PPC Advertising?

[sparky11]

Hi guys,

I usually spend my time on the TVR forums, but thought i'd pop in here to ask a question of you clever people!

Does anyone have any experience of Google Adwords? I've been using Yahoo (Overture) for a while, and I completely undertsand it. How much each word costs, where its placed, budgetry constraints - all of that. But recently, i've thought about using Google (I don't think i'm getting enough business from Yahoo). I'm finding, however, the whole Adwords thing an absolute nightmare! You can't seem to predict where your ad will be placed and it seems whatever budget ceiling you place its all used up by about 10 in the morning! It seems incredibly easy to spend hundreds of pounds without really seeing anything in return.

Its almost as if it favours people who have vast amounts of money to throw at it.

Am I missing something here? The online help is particularly baffling!!

As ever, any help mucho appreciated.


Cheers

Mark

[rico]

sparky11 said:

Its almost as if it favours people who have vast amounts of money to throw at it.

Simply... it does!

Yahoo is a much more straightforward system to use than Google adwords. Is Yahoo working for you? Unless you've got £10kpm to spend, then you might be better off keeping to Yahoo if you know and trust it?

I'm sure some Adwords regulars will be along soon with more specific advice about the google option.

[sparky11]

Yeah, it does seem a little like 'PPC for the other half'!

Yahoo is working, but more people search using Google, don't they?

I guess what is really annoying is that with Yahoo you can see exactly what you're getting, and when you're getting it. Whereas Google seem to say 'Is that all the budget you got?'


Cheers

Mark

[_dobbo_]

The cost of adwords depends entirely on the amount of competition for your search terms.

If you have a low competition term the per click cost will be low, and your budget will probably last a while. If you are competing for very popular terms then the per click cost will be very high.

Whatever the case, organic search results ( that is, listings in the actual results instead of in the "sponsored links" ) will be massively more valuable to your company.

Maybe spend a few quid getting someone (eg your existing web designer) to optimise your website to improve your organic listings? I'd expect this to be a better place to spend your cash. Lots of different advice available, I've had some reasonable success getting 1st place listings or at least top 5, feel free to mail me via my profile if you want more info. I'd be happy to give your site a quick look and offer some advice.

Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 2nd October 12:45

[schueymcfee]

Adwords ads aren't always placed based on price. They're calculated based on keyword reletivity and your click through rate, the better written ad gets more clicks, therefore Google assumes it is relevant. At this point you can have a high ranking ad for less click cost than your competitors.

You need to look into techniques such as splitting in an attempt to get your CTR very high. If you've got a high conversion rate, then a high CTR will see you get good returns.

You need to target keywords that nobody else has thought of that cost you 9p a click but bring in the targetted traffic.

Look at writing certain ads for certain keywords, this way people are less likely to click if it's not what they're looking for. You should have amny, many campaigns on the boil all with different ads and keywords selling the same product. Also look into putting {keyword} into your ad the keyword is always made bold and stands out more, this makes the ad show up with the keyword in the title or text. Capitalise your domain name www.YourDomainName.com as it stands out more.

Edited by schueymcfee on Monday 2nd October 12:52

[aranell]

rico said:

Yahoo is a much more straightforward system to use than Google adwords.

For now, maybe....
Panama sounds like it's going to really mix things up!

schueymcfee said:

Adwords ads aren't always placed based on price. They're calculated based on keyword reletivity and your click through rate, the better written ad gets more clicks

And don't forget the mysterious 'QS' (quality score). The QS rates how well your keywords relate to your actual webpage that you are directing users to. Noone knows how the mysterious QS actually works - Google are forever making tweaks and it's hard to keep up, and they don't give out what QS is actually based on (although you can make educated guesses). If your page is deemed to have a 'bad QS', or your history isn't very good/nonexistant, you may end up having to pay horrific amounts (I've seen £10 per click on a keyword which there are no other advertisers on) until you gain better history, or change your page. If you are going to start an Adwords campaign, it's well worth reading around a lot first so you can minimise your spend.

[sparky11]

Ahh, well thats the thing you see.

I've used the same campaign for both Overture and Adwords, yet the Adwords one doesn't seem to work. And whereas I can get a regular top 3 listing with Yahoo, I can't seem to be consistent with Google.

Well, not without throwing a huge budget at it - but you can end up blowing massive amounts per day without really seeing any return from it.


Mark