by David Browne
Have you ever wondered why some AdWords campaigns just don’t work while others are like cash machines?
Do you think AdWords works for others but just won’t work for you?
Often AdWords campaigns perform badly because the fundamental structure is wrong. The basics were just not right in the first place.
As a business owner, you have three choices…
1. You can ignore AdWords
(and lose out on the vast array of people searching for your product or service right now – because they are)
2. You can set up AdWords yourself
However, Google doesn’t make it easy, and it takes a lot of time to get good at it.
For every second, minute, hour, day you spend trying to get good at AdWords is a second, minute, hour, day that you’re not in front of prospects who can say yes to your proposition.
Being in front of prospects is the only activity you can choose to do that has a positive effect on your bank balance.
Getting good at AdWords and the million other things you could get good at does not bring money in.
3. Get someone else to do it for you
Now, this is probably the best option – or is it?
Over the last six years I’ve audited AdWords accounts which have been set up for small businesses by others – and sadly a lot of these accounts perform poorly – why? – because the basics have been ignored.
There are some smart things that you can do with AdWords, but most small businesses never get to use them simply because the fundamental structure of the campaign is wrong.
It’s just like building a house – you’ve got to get the foundations right – because if you don’t, then everything else you build on top of it will be doomed to failure.
Google handsomely rewards those campaigns that are set up and managed correctly – in the form of lower click costs. Did you know that you can command a higher position on the search engine results page at a lower cost per click than those ads below yours – if you’ve set your campaign up right in the first place? Google needs to see a high degree of relevancy between what the searcher is looking for, the keywords you’ve chosen, your ad text and the page the searcher lands on when they click on your ad.
If that’s not right, then you can pay a huge 400% penalty – Yes – a massive five times more than somebody who has better relevancy. Get your relevancy absolutely bang on, and you’ll get a 50% discount on your click cost over a competitor who has average relevancy A couple of years back, at one of the EC’s incredible National Events, Nigel & I presented “Nine Things You Need to Ask Yourself (or Your Agency) About Your AdWords Account.”
The feedback was fantastic – Members had taken the “Nine Things” and used them to examine their own AdWords campaigns (or asked the questions of whoever was responsible for running their AdWords account).
Including one member who was not only unhappy with the response to the Nine Questions when she asked the agency managing her accounts (a large national company) but found out that her ads had not even been running for the previous six weeks – despite her paying for that to happen.
I recently presented the “Nine Things” to a Masterclass at EC’s National Support Centre (although this has now evolved into the 10 Things) and again the feedback was incredible.
You see, the real secret of successful AdWords advertising is getting the basics right. Unfortunately, so many people get this wrong including people who should know better.
The 10.5 Things are so important, I’m going to summarise them here…
One
Check which keyword-match types are being used. This can have a significant impact on how much you spend and how successful your campaign is.
Two
How many negative keywords are there in the campaign? Negative keywords are a way of ensuring that you only spend money showing ads to people searching for exactly what you offer.
Three
What geographical area is being targeted and are you sure your ads are not being shown outside that area? Just a simple switch inside AdWords is the difference between where you want your ads to be shown and them appearing from Azerbaijan to Zanzibar, and don’t laugh – this is one of the most common mistakes I see in AdWords campaigns.
Four
What time of day are my ads being shown? Why show ads during the night if your prospective clients are sleeping?
Five
How often do you download (and study) the Search Term Report? This is, without doubt, the most valuable report that AdWords produces for your campaigns. It tells you exactly what search terms you’ve paid for. It’s exactly what the searcher has typed in – misspells and all. This is a valuable source of new keywords and negative keywords.
Six
What are my keyword quality scores? Your quality score determines how much you pay for clicks as well as determining where your ad appears on the search engine results page.
Seven
How many different types of ad extensions are being used? Ad Extensions are additional pieces of information that you can use to say more about your o er. It’s the only way you can put a telephone number in your ads and most importantly – they make your ad bigger and more eye-catching.
Eight
What conversions are being measured? A conversion could be a sale or a prospect requesting more information from you. It’s important to measure this properly as Google uses the information to determine if your audience is engaging with your ads and landing pages. Once you have enough conversions, you can use Google’s advanced machine learning techniques to make your campaigns even more successful.
Nine
How optimised is the landing page? Your landing page needs to match your keywords and ad.
Ten
What remarketing is being done? Showing ads to people who have previously visited your site should be a key strategy as these people are more likely to buy.
Oh, and the 10.5?
Make sure your ads are running!
