Effective AdWords
I've called this page Effective AdWords since for most people AdWords is synonymous with Pay Per Click (PPC) - and so that's what they are likely to type into a search engine.
However, as you will soon see, AdWords is just part of the picture - and maybe a different picture from the one that you will be painting.
However if you are new to this, have a quick look at the Google Help. Better still, read down a little further and you will get a link to the best free AdWords resources.
PPC the fastest way to make money and the quickest way to lose it
Done correctly, PPC can be very effective. Many affiliate marketers don't even bother with social media, commenting, bookmarking, PR etc - they just pay for the traffic and make a lot of money. Others pay for the traffic and lose a lot of money.
The Basics
As the name suggests, if you use PPC, you will pay each time someone clicks on one of your ads. The ads appear in two places:
- at the side, top or bottom of search engine results and
- contextually - on other peoples' websites (they share a proportion of the Ad Revenue - if you would like ads on your website, get in touch with one of the PPC providers) or in other places such as around your email if you use a service such as Gmail
To place PPC ads:
- register with a PPC system
- decide on your keywords
- create the ad (you can see above how little scope you have)
- point your ad to a (landing) page on your website
- bid on your keywords
When someone types in a search query using your keywords or visits a page in the content network that contains your keywords, then your ad may appear (depending on the size of your bid in relation to what others are bidding).
The price of a click depends on how competitive the keyword is ('weight loss' = expensive). In most cases, the highest bid gets the top position. Google AdWords is a little more complicated because it tries to place the most relevant ads at the top. This means your position and the price you pay is driven by:
- the match between your AdWord text and the search keywords
- the match between your AdWord text and the content of your landing page
- the frequency with which people have clicked on your ad in the past - the more they click, relative to other ads that appear, the cheaper / higher your ad will be
If you decide to use AdWords, it is essential that you understand these factors.
Free 5-day Course
Learn from the acknowledged AdWords master, Perry Marshall. Click on the image on the left to receive a free 5-day AdWords course and a 1-page cheat sheet summarizing the essentials of AdWords marketing.
Perry offers a full range of AdWords marketing support, from courses right through to one-on-one consultations.
The PPC Networks
The major PPC networks are those belonging to the major search engines. They each provide their own tools, diagnostics, reporting etc.
- Google - make sure that you download the Google AdWords editor, it will make your life much easier
- Yahoo
- Microsoft
Google is by far the biggest in the market. This can mean that you may get a better deal with others as they seek to prise business away from Google. However, whilst Google retains its pre-eminence in search, it will provide you with more traffic. On the other hand, you may be able to achieve top spot on other networks for much less and, by virtue of your top position, you could receive more traffic.
There are other PPC networks to consider too:
The platinum rule in PPC is that you must: test, test, test.
Google Analytics will be of great assistance in this area.
