specify the maximum amount of money that you are willing
to pay for each click. Remember - the Google Adwords program is
a PPC (Pay per Click) model and you only pay when someone actually
clicks on your ad and hence visits your website.
It is very important to select the right keywords for your business
ad. Going with too generic keywords that everyone will not be very
effective and very expensive. Play a little bit with the Adwords
keyword and campaign settings just to get a feeling how expensive
the generic keywords for your business and industry are. You will
realize soon that you need to be creative and careful with the usage
of keywords.
Google recommends using different spelling variations and plural
versions of your keywords to reach the best target audience. This
is a good approach, as not every one of your potential new customers
will search for a keyword in the same way as everyone else. Some
people will use plural versions and others will use singular versions.
Exact matching of keywords in Google user queries requires you
to place square brackets around your selected keywords. Example:
[web hosting]. Your ad will now only show when users search exactly
the phrase 'web hosting'. Your ad will not show if other words are
included in the search string or the words are entered in a different
order.
Another keyword matching option is the phrase option. This is very
similar to the exact matching of keywords in a search in the sense
that the keywords must all be present and in the right order. However
your ad will still show up in search results even if other words
are present in the search. To make use of phrase matching you must
include your keywords in quotes. Example: "web hosting".
Negative matching is the final option available for your Adwords
advertisement. This option allows you to block your ad being shown
if a certain word is present in the search query of the Google user.
This allows you to reduce the number of possible clicks on your
ad in non-relevant searches and therefore to keep your cost low.
It also helps you to make sure that your ad is not shown to users
who will not be interested in your products. If your keyword is
'web hosting' but your web hosting is based on the Linux operating
system and not based on a Windows Operating System then by using
negative matching you can choose to have your ad not shown for search
queries with 'windows web hosting'. In this case 'windows' would
be your negative keyword. You simply place a dash in front of your
negative keyword to use this option. Example: -windows
Using the here described ways of selecting keywords will help you
to be more successful with Google Adwords. Google also allows you
be very specific for which geographic area your ads will be displayed.
You go from global to country and even state or city specific settings.
Especially local businesses now will have it much easier to use
Google Adwords for their specific local markets.
Well, you got the idea how to be very specific how you select your
keywords and combinations of keywords. But how do you actually select
the right keywords? In order to get the most out of Adwords, you
must have a list of great keyword and phrases. If your keyword list
is not good enough, you will be punished with paying too much for
your advertising. Write down the top search terms that you can think
of. Ask friends and family how they would use Google to find your
product (without searching for the business name itself).
A competitor of Google actually offers a free tool, which will
allow you to find out how popular the keywords are that you selected.
Find this free tool here and use it for your advantage:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Create a list of the most popular keywords. Now add words to the
actual keywords. Use words that would describe your specific product
or service. Now use these phrases or word combinations when setting
up a Google Adwords campaign to find out how much you would have
to pay per click to get your ad onto the first page on a Google
search.
If the keywords selected by you are very expensive to use you should
consider rewording or using different combinations. Maybe concentrate
on a certain niche to find lower priced keyword options.
When testing new campaigns make sure that you limit your exposure
by amount of money you want to spend per day as well as you should
set a date / time limit. It's easier to activate a campaign again
if it works just fine for you. If you fail to set limits you might
spend lots of money in a very short time ? money you can't get back.
It is gone ?.
Another way to save money on your Adwords advertising campaign
is to wait for the end of the month. It's funny, but many folks
follow a plain rule to start their advertising in the beginning
of the month. By the time the 25th of a month is there they have
spend most of their money on their campaigns already. For you this
means that the prices for many popular keywords might be more affordable
for you.
If you are advertising specific products with your ads, link to
the specific product page and not to your homepage. 95% of the people
who click through to your website will not really be willing to
start another search on your website to find the product mentioned
in your ad.
Conclusion
Frequently revisit your campaigns and compare prices and results.
The Internet is a fast changing environment. What works one day,
might not necessarily work the next day. Keep track of everything
? maybe create a spreadsheet.
About the Author Christoph Puetz is a
successful small business owner (Net Services USA LLC) and international
author.
Guides, Tutorials, and Articles for small businesses - http://www.webhostingresourcekit.com
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