Sunday, November 16, 2008

5 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Google AdWords

Websites thrive on traffic. Business websites need customers. Blogs need consumers to read them and subscribe.

As a website owner, you'll probably spending a large portion of your time driving traffic to you website. There are several ways to bring traffic. You can optimize pages for the search engines. You can write articles and submit them. You can use social networking to build relationships on the internet.

One very important method of driving traffic is Google AdWords. AdWords has one important difference from all the other methods mentioned. AdWords costs money. You design an ad for your website, and then Google places your ad on their search engine results, in the paid or sponsored links section. You pay Google every time someone clicks your ad.

However, AdWords has advantages that offset the costs. Why should you use Google AdWords to drive traffic? What are the arguments for AdWords?

1) Google AdWords will start sending your website traffic immediately.

It takes time for a website to rank high enough to appear on organic search results. It takes time to write articles and submit them. It takes time to build a social network. All the other methods of driving traffic require an investment of time. These alternatives require hours of work to establish, and then may take weeks or months to show results.

AdWords will start sending traffic to your website today. As soon as you create a campaign and an ad, you can begin getting traffic.

2) Google will help you every step of the way.

Google makes a significant portion of their revenue from AdWords ads. Google makes money by you participating in AdWords and wants you to succeed. Google publishes user guides, blogs and other information to make using AdWords as easy as possible.

3) AdWords provides the information about your campaign that you need to succeed.

AdWords provides keyword research tools so you know what consumers are searching for. AdWords helps you evaluate your campaign after it is created. AdWords supplies you with the impressions, click through rates and costs of you campaign. It informs you of the Quality Score for your ads, on a scale of 1 to 10. It offers advice on how to improve the Quality Score.

4) You can control the cost of AdWords with the proper strategy.

Knowing how to obtain a good Quality Score for your ad can reduce your cost per click. A well optimized campaign can deliver traffic for just a few cents per click. The Free AdWords Strategy Guide describes step by step how to optimize your ads.

5) Anyone can obtain the top ad positions.

AdWords values quality over price. AdWords doesn't simply award the highest ad position to the highest bidder. The ad quality score is the primary factor in ad positions. That means you can advertise in highly competitive markets, using a good Quality Score to beat out other advertisers who are simply spending more. The Free AdWords Strategy Guide reveals exactly how to get a good Quality Score.

Are you over paying for your AdWords campaigns? Have you experienced any of the following problems using Google AdWords?

  • High cost to maintain your AdWords campaign
  • Poor quality score affecting your bids
  • Low Click Through Rate for your ads
  • Minimum bid for your keywords is too high
  • Landing pages that don't convert

There is a solution to all of these problems. Get your FREE copy of the Adwords Strategy Guide

The 7 Mistakes That Kill Your Google AdWords Campaign

Discover the 7 common mistakes that most newcomers make when starting an AdWords campaign. Even if you are more experienced, read on as many existing clients have been discovered making these mistakes.

Mistake Number 1: Creating 1 Generic Advert for your entire AdWords Account
A common error is to set up one advert, probably the same one you created when you first set up your Google AdWords Account. Example:

Virtual Office
temporary staffing, virtual office
registered office, mail forwarding
freelanceofficeservices.co.uk

The advert above is trying to advertise several services in just one advert: temporary staffing, virtual office services, registered office services as well as mail forwarding.

So, don't try to fit as many keywords as possible in your advert text. Aim to set up one Ad Group with its own separate advert text for each product or service that you offer.

Mistake Number 2: Not measuring Conversions
It is important to check that your advertising is producing results to allow you to make decisions about whether your Campaigns are working. Internet marketing is highly traceable, so take advantage of this fact. Use a tracking package such as Google Analytics and install tracking code on each page of your webpage where a conversion occurs. Examples of conversions include:

• Purchases
• Sign ups
• Call Back requests
• PDF document downloads

It is useful to note that you can assign nominal values to conversions to allow you effectively measure your Return on Investment. For example, if you normally convert 25% of your Call Back requests into clients, and a new client is worth £1000 to you, a Call Back conversion would be worth £250.

Mistake Number 3: Putting your company name as your advert headline

When creating your first Campaign, it is a common error to place your company name as the advert headline. Your advert headline should contain what your visitor wants. Ensure it contains the keywords that relate to 1 specific Ad Group only! For example:

Bouncy Castles
Hire A Bouncy Castle From £45
Many Different Sizes Available

Aim to match your headline to just the single product or service you are advertising in that particular Ad Group. This will ensure your visitor wants to click on your advert, as it matches what they were searching for.

Mistake Number 4: Directing people to the homepage of your website

A common error is to send visitors to your homepage when they click your advert. People are lazy and have limited attention spans. Show them what they wanted to find, and quickly! You have just a few seconds until they hit the Back Button...... Your aim is to send people to a tightly focused landing page that specifically relates to that single product or service only.

Mistake Number 5: Choosing the wrong number of keywords

Novice marketers often choose just a few keywords for their products and services. These keywords will normally be ones they thought of themselves. The disadvantage is that many of your potential visitors do not think the same way as you do! To overcome this, use a keyword tool (such as the free Google Keyword Tool, which is sufficient for most people's needs) and generate as many related keywords as you can. Select out the ones that are very similar to your original keyword phrase.

The reverse problem is when people use a keyword tool and generate more than 100 keywords for just 1 Ad Group. To combat this type of error, ensure you choose only closely related keywords from the suggestions generated by the keyword tool. For keywords you would like to include, but realise are not so closely related, place them into their own Ad Group instead.

Mistake Number 6: Failing to use Negative Keywords

If you do not want to attract a certain type of traffic, you can avoid them seeing your adverts. For example, you might wish to dissuade people from visiting your website who are looking for "free" or "cheap" items. The way around this is to ensure you include negative keywords.
If they aren't likely to buy, why bring them to your site?

Mistake Number 7: Leaving the Content Network on

Google's default setting is to leave the Content Network on. This means your adverts will be showing on other people's websites throughout the Internet. This will lead to people clicking on your advert who are not interested in buying. Avoid wasting your money. Turn the Content Network off. If you are really interested in making the Content Network work for you, invest some time learning how to use this form of marketing effectively.

Notes for editors: Claire Jarrett is an AdWords Professional, Qualified Teacher and Experienced AdWords Trainer with Computer Training Solutions. She is the lead Trainer on the highly rated DVD course "Master AdWords!" recently released by Computer Training Solutions. Claire is also the managing director of Computer Training Solutions in Bristol, Solihull and Bracknell. Claire offers Google AdWords DVD Courses call 0800 019 6882 for more details.

Facebook Social Ads Versus Google AdWords

Social media marketing is becoming very popular today and one of these websites is Facebook. One of the many ways you can market your business on Facebook is with social ads which are similar to AdWords ads.

Both Google AdWords and Facebook Social Ads Are Cost Per Click or CPM

Both Google AdWords and Facebook Social Ads are based on either a cost per click or CPM basis. This means that you can choose whether you want to pay for the number of clicks you receive or the number of impressions.

Facebook Social Ads Allows a Greater Degree of Targeting

An advantage of Facebook social ads is that Facebook allows a greater degree of targeting. Since people are sharing more of their information with Facebook than they are with Google, Facebook is able to show your ads to visitors based on age, gender, location, interests, or other criteria whereas AdWords is limited to geographical targeting or placement targeting only.

Facebook Social Ads Can Use a Referral Basis

Another advantage of using Facebook social ads is that if the person's friend has interacted with your website or Facebook page and a story is shared about this interaction then your social ad can also be displayed next to this story as a means of referral. If people know that their friends have used this service or bought these products before then they will be more likely to trust you and buy your products or services.

Both Google AdWords and Facebook Offer Statistics to Help with Your Choice

To determine where you are getting better results make use of the Google Analytics tool and Facebook Insight statistics. These both offer excellent information about how well your ads are doing and you will be able to determine where you are getting the best results.

Google AdWords and Facebook Social ads are both cost per click or CPM advertising but social ads allow you a greater degree of targeting and can also allow you to benefit from other people's relationships as referrals. Use both statistics programs to determine which works best for your business.

Mitch Carson is an award-winning direct marketer, consultant, author and columnist who has consulted for the BEST of the BEST in marketing including, Legendary marketer Dan Kennedy, Jay Conrad Levinson author of "Guerilla Marketing", Joe Vitale, Ron LeGrand #1 How to Get Rich in Real Estate, Ted Thomas, Internet Marketing Guru Yanik Silver, Mark Victor Hansen, Co-author #1 Best Selling Series, "Chicken Soup for the Soul", and other marketing experts on advanced direct marketing techniques. He has had been written up in over 140 newspapers worldwide (including the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Washington Post and more), over 600 radio stations, and has been featured in over 200 spots on QVC, Home Shopping Network, Fox News, and Reuters Worldwide. He can be reached at 818-280-0199, http://www.mitchcarson.com and http://www.impactproducts.net

PPC Advertising and Your Business

If you have spent sleepless nights mulling over the sad fate of your online business and are unable to understand why you continue to have a bare trickle of web traffic while your competitors seem to receive veritable floods, then the most probable answer is that, unlike you, they have been using pay per click advertising. Pay per click advertising, or PPC, is amongst the most effective and popular web marketing tools available today, and if you are not using it you are surely missing out on a lot of business.

Many relevant websites will display your ad when you use PPC advertising. These ads with their links will be seen on top or at the side of web pages. This allows visitors to see the ads but does not distract them from the actual website content.

An important part of PPC advertising is the fact that it can give you many targeted visitors. This is because your ad will only be shown on relevant websites that match your products and services. Keywords and content is matched to find the best fit for your ad. This ensures warm ready to buy customers.

Arguably, the most appealing feature of PPC advertising is that you only have to pay if and when the advertising actually works. There is no expense on your part if you simply put up your ad but no one clicks it. However, when someone does actually click on the ad and is directed to your site, you will have to pay for the advertising service according to a previously fixed rate depending on the number of clicks your ad receives. An easy way to control PPC ad expenses is to allocate a specific daily budget and to monitor the number of clicks received per day.

When you are looking for PPC advertisement services you need go no further than Google Adwords. Google has outstanding service and with them you will get great exposure for your ad. The people who are using Google AdWords are themselves searching for products and services. This makes them warm ready to buy visitors.

PPC advertising will help you to promote your website and distinguish it from the competition. However to really take advantage of this method of marketing be sure to understand exactly how it works and how it will help your business. PPC advertising can be very profitable only if you know how to use it.

Before taking the leap of faith and deciding to hire a AdWords management company, you need to visit ProPayPerClickManagement.com. They offer a free pay per click analysis to assist you in deciding whether a AdWords consultant would benefit your online efforts. Go now to learn how they can help your business expand!

Don't Use Google AdWords Until You've Read These Tips

Google AdWords can quickly become expensive if it is used incorrectly. The following tips will show you how to correctly setup your campaigns. You;ll discover what to do and what to avoid.

1) Use Google's AdWords Editor to manage your campaigns.

The AdWords Editor is free tool from Google that helps you manage your campaigns. It allows you to make bulk or multiple updates to your campaign. This saves you time and effort when compared to making manual changes online.

2) Disable the Content Network.

Beginners should stay away from the Content Network in Google AdWords. When you are just starting out, disable the content network in your PPC campaigns. Traffic from the content network is lower quality than Google search traffic, because it's coming from Google AdSense participants who don't care what quality of traffic they send your website. When you have proven ROI from your website, you can use placement campaigns or regular content network.

3) Set a reasonable daily budget.

You want to throttle your traffic and AdWords spending until you have a proven ROI. When you achieve a good ROI, you can increase the daily budget and increase your traffic. You don't want to throttle your campaign by bidding to low per click, because that can affect your CTR. You need a good CTR to maintain a good quality. Throttling your campaign with a daily budget stops showing your ads, so you won't get impressions and damage your CTR.

4) Don't set your CPC too low.

You don't want to throttle your campaign by bidding too low per click, because that can affect your CTR. You need a good CTR to maintain a good quality. You never want to damage your CTR by bidding to low. In fact, if you begin with a high bid, you can achieve a good CTR. After your achieve the high CTR, you can lower your CPC and still maintain a ad good position, saving money in the long run.

5) Don't hang on to poor performing keyword.

You probably have some keywords and ad groups that are not performing well. The half percent is a good goal for a well performing ad. Any ad group or keyword performing under a half percent with a high number of impressions needs to be altered. The poor performing ads can damage your overall campaign CTR and lower the quality score and position of your other ads. Remove the ad group or keyword. If you decide you simply must have this ad group or keyword, move it to it's own campaign and start split testing sales copy changes.

6) Evaluate your landing pages as if you were performing SEO.

Your landing page is examined and scored by AdWords just like your website is for inclusion on the Google search engine. Performing SEO on your landing pages will improve your quality score. The Google webmaster tools can provide free information on how Google scores your pages.

If you don't have a Google sitemap, you can create one for free at the website below.

Are you over paying for your AdWords campaigns? Have you experienced any of the following problems using Google AdWords?

  • High cost to maintain your AdWords campaign
  • Poor quality score affecting your bids
  • Low Click Through Rate for your ads
  • Minimum bid for your keywords is too high
  • Landing pages that don't convert

There is a solution to all of these problems. Slash your AdWords costs in half and get more traffic with the FREE AdWords - Strategy Guide Get your copy now.

AdWords Tips - How to Reduce Your AdWords Minimum Bid - Slap Google Back

Ever been hit with a $15 minimum bid using Google AdWords? Well here is a trick to eliminate the $15 dollar minimum bids once and for all. Okay, so this is not so much of a trick, but rather a technique that helps you to modify your website so that it complies with Google's minimum bid algorithm.

Notice I said that you have to modify your website to make this happen, well what if you don't own the website, that is , the website is owned by a vendor and you are the affiliate trying to make money off of the website? Well don't worry I will cover all aspects in this short article.

How is the AdWords Minimum bid calculated?

Okay, so first things first, the AdWords minimum bid is based on the quality score of the keyword that is used in your account. Therefore in order for you to reduce your minimum bid you must reduce your quality score, and to do this you must get relevancy between the website and keywords. Wouldn't it be great to understand what keywords are relevant to your website. That way you can use those keywords knowing that they match up with the website you are promoting, hence maintaining relevancy both between your advertisement and website.

Well, in fact you can get a clear understanding of what keywords Google sees on your site, by using the Free Google keyword tool found at (https://AdWords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) All you have to do is click on the the website content selection tool and then where it says, Enter a webpage URL to find keywords related to the content on the page, place in the URL of website you are promoting. Hit the 'Get keyword ideas' button and hey presto you get all of the keywords that Google thinks relates to your website.

By doing this you have a clear understanding of what Google is trying to match up.

Now you have to ensure that your advertisement and keywords are closely related to those keywords that you source from Google.

Okay so what if the website you're promoting is not optimized properly for the keywords you want to target? This can be simply rectified by creating a landing page that supports the keywords you want to target. So once you have created the landing page then use the Google keyword tool to make sure that your website is displaying the appropriate keywords and then write your advertisement around those keywords.

With total relevancy in place you should never ever be hit with a $15 minimum bid again.

Grab Your Free Report Of How I Made $27,556.54 In 1 Month Using Google AdWords Get Frank's Report. Or go to http://franksheung.com

PPC Bully Review

First let me say that PPC Bully isn't another eBook - if you're anything like me you're sick and tired of purchasing/reading rehashed material 8 times over. PPC Bully is an online application that allows you to spy on your competition to find profitable campaigns. You can essentially replicate process the super affiliates go through and grab some of that oh so beautiful cash. Oh and it works across multiple networks (ie: Amazon, ClickBank, PayDotCom, etc.).

Just from my description of the application/service I'm sure you can see the logic behind it, so to no surprise it works well. Basically you create a project, add keywords and it scans for current ads running for those keywords. It then monitors those ads and determines the profitability, they call it the "Profitability Indicator" (abbreviated as PI, expressed as [number of days seen * percentage seen] / number of days since last seen).

Besides the PI you're also given the actual ad they're running (as well as all variations), a link to their website, the affiliate network they're using (if they're an affiliate and not a publisher), their current position and a whole lot more. It's truly become an essential tool for me.

I don't want to sound like a hyped up sales person but how can you NOT create a profitable campaign when presented with all of that info? All of the split testing will be done which means less effort/frustration/money spent, you get to see what keywords are converting, what style ad converts best for whatever market you're in and the exact website that does the converting.

If you somehow manage to lose cash they allow you to cancel at anytime, so no need to worry there. If PPC is your thing, or if it's something you want to get into I definitely encourage you to check it out and at least give it a try. If it's not something that interests you, no big deal!

Before you head to wherever you're going, check out my full PPC Bully review - I even give away the strategy I use in conjunction with PPC Bully (you don't NEED PPC Bully though!)! To check it out, click here: http://the-perfect-solution.com/r/ppcb/