Have you heard of Google Adwords? Probably you are already a little familiar with the Internet’s most powerful tool for promoting your business to the largest community of Internet users in the world. There is no bigger opportunity to reach out to customers all over the Internet than Google and its search partners. Using Adwords effectively can make your site pay for itself and earn you huge profits, but if you don’t really know what Google Adwords is and how it works, you may waste your ad money on subpar results.
Step #1 for creating ads that get traffic to your site from Adwords is to make sure you know what your potential visitors are looking for. It’s not all about keywords. You need to get into your visitors’ heads to know what they are looking for when they visit your site.
Do some basic keyword research. List the keywords that are already on your site. Be objective about how the content on your site will attract customers and motivate them to come back or to make purchases. Use WordTracker and Keyword Discovery to find more keywords. Start brainstorming a list of words and phrases that you think potential customers will look for on the net. Make the longest list you possibly can. You don’t have to whittle it down straight away, but you will find a few high performers that will give you high Click Thru Rates (CTR) and conversions as your Adwords campaign matures.
Don’t try to use all your keywords all at once. After you set up your Adwords account, Step #2 is to begin bringing a manageable list of search terms from your comprehensive list of keywords into your campaign. Create that first ad from the most promising keywords. Write just one more ad with the same keywords but different ad copy to see what really encourages your CTR. Making the ads slightly different helps you establish which wording gets you more traffic for your money. You will repeat this process over and over again as your AdWords campaign matures. You will find small changes in wording, punctuation, and capitalization that bring in incremental improvement?and sometimes dramatic improvement?in your click thrus and conversions.
Don’t spend all your advertising budget up front. Be sure you set your budget low until you know which ads and which keywords work best for you. In some niches, $100 a week on Adwords can create a huge impact on site traffic. In other niches, you may need to spend a lot more. But whether you spend a little or a lot, make sure you check your return on investment. Adwords allows you to do this by setting a performance goal, such as units sold. This tool allows you to determine whether your Adwords campaign has earned your investment back, and by how much.
Always aim to make at least 50% return on your investment. A 50% return will ensure a profitable campaign that allows you to fund expansion of your site and gives you some profits to pocket. Paying attention to CTR and conversion rates makes it possible for you to grow your site from the sales you make with Adwords.