Could you tell me what you think?
Discussion
A while back I posted regarding Payment Service Providers and in particular Worldpay for a new business I was setting up, (we did go with Worldpay in the end).
As I'm not a web designer I used an outside company to set up the templates for me, but designed the navigation etc. myself.
I'm now looking to use google adwords to promote the site, but don't have a lot of experience as to how much I will need to budget - google isn't to helpful as it seems to indicate a daily budget in excess of my total capital! So, I'm looking to spend in order to achieve click throughs to the site, but the problem is that the site deals with lingerie etc. and there are a lot of searches to lingerie on the web.
Anyone got any experience of launching an internet business and how long it took to obtain orders, ratio of orders versus visits, google adwords? etc.
Thanks
Igg
As I'm not a web designer I used an outside company to set up the templates for me, but designed the navigation etc. myself.
I'm now looking to use google adwords to promote the site, but don't have a lot of experience as to how much I will need to budget - google isn't to helpful as it seems to indicate a daily budget in excess of my total capital! So, I'm looking to spend in order to achieve click throughs to the site, but the problem is that the site deals with lingerie etc. and there are a lot of searches to lingerie on the web.
Anyone got any experience of launching an internet business and how long it took to obtain orders, ratio of orders versus visits, google adwords? etc.
Thanks
Igg
It depends a lot as to who your target audience is.
Just because your business is online, it doesnt mean that your limited to online methods of reaching your potential customers.
As an example, I've recently set up a small scale pilot project for my current employer selling IT kit within the motor industry.
This was kicked off by mass mailing to a targeted database and several weeks of solid telesales activity just to get the clicks happening.
We'd manage the first order manually then try and transition them onto using the website without further human intervention in day-to-day ordering.
Who are you planning to sell to?
With a little detail as to who your aiming at, perhaps we can provide some advice as to how you could potentially hit them?
Just because your business is online, it doesnt mean that your limited to online methods of reaching your potential customers.
As an example, I've recently set up a small scale pilot project for my current employer selling IT kit within the motor industry.
This was kicked off by mass mailing to a targeted database and several weeks of solid telesales activity just to get the clicks happening.
We'd manage the first order manually then try and transition them onto using the website without further human intervention in day-to-day ordering.
Who are you planning to sell to?
With a little detail as to who your aiming at, perhaps we can provide some advice as to how you could potentially hit them?
Adwords and other PPC strategies can be very much "suck'em and see", but there are some rules of thumb that work as a base. Also, Google tends to overprice on its estimations, so play with it by switching it on and off, tweaking it, etc, every few hours/days.
But before you do that, make sure your actual site is well armed for indexing. Have you applied for a listing at dmoz.org? A Yahoo Directory listing is also very useful. Do you have relevant hard-coded inbound links from other sites? If your site is consistently high-ranking, then ultimately you will be able cut down on the Adwords, as your genuine search listing will appear on the same page, making the Adwords entry unnecessary.
Getting the right advert wording and keyword placement is not difficult, as long as you do patient research, whilst being thoughtful and focused on your objectives. There are people who do this for clients as a living, so it might be worth looking at that option - it is less expensive than you might think.
PM me if you need some more pointers.
But before you do that, make sure your actual site is well armed for indexing. Have you applied for a listing at dmoz.org? A Yahoo Directory listing is also very useful. Do you have relevant hard-coded inbound links from other sites? If your site is consistently high-ranking, then ultimately you will be able cut down on the Adwords, as your genuine search listing will appear on the same page, making the Adwords entry unnecessary.
Getting the right advert wording and keyword placement is not difficult, as long as you do patient research, whilst being thoughtful and focused on your objectives. There are people who do this for clients as a living, so it might be worth looking at that option - it is less expensive than you might think.
PM me if you need some more pointers.
Thanks, yes, have applied at dmoz - was looking to use google adwords on the lead up to valentines day, as the site is aimed at providing gifts for men who've left the shopping choice until the last moment - we're doing most of the other stuff, but they take longer to have an effect.
comments on the site would be good, but don't want to post the address here as I always think it looks like 'advertising' if you do, but if you email me I'd welcome feedback on the site design and content.
Igg
comments on the site would be good, but don't want to post the address here as I always think it looks like 'advertising' if you do, but if you email me I'd welcome feedback on the site design and content.
Igg
It's a compromise I guess. Far more people will click on the natural search engine results, but if you cannot get your site ranked highly then AdWords is reasonable happy-medium. However, you seem to have hit on the crux of AdWords, the more popular the terms (and lingerie is pretty popular) the more you'll have to pay to get the clicks.
I'd suggest you ALWAYS have landing pages for your AdWords, rather than linking to your homepage and monitor carefully what is working and what isn't.
I'd suggest you ALWAYS have landing pages for your AdWords, rather than linking to your homepage and monitor carefully what is working and what isn't.
Choose very specific terms to bid on. That way you're more likely to show your adverts to a potential customer and due to their specific nature they're not going to command such a high premium.
For instance, say Ted wanted to advertise Pistonheads on google, he could bid under 'TVR' for a lot less than 'sportscar' for example.
Google have quite a complex system in place and its not the easiest thing to get to grips with when you first start. It can also rinse through funds VERY quickly if you're not careful... make sure you don't click the option to syndicate ads, otherwise they'll be on lots of sites of questionable relevence.
My day job is online marketing so feel free to email me if you want any more advice
For instance, say Ted wanted to advertise Pistonheads on google, he could bid under 'TVR' for a lot less than 'sportscar' for example.
Google have quite a complex system in place and its not the easiest thing to get to grips with when you first start. It can also rinse through funds VERY quickly if you're not careful... make sure you don't click the option to syndicate ads, otherwise they'll be on lots of sites of questionable relevence.
My day job is online marketing so feel free to email me if you want any more advice
Many thanks for the replies.
Have not chosen lingerie as a keyword (daily budget £17,500!!!!), but found some other less popular but still relevant ones :-)
Just one more question about google adwords:- When I set the campaign up it allows me to select the countries it will appear in, we only want UK at the moment, so UK seems the obvious choice, but my question is:- If I select UK only, does that mean the ad will not feature if someone uses the main google search (worldwide)?? Or, does google know where you are searching from even if you don't narrow your choice down to UK sites etc.
Hope I've explained the question well enough for someone to be able to answer me.
Thanks again
Igg
PS. With Valentines coming up, you might want to have a look at the site
!
Have not chosen lingerie as a keyword (daily budget £17,500!!!!), but found some other less popular but still relevant ones :-)
Just one more question about google adwords:- When I set the campaign up it allows me to select the countries it will appear in, we only want UK at the moment, so UK seems the obvious choice, but my question is:- If I select UK only, does that mean the ad will not feature if someone uses the main google search (worldwide)?? Or, does google know where you are searching from even if you don't narrow your choice down to UK sites etc.
Hope I've explained the question well enough for someone to be able to answer me.
Thanks again
Igg
PS. With Valentines coming up, you might want to have a look at the site
!Igg,
If you're interested...email me to remind me....at work I have a web metrics and trend report which used the 'adult fashion' industry as it's example...comparing how Brazissimo managed to get market share from Ann Summers. Very relevant to you i would have thought and will give you lots of market intelligence...let me know
Google know where you're searching from. It isnt 100% accurate but it's based on IP origination (for example, our proxy gateway is actually in Brussels and if I type www.google.co.uk into my browser it cheerfully sends me straight to www.google.be)...basically if you chose UK then if I search from the UK your site will get a differnt placing to if I were searching from, say, the US
hth
Night
If you're interested...email me to remind me....at work I have a web metrics and trend report which used the 'adult fashion' industry as it's example...comparing how Brazissimo managed to get market share from Ann Summers. Very relevant to you i would have thought and will give you lots of market intelligence...let me know
Google know where you're searching from. It isnt 100% accurate but it's based on IP origination (for example, our proxy gateway is actually in Brussels and if I type www.google.co.uk into my browser it cheerfully sends me straight to www.google.be)...basically if you chose UK then if I search from the UK your site will get a differnt placing to if I were searching from, say, the US
hth
Night
There is an option within google adwords whereby you can specify a monthly budget and then you don't need to do anything else as it works out how much to bid for terms to get the most clicks for the cash.
In addition the £17500 is probably what you'd pay if you bought every click, there should be an option to limit your daily spend, when its done then your ad isn't displayed any more.
I can't remember off the top of my head where these options are and my login is in the office, if you'd like I can have a look tomorrow and put up where I found them.
The tip about using more specific terms is a good one too.
I don't normally deal with adwords myself so I'm just getting to grips with the system too.
>> Edited by rpguk on Tuesday 7th February 02:48
In addition the £17500 is probably what you'd pay if you bought every click, there should be an option to limit your daily spend, when its done then your ad isn't displayed any more.
I can't remember off the top of my head where these options are and my login is in the office, if you'd like I can have a look tomorrow and put up where I found them.
The tip about using more specific terms is a good one too.
I don't normally deal with adwords myself so I'm just getting to grips with the system too.
>> Edited by rpguk on Tuesday 7th February 02:48
Thank you everyone for help/suggestions and comments on one of our young lady models!
I've set up google adwords campaign which triggers on more specific words such as "silk knickers", "gifts for valentines" etc. which seems to be working really well and site traffic (and orders) are really taking off now!
Thanks again
Igg
I've set up google adwords campaign which triggers on more specific words such as "silk knickers", "gifts for valentines" etc. which seems to be working really well and site traffic (and orders) are really taking off now!
Thanks again
Igg
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