Okay -- Here's my stupid question for the day. I hear people all the time talking about running a test campaign for a keyword. I've built a couple of mini sites around keywords that I depended on the numbers from the Google keyword tool, Wordtracker, and/or Nichebot, only to find out that the actual impressions I received when I set up my Adwords campaign were nothing close to what these tools were telling me. I hear people talk about doing a test campaign -- maybe with direct linking -- but I've also read that Adwords doesn't let you direct link anymore. As picky as they've become about affiliate links, I'm afraid to even try it. Can someone please clarify this for me or give me some suggestions on how to run a quick test campaign on a keyword? Thanks
You've read wrong about direct linking. You ARE allowed direct linking. It's INdirect linking that Google objects to. Use phrase and exact matches with the keyword tool. Also, keep in mind that if your budget is too small, you won't maximize your impressions. That may be a reason for your numbers not to jive. Plus, the tool says there was X impressions last month. That doesn't predict what it will be this month.
Thanks for the reply. Okay. Now I'm really confused. Pretty much everything that I am promoting (Clickbank books), the publisher is also advertising for. I thought that Google would only allow one ad showing for that domain? Maybe there's just something I'm not understanding.
Yes, only one ad at a time can show for any one domain. The ad with the highest rank (QS times bid) will show. So get a better ranking. It may not be the publisher that's advertising, it may be another affiliate. Not that it matters, you have to be smarter and beat their ad.