If you don\’t know about Google AdWords, get ready to learn about one of the most powerful tools on the Internet. Google Adwords is the best way of promoting your business and your site to the largest community of Internet users in the world, the users of Google?s search engine and Google\’s search partners. There is no greater opportunity on the Internet to attract and hold traffic to your site through paid advertising. But it you are not firmly grounded in the principles of what Adwords is and how Adwords works, you won\’t get the results you need, and you may even waste your advertising budget.
The first thing you need to do to write effective ads for Google Adwords is to determine what your visitors are looking for when they do their Google search. You want to make sure you attract the customers who will find the content they want on your site. If you get inside their heads, you\’ll know what they need and you will develop a better rounded keyword strategy.
You still start with keywords before you use Adwords. Look at the keywords you have on your website right now. Use WordTracker to find additional options and long-tail keywords that place your site in a unique niche. Make the list of keywords as long as you can. Later, as you narrow down your list of keywords, you will find a few high-performing gems that are perfectly matched to your content. Right now, just get all the keywords you can. The match between keyword and content that bumps up high Click Thru Rates (CTR) and conversion rates comes in Step #2.
Next, create and fund your Adwords account. At this point you can begin choosing a smaller list of keywords from your master list for your first Adwords campaign. You will choose that shorter list of no more than 20 keywords and then write your first ad. Write an ad you think will motivate clicks, and then write a second ad with a slightly different wording. This process is called split testing. Comparing ads through split testing will help you find exactly the right wording to attract customers. You will find combinations of keywords and ad text that work optimally to drive traffic to your site. Over and over, you will make small changes that lead to better click thrus and conversions.
If there\’s a basic rule for Adwords survival, it\’s setting your advertising budgets low until you have completed your Adwords testing. Sometimes just $100 a week will get you the data you need to make your site truly profitable. Other times, it takes a lot more than $100 a week to test ads for a broader niche. Either way, always check your returns against your investment. Adwords allows you to do this by inserting values for goals, such as a sale of a product. You will measure conversions to compute whether you have made your money back and by how much.
A good rule of thumb for a successful Adwords campaign is making at least 50% on your money. A 50% return on investment (ROI) is enough to take a profit and fund future growth. Keep close tabs on your ROI and you can expand your revenues and your budget, growing your site with the sales you get through Adwords.
Justin Harrison is a leading Internet Marketing consultant responsible for the Internet Marketing strategies behind some of the biggest online brands including Amazon, BBC, MasterCard and many others.
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