Google AdWords Ad

Top 12 Tips for Effective Google AdWords Ad
By: John Artfield

In this article I show you my top twelve tips for creating effective Google AdWords ads.

I've been testing the Google pay per click advertising system for a while, with much success. These tips will help you create ads that generate higher click through rates, and lower cost per click.

1. Target The Right Audience

Target the right audience by selecting the language and countries that you want to target. For example, I exclude all countries where English is not understood by a large percentage of the population.

2. Refine Your Keywords

Use square brackets "[...]" around your keyword/s.

For example:

[google]
[google adwords]
Your ad will only show when the search is for the exact keyword phrase you have included within the brackets.

The ad will not show for searches that include other keywords. In our example, this would be for searches such as "google search," or "google news."

3. Test Multiple Ads Simultaneously

Always test 2 (or more) ads simultaneously. This is what is known in the print industry as an A/B split test.

Find out which one produces the higher click through ratio. Then replace the weaker performing ad with a new one.

Continue this process in your never-ending quest to get the highest click through ratio possible.

4. Track The Return-On-Investment Of Each Ad

Google tracks the click through ratio of each ad. But it doesn't track the conversion ratio.

Use a special tracking link in each ad to track its conversion ratio. For example, you could attach each ad with an affiliate tracking system link. Make sure each ad produces a return-on-investment.

5. Include Targeted Keywords In Your Ad

Include the targeted keywords in the headline and the description of the ad. Google will highlight searched keywords in bold in the ad.

When people scan search results, they look for the keywords they have entered. Searched keywords highlighted in bold certainly help to catch the user's attention. For this reason, ads with searched keywords usually perform better than ones without.

6. Sell The Benefits

Spell out one or more major benefit in your ad. For example, make more money, stay younger looking, lose weight, get healthier, live happier, etc.

7. Include Attention Grabbing Words In Your Ad

Start your headline with an attention grabbing word. For example, "Free:, New:, Sale:, etc." Make sure you stay within Google's editorial guidelines.

8. Use Words That Provoke Emotion & Enthusiasm

Use power words or call-to-action phrases that provoke emotion, enthusiasm and a response.

Here are some examples of power words:

free, cheap, sale, special offer, time limited offer, tricks, you, tips, enhance, discover, fact, learn, at last, free shipping, etc.
Here are some examples of call-to-action phrases:

* Buy Today - Save 50%
* Download Free Trial Now
* Sale Ends Tomorrow
Make sure the phrase specific to your business, otherwise Google may reject the phrase.

9. Sell Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

What makes your product or service better, or different, from the competition? Spell them out in your ad.

For example, one of Amazon.com's first taglines was "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." That's a powerful USP!

10. Link To Relevant Landing Pages

If an ad is for a specific product or service, create a landing page for the ad. Include relevant and useful information to convert the customer. Generally, a well designed landing page will almost always convert more visitors than if you simply sent the visitor to the home page.

11. Remove Common Words

Remove common words, such as "a, an, in, on, it, of, etc." Remove every word that does not absolutely need to be in the ad. Make every word count.

12. Deter Freebie Hunters

Deter freebie hunters by including the price of the product or service at the end of the ad. This will improve your overall conversion ratio and lower your average customer acquisition cost.

This may reduce your click through ratio, but that's OK. After all, you're not trying to target every body, only potential customers. In most cases, freebie hunters will never become paying customers.

Conclusion

Remember that advertising is a never-ending series of tests. Always track your ads. Never stop testing different keywords and ads to improve your conversion ratio and lower your customer acquisition cost.

Advertising in the Google AdWords advertising system works. It may not necessarily produce as many visitors as Overture, but the click through cost is usually lower.

Master the art of advertising in Google, and you could outsmart the competitor who's always outbidding you in Overture. ;o)

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SEO vs. PPC vs. Paid Billboards

By: Benjamen Walks

I just read an article regarding SEO vs. Pay Per Click on an internet forum. The article summed up what it means to appear # 1 through #6 in Google's natural search perfectly. The quote was "Having the first spot or even the 5th or 6th in Google for your keywords is like having a huge billboard in the middle of Times Square." Think about that for a minute. Let that sink in. Got it? Good. Let's continue. The article goes on to say "That kind of traffic is intense and the exposure is priceless! We can say the same about a great ranking on a PPC campaign, but remember one thing - you will always have to pay for it. Free clicks in sponsored search? Never."

Let's examine the first statement. Imagine being a major retailer and one morning you wake up to hear that posting a billboard of your most prized product in Times Square is now free and that the duration of that ad campaign could be indefinite as long as you correctly setup your billboard. Do you think Steve Jobs would pass on a opportunity to put up a massive animated billboard of his new IPhone in Times Square for free? Oh yeah and he could keep it up for as long as 2 to 3 years. Your damn right he wouldn't. I bet you most CEO's of major corporations wouldn't either. That is exactly what a company can achieve when they do their due diligence in setting up their SEO strategy.

When done right a company that attains the top results on Google for their major products or services receives priceless exposure. Google's traffic is similar to the mass audience that strolls through Times Square except they are targeted. Now tell Steve Jobs that not only will he get his billboard up in Times Square for free and for roughly 2 to 3 years, but that the city of New-York will also be replacing the thousands of visitors who come through with visitors that are in the market for a smart phone. Currently on Google there are 146 million advertisers for the keyword for "smartphone." Imagine telling that 146 million they could have that billboard.

My previous 4 years in the interactive space has taught me that most internal marketing departments of companies do not have an SEO strategy. Although that's a rather small sample size of companies I would imagine that most major retailers do not have a plan for SEO. The year of 2007 appears to be the time when E-Retailers will be forced to recognize that PPC isn't the only search solution.

Having seen a client have this PPC experience, and simultaneously reading the succession of articles of companies pulling PPC, we realize this is happening to a lot of folks. The question is whether or not the CPC rates are worth the return. If your company is doing Pay Per Click, maybe it is time to start thinking about where your nearest Time Square is and how you may get your "Billboard."

So, most of you will think, why should we deal with all this PPC and SEO strategy? Can we just have exclusive rights to put billboard on "Time Square" of internet? Most of you will think that it's impossible. But think again, we're living in IT era where nothing seems to be impossible. Every next year we are getting more and more possibilities and most of them seemed to be impossible as short as two years ago. This is how the IT department at Billboard Ranking started the research on solving this problem. And to develop this unique technology of placing electronic Billboards, on top of all major search engines in form of a search query result.

What does it mean? Let me explain: you buy keyword from BillboardRanking.com and associate it with your website, which you want to promote. After that, every time an internet search of specific keyword or phrase is searched, and you purchase the phrase from BillboardRanking.com, in any of known search engine, your website is framed on top of search results a billboard with your web page appears. How unique!

And remember, you are not sharing this keyword with any other advertiser. You have unique rights for this phrase during a year or more, and you don't need to fight with other advertisers and bid more to put your keyword higher than other advertisers. Once registered all traffic derived from your words will now be delivered to your website. You will have access to a login area were you can track your visitors.

BillboardRanking technology is used in conjunction with search engines to provide direct access to websites, giving users the ability to navigate from any point on the Internet directly to our client's website, or even a specific location deep within their site.

With BillboardRanking.com all you need to beat your competitors is to get your keywords and phrases registered in their system as soon as you can and start getting traffic to your website. Why ASAP? Because someone else (maybe your competitor) can register those keywords and have unique access to all traffic from those keywords.

This technology is not the sole answer to the magic question of "being on top" of all search engines. However, when used with PPC and search engine optimization, it does offer an advantage over your competitors.

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