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There's a reason why Google grosses
$6 billion/year. Searchers click on those little,
4-line ads to find what they're shopping for. In
fact, Google Adwords pay-per-click (PPC)
advertising is the most realistic way for new or existing
businesses to add hundreds - thousands of dollars/day in new
revenues, starting in just 15 minutes...
But, how does one Adwords advertiser get on the 1st page of Google,
while a competitor remains buried on page 2? What
makes the difference between campaigns in
the red vs. those in the black?
There are 5 keys to Adwords profits:
1. Setup
2. Keywords
3. Bidding
4. Copywriting
5. Optimizing
Master only one, and put your campaign on Pause. Master only 2, and
you'll still be in the red. Master only 3, and you might break even. Master only 4, and you might make a profit. Master all 5, and watch your revenues soar.
Most Google Adwords ads leave money on the table,
due to low clicks from programming errors. Or, unqualified
clicks drive-up Google's stock, instead of yours. Plus,
unpersuasive ads reveal an ignorance of advanced copywriting strategies. And, that's just the tip
of the iceberg...
Before we look at Adwords strategies, let's ask a basic question...
Is Google Adwords Right for Your Product/Service?
Do you have any competitors on Adwords?
If not, then take your foot off the gas pedal, slow
down, pull over, and look at the map. There's a 95% chance that your product/service is a good candidate for Adwords, especially if competitors have long–running campaigns.
To thrive on Adwords, you need 2 factors: Popular keywords that describe your product/service, and healthy profit margins.
Believe it or not, a few, new products
fail on Adwords. Why? Because their concept is so new,
they have no popular search terms yet in the English
language.
For example, how many popular keyword
phrases can you think of for a software program to
help legal email marketers bypass spam filters? (I
confess: Not my strongest campaign. Yet, now I forewarn prospective clients who have a similar keyword problem.)
Of course, you can target indirect
keywords, but direct keywords convert much higher.
(Nice to know when you're paying for every click,
isn‘t it?)
In addition to popular keywords, you need a decent profit margin. I'll never forget the restaurant owner who told me that his average profit/sale was only $6. So, I advised him to pause his Adwords campaign.
Forget Branding/Image Advertising, Think Direct Response Advertising
It's a fact, branding/image
style PPC advertising doesn't work, period.
Only direct response works. And, the philosophical
mindsets of the 2 styles take years to learn (or unlearn.)
You know those silly TV commercials,
like the beer ads? Unfortunately, they often leave
you remembering only the joke, but not the product.
The goal of that kind of branding/image style ad is
name recognition by using humor. It's like
hiring a comedian as your sales rep.
On the other hand, the goal of direct
response advertising is to motivate readers to respond
now (for lead generation or sales.) That's like
the goal of PPC: To motivate readers to respond now
by clicking your link.
You can learn copywriting by studying the direct response copywriting legends like Gary Bencivenga,
Eugene Schwartz, Ted Nicholas, Jay Abraham, and Dan Kennedy (if you've got the money to afford their training courses.)
The more years you study direct response copywriting strategies, the more you know which
words to choose to make buyers jump out of their
seats.
OK, let's get down to business. The following 8 strategies will advance you to the 95th percentile of Adwords advertisers. (I know, because I read their ads every day when I search Google. And, 19 out of 20 ads reveal obvious signs of incompetency.)
1. Know Your Competitors and Prospects
Research! Any shrewd advertiser prepares
to write winning ads by printing out competitors'
websites, and studying their ad copy, in order to
beat them. Look for 2 things: Keywords and words/phrases that sell.
Learn to read your prospects' minds by asking yourself several questions, like these...
- What are your prospects' demographics?
- Which emotions trigger them? Fear,
money, worry, security?
- What are your prospects frequently
asked questions?
- What are their most common objections?
- What is your U.S.P. (unique selling
proposition?)
Here's a complete list of ad research questions to help prepare for your ad campaign: PPC
Advertising Survey.
2. Select Only Relevant, Targeted Keywords
Find your keywords by using Google's keyword tool and Yahoo's keyword tool. One advantage of Yahoo, is that they estimate the number of searches/month for each keyword. To estimate the number of searches on Google, multiply the Yahoo searches by ~1.65.
As an example, let's pretend you're selling Florida Keys vacation packages. Here's a partial list of keyword searches from Yahoo in March 2007...
# of Searches
in March 2007 |
Keyword
Phrases |
| 4177 |
florida keys |
| 2131 |
florida keys rental vacation |
| 1956 |
florida keys real estate |
| 815 |
florida keys fishing |
| 330 |
florida keys diving |
| 229 |
florida keys travel |
| 202 |
florida keys cook book |
| 137 |
florida keys vacation |
| 120 |
florida keys resort |
| 116 |
florida keys newspaper |
From the list above, select only the relevant, qualified keyword phrases such as: florida keys rental vacation, florida keys fishing, florida keys diving, florida keys travel, florida keys resort, and florida keys vacation. (In most cases, you don't want to target the general keywords like: florida keys.)
3. Identify Dozens of Negative Keywords
Highly profitable campaigns usually contain dozens of negative keywords. Negative keywords prevent your ads from displaying to searchers who are unlikely to buy. This helps to decrease your clickthrough charges, while raising
your clickthrough rates.
So, from the keyword list above, let's select these negative keywords: real estate, cook book, and newspaper.
4. Divide Your Keywords Into 40-80+ Ad Groups
Separate your keywords into dozens of Ad Groups. Include closely-related phrases in the same groups. In the example above, one Ad Group might include: florida keys vacation, florida keys vacation rental, florida keys vacation package, and florida keys family vacation.
5. Divide Singular and Plural Keywords Into Separate Ad Groups
Adwords
highlights only exact matches in bold. So,
if someone searches “mortgages,” but an
ad says “mortgage,” then that word does
not get highlighted in bold. And believe me, your
CTR suffers.
Laziness tries to take shortcuts.
But, a conscientious advertiser writes separate ads
for high-traffic singulars and plurals.
6. Write Different Ads for Each of Those Ad Groups
One of the most costly and common
mistakes is using the same ad for all your keywords.
You must, I repeat, you must change at least the ads'
headlines to include each different keyword phrase. Plus, if the keywords require
it, you must change ads' body copy to compliment
them.
The goal is to get the keywords highlighted in bold
in the search results. Why bold highlights? To stop readers
from skimming when they see exactly what they're
searching for in bold.
7. Sreen-Out Unqualified Clicks From Running-Up Your Credit Card Bill
There are several ways to qualify your
prospects, including:
-
Restrict your ads from showing
for negative keywords, or in specific countries, states, or cities.
-
Write qualifiers in your ad
copy: Demographics, price, etc.
8. Invest 25-35+ Hours Tweaking Your Profits
A normal Google Adwords campaign
requires ~30 hours spread-out over a 30-day period:
2 days to program it, and 28 days to test new ads
to tweak your CTR. Thirty days seems to be enough
time to test every conceivable variable.
A highly-optimized campaign may test
as many as 40 ads on the highest traffic keyword Ad
Group, and 100+ ads for the whole campaign. If you
don't understand how to find over
40 variables to test in one ad, that's an advantage
that comes from knowing dozens of direct response copywriting strategies.
In summary, Google Adwords can generate record revenues for you, if you have
the right setup, keywords, bidding, copywriting. and optimization.
Which result will you see next month: Losses, mediocrity,
or record revenues?
Warmly,
Greg Gibson "The PPC Consultant™"
P.S. Here's the bottom line:
Google Adwords can either sink you in the red, or realistically double, triple, even
quadruple your profits for the next several years. Now that you know the 8 strategies above, you're better informed than 95% of your competitors.
In case you think I might be the right consultant to help boost your business, here are my 7 services and
fees: PPC Advertising
Fees.
(If you're looking for a guy standing on a street corner, holding-up a sign
saying, “Will Write Adwords for Food,” then I'm not your man.
But, if you understand the value of high-quality work, then we've got something in common.)
Because it takes ~30 hours to optimize
highly-profitable Adword's campaigns, I can write
only ~5/month. So, if you want to reserve a time in my
schedule, then email me now: Contact
P.P.S. These PPC profit strategies
disclosed above are only novice ideas. My advanced
profit strategies, learned from writing 102 campaigns, are reserved exclusively for clients.
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