Hi, this maybe help to some adwords starters with low budgets.... Adwords can be a complicated game so heres a few things to try. Ignore content network for now and turn that option off as lots of wasted clicks can come from here. To start off pick a max of 5-10 keywords per page or item. Put in your max bid so your ad will show in position 3-4 on page 1 (Broad matches on these keywords will bring a lot of junk traffic, try and use exact/phase match if possible) Now make 2 adverts slightly different with 'call to action' words within them wait a week or so... you will find that 1-2 keywords will get most clicks - delete the rest.(make a note of the ones you used) you will also find 1 ad will get the most clicks - delete the other one. (again make a note of the ad so as not to write the same one again) now - try and beat your own keywords and ads - make another similar keyword and see if it can top the others, if it does - delete the poorest one keeping the 2 good ones At the same time - try and better your advert, make another similar ad if it starts doing better - delete the other one if not, just make another one - keep this going what you end up doing is basicly being in competition with yourself and eventually a great CTR! After some time google will give these very relevant ads a quality score - now you can bring the price down but keeping the same position - waheyy! Remember - the landing page has to reflect the advert, if need be MAKE a specific landing page just for google ads as these can work wonders. Now set up your goals, have a couple of landing pages for the same ad and see which one converts best Voila. Good keywords showing a good ads, landing on a quality page - conversions go up! Another tip, im not sure if you have to be an adwords prof for this but a good thing to try in the titles. make this title inc the brackets; {Keyword: yourkeyword} <--change the keyword to your keyword. This will the show whatever they typed plus the keyword you entered ie. if your keyword is 'door' it would be {Keyword: Door} now if they type in 'wooden door' it will show as your title. Also, dont bother trying to top the big players, its just not worth the money, these guys have bottomless pits when it comes to adwords and have dedicated guys sitting there optimizing ALL day EVERY day just to beat you. Go for a lesser searched term Hope this helps a little!
Sorry - don't agree. The objective is NOT to maximise your clickthrough rate, it's to maximise your profit. You don't want to keep the keywords with the most clicks or the best clickthrough rate, you want the ones which are the most profitable - the closest Google will give you is the cost per conversion, so use this if you don't know your average profit per conversion. Maximising your clickthrough rate is a good idea, UP TO A POINT. You only want people who are interested in what you have, and paying for irrelevant traffic will cost you far more than savings from improving your Quality Score. You should set up your conversion tracking on day one, before turning the campaign on, not once you've decided on your keywords. And the 'long tail' of very specific keywords with low traffic can be your most profitable. Try this as an alternative methodology: http://www.epiphanysolutions.co.uk/google-adwords/optimising-your-google-adwords-campaign
I agree there on a couple of things, maybe its just come out wrong as im thinking it and typing it. I'm not explaining myself right... I did mean the ads, keywords and landing pages that convert. I was talking the initial set up. After a short time they will see what is and isnt coverting and maybe have a bit more knowledge how there audience works. Its pointless really having 1 keyword that is searched once a year but your no1 for it. and yes long tail keywords will bring in more traffic, but also a lot of junk, which is why i said try it not do it. i have done this tatic for many companies and it does work, it just takes time to get the right path. from keyword to ad to landing page all play a huge part in the conversion. ie, if you have a keyword that is doing well in conversions but your new keyword is beating it on clicks, then obviously dont delete it, i think anyone with any brains wouldnt do that, but then play another 2 off on each other. I have accounts now where its ended up 1 keyword for 1 ad for 1 landing page for 1 product and converting very well. Im not saying its the best of the best tatics, but its still something to think about on an initial set up.