5 Tips to Keep from Failing Using Google AdWords

Like many other Internet marketers, I've used AdWords to promote various products. Unfortunately, I can't seem to please Google with my ads most of the time, so I pay too much per click and it's not worth the amount of sales I make.

Google wants to see a certain click-thru rate so they know your ads are relevant to what their users are searching for. If you don't reach the minimum click-thru rate within a few hours after creating your ad, Google raises your cost per click... big time!

I've had many ads that started as low as 5 or 10 cents per click but just a few hours later, my ads had stopped being displayed because my click-thru rate was too low for Google's liking. I would have had to pay $5 to $10 per click to start my ad campaigns again!

Google "punishes" AdWords advertisers for not creating perfect ad campaigns. The problem for advertisers is that it's hard to know exactly what Google wants in an ad because they don't provide enough information.

They want the ads to be relevant for what their users are searching for, which is understandable, but they don't explain what makes it relevant by their rules.

Obviously, the keywords advertisers bid on must be relevant to Google's users' searches. It wouldn't do advertisers any good to bid on the keyword "widget" if they're not selling widgets.

But the difficult part for advertisers is finding the right keywords to bid on and make a profit without paying a fortune in Google AdWords advertising costs.

And Google's rules don't just apply to keyword relevancy.

Google AdWords ads must also have a certain "quality score" which basically means if you write a crappy ad, you get punished by paying higher costs per click.

You might be bidding on the most relevant keywords for your product or website, but if your ad stinks and you don't get enough click-thrus your quality score will be in the toilet and... you guessed it... you'll pay huge amounts per click.

Advertisers must test and tweak their ads to find the best-performing keywords and ad copy, but while they're doing that, Google could charge them a ton of money. The result is that many advertisers quit using Google AdWords as a method of advertising because it costs them too much.

The key to success using Google AdWords is to constantly change your ads and keywords, even your landing page, until you get it right... meaning you finally figure out Google's idea of a good ad. But that can take days, weeks or even months, and in the meantime you could waste a lot of money.

On the other hand, you're guaranteed to fail using Google AdWords if you don't test and tweak your ads to correct your mistakes. Here are some quick tips to avoid common mistakes that advertisers make...

1. Be careful when you set your cost per click and daily budget for each ad. Don't allow yourself to spend more than you can afford to spend.

2. Don't bid on the main keyword for your product. There's way too much competition and you're guaranteed to pay high costs per click.

For instance, don't bid on "widget" if you're only selling blue widgets. Instead, bid on "blue widget" or even more specific phrases, such as "buy blue widget." This way you know the people who see your ad are looking for a blue widget, not a red or green one, and you'll have a better chance of selling to them.

3. Bid on longer key phrases that people search for instead of just the main keywords or phrases. These keywords have less searches for each one than the main keywords do, but they also cost less per click.

And if you use enough of these key phrases the total number of searches could exceed the number of searches for the main keywords. So you can potentially have more click-thrus and sales this way because the visitors are usually more targeted.

Do keyword research at freekeywords.wordtracker.com by typing in your main keyword. It will show you what phrases people have searched that include your keyword. Use this list to determine the long key phrases you want to bid on.

4. Check your ads several times each day for their performance. If they aren't getting good click-thrus, tweak your ad copy and/or keywords. After all, there's no sense wasting money on advertising that doesn't pull in profits.

5. Don't worry about making a profit at first. I don't mean you shouldn't expect to get sales. What I mean is, if you spend $10 per day and make $10 per day, you're breaking even, so use the $10 you make each day to test your ads more.

Once you eliminate some of the common mistakes that cause advertisers to fail using Google AdWords your profits will increase and your advertising costs will decrease. And that's the way it should be.

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Article written by Denise Hall How to Avoid 50 Common Google AdWords Mistakes: www.home-business-on-a-budget.com/FailAtAdWords.htm