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By Marcia Yudkin
I’m not sure why, but many of my clients who place
pay-per-click search engine ads like those on Google or Yahoo
become obsessed with finding the best keywords and totally
neglect other factors in creating a profitable search engine
advertising campaign. Often they install so complicated a
keyword empire that they can’t psychologically manage any
other
changes and leave their campaign running in such a way that it
costs them way more than necessary.
Don’t let this happen to you! Keep your advertising costs down
and your momentum moving toward profitability by following
these guidelines for prudent, manageable testing.
1. Compile a small collection of keywords (key phrases,
probably) to test for each grouping of ads – let’s say, up to
ten. Likewise, before getting started, stockpile a number of
different ads to test against each other – let’s say, three to
eight ads.
2. Set up the campaign with two or three ads tested against
each other for each set of keywords. Google lets you do this
automatically. Simply create additional text ads and they’ll
rotate them for you until you say otherwise. Google also shows
you the click-through rate, cost per click and number of
clicks
for each ad.
3. You don’t usually need your ads to show up on top, so put
in
a bid per click that according to Google’s keyword traffic
estimator puts you at about the #7 position – showing on the
first page of results, but not at the top. Set your maximum
spend per day rather high, however, which according to the
experts tests better than the opposite.
4. When you have at least 100 clicks on your best performing
ad, delete the poorest performing ad and insert another ad to
test in its place. Keep testing three ads in rotation until
you
have a clear winner.
5. Then, when you’ve arrived at a better performing ad, begin
fiddling with and adding and deleting keywords to your heart’s
content.
6. Whenever you’re stuck on what else to do about your
keywords, test other elements, always just one change at a
time. For instance, try turning “content ads” on and off,
changing your maximum bid, modifying your ad copy by changing
a
word at a time, reversing the order of words or lines, and so
on.
While this advice may differ a bit from the mathematically
correct procedures of testing, it’s easy for a novice to
implement. Search engine advertising conveniently allows you
to
watch your results and adjust each campaign for optimal
performance, so long as you have a system of testing that
doesn’t let you feel overwhelmed.
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin helps business owners and
corporate managers compellingly and tantalizingly communicate
their strengths. See a sample makeover of one ineffective
Google search engine ad into five dynamic ones at
www.yudkin.com/sample10b.htm . Sign up for her free
weekly newsletter on creative marketing at
www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm .
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