Adword Stats

adrookie · #1 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 01:42 AM

I read everything I could on adwords and spent many hours researching and refining my keywords to promote
an online business. I have been really happy with my
CTR which is at 3.8 for over a month now. In fact on one keyword I have lowered my maximum CPC 2 times and have kept the top position. Despite the good stats and almost 200 clicks I am not seeing any new business. Google claims new customers in 15 minutes..
Any Ideas

Dave Hawley · #2 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 02:49 AM

Hi adrookie

Here is my recipe for success

1) Don't use let your AdWords show on sites using AdSense.

2) Target only counties that can afford to buy. This often means no third would countries etc. If your product/servive is local, then only show you ad to relavent countries.

3)Bid the min only, 10c pc

4)Use as many combinations to keywords and phrases as possible. For example, if selling "Excel Templates" I would use

Excel Templates
Templates Excel
Xl Templates
Templates Xl
Microsoft Excel Templates
Excel Templates Microsoft
Excel Microsoft Templates
MS Excel Templates
Excel Templates MS
Excel MS Templates
Finacial Templates
etc etc

The idea with this is to exchaust every possible term that could be used. By doing this you are unlikley to fall below the 0.5% CTR that cuts out the keyword/phrase.

5) Set your daily limit VERY high. If you use steps 3 and 4 above you are *very unlikely* to reach this limit. I have some set a $600 per day and they never exceed $30.00. The idea of this is to keep your ad showing which help a LOT when bidding the min.

6)Make full use of negative keywords. Use
-Free
-Freeware
-sharware
etc

7)Mention the word "buy" or a $ value in the ad. This helps stop the freebie hunters.

fathom · #3 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 03:53 AM

Three things to add to Dave list:

Aim your CPC to place ad at an average position of 7.0, with your daily rate high Google will favor you at higher positions than others with high CPC but lower daily rates.

Check current Adwords that are displayed for each term and attempt to make yours more appealing and stronger call to action. If you are at a lower position but getting more clicks than those above you - you move up (even if they are willing to pay more.

Use broad precise "quoted" terms in conjunction with the negative tool e.g.

[search engine]
-strategies
-engines
-submission
-submit url

and check frequently (at start to catch other irrelevant queries - this way you can capture all highly relevant low yield queries and eliminate irrelevant ones over time.

You can go from CTR of where you are at to 10% in a short period of time.

Mel · #4 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 03:54 AM

In my experience poor conversion rates are often associated with the way your ads are written.

Try to look at your ads from the viewppoint of your customer, and try a few variations to see it different ad copy helps the conversion ratio.

fathom · #5 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 04:11 AM

One more that I forgot:

run many different campaign (not everything in one) seperate phases according to CPC e.g. cost around 6-10 cents in one campaign, 10-15 in another, 15-20 in another and so on.

Many reasons for this - the first if you really start getting to your own daily budget you can stop higher price ones and keep lower costones going.

Additionally, the scalable campaigns allow you to easily see which campaign is actually producing (or set of keywords) and not.

With the principle of position 7.0 you run less risk of being pushed of page #1 for some ads, plus easier to position all ads at 7.0

hmng · #6 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adrookie

In fact on one keyword I have lowered my maximum CPC 2 times and have kept the top position. Despite the good stats and almost 200 clicks I am not seeing any new business. Google claims new customers in 15 minutes..
Any Ideas

I have heard that the top (#1) position gets a lot of "curiosity" clicks. I haven't tested this myself to confirm the hypothesis.

In each ad group, you can also test up to 3 different ads to see which one gets the best results.
When you do this, make sure you uncheck the option to automatically optimize the ad showing (under "Edit campaign settings"). Otherwise, Google will automatically show the one that initially gets a few more clicks more often.

Also depending on your type of site, Adwords may not be the best way to go.

Hock

Duncan Pollock · #7 (**permalink**) 03-24-2004, 09:32 PM

You could also take a look at what Perry Marshall has available -- see his webpage at http://www.perrymarshall.com/google/
Just a month ago I learned about him -- yep, per one of these WPW posts, though I haven't gone looking to find it again -- and I'm astonished by what he knows and what he can steer you into doing.
I'd been lucky enough to survive with AdWords for several months -- just one campaign deletion right at the beginning -- but I just knew I could do better if I knew how. Thanks to his Definitive Guide (which isn't free but also doesn't cost an arm and a leg), I'm now seeing a 50% increase in clicks and, slowly but surely, realizing what I need to do to push my conversion rates up.
Give him a try.

Duncan
PS. This is an unsolicited testimonial. Perry does have an affiliate program, but I'm neither involved in it nor do I have any interest in becoming so. Hey, for one thing, I'm too busy getting the real hang of AdWords!

rawdist · #8 (**permalink**) 03-26-2004, 06:07 PM

For each campaign run three ads with very different wording. After a certain number of clicks or a time limit, it's up to you, come back and drop the lowest performing ad and replace it with one similar to, but not the same as, the best performer. Repeat this process at regular intervals and hey presto - auto-optimising ads. Ok I know it's not really automatic, but it requires little thought to home in on your best wording.

adrookie · #9 (**permalink**) 03-31-2004, 04:30 AM

Thanks for all the information from everyone.
For the first 30 days of March my 2 best performing
keywords had the following:
145 clicks and 3.34%ctr
54 clicks and 4.32% ctr
However I have not seen any signups from all this activity. Do I need to keep this campaign running for
several months. Someone told me a prospect has to visit your site 3 times before they buy.
My campaing is just showing on US sites, and only shows on "search results"no "content targeting" I have also made extensive use of negative keywords.

rawdist · #10 (**permalink**) 03-31-2004, 05:24 AM

I wouldn't base everything around CTR. I might even go as far to say that your CTR rates are a little high at 3.5-4.5%.
It may be better to reword your ads to encourge only those likely to buy your product or service.

To give a very crude example (forgive me if it appears condescending but I am trying to clarify the point by keeping it simple):
If you were to run an ad saying "make money on the internet - no set up costs" then you might get a high click through, but many of those won't have a website or understand affiliate marketing. A more targetted ad (Webmasters make money here) might bring in less clicks but more "sales". In other words weed out the disinterested or casual visitor before you pay for the traffic and thereby get better value for money.

Dave Hawley · #11 (**permalink**) 03-31-2004, 07:08 AM

Quote:

I wouldn't base everything around CTR. I might even go as far to say that your CTR rates are a little high at 3.5-4.5%.
It may be better to reword your ads to encourge only those likely to buy your product or service.

It may be better to reword your ads to encourge only those likely to buy your product or service.

Excellent advice. I argued with Google on their policy of disabling keywords below a 0.5% CTR. I told them I purposley aimed my ads at serious buyers, which is why I could not careless if my CTR was < 0.01%! I always used words like "buy", mention a $ value, in my ads and used negative keywords like -Free, -Freeware, -Sharware etc They of course wouldn't budge.

I have now figured how to get clicks on the very min (10c) without having keywords disabled. This and restricting to ONLY countries that can afford what I sell makes AdWords the best out there!