Free Website Content - Understanding Google AdWords
Google AdWords
Unlike many search engines Google, to its credit, clearly
denotes search listings that are paid placement. In fact,
Google AdWords appear in a separate section down the left
side of the screen.
Google AdWords provide an inexpensive advertising
venue for businesses to advertise products or services to
a targeted audience. Advertisers have the ability to control
their budget, target their advertising based on keywords.
Advertisers are also free to determine the ad contents.
Google AdWords allow for nearly instant traffic,
which can be turned on and off. Traffic results can be measured,
providing information on what is successful, what isn't
and what needs to be changed. AdWords can be found that
work by running a test campaign.
Benefits to AdWords
Advertisers bid on keywords, the more an advertiser is willing
to pay the higher the likelihood the ad will appear higher
in position in the list of ads served. Google, invariably
wanting to make the most from advertisers, determines placement
based on a combination of click through rate, bid amount
and budget. Of course, in order to maximize revenue and
please searchers Google does have guidelines for ads served
and all ads must receive a minimum percentage click through
or they are removed.
AdWord Guidelines
Clearly and accurately describe the website, this is to
the advertiser and searchers benefit. Ultimately, the more
qualified the visitor who clicks the ad, the higher the
likelihood the clicker will convert into a sale. By providing
clear and accurate information, searchers who click the
ad are qualified leads, which tend to convert more consistently
than unqualified leads. The most effective advertising communicates
a clear message to a targeted audience.
Avoid excessive capitalization, superlatives
and lavish exclamation marks in the ad. By doing this you
are not only serving the visitor you are filtering unwanted
clicks from non-buyers. Due to space limitations your ad
message will need to be concise. Select keywords that are
relevant to your product, service or content. Call to action
phrases are not allowed (i.e. you cannot use phrases like
"click here" in your ad copy.) There are also no pop-ups.
Steps for AdWord Campaign
1.) Open an account
2.) Target language and country - This is
very important because if your product or service can not
be exported you do not want to pay to advertise in those
countries for which your product or service can not be sold.
3.) Create Ad Group - design an ad, select
keywords, determine maximum cost per click that you are
willing to spend and define bid amounts.
Title
The title tag is generally the most important part of the
ad be sure to use a short phrase that gets the attention
of your target audience. An underutilized feature at Google
allows you to put a question mark in the title, the term
searched on automatically replaces the question mark in
the title of your ad.
Define max click - Google will suggest a cost
per click, but the recommendation does not need to be adhered
to. Arguments have been heard that #1 position does not
always mean increased sales; sometimes a second position
will filter useless clicks and provide targeted traffic
with a higher conversion ration. The rule of thumb is positions
1-3 garner the most traffic and best results. Increasing
either your maximum cost-per-click or the ads click through
rate will generally improve the ad's position.
Use keyword variations to reach more prospects.
A variety or spellings and derivatives of keywords will
increase the chances of your ads being served. Be sure to
use common misspellings and plurals in your keyword list.
Broad match - is targeting keywords in a loosely
defined manner. Ads appear based on keywords that have been
queried by search users. For instance, if the keywords you
are planning on broad matching are "mountain bikes" and
users search for the terms "bikes that can climb a mountain",
your ad will appear; as opposed to exact match, which requires
that the keywords selections must exactly match the query.
Phrase match - is indicated when quotations
are used in the phrase. A keyword phrase set to phrase match
will only appear when the exact phrase is searched on. For
example "mountain bikes" will appear when searchers search
for "brand name mountain bikes".
Exact match - is when the keyword or phrase
is entered with brackets. The phrase will only serve ads
when the entered search phrase is identical to the keyword
phrase. "Mountain bikes" will only appear when searchers
search for "mountain bikes"
Negative keyword - is helpful in filtering
unrelated phrases. A dash is entered before the filtering
phrase. "Mountain bike -races will not appear if mountain
bike races are searched on.
Landing Page - is important because this not
only helps with tracking, but also provides a focused and
specific landing page for searchers. Information can be
related to the actual search, while also increasing the
conversion ratios for sales. A focused landing page with
content related and using the same terminology as the actual
search, will show the searcher that your solution is relevant
to their needs.
3.) Define budget - in order to maximize exposure
Google recommends a daily budget for each campaign.
Google's suggested budget is helpful in receiving
consistent traffic throughout the advertising campaign.
Keep in mind this is only Google's recommendation; ultimately
it is up to you to determine a budget that is affordable
and suitable.
Google supplies tracking tools that assist
webmasters in determining their return on investment based
on keyword searches and phrases. While the technology is
not perfect and cannot track phone and purchase orders,
it should give advertisers a sense of what phrases and keywords
are converting well in their advertising campaign.
While Google AdWords should not be your only
advertising campaign, but should be a significant part of
your campaign. Google AdWords can certainly help send those
important targeted searchers to your website. Get started
with Google AdWords at http://www.google.com/ads/
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net
a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless
messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can
be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com
, and http://www.small-business-software.net
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