Considering Google Adwords, your thoughts?

Hello,

I have started a site and wondering should we go for Google Adwords and does it work for you and how? Personally I don't click the Adwords links because most refer to something you aren't looking for. Also, any info on the free $50 on Adwords too?

Cheers .

 

Is the best site selling a product or service?

Google Adwords can make you lots of money or it can take lots of money from you, but you need to have a strategic plan of action. You cant just jump in, buy some keywords and magic sales happen from then on.

Many successful marketers and companies spend weeks of planning before moving forward and plan out exactly how to get the traffic and then convert it.

Also, it takes money to make money, if your worried about $50 of advertising dollars, then adwords is probably not in your price range. I usually recommend spending at the very minimum $1k for testing, and average monthly budget should be in the $2k - $10k range depending on your niche.

If you plan on being a major player, a budget closer to $50k - $100k per month is usually about right.

 

I'll second what robert mentioned above. AdWords is a high-risk model. Its deceptively simple and any newbie can get the hang of the system; however, making a profit out of it is a completely different ballgame.

As for your question on 'not-clicking on Adwords' : Well, people do click on adwords with a decent CTR (click through rate) of 1.5-3% for an ad in 4-6th position. (see the heatmap - the clicks on ads is relatively less, but even this can mean 100's and 1000's of clicks).

Ultimately, initially you must have some money to test the system. Also, this is not a set-it-forget-it model. You WILL need to actively monitor your ads and keep on tweaking them ... Most of the big companies hire AdWords professionals for managing their PPC campaigns.

 

start out with a small test campaign with a daily budget in place and determine what are your goals

-signup?
-sale?
-lead?

use conversion tracking to naildown a price your are paying for each conversion and adjust from there up/down

when you have it where you want it you can expand and scale with more keywords etc ...

 

You can start small which is nice. But it can take a lot of time to perfect... And Perfect is a moving target

 

Best post in this thread.

 

Pay per click marketing is the largest source of revenue for Google, so believe it or not people DO click on those ads

 

There are two main points you just cannot ignore:
1. A successful AdWord needs to be selling something (and that's best if it's dealing with only one product or service) and the more it's based on a Unique Selling Proposition the more the chance of it attracting visitors (not to mention resulting in conversions).
2. There's a decided (and often lengthy) learning curve before a campaign will work. There's no overnight success involved, nor is there any luck to it. You need to refer to as much information as you can find, not only from Google itself, but also the several recognized gurus (such as Perry Marshall).

Duncan