Rich Minx

Lots of ‘money’ bloggers write about Google AdSense but not too many tackle AdWords (nod to Art of Money for getting me started on this topic). I’ve been using AdWords for years, managing my own campaigns and other people’s to generate more traffic, so below are some tips from me to you.

What is AdWords?
AdWords is a pay per click Google advertising product that lets you sign up for an account, choose your daily spending budget, write some ads for the site you want to promote and add some related keywords where you want your ad to appear. When Google users search under those keywords, your ad will appear depending on how much you are spending per click.

Reasons for using AdWords:

• You control your daily budget. You can spend as little as 10c a day if you want. When your budget has run out, your ads stop appearing.
• You control (mostly) when and where your ad shows on Google.
• You only pay when users click on your ad, not when it is displayed.
• Used correctly, AdWords can help you get more targeted traffic to your site, and if you set up the conversion option it can also help you track your sales/signups from visitors who arrived via AdWords.

Reasons against using AdWords:

• There is no guarantee that people who click on your ad will buy/sign up for something. Your spend on AdWords may not pay for itself if your campaign is not optimized.
• Maybe there is too much competition for your keywords and your ad appears far down the ad list on Google, or not at all.
• You may prefer to concentrate only on optimizing your site for ‘organic’ (natural) searches which are harder to control but are free.

Tips for optimizing your AdSense campaign:

• Geotargeting. Google lets you decide which countries/cities to target. Where are most of your readers? Where is your content targeted?
• AdWords for Search, not Content. AdWords can appear in Google search results (Search) or in the AdSense ads of similar sites (Content). I personally find switching off AdWords for Content helps optimize my campaign.
• Timing your display. You can choose to bid more during key seasons/days/times. If you’re selling stuff, maybe there’s a time where it’s worth bidding more to appear higher. Check your stats for indications of traffic fluctuations.
• Create multiple ad groups with specific keywords. Organizing your campaigns helps you keep track of what’s working. Don’t use vague, expensive keywords. Use niche keywords that will ensure users clicking to your site get exactly what they wanted.
• Use the Keyword Tool. Google’s keyword tool generates variations of your most popular keywords, suggesting some you (and other advertisers) may not have considered.
• Use Negative Keyword Searches. If you want to appear under the keywords ‘women money’ but not ‘women money sex’, a negative keyword search will accomplish this!
• Create beautiful ad text. Get the spelling right, avoid exclamations and too many caps. Use the keywords in your ad text. Include a ‘call to action’ such as Buy, Read or Visit, which motivates the user to click then and there.
• Create multiple ads. Experiment with different ad text and see which ones perform better. Google automatically serves the most popular ads more often.
• Use targeted landing page urls from your site. Don’t link to the homepage and expect the user to find their way to the relevant product. Dump it in their face as soon as they click.
• Check your ‘exit’ points. Where do users exit your site from, and why? Analyze these clues to help your campaign performance.
• Aim for a high clickthru and conversion rate. You don’t need thousands of impressions or even tons of clicks to make your campaign a successful one. The key is targeted, relevant traffic that will make the most of your site.

Hope that helps. Have you got AdWords experience and stories? Share them in the Comments!

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