When you are new to AdWords, it is tempting to devote far too much time and energy in trying to craft that "killer" ad. But the truth is that writing ads is a science, not an art. Here are a few of the rules.
1) Do not Fly Blind.
In over five years developing AdWords campaigns, we have not ever seen a profitable example that did not track conversions.
AdWords Conversion Tracking is simple to install and a "must" for measuring ad performance. Remember, by itself the Click-Through- Rate (CTR) of an ad tells you nothing about the ROI it is delivering. We have seen many examples of ads with a lower CTR, but higher conversion rate.
Google Analytics obviously adds a great deal more data, but takes time to master. However, one feature worth using immediately is its ability to tell you which ad position yields the best results.
Finally, do not forget the AdWords Reports section. This has improved significantly over the past year, and the Search Query Performance report is a real asset in optimizing keywords and ad copy.
2) Cut out the Middle Man.
In this case, the "middle man" is Google. When developing and testing your ads, it is vital to put yourself in control as far as possible:
Delivery Method: By default, Google spreads the delivery of your ads evenly throughout the day, ensuring you do not exhaust your daily budget (and they get to spend as much of it as possible). However, it also serves to mask the true demand for your product or service. We have seen many cases where ads are more profitable at certain times of the day. If you have a limited budget, spend it when you will get the best return. We recommend running campaigns using Accelerated delivery. Keep an eye on your daily budget and adjust accordingly.
Ad Serving: If you are running multiple ads, Google will automatically start favoring the one with the highest CTR once a certain volume of clicks have been received. We do not use the default Optimize option, and recommend you select Rotate for ad serving.
We have AdWords campaigns for some of our clients that have been running for over three years, but we always maintain at least two ad variations per ad group. Even if there is only a single word difference, one ad will ultimately prove superior and deliver an improved ROI.
The Rotate option also gives you more granularities when testing ad variations. Say you want to do a 1/3-2/3 split; you simply create two copies of ad "A" and one of ad "B". Using the same principal allows you to create 60/40 and 70/30 splits, which are very useful in some circumstances.
Network Options: Start your testing using Google's Search network only. Uncheck both their Partner and Content networks. Once you have some solid data from mainstream search traffic, you can add their Partners. Google's partners are a pretty "mixed bag", and you may decide to exclude them altogether (we often do).
Finally, enable the Content network and Content Bids. Do not run on the Content network with the same bid as Search - you are just handing Google money. By default, we set Content Bids at 1/10 of that on the Search network: so if your Search bid is 0.50p, set your Content bid to 0.05p for openers.
If you find your product or service has "traction" on the Content network (true in about 25% of cases in our experience), it may be worth running separate campaigns for Content searches.
All these options can be set from the Campaign Management tab in your account. Select a campaign and click the Edit Settings button.
To be continued..
No comments:
Post a Comment