The most common thing I see when reviewing clients online marketing strategies is ineffective Pay Per Click campaigns (Google Adwords) that are costing them a fortune with no ROI or targeted leads.  Below are a few things that will help make your 2010 Google AdWords efforts profitable.

Lets assume you already have a Google Adwords Campaign setup to drive highly targeted traffic to your website. Here are the top 7 things based on my experience that you should check or hire me to check for you to force your pay per click campaign into profitable and fruitful efforts.

1. Wasting Money and Clicks on the Content Network – Edit your campaign settings and turn off the “Content Network” check box. All you are doing is telling Google to only show your ads on the search network when people are actively searching for what you are offering. My experience is lower click through as a general rule with the Content Network, and it can have an adverse effect on the profitability of your search campaigns. ** NOTE: the Content Network should be targeted in separate and individual campaigns as it requires a completely different set of rules for efficiency and profitability. By no means am I recommending that you stay away completely, just do not blend search and content together.

2. Use your Keywords more often in your display ads. – Make sure you are using your keywords in the ad title, the body text and also in the display URL. This will make the keyword highlight in bold and draw the users eyes to the keyword that they were searching for. The more you can use the keyword in the ad without looking like you are keyword stuffing the better. Think higher relevancy for increased CTR.

3. Lazy Keyword Selection….. The Lazy approach is to group loads of keywords together in one ad group. This will affect how relevant your ads are and will also give them a lower CTR. A simple example is “Cheap Sneakers”, should not be in the same ad group as “Air Jordan Sneakers”. If you are creating an ad group for “Air Jordan Sneakers” it could contain “Air Jordan Sneakers”, “Nike Air Jordan”, “Michael Jordan Shoes”, but not “Cheap Sneakers”. Focus on drilling down to highly focused niche groups for increased effectiveness and click through to conversion.

4. Generic & Non Specific Landing Page – If you are running an ad about a specific product or service then make sure the landing page is only about that product or service. You will get more conversions because you are giving your potential customers exactly what they are looking for without making them search for it on your site. This means DO NOT send your Google ad clicks to your home page that has numerous additional links on it. In addition to the Lazy Keyword example above, if they were searching for the keyword “Air Jordan Sneakers” then send them directly to your Nike Air Jordan Sneaker page. You will see your conversion rates increase.

5. Not Using Negative Keywords – Keywords that you do not want your ad to show up on. You do this by placing a dash “-” in front of the keyword in your keyword list or within the designated location underneath your campaign settings. Nearly all clients existing AdWords campaigns that I review do not use this feature, which is bad because it means they are paying for clicks on non relevant search terms. This is especially the case if you are buying clicks from “Broad” keywords, because your ads will be triggered on keywords that utilize “additional” words than what you have selected.  Ex: Broad match keyword you are bidding on:  Sneakers.  When a user searches for “Nike Sneakers” your ads may be shown and will potentially be clicked even if you do not sell Nike Sneakers.  In this case I would enter a ” -Nike Sneakers” or “-Nike” negative keyword into the list to prevent your ads from showing on that particular phrase.

6. Neglecting to Split Test Ads – Always, Always, Always …. create a second, third and sometimes fourth ad and make small changes to your copy and split test which gets higher click through and conversions. An example would be testing the use of punctuation and/or capitalization in the copy body or URL’s to increase conversions. eg. www.moreclicks.com used as the display URL in an ad is likely to get 1% or 1.5% less click through than www.MoreClicks.com. If you are not currently split testing your ads then stop reading now and go implement this because it is the best thing you can do for your business.

7. Using Unprofitable Generic Keywords – Some Keywords are more profitable than others – Focus on the “buying keywords” rather than “generic keywords” to keep the cost of your clicks down and only pay for clicks from potential customers who have a higher probability of buying. Ex: Say you are an electronics retailer and you are selling specific MP3 players. Don’t bid on the keyword “mp3 player”, instead focus on your buying keywords such as “iPod Nano Video” or “Microsoft Zune MP3″. Your more likely to land a more relevant visitor that has a higher percentage of buying.

If you follow the above 7 things to Increase your AdWords Profits in 2010, I am sure they will do just that!

Here is to your success in the New Year.  May all your efforts be honest and fruitful.

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Even if you’re satisfied with your account’s performance, it’s a good idea to fine-tune. Here are some tips to help get you started.

First Things First

• Identify your ad/optimization objectives. Is your goal to increase clicks, conversions or both?
• Know your audience (Teenagers? Business owners? Shoppers? Men? Women?)
• Are the products/services you offer organized in a concise & clear manner on your website?

Once you have answered these questions, read the tips below for “Keyword Selection”, “Ad Copy”, “Landing Page”, “Targeting” & “Bid Management” optimization ideas.

1.    Keyword Selection

• Make sure the keywords are relevant to your site. Selecting the right keywords is key to attracting customers as they are more likely to spend more time and money on your site if they find what they are looking for right away.
• Know your niche and the keywords/phrases associated to your products and services. Make sure you have a good balance between general and specific keywords and phrases that relate the content of your pages.
• General keywords will drive volume to your site as well as customers that don’t have a specific product in mind or that are open to various product offerings. Specific keywords drive highly qualified customers that have a specific product, service or offering in mind. *This would be your Niche
• Avoid selecting keywords that are too general. These may drive users that are looking for entirely different products or markets that are not part of your website.
• Use the following strategy to select keywords:
  • General & specific terms related to your website
  • General & specific terms used by competitor websites
  • General & specific terms related to your niche market
  • For product keywords, be sure to also include model numbers/letters if applicable
• Example Campaign: Online Job Site
  • Select general terms: ?jobs, career, employment, resume
  • Avoid too general terms: ?education, health, sales, engineering, nursing
  • Select targeted terms: ?job listings, job search, online jobs, online job search, job opportunities, employment opportunities, job postings, online job search
  • Select highly targeted terms: ?nursing careers, careers in healthcare, sales jobs new york, nursing jobs new york, advertising jobs seattle, engineering jobs, accounting careers, jobs in education, teaching positions, job listings los angeles, job listings Chicago
  • Include negative terms to avoid irrelevant terms associated with a particular keyword: ?For “job”, include negative terms such as “blow”, “hand”, “nose”, “discrimination”

2.    Ad Copy

• Include the keyword in the title and description. Users are more likely to click on listings in which the keyword is included in the title and description.
• Include call to action terms in your ad copy: “Buy”, “Send”, “Order”, “Save”, “Purchase”
• Include special offers or promotions: “Free Shipping”, “25% Off”, “Get Rebate”
• Highlight seasonal events: Holidays, Valentine’s Day, Back-To-School, Halloween
• Ad Copy Example: Valentine’s Day
  • Save On Valentine’s Gifts?
    Shop Jewelry, Candy, Flowers & More
    Save 30% On All Valentines Gifts!
    www.AskFlowers.com/Valentines

3.    Landing Page

• Make sure the landing page is relevant to the keyword. Avoid sending users to general pages or to your site’s homepage. As previously mentioned, customers are more likely to spend more time and money on your site if they find what they are looking for right away.
• The best practice is to have each ad group lead to a unique landing page, which is tied conceptually to the keywords. Grouping like keywords and tying these groups to a unique landing page is a good alternative strategy.
• Avoid sending users to pages with search results. Sending the user from one group of search results to another group of search results hurts performance as it creates an unnecessary burden on the user and as it increases the chances that non-relevant search results may appear.

4.    Targeting

Broad vs Exact Match:

• Broad matching pluses:? Allows for more comprehensive targeting; increases click volume and allows the advertiser to capture search combinations not captured by their keyword list.
• Broad matching minuses:? Increases chances of capturing clicks from an unintended audience and lowering CTR by serving listings to non-relevant search results. Recommended to be used with 2+ keyword combinations, unless single term is highly targeted.
• Exact matching pluses:? Allows for more limited targeting; reduces chances of capturing clicks from an unintended audience and lowering CTR by serving listings to non-relevant search results.
• Exact matching minuses:? May be too limiting; majority of searches on Google.com search using 2+ keywords in their query string. Recommended only for keywords that are too general.
• Negative matching (Using Keyword Negatives with Broad matching):? Negative keywords stop listings from being displayed on selected non-relevant search results.

5.    Bid Management

• Bid into the top 3 positions to maximize exposure. Sometimes #3 spot is better than #1, you have to test them both and see which has the higher ROI.
• Group listings into categories/groupings in order of importance.
• Bid high on keywords with high performance or with main business drivers.
• Adjust bids regularly depending on bid landscape to retain top position and desired ROI metrics. (Note: do not change to often as you will want atleast 5 days of data to evaluate the performance.)
• Set and adjust your maximum bids and your daily budget according to desired ROI metrics. Adjust these to increase/decrease click volume to maintain ROI performance.

If you would like to have me give your Google Adwords account a honest evaluation, sign up for my FREE 15 minute coaching call.

In addition, if you are looking for someone to manage your account and fine-tune the settings listed above contact me directly at info [at] jasontrump.com.