Over the past few months it has been brought to our attention from several existing AdWords customers how people can sometimes be guilty of wearing blinkers when it comes to the setup and running of there campaigns. The use of a main generic keyword is fine and it will always be the case that these keywords will generate the vast majority of traffic for your campaigns. This doesn’t mean that more specific searches and product keywords should be discounted due to there lower volumes.

What is important when running your adwords campaigns is to think more about the cost per conversion. Time and time again on campaigns over several different industries the main generic keywords due to there competition from other advertisers always have a higher cost per conversion than a more longer tail phrase or specific product keyword. It is logical the more generic the keyword the higher the chance of a conversion the more specific the better.

Say for example we are targeting the keyword of flowers. A user comes along who wants purple flowers but you only have red flowers for sale. Right away there is a wasted click now I know this is a very simplistic example but this can be applied to any industry online with many varients. 

Now there will always be an element of the balancing act and we are by no means suggesting ditching your favoured high traffic generating terms but adding to the campaign with a selection of more specific keywords linked to specific items will cost a lot less per conversion.  This is where conversion tracking is important and where having an online shop and google adwords professional can be so helpful.

So how does conversion tracking work ? Well put simply a piece of tracking code is placed on the checkout page of the online shop or perhaps the thanks for your enquiry form. This way we can determine exactly the cost per conversion of a keyword. This way we can know for a fact “generic keyword 1″ costs for example £20 per conversion and “specific keyword 1″ costs £15 per conversion and you can see for a fact how generic and specific keywords work in generating conversions.

Right now a competitor will be using a range of specific keywords and generating sales in your industry for a lot less than you are having to pay for your main generic keyword. Now Specific terms will probably not reach the heights of the generic term with volume but if you could get a sale on your site for less money it makes logical sense and it would be complete madness not to embrace specific and longer tail keywords on your google AdWords campaigns.

Don’t be left behind with your AdWords campaigns the amount of money you could save over a 12 month period could run into thousands depending on your budget. The savings of 10 to 20% are not uncommon from the use of conversion tracking on an AdWords campaign. We have experienced this first hand and have the statistics to prove it.

One of the first things we setup when setting up or taking over a google AdWords cpc campaign is conversion tracking. If you operate a e commerce site then conversion tracking is a must if you are going get the best out of your AdWords budget. I am going to give you a few examples from two different AdWords campaigns.

The first campaign was already setup and we ran into the same old problem where keywords were packed into irrelevant ad groups and had very poor quality scores. Now quality scores and CT R’s (Click through rates) are one thing but conversions can in some cases throw these out of the window. You could have one of the best performing keywords and ad groups but if after a period of 3 months the cost per conversion is poor and leaving you with no return on investment then don’t be afraid of pausing it.

If you don’t have conversion tracking installed it is like tying one hand behind your back from the start. If you are unsure of how conversion tracking is installed consider getting in touch with reputable Internet marketing experts. This way it can be installed correctly and they can pay for themselves with the savings generated.

The second campaign was a complete new setup so ad groups were setup correctly the ads were written to generate good Click Through Ratios. Conversion Tracking helped us establish an average cost per conversion and we could adjust ad groups and bidding accordingly. In terms of percentages the savings conversion tracking has made is at 30%

If you consider this over a month or years spend on AdWords its easy to see the benefits. It could stack up to literally thousands of pounds in savings.

Ok lets say you don’t have an e commerce site conversion tracking can still be setup to track emails, sign ups or any other specific goals you may have via your website make setting up conversion tracking a priority for your AdWords success.

Over the past few months it has been brought to our attention an increasing number of marketing companies selling google adwords cpc on a fixed fee for 1st page positions. Following a constant flow of companies and after speaking to a number of sales men at these companies I felt it was our duty to try and inform the Uk business community the full ins and outs of this concept.

Put simply companies or agencies no matter how large cannot get google adwords at a lower fee than yourselves. If you were to open a google account tomorrow the same prices would apply. So I would like to put to bed this statement that companies can somehow receive a wholesale batch fee on fixed adwords placements it is simply not true.

I decided to get this 100% confirmed by my contact at Google Ireland and it was ” You cannot purchase adwords on a fixed fee on the first page of google” and “these companies are lieing” it was explained. So how exactly does it work and why are these companies selling adwords in this way.

Well to start with doesn’t it sound great you can be listed on google for a set fee for a choice of a few phrases ! If it was true we would be the first people doing it. But when you look into it the cracks begin to appear firstly the keyword or phrases that you choose are they going to be generic well used keywords I think not. The use of regional and long tail keywords that will give you a first page listing but wont deliver a massive amount of traffic is the way these companies operate.

Put simply these companies need to make money somehow I cannot speak for the way in which these companies use there funds received but the funds will not be used 100% on your google ads. Which is why being 100% transparent and knowing exactly where your spend is going is so important if you are considering google AdWords as a means of advertising for your company.

If you have experienced any problems with similar fixed fee google adwords offers please post your experiences below.

Online Casinos Can now use Adwords.

Since the advent of google AdWords for online casinos there was the initial clamour to get listed. Online Casinos are now paying anywhere of up to £20 – £30 per click plus spending a minimum of at least £10k per month advertising on the search engine. At Online Media Direct we specialise in the management of these online casino AdWords campaigns and with our direct contact with Google headquarters in Ireland we get you setup as soon as possible.

What do we need to do adwords for our Online Casino ?

First things first and the most important is a good budget it is not worth punting a couple of thousand here or there. We need a serious commitment from you if we are going to have any chance of breaking into the current market, competition is fierce and for us to compete with bids and daily budgets we ask for at least £10 – £20 k for a first month trial. Our Google AdWords professional will setup and target your AdWords campaign as specifically and professionally as possible and not stone will be left unturned in helping to give your ads the best possible quality score to compete with your competition.

Our experience with AdWords includes many different industries including casinos, finance, mortgages and loans so we are used to dealing with big budgets . Our largest campaign totalled a quarter of a million pounds so our experience at this level is invaluable.

We setup Google analytics and the important conversion tracking for all online casino adwords campaigns as standard. Full access is available with all of our adwords campaigns plus you can even use an existing account and we can link you up to our professional account so you will know exactly what you are paying for your clicks with your companies click spend.

Our services to setup and to complete ongoing management and analysis of the campaigns are charged at a very low percentage rate our reason for the low rate is we understand any charges will detract from any potential conversions at your end and we want to gain long term successful customers using the clever online casino adwords campaigns.

Please note it is important that you have a registered gambling license and number to complete the application. Along with a prominent link to gamblingaware.co.uk or gamcare.org

To book a Free online casino adwords consultation with our clever internet marketing experts simply call our sales team on – 0800 689 9968 or email info@onlinemediadirect.co.uk

Google Adwords Preview Tool

If you use google AdWords already with us and like to check where your ads are positioned during the day. We would recommend you use a specific tool tailored for the job. When you check your ads online again and again you are adding impressions to you ads and reducing the click through ratios. Which in turn will reduce the quality score of the ads.

Also when you check again and again, google made changes a few years ago to AdWords as you are checking your ads and no doubt wont click on them this then results in your ads not displaying on searches as they are deemed as not being revevant to your search. We had a large number of customers that had this problem and had to provide a link to the adword preview tool.

So please do be careful not to over do it when checking your google adwords cpc advertisements it can have a negative effect on your campaign and in the long run cost you money.

links to google adwords preview tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool

Why not try to see your google ads on the adwords preview tool above. Another factor to consider which may be totally unrelated to the point made above is your daily click budget and they way your ads are delivered throughout the day. As this can be in most cases be the main reason for you google ads not displaying when you search.

Google evenly spreads your daily budget throughout the day so if you have a low budget in comparison to the daily amount of traffic provided it can result in ads displaying intermittently throughout the day.

Gambling PPC how things have improved.

Like me starting out in the Internet marketing business all those years ago in the late 90’s one of the biggest constants has always remained and continues to grow the prominence of the online gambling industry . Before Google adwords allowed Gambling advertisers in the UK online casinos and poker rooms were forced to scrap between themselves for tenancy banner positions and other smaller CPM or CPC networks.

How things really have changed with the advent and popularity of google adwords and other social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter the avenues in generating traffic does not just fall withing the mystic unknowns of the art of SEO for gambling traffic.

A casino, poker room ,sports betting or online bingo client can now enjoy the full rewards of Google AdWords CPC or PPC advertising. One of the main disadvantages to having the initial run of allowing gambling traffic is a large build up of new campaigns that all require one thing optimization. Many cpc campaigns can be optimized to save so much money for gambling advertisers.

We know this for one simple reason the amount gambling companies have to pay per click. The competition on adwords in this industry is so fierce that many are losing literally thousands of pounds on keywords that are not generating a good return on investment through poor setup and lack of conversion tracking and google analytics.

Gambling PPC

Improving gambling ppc return on investment.

If you are considering testing adwords for your gambling site or your clients gambling site do consider the budget first of all that you have available it really is worth investing at least a minimum of five to ten thousand pounds at least. This way we can determin what keywords perform best for your campaign and gradually get your traffic flow as opposed to struggling with a small budget that will last only a few days.

Our full optimisation of google adwords campaign back up by our google adowrds professional individual inhouse continues to imporve campaigns in many different industries. Contact our sales team today to discuss your requirements. Email info@onlinemediadirect.co.uk to get more details information on the costings involved on Gambling PPC campaigns.

Online Media Direct are pleased to announce the launch of there new internet marketing blog. The blog will showcase there services and clients. Along with free hints and tips to improve your companies presence online.

Please subscribe to our news feed to keep up to date with any new articles.