1. Neglecting to Split-Test Your Ads. I've gotta say one of the coolest discoveries of my whole life was, in my first week of playing with AdWords 5+ years ago, noticing that "create new ad" link and seeing that I could create a 2nd and 3rd and 4th ad and try different text. Running them simultaneously, then seeing how teeny tiny changes made huge differences. I still get jazzed about this. It's like practicing psychology without a license.
2. Letting Google Retire Your Ads Without Testing: In Campaign Settings, when you turn "Optimize Ad Serving" OFF, you declare a winner and a loser much faster. Turn that option off if you're checking in every day.
3. Split Testing for Improved CTR Only: At first, Click Thru Rate is the only thing you can measure. You want it high so you get the most traffic. But eventually what REALLY matters is conversion rate and cost per new customer. Sometimes high CTR ads don't bring buyers. Conversion is what matters most.
4. Ignoring the Display URL Line in your Ad: If you own www.redwagon.com, you should try www.RedWagon.com, and www.RedWagon.com/RadioFlyer, or www.RadioFlyer.RedWagon.com, or RedWagonStore.com. Tiny hinges swing big doors.
5. Creating Ad Groups with Unrelated Keywords: Do not write an ad and dump every keyword under the sun into the ad group. Make tight ad groups based on a narrow set of related keywords matched closely to the ads and the landing page.
6. Muddying Search and Content Results: If you run all three streams of traffic (Google / Search / Content Network) through the same ad group, you lose the ability to distinguish among the very different kinds of traffic. I prefer to separate Google & Search from Content, in different campaigns.
7. Ignoring the 80/20 Principle: The 80/20 Rule says that the vast majority of outputs (impressions, clicks, leads, sales) are caused by a very small minority of inputs (ad groups, ads and keywords.) Spend your time on the vital few instead of the insignificant many.
8. Declaring Split-Test Winners Too Slowly: If you can declare a winner twice as fast, your site improves twice as fast. I recommend combing through your ads as often as you can announce a winner. If you go to www.splittester.com you can enter the # of clicks and the CTR of any two ads and it'll tell you whether the better one is really better, or if it might just be luck.
9. Declaring Split-Test Winners to Quickly: If one ad got 1% and 5 clicks, and the other got 2% and 8 clicks, that's not enough clicks to know for sure the winner is a sure thing. Again, let www.splittester.com decide their fate. Rule of thumb: 20+ clicks on each ad.
10. Ignoring negative keywords: Just about ANY ad group should probably have some negative keywords. It should always be on your checklist. It increases your Click Through Rate because your ads don't get shown to people who shouldn't see them. Less waste.
Original Source: Perry Marshall
Showing posts with label adwords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adwords. Show all posts
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
What Google Wants from an Advertiser
The cynics in the crowd will say, "OUR MONEY!!!" ...but that ain't necessarily the case. As anyone who's had Quality Score problems will know.
Google wants much more than that. If that was all they were after.... they wouldn't have any. It's their willingness to walk away that makes them successful. (And there's a lesson in that, too.)
Today, some clues to the difference between what is merely good and what is great.
-First of all, Google wants ads that get clicked on. If nobody clicks on your ad, they don't get paid for the click. That's why your ad position is not just determined by bid price but by the Click Thru Rate. I've seen CTR's lower than 0.1% for search traffic and CTR's upwards of 30%. The difference between a bad ad and a good one is gigantic.
-Google rewards and prefers stability and longevity. When you first open a brand new Google account, every assumption they make is *not* in your favor. Before the very first click comes - while they're still taking all the risk for you - they're going to assume you don't know how to write good ads, that people who come to your website will probably leave right away, that you're incompetent.
You pay the highest click prices in the beginning.
But.... if you establish a good click thru rate and users don't hit the "back" button once they hit your site, the Big G starts breathing a sigh of relief and gives you more breathing room of your own. I've been observing for years now that good advertisers' click costs tend to stay level. I've even seen, lately, some going down instead of up. Just last night I talked to one of my Roundtable members, who's competing with hundreds of advertisers, and in the last year he's seen his click costs slowly drop from $2 a click to under a buck.
I think some of that is his market but some of it is also the trust he's earned from the search engine. His websites are quality, his ad campaigns are properly constructed, and he's got an automatic advantage over the New Kid In Town. At least until New Kid In Town proves himself.
-I know another guy in an equally competitive niche who started out paying $11 per click but after a few days dropped down to about $2. Once again, it's that trust and stability Google was looking for.
-Google likes to see a low "bounce rate." That's the number of people who click to your site and immediately bail. Google Analytics (which will be covered in detail during the upcoming Bobsled Run, starts September 25) reports this for you as a percentage.
-Ideally Google would like to see those people click on your ad, disappear into your site and never be seen again. Hopefully because your visitors are so deliriously happy and involved in what you are doing that they don't want to search again. THAT is your mission, should you choose to accept it.
-Ads that consistently have a high ranking and high CTR will begin to show up on the premium space across the top of the search results, instead of running down the right side.
What you most need to know is that the "real money" in your website is all about what happens after the first click - and after that - and after that - and after that. What that person does over a long period of time. That's where the real wizardry is. I can assure you, there's a ton of money you're leaving on the table right now. But it can be yours.
Source: Perry Marshall's email newsletter
Google wants much more than that. If that was all they were after.... they wouldn't have any. It's their willingness to walk away that makes them successful. (And there's a lesson in that, too.)
Today, some clues to the difference between what is merely good and what is great.
-First of all, Google wants ads that get clicked on. If nobody clicks on your ad, they don't get paid for the click. That's why your ad position is not just determined by bid price but by the Click Thru Rate. I've seen CTR's lower than 0.1% for search traffic and CTR's upwards of 30%. The difference between a bad ad and a good one is gigantic.
-Google rewards and prefers stability and longevity. When you first open a brand new Google account, every assumption they make is *not* in your favor. Before the very first click comes - while they're still taking all the risk for you - they're going to assume you don't know how to write good ads, that people who come to your website will probably leave right away, that you're incompetent.
You pay the highest click prices in the beginning.
But.... if you establish a good click thru rate and users don't hit the "back" button once they hit your site, the Big G starts breathing a sigh of relief and gives you more breathing room of your own. I've been observing for years now that good advertisers' click costs tend to stay level. I've even seen, lately, some going down instead of up. Just last night I talked to one of my Roundtable members, who's competing with hundreds of advertisers, and in the last year he's seen his click costs slowly drop from $2 a click to under a buck.
I think some of that is his market but some of it is also the trust he's earned from the search engine. His websites are quality, his ad campaigns are properly constructed, and he's got an automatic advantage over the New Kid In Town. At least until New Kid In Town proves himself.
-I know another guy in an equally competitive niche who started out paying $11 per click but after a few days dropped down to about $2. Once again, it's that trust and stability Google was looking for.
-Google likes to see a low "bounce rate." That's the number of people who click to your site and immediately bail. Google Analytics (which will be covered in detail during the upcoming Bobsled Run, starts September 25) reports this for you as a percentage.
-Ideally Google would like to see those people click on your ad, disappear into your site and never be seen again. Hopefully because your visitors are so deliriously happy and involved in what you are doing that they don't want to search again. THAT is your mission, should you choose to accept it.
-Ads that consistently have a high ranking and high CTR will begin to show up on the premium space across the top of the search results, instead of running down the right side.
What you most need to know is that the "real money" in your website is all about what happens after the first click - and after that - and after that - and after that. What that person does over a long period of time. That's where the real wizardry is. I can assure you, there's a ton of money you're leaving on the table right now. But it can be yours.
Source: Perry Marshall's email newsletter
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Google AdWords vs. Other Advertising Media
"Sometimes Google AdWords is the least effective way to reach your target customer."
A chance conversation in New York City shows why other advertising media may be better for you - because each form of advertising slices the world in a different, unique way
Last May I was in New York City for Gary Bencivenga's now-legendary copywriting seminar, and taking the day off on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Just off Broadway and a few blocks from Central Park, I was drinking coffee in a donut shop when two guys struck up a conversation with me.
Turns out one of them was a senior sales executive for the Thomas Register. In case you're not familiar, the Thomas Register is a very old company that, pre-Internet, used to make a gigantic set of green books that you would see in a company library, purchasing or engineering office. These books, which probably weighed 100+ pounds, were the national 'Yellow pages' for every kind of manufacturing you can possibly think of.
And pre-Internet, if you wanted to buy machine tools, adhesives, pump controllers, conveyor belts or literally hundreds of thousands of other items, the Thomas Register was probably the easiest way to find all of those things.
But now you just do a Google search. Right?
And that's what this guy hears when he's selling space at ThomasNet.com (they don't even print those big books anymore) - his prospect says 'Hey, I don't need to advertise on your site, I'll just advertise on Google.'
Well nobody's in a better position than me to say that sometimes Google AdWords is NOT the best way for his prospect to reach a new customer! Sometimes it's a lousy way to reach your target customer. Let me give you some examples:
* Last year I had a client who manufactures AC Adapters - you know, those big black plugs that provide power for your CD player or charge your cel phone. We tried mightily to make Google AdWords work, and couldn't. Why? Because this company sells custom lots of 500 units or more to manufacturers, but all the traffic for "AC Adapters" and related keywords is everyday consumers looking to buy one unit at a time. Our Google campaign was a total failure, despite our best efforts to dis-qualify the customer. The ads would say "minimum lots of 500," but Joe Consumer would click on the ad anyway, then leave. A manufacturing directory is a much better way to reach other manufacturers than Google in that situation.
* Let's say you sell some kind of high-end equipment, software or consulting to high level executives - and lower-level people are a waste of time for you. (Very common scenario!) Is bidding on keywords a good way to target those executives? No, not really. Maybe only 1% of the people searching are executives, the rest just waste your clicks. Direct mail would be much, much better for that. A FEDEX envelope on the executive's desk is a rifle shot.
* Keyword based advertising only works when people know they have a problem and can describe it to themselves and believe that somebody on the Internet has a solution. But many people have severe problems they don't even realize they have. If that's the case, search engine marketing isn't a very good way to reach them. You need to interrupt them instead. So again, direct mail, ads in magazines they read, TV, radio - all of those media might be better. Search engine marketing only gets you people who are proactively looking to solve their problem right now.
* Sometimes search traffic gets you, ironically, the lowest quality, least-interested and least qualified prospects. People who regularly visit specific web sites are much more interested and much more qualified. Here's an example: Let's say you are doing fundraising for environmental activism. You could bid on the keyword "environment," but what you'd probably get is high school kids doing homework assignments and writing papers about the environment. Now it may be nice to reach those kids with your message, but you ain't gonna get any money out of them. And if you think about it, people who are already active and interested in that probably are not typing "environment" into a search engine. They already have sites they like to go to. You get much better traffic, and more donations, advertising on those sites. (That's why, in some categories, AdSense gets you better traffic than Google searches.)
Every kind of advertising media slices the world in a different way. Bidding on keywords slices the world according to who's got an itch to scratch, right now. Direct mail slices the world according to what magazines people subscribe to, what mail order products they've purchased, what charities they've donated money to. Compiled mailing lists slice the world according to where they live, what income level they're in, what positions they hold in their jobs, what kind of home they live in.
"Rock - Paper - Scissors"
Print advertising slices the world according to topics people are interested in - if you advertise in Bass Fisherman magazine, you get guys who are rabidly interested in bass fishing. If you advertise on the radio at 7:30 in the morning, you get people who are on their way to work. The pros and cons of every form of advertising are sort of like that game "Rock - Paper - Scisssors" where each has its unique advantages and disadvantages.
So I told the Thomas Register exec that he just needs to come out and say that yes, sometimes Google is hands down the easiest, cheapest way to get new customers. (His prospect will be rather surprised to hear him say that! Coming clean will boost his credibility.) But he can point out that also sometimes, as with those AC Adapters, Google may also be one of the worst ways to get a new customer.
For most people, the truth is somewhere in the middle. For most people, Google is a great way to get a certain amount of high quality leads, but there are only so many available. It's like an oil well that pumps out just so much every day, and no more. Plus you never want to have all your eggs in one basket, that makes you very vulnerable. So you need to explore other avenues.
In conversations I've had, people have been using any or all of the following ways to acquire new customers:
* Buying space ads in e-zines
* Endorsed email blasts from affiliates
* Pop-under and popup ads on other sites
* Postcard mailings
* Direct Mail
* Magalogs - catalogs that look like magazines
* Spots in other peoples' catalogs
* FEDEX envelopes to highly-targeted prospects from carefully selected mailing lists
* Banner ads
* Radio
* TV
* Telemarketing
* Issuing a Press Release
* Writing a Book
* Being an "Expert" on a Talk Show
* Exhibiting at Trade Shows
* Flyers distributed house-to-house or business-to-business
* Doing a custom teleseminar for another person's email list
* Ads in magazines
* Remnant space in local newspapers, purchased at a deep discount rates
* Speaking at seminars
* Card Decks - i.e. packet of postcards that comes in the mail
* Writing magazine articles and e-zine articles
* "Buyer advocate" sites like Thomas Register and Globalspec
* Flyer inserts in newspapers, magazines or mail-order shipments (that's called "Insert media")
* "Lumpy Mail" - sending people interesting objects, like one guy I know who mailed out a six foot canoe paddle
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So save this list for the next time you have one of those days when it seems impossible to find a new customer!
Remember that every other advertiser out there has access to some customers, and many of them know they can make a little more money (and not lose any business) by giving you controlled access to their customers. And many times even though those other media may have a higher customer acquisition cost, the customers may be higher quality.
Original Source: Perry Marshall
A chance conversation in New York City shows why other advertising media may be better for you - because each form of advertising slices the world in a different, unique way
Last May I was in New York City for Gary Bencivenga's now-legendary copywriting seminar, and taking the day off on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Just off Broadway and a few blocks from Central Park, I was drinking coffee in a donut shop when two guys struck up a conversation with me.
Turns out one of them was a senior sales executive for the Thomas Register. In case you're not familiar, the Thomas Register is a very old company that, pre-Internet, used to make a gigantic set of green books that you would see in a company library, purchasing or engineering office. These books, which probably weighed 100+ pounds, were the national 'Yellow pages' for every kind of manufacturing you can possibly think of.
And pre-Internet, if you wanted to buy machine tools, adhesives, pump controllers, conveyor belts or literally hundreds of thousands of other items, the Thomas Register was probably the easiest way to find all of those things.
But now you just do a Google search. Right?
And that's what this guy hears when he's selling space at ThomasNet.com (they don't even print those big books anymore) - his prospect says 'Hey, I don't need to advertise on your site, I'll just advertise on Google.'
Well nobody's in a better position than me to say that sometimes Google AdWords is NOT the best way for his prospect to reach a new customer! Sometimes it's a lousy way to reach your target customer. Let me give you some examples:
* Last year I had a client who manufactures AC Adapters - you know, those big black plugs that provide power for your CD player or charge your cel phone. We tried mightily to make Google AdWords work, and couldn't. Why? Because this company sells custom lots of 500 units or more to manufacturers, but all the traffic for "AC Adapters" and related keywords is everyday consumers looking to buy one unit at a time. Our Google campaign was a total failure, despite our best efforts to dis-qualify the customer. The ads would say "minimum lots of 500," but Joe Consumer would click on the ad anyway, then leave. A manufacturing directory is a much better way to reach other manufacturers than Google in that situation.
* Let's say you sell some kind of high-end equipment, software or consulting to high level executives - and lower-level people are a waste of time for you. (Very common scenario!) Is bidding on keywords a good way to target those executives? No, not really. Maybe only 1% of the people searching are executives, the rest just waste your clicks. Direct mail would be much, much better for that. A FEDEX envelope on the executive's desk is a rifle shot.
* Keyword based advertising only works when people know they have a problem and can describe it to themselves and believe that somebody on the Internet has a solution. But many people have severe problems they don't even realize they have. If that's the case, search engine marketing isn't a very good way to reach them. You need to interrupt them instead. So again, direct mail, ads in magazines they read, TV, radio - all of those media might be better. Search engine marketing only gets you people who are proactively looking to solve their problem right now.
* Sometimes search traffic gets you, ironically, the lowest quality, least-interested and least qualified prospects. People who regularly visit specific web sites are much more interested and much more qualified. Here's an example: Let's say you are doing fundraising for environmental activism. You could bid on the keyword "environment," but what you'd probably get is high school kids doing homework assignments and writing papers about the environment. Now it may be nice to reach those kids with your message, but you ain't gonna get any money out of them. And if you think about it, people who are already active and interested in that probably are not typing "environment" into a search engine. They already have sites they like to go to. You get much better traffic, and more donations, advertising on those sites. (That's why, in some categories, AdSense gets you better traffic than Google searches.)
Every kind of advertising media slices the world in a different way. Bidding on keywords slices the world according to who's got an itch to scratch, right now. Direct mail slices the world according to what magazines people subscribe to, what mail order products they've purchased, what charities they've donated money to. Compiled mailing lists slice the world according to where they live, what income level they're in, what positions they hold in their jobs, what kind of home they live in.
"Rock - Paper - Scissors"
Print advertising slices the world according to topics people are interested in - if you advertise in Bass Fisherman magazine, you get guys who are rabidly interested in bass fishing. If you advertise on the radio at 7:30 in the morning, you get people who are on their way to work. The pros and cons of every form of advertising are sort of like that game "Rock - Paper - Scisssors" where each has its unique advantages and disadvantages.
So I told the Thomas Register exec that he just needs to come out and say that yes, sometimes Google is hands down the easiest, cheapest way to get new customers. (His prospect will be rather surprised to hear him say that! Coming clean will boost his credibility.) But he can point out that also sometimes, as with those AC Adapters, Google may also be one of the worst ways to get a new customer.
For most people, the truth is somewhere in the middle. For most people, Google is a great way to get a certain amount of high quality leads, but there are only so many available. It's like an oil well that pumps out just so much every day, and no more. Plus you never want to have all your eggs in one basket, that makes you very vulnerable. So you need to explore other avenues.
In conversations I've had, people have been using any or all of the following ways to acquire new customers:
* Buying space ads in e-zines
* Endorsed email blasts from affiliates
* Pop-under and popup ads on other sites
* Postcard mailings
* Direct Mail
* Magalogs - catalogs that look like magazines
* Spots in other peoples' catalogs
* FEDEX envelopes to highly-targeted prospects from carefully selected mailing lists
* Banner ads
* Radio
* TV
* Telemarketing
* Issuing a Press Release
* Writing a Book
* Being an "Expert" on a Talk Show
* Exhibiting at Trade Shows
* Flyers distributed house-to-house or business-to-business
* Doing a custom teleseminar for another person's email list
* Ads in magazines
* Remnant space in local newspapers, purchased at a deep discount rates
* Speaking at seminars
* Card Decks - i.e. packet of postcards that comes in the mail
* Writing magazine articles and e-zine articles
* "Buyer advocate" sites like Thomas Register and Globalspec
* Flyer inserts in newspapers, magazines or mail-order shipments (that's called "Insert media")
* "Lumpy Mail" - sending people interesting objects, like one guy I know who mailed out a six foot canoe paddle
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So save this list for the next time you have one of those days when it seems impossible to find a new customer!
Remember that every other advertiser out there has access to some customers, and many of them know they can make a little more money (and not lose any business) by giving you controlled access to their customers. And many times even though those other media may have a higher customer acquisition cost, the customers may be higher quality.
Original Source: Perry Marshall
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Marketing & Sales Message
Your marketing & sales message must effectively answer the following four questions:
1. Why should I read or listen to you?
2. Why should I believe what you have to say?
3. Why should I do anything about what you’re offering?
4. Why should I act now?
These are very basic questions, but few sales people can fire back fast answers to any of them. There are all kinds of companies who are the greatest in the world, but can’t give you a really solid explanation of what they do or why it matters.
Your precise answer to these four questions is your Unique Selling Proposition. You must have this message clearly defined and focused. It must be written down and you must be able to repeat it in the middle of the night when your spouse wakes you from a deep sleep. Everything you do should answer those questions in a consistent way, whether directly or indirectly.
Every time you communicate with your customer, you should reinforce the core ingredients of your sales message.
People forget. It’s never good enough to say something just once. Once your prospects have contacted you, they should regularly get things from you that reinforce what you told them the first time, and every time you talk to them, you must communicate your core sales message.
It’s easy to get tired of constantly saying the same thing all the time, and it’s easy to stop doing things that work just because you get bored with them. But you must resist this temptation and consistently, persistently reinforce that message.
Your message will never be consistent unless everyone in the company agrees on what it is. If you change your message every month, you’ll never get real traction in the marketplace because customers will have only a vague idea of what you do.
Original Source: Perry Marshall
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