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What's the secret to NOT losing money with AdWords?

Discussion in 'Google AdWords' started by Tearabite, Dec 27, 2006.

  1. Tearabite

    Tearabite Prominent Member

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    #41
    I am studying.. It's very expensive studying :rolleyes:

    Still profitable so far (barely) .. i just added 175 negative keywords. we'll see if that targets the traffic any better and gets me a higher % of conversions..
     
    Tearabite, Jan 21, 2007 IP
  2. vgsmike

    vgsmike Guest

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    #42
    "test, test, test" is the regular mantra, but I don't think I've seen a lot of good resources that really offer solid start-to-finish answers on exactly how best to do that (including technical details) and exactly what to look for (other than just improved CTR).

    What is effective testing? Is there a method to it, or is it just shooting in the dark with various ad copy until you can conclude certain ads work better than others? What is their measure of success? Most resources seem to think CTR is the end-all-be-all of split testing. Others are so aggressive with ROI that it can stifle actual profit (I would rather get a 50% ROI on every $100 spent than 75% of every $50.) To me, effective testing optimizes for max profit, and doesn't just drop me off at ROI or CTR. So is there a resource that teaches how to best optimize for that?

    Also, is there another way for an affiliate to find out what keywords/ads are selling when a sponsor doesn't provide any useful referral data? For example, for one sponsor, I know sales were made, but I don't know what ads were clicked to produce the sales or what was actually bought. Google's conversion tracking tools don't help since their tracking code can't be added to the checkout.

    etc. ;)

    Thanks.
     
    vgsmike, Jan 22, 2007 IP
  3. beejeebers

    beejeebers Peon

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    #43
    The best true measure of success is return on investment. I know you can have a crappy roi and still make a profit, but if your roi goes up, less capital is required to generate more profits. So first thing is figure out what your target roi is. Let's go with 100% for simplicity sake. That's your starting point. So now let's find something to promote. Let's go with a credit card that pays $15 per lead. That means you can spend $7.50 and to get one lead and keep your roi at 100%. So, go and get some keywords now for your account. Let's assume you love google and want to play with adwords. Should you:

    a.) buy wordtracker, input "credit cards" and then input your list of 45,000 terms into your adwords account.
    b.) research your competition and find competing companies, competing sites and other credit card related terms like apr and interest rate charged, etc. Once you hit 25-30 terms STOP. You've got enough to start now.

    If you go with option a. you are like 99% of adwords newbies. Unfortunately this is incorrect. With adwords you need to go slow. So break your small list up into related terms and then make adgroups out of those terms. Why so small? So you can bid high and not have your budget drained without giving you and good TEST data. So say you broke it up into 2 adgroups. You know that you can spend $7.50 on EACH keyword. IF it converts before it hits or at $7.50 spent, it's a keeper, if it doesn't, it's not. (Although you can keep ones that close because you can modify the ads to get a better conversion.

    So, you start slow, test, prune, delete, adjust and then repeat with new keywords. That's the way to succeed. It takes patience and a willingness to discard the crap, but it does work.

    Nope, solution is dump that merchant. There are thousands out there that will give you the converting keywords. Sometimes it's an email to the account rep, but they usually have ways of tracking these things they may not make public, so you have to ask.

    Hope that helps... :)
     
    beejeebers, Jan 22, 2007 IP
    phree_radical likes this.
  4. Franck S

    Franck S Peon

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    #44
    The secret is to learn from experts, like everything.
     
    Franck S, Jan 23, 2007 IP
  5. jtothek3030

    jtothek3030 Guest

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    #45
    hope the negative keywords work, trying to figure that out too
     
    jtothek3030, Feb 9, 2007 IP
  6. rochow

    rochow Notable Member

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    #46
    I have the answer to how not to lose money on adwords. Listen in to the secret:

    Don't spend money until you have read ALOT on the topic!

    I know it's pretty obvious advice - but can everyone honestly tell me they have read enough to feel confident in their ability to make money using adwords?
     
    rochow, Feb 9, 2007 IP
  7. Binko

    Binko Peon

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    #47
    Here's some advice to make your Adwords campaig profitable.

    1. Make a thorough keyword research

    Walk the extra mile when you do keyword research. Don't throw away similar but irrelevant keyword phrases because you'll need them later. Just keep them in a separate list for now.

    2. Select specific keyword phrases

    If you only sell CANON DSLR cameras but your ad also pops up for CANON Video camera searches, you are not specific enough. Instead of using a few generic words you should create an extensive list with very specific keyword phrases that together covers all wanted variations of the parent keyword.

    3. Use negative keywords

    Your ads for "high-end Widget services" should not pop up when a bargain hunter searches for "free Widget services".

    Your list of similar but irrelevant keywords is now very useful. Use the list to identify keywords you don't want your ads to show up for. Google AdWords allows you to enter negative keywords to prevent your ads from popping up for the wrong search terms.

    4. Use [exact] or "phrase" match

    Using broad match will give you more clicks but also more unwanted clicks. You don't need broad match if you use the extensive and very specific list you created in step 2.

    Check your log files and you can see that your ads shows up for some pretty weird and totally unrelated search terms if you use broad match. Always use exact or phrase match for the majority of your keywords. Only use broad match when the risk for "false" impressions is low.

    5. Match the ad copy with the keywords in the Ad Group

    Group similar keyword phrases into Ad Groups and create ad copy that closely match the keywords. This helps you to minimize unwanted clicks and increases the CTR as a positive side effect.

    6. Use geographic targeting

    Depending on what you sell promote it might be a good idea to select geographic targeting. This helps you minimize unwanted clicks from irrelevant regions.

    There are many more things you can do but i need to keep the post short.

    / Peter
     
    Binko, Feb 11, 2007 IP
    Tearabite likes this.
  8. KA1

    KA1 Peon

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    #48
    Binko... very informative list.
     
    KA1, Feb 11, 2007 IP
  9. mrlynam

    mrlynam Active Member

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    #49
    perry marshalls guide is for complete beginners, though it is an interesting read with a good point here and there. but adwords is all about losing money at the start until you perfect it. keep trying and you will make money
     
    mrlynam, Mar 29, 2007 IP
  10. amac0428

    amac0428 Peon

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    #50
    It might be that you're advertising on the wrong keywords. I'd suggest doing some more research to find out what type of person is finding your landing page, possibly by reading other content sites or message boards.
     
    amac0428, Mar 29, 2007 IP