| Many discouraged online advertisers will tell | | | | By this time, Joe has spent over $800 on |
| you to stay away from AdWords or any other | | | | clicks and so far, only Google is making any |
| Pay-Per-Click programs. | | | | money. Disgusted with the lack of sales, Joe |
| | | | cancels his AdWords account because "PPC ads |
| They'll tell you that the ads don't generate | | | | don't work". |
| sales and you'll waste a lot of money even | | | | |
| trying to make things work. They know from | | | | Joe made several crucial errors. First of |
| their own experience that the whole idea of | | | | all, you don't want to use a single ad for |
| PPC advertising is a complete waste of time | | | | hundreds of keywords. Some of Joe's keywords |
| and money. | | | | were related to radio equipment, while others |
| | | | were related to construction kits and |
| Usually, newcomers to PPC make a common | | | | engines. All those keywords would trigger the |
| mistake - they create an ad, then display | | | | exact same ad to be shown. If someone |
| that ad for hundreds, or maybe even thousands | | | | searches for a specific item, they're not |
| of different keywords. Then, to further | | | | likely to click on a generic, |
| insure failure, all keywords lead to the | | | | one-size-fits-all ad that's just about model |
| exact same landing page. | | | | airplanes in general. |
| | | | |
| Here's a hypothetical example - Joe has a | | | | His next mistake was to raise his bid price |
| website that's all about the hobby of radio | | | | to get more displays of his ads. Sure, more |
| controlled model airplanes. On his website, | | | | displays did mean that he started getting |
| he offers airplane kits, building supplies, | | | | clicks, but those clicks didn't do anything |
| radio transmitters and receivers, servo | | | | except cost him money. Those visitors may |
| actuators, engines of all sizes, tires and | | | | have originally searched for model airplane |
| wheels - just about everything that's related | | | | engines, but Joe's ad took them to the home |
| to model airplanes. | | | | page of his site - not to a page related to |
| | | | engines. Most people won't waste time |
| Joe decides to use PPC advertising to boost | | | | navigating around your website, trying to |
| his sales, so he compiles a gigantic list of | | | | find the item that matches up to what they're |
| keywords. His list has several hundred | | | | actually searching for. They've already |
| keywords, all generally relating to radio | | | | searched on Google, then they clicked on your |
| controlled model airplanes. He works for | | | | ad, now you're telling them that they have to |
| hours creating what he thinks is the best ad | | | | search even further to find what they're |
| he's ever seen. He's really proud of his new | | | | looking for. That's it, they're gone in a |
| ad and surely, with his hundreds of keywords, | | | | flash. |
| he expects to see a big jump in sales. | | | | |
| | | | To do things right, you should have your ad |
| Joe goes to his AdWords account and enables | | | | directly related to the keywords you're |
| his new ad. Confident that he's done his | | | | using. If your keywords are about model |
| best, he goes to lunch. While at lunch, he's | | | | airplane engines, your ad should also be |
| contemplating all those new sales being made. | | | | specifically about model airplane engines. |
| He can hardly wait to get back to his PC and | | | | And when someone clicks on your ad, you |
| check the action. | | | | should send them directly to the page on your |
| | | | website that's about model airplane engines. |
| Back at the office, Joe logs in to his | | | | Going this route will get you more clicks and |
| AdWords account and his jaw hits the floor | | | | more of those clicks will become sales. |
| when he sees he has had no clicks! His ad has | | | | |
| been displayed hundreds of times, but still | | | | Ideally, each keyword should have its own |
| no clicks. Then he notices that Google has | | | | specific version of your ad and that ad |
| disabled some of his keywords, telling him he | | | | should lead directly to the page on your |
| has to increase his bid price to use those | | | | website that's about that specific topic. Of |
| keywords. Joe raises his bid and his keywords | | | | course, this may not be practical, especially |
| are back in business. | | | | if you have hundreds or even thousands of |
| | | | keywords. But at the very least, you should |
| A couple of hours later, he checks his | | | | group similar keywords together and connect |
| account again and this time he does see that | | | | them to an ad that's related to the group. |
| he's had some clicks. He's had 87 clicks so | | | | |
| now he's confident everything is working. Joe | | | | For example, if you have 164 keywords related |
| checks his payment processor account to see | | | | to engines, you could write an ad |
| how much money he's made - there are no new | | | | specifically about engines and then connect |
| sales. Joe lets things run for a couple of | | | | that ad to the engines part of your website. |
| days, but the results are the same. He's | | | | Make it easy for the prospect to find exactly |
| getting lots of clicks, but no sales. | | | | what they're looking for and you'll be |
| | | | rewarded with more sales. |