RELEVANCE

 

Adwords campaigns are all about relevance. Campaigns should be set up granularly with properly written and tested ad messages for each keyword theme. If you put all your keywords in the same group you’ll end up being less relevant than your competitor. You’ll still get clicks but the clicks will not be qualified and the users will most likely not convert for you. Setting up an ad and mentioning that you’re a water damage specialist might make sense in a regular banner ad, however, in AdWords it’s about being the most relevant choice. Someone searching for frozen pipe repair will see two ads:

1)      Expert Water Damage Specialists.

      Call Now!

2)      Trusted Restoration and Repair Specialists.

      Services: Water Damage, Frozen Pipes, Leak Repair…

By looking at the two ads, the customer can be 95% sure that the first ad can help with frozen pipes, but with the second ad, they will be 100% sure of the specific benefit from using that company. The more groups you choose, the better message you can send.

 

BUDGET

 

Being limited by budget is a case of wrongful bid management. Limited by Budget status means that your limit is being reached on a daily basis before midnight. When the limit is reached, the ads stop being shown until the next day when the budget is reset. Being in the top spot is not all that counts, especially as a small business. Visibility matters, but not as much as conversions and ROI in the beginning. You don’t get conversions out of visibility. By lowering your bidding by 30-50%, you’ll get a lower position, but you also pay less per click. Your budget won’t be reached too early and you can get more clicks.

 

BROAD MATCH

 

Keywords in AdWords have different types. The standard type is a Broad Match which has an expansion option that lets Google show your ads for anything remotely relevant. Keep to Broad Match Modifier instead of Broad Match to ensure you’ll only pay for the most relevant clicks.

 

TOO MANY CHANGES

 

Optimizing your AdWords account is important but be sure to only make changes as necessary. Consistency is needed to achieve statistical significance and too many changes will make your account perform worse and worse.

Writing for the AdWords format can be a challenge, but it is not impossible to launch a successful campaign. AdWords aren’t suited for full sentences. Short, direct messages work best.

Get your feet wet. Understand the basics.