Google Adwards Dummies

Google AdWords: Terms to Know
Google AdWords is rich in jargon and insider language. You may find that it's helpful to have a ready list of common AdWords terms at your fingertips.

ad position: The placement of an ad on the Google search results pages. Position #1 is at the top of the first page.

bid price: The maximum amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay for a click from a given keyword.

call to action: Directions within an ad or a web page for the reader to take an action.

Campaign cloning: A process we developed for the purpose of testing under controlled circumstances that yield the highest odds of success before cloning those testing efforts into more speculative areas of AdWords.

conversion: A desirable action by a website visitor, including joining a mailing list, buying a product, calling a phone number, or downloading a file.

CPC (cost per click): The amount an advertiser is charged for a single click. Different keywords cost different amounts, depending on competition.

CTR (click-through rate): The number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of impressions. The higher the CTR, the more effective Google considers the ad.

Display network: Websites, forums, or blogs that aren't owned by Google, but have Google AdWords ads (also known as Adsense ads) on them.

impression: The display of an ad on a web page.

Interruption Marketing: A term we refer to when discussing the Display network and the fact that someone wasn't actually looking for a solution to a problem, but might be reading about something related to the problem or solution that is being advertised.

landing page: The first webpage shown after an ad is clicked. The page is constructed to appeal to the same desire as the ad.

Permission Marketing: A term we regularly refer to when discussing the Search network, and the fact that someone is actively searching for a solution to a problem.

PPC (pay per click): The advertising model that charges advertisers only when their specific ads are clicked.

split test: Test that divides online traffic randomly between two or more creative approaches (ad, website, e-mail, and so on) and measures which one generates more conversions.

Search network: The online network people go to when searching for a solution to a problem they're having.

traffic: The number of visitors to your website.

visitor value: How much money, on average, a single visitor to your website is worth.

Google AdWords Campaign-Optimization Tips
Creating a Google AdWords campaign — successful or not — can be a complex endeavor. The following list details several helpful hints that can save you time and headaches when you're creating an AdWords campaign:

Separate Google, search partners, and Display network traffic into different campaigns. Keep your traffic streams separate so you can track the visitor value from each stream individually; optimize your sales funnel for each group.

Separate broad, phrase, and exact match types into separate campaigns (or if volume doesn't allow, separate ad groups) in order to monitor how differently those match types perform.

Create tightly focused ad groups with closely related keywords. Avoid sloppy ad groups with thousands of words all pointing to some loosely related ad. Group common desires and mindsets, write targeted ads, and send each to a targeted landing page.

Place underperforming keywords in new ad groups and optimize the ads for those keywords. If one of your top traffic keywords in an ad group is getting a significantly lower CTR than the rest, move it to its own ad group and write an ad with that keyword in the headline (and perhaps in the URL).

Build ad groups with enough traffic to split-test in a timely fashion. Don't take too long to declare split-test winners.

Add long-tail keywords to decrease CPC and increase traffic. Three- and four-word phrases tend to have less competition and represent buyers rather than lookers.

Focus your energy on the changes that will make the biggest difference. Before managing and optimizing your account, sort campaigns, ad groups, and keyword lists by impressions. Start where the most traffic is so your improvements lead to increased or more qualified visitor flow.

Landing Page Elements to Test in Google AdWords
Your most important AdWords job is to test and identify keywords and other elements of your site to make sure you're getting the best response possible from your online traffic. Here are a few suggestions about the best landing page elements to test for these purposes:

Headline: Use the results from your ad split tests to inform different headlines. Proclaim a big benefit, ask a question, start telling a story, make a scary prediction, and so on.

Offer: Do your visitors prefer an e-book, a newsletter, a mini-course, a sales quote, a CD, a return phone call, a cheat sheet, or a suitcase filled with unmarked $100 bills? (Just kidding about the suitcase.)

Location of opt-in form: Try the opt-in form on the right or the left, above the scroll, every four paragraphs, and so on.

Graphics: Test different photos of the product. Add shadow. Make the pictures bigger or smaller. Experiment with removing the header graphic. Try different colors and fonts for text and hyperlinks.

Background color: Try lighter or darker colors, warmer or cooler, with or without repeating background graphics.

Multimedia: Test adding audio or video to your page to orient, instruct, and win over your visitor.

Become a Pay Per Click Expert in 5 Quick and Easy Steps!

Ever heard of the 90/10 pay per cliíck rule? Basically it says that 90% of PPC success is enjoyed by only the top 10% of advertisers who know the inside methods to getting the most from their PPC campaign. And oddly enough, it’s basically true. Especially when it comes to Google’s AdWords, which offers the most advanced methods to help advertisers get their money’s worth (and then some!)Some people use PPC as their primary source of search engine marketing while others use it as a way to get steady supplemental targeted traffíc. As an SEO professional I’ve developed PPC campaigns for my clients so they get targeted traffíc while the organic optimization is ramping up, which often takes weeks or months. Whatever the reason, PPC is a good way for any online business owner to get targeted traffíc and a great way for those who know how to use the system to their advantage. And that’s exactly what this article will do for you.
But before we dive in, just why is AdWords so valuable? There are plenty of reasons but for starters…
1.) AdWords listings are seen by more than 80% of all Internet users on millions of sites ranging from Google and AOL to very specific niche locations it would otherwise take forever to research and manage independent advertising accounts with.
2.) Your ads can be targeted specifically by region or language.
3.) Ads that you can constantly update and test are a great way to test what keywords are really best for targeting in your organic SEO efforts, which can be very time consuming and expensive.
Step 1: Get an AdWords Account
If you don’t already have an AdWords account, it’s easy enough to sign up for at http://adwords.google.com. Once you have your account you can begin creating ads and finding the best keywords. Actually, you can use Google’s free AdWords keyword research tool even without an account by visiting:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Step 2: Develop a Killer Ad
Here are the things to know about ad development broken out by Title and Body…
Ad Title:
1.) Use targeted keywords NOT your company name
2.) Mention a benefit, rather than a feature.
3.) Take advantage of the “Dynamic Titles” feature by entering the following code in your title “{KeyWord: Your Keyword}” (without quotes.) This allows you to use the same ad body text with a dynamically generated title that matches exactly what the searcher is looking for and makes your ad the most relevant it can be. By the way, this is case sensitive; “{KeyWord: Your Keyword}” will make the first letter of each word capitalized while “{keykord: your keyword}” will make it all lower case.
The body or text of your ad need only do two things; hook ‘em and then reel ‘em in. The hook is something that peaks their interest such as “íncrease your profíts with XYZ software.” While reeling them in involves what traditional marketers refer to as a “call to action.” This might be “Download your Free 30 day Tríal now.”
Note: Do not over capitalize your ad. At best just capitalize the words you feel are most important to the viewer. It’s OK to capitalize the first letter of each word in the title but not the body.
Step 3: Maximize URL Usage
While we’re on the subject of what the searcher sees in your ad, we need to consider the URL. Google will let you make the visible URL different than the actual URL leading to the landing page where the visitor will end up after clicking your ad. This is huge! Take advantage of it.
This feature will let you test multiple landing pages in your ads to see what pages are converting sales best while showing the visitor the “display” URL for your product. Let’s say the landing page being tested in this particular ad is “…com/XYZ/purchase3.htm.” When that ad gets clicked you will soon see if “/purchase3.htm” is converting better than “/purchase1.htm.” But here’s the magic… By using a display URL of “…com/XYZ/” , and actually having the product there as well, you are building your brand and providing a visual queue for users to manually type in the URL if for some reason your landing page is unavailable.
Step 4: Use Special Keyword Advantages
Obviously keywords are a very big factor in the success of your campaign. Choosing the best keywords is extremely important and using Google’s “Keyword Matching Options” can help take your great keywords one step further. Just clíck the “Advanced option: match types” link when setting up your ads and choose from the following…
1.) Broad Match: Is the default and will show your ad each time all of the keywords in your keyword phrase are entered.
2.) Phrase Match: Looks for the order of words in your keyword phrase and only shows your ad if the order matches. Your ad will still show if your phrase is any part of the search query, but only if the word order is the same.
3.) Exact Match: This is the most stringent and will only present your ad if your exact keyword phrase, and ONLY your exact keyword phrase, is used.
4.) Negative Match: This is a nice feature that will stop your ad from showing if a word appears in the search query that you don’t want to get clicks for. The most common example is “free” which would eliminate you paying for clicks from people who just want a free version of what you offer.
Step 5: Find and Use the Best Keywords
Now for the most important aspect of your PPC campaign; keyword selection. The more targeted keywords you can find, the better. Google offers a great free keyword tool as we discussed early on. Here are the qualities to look for in your keywords:
1.) A good “Average Search Volume” rating (check out the blue bars)
2.) A high search volume for the previous month (especially true for seasonal topics)
3.) The lowest possible “Advertiser Competition” rating
4.) Look for common misspellings and use the “exact match” feature to get plenty of low cost targeted traffíc.
5.) Scroll down the page and find hidden gems that others miss. There are a lot for those who look carefully enough.
Insider Tip: You can also collect hundreds of low volume keywords, put them in a spreadsheet for easy upload and use the “Dynamic Title” feature we discussed earlier to generate hundreds of low cost highly targetëd leads.
Professional Tip: SEO professionals typically use specialized keyword selection and SpySoftware because it does weeks worth of work in a matter of hours. Keyword Elite for example, can generate thousands of valuable keywords in minutes and does “ethical spying” that exposes the competition and makes placement takeover easy.
That’s all you need to know to join the top 10% of PPC advertisers getting the most out of their campaigns with minimal effort. Best of luck!
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