Let's face it... Google Adwords is not the only source of traffic on the internet, nor is it free. However, if you cannot convert the traffic you get from the pay-per-click traffic on Google Adwords, your site surely won't convert the casual visitor who may or may not be ready to buy what your are selling.
When spending money for pay-per-click (PPC) traffic, whether it is from Google Adwords, Overture, or a 2nd-tier PPC network, the key is to track your traffic to see if it converts into sales. There are many software products and online services that can track your traffic. For a recommendation, visit: http://www.superiormarketingpartners.com/adtracking.html
Many people that have tried Google Adwords have lost their shirt, so to speak. Some keywords on Google Adwords are cheap (keyword phrases start at a nickel per click). Some keyword phrases on Google Adwords can cost tens of dollars per click. If you end up paying high per-click prices on Google Adwords and don't sell a high-ticket item on your site, even the most enviable sales conversion rate won't turn a profit.
There are several tricks to advertising on Google Adwords that unless you know them, it becomes almost impossible to turn a profit on your advertising.
Secret #1 - Only bid on exact match keywords
Google Adwords has a few different 'keyword matching options' available. When a keyword is placed in brackets like this: [keyword], it is called an 'exact match.' This means that only when someone enters that EXACT keyword phrase will your ad appear. It might occur to you that by limiting your keyword(s) to only exact match, you are eliminating all those people that may be searching for the phrase "cheap widgets" or even "widget" singular, since only the keyword "widgets" plural is an exact match. Believe me, this is exactly what you want. Sure, it will take extra time to create an adgroup within the Google Adwords system for each keyword phrase you want to bid on, but you will know with 100% certainty which keyword(s) are converting into sales this way. If you do NOT use the exact match option in Google Adwords, then there is absolutely no way to know which keyword(s) are resulting in sales on your site.
Secret #2 - Bid to be in position #2 or 3
When someone searches on Google for your keyword, the first page of search results are going to reach the most people. What you want to do is position your ad in one of the top 3 spots. You don't want position #1 necessarily, because that position costs the most and doesn't give you much more benefit than being in position 2 or 3. You pay less for these spots than position 1 and gain most of the benefit.
By being in one of these top spots, your ad gets a higher 'click-thru rate' (CTR). This is good is because the Google Adwords system actually rewards you for having an ad with a high CTR by charging you less per click! Google Adwords exists to make money for Google. If they have two companies advertising for the same keyword, and your ad pulls a 10% CTR and your competitor's ad for the same keyword pulls a 5% CTR, then Google Adwords makes more money from your ad. Google Adwords rewards you for this higher CTR by charging you less per click than your competitor!
Secret #3 - Negatively qualify your ads
Admittedly, the problem with having an ad that has a great CTR is that it gets a lot of clicks! Unless your traffic converts into sales, it's hard to turn a profit on your Google Adwords ads. The key is to put words in the ad that DISCOURAGE people from clicking on the ad unless they 'pre-qualified' to convert to a sale. For example, if you have site that sells widgets that cost $10.00 each, then put something in one of the lines of text in your ad like 'Widgets cost only $10.00.' The only catch is that if your ad isn't getting a very good CTR in the first place, then a negative qualifier is only going to reduce your CTR.
Your next step? There are many more techniques to learn that will increase the profitability of Google Adwords campaigns. The above tricks will start you off towards making Google Adwords work for you. Check back for Part 2 in this series. You can get a complete course that covers every tip and trick you will ever need by visiting: http://www.superiormarketingpartners.com/adwords.html
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