Google AdWords – money well spent?
Category : click through rate , cost per click , Google AdWords , keyword analysis , ppc advertising
The cost of adverting on Google has steadily increased over the past few years. So is it still worthwhile?
The answer all depends on how you set up and manage your campaigns.
An AdWords campaign has to be well organised and regularly maintained to be cost-effective. Your set-up checklist should include:
- well researched keywords
- carefully targeted AdGroups
- keyword focused adverts
- sensible keyword bids
- compelling landing pages
- a realistic budget
Many campaigns make the mistake of casting the net too wide – grabbing every available keyword and bidding for it – thinking that more is better. It’s a shortcut to a poorly focused campaign that uses up budget but delivers few results.
Campaigns need to use each AdGroup to focus on a service, product or group of keywords with compelling adverts designed to produce a high Click Through Rate and a good quality score.
Get this right and your keyword bids need not cost the earth and your budget should be manageable.
Once set up you need to know, ‘Is the campaign working?’ Click Through Rates may be good, keywords regularly in the top three positions and all within budget . . . but this is only part of the story.
To keep a strong campaign working effectively you also need feedback from the website. But I’ll look at this vital element in the next posting.
Also to come . . .
Maitaining your AdWords Campaign
When the target keywords are beyond your budget
Running AdWords on the Display Network