Surefire Google Adwords Formula
By John Gergye
Posted Thursday, September 16, 2004
Success with Google Adwords isn't quite as easy as some would have you believe.
Still just about anyone who is persistent can succeed if they'll but implement a consistent testing program. Since testing can produce a nearly constant improvement in your click through rate (CTR).
Here’s the surefire three-step formula that’s as easy as one…two…three.
Surefire Step #1: Develop Your Initial Test Ads
Notice I said ads not ad.
You want to present two competing ideas to your market right away. Letting your prospects tell you which they prefer.
Tip: Test headlines first while keeping the body copy the same. Headlines can have a huge impact.
Tip: Set it up so Google serves up both ads equally. Otherwise Google will present the ad that's producing the most click throughs more often which will skew your test.
Surefire Step #2: Monitor Results
After 40 clicks review your results. Google displays the ads under your listings. Showing the number of clicks each ad got.
Here’s early results from a campaign I tested:
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39 Clicks | 1.4% CTR |
Served - 49.5%
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26 Clicks | 0.9% CTR |
Served - 50.5%
Each ad was served up half the time. Yet one outperformed the other by more than 50%. As one had a 1.4% CTR. While the other only .9% CTR. So by doing nothing more than setting up two ads I found one that was clearly a winner.
In case you're wondering I have no idea why one ad worked better. And really don't care. Marketing is about "what works" not so much "why it works".
CRITICAL STEP: You've got an ad that produces clicks. Now you want to improve on that without wasting half your impressions on an idea that may or may not work. So here's the trick.
Surefire Step #3: Duplicate the winner. Add another contender.
With three ads being served up equally the winner will be presented two-thirds of the time. While the test ad will only be shown one third of the time.
From here on wait until the challenger accumulates 40 clicks before deciding if it's better or not. (Unless it’s dramatically out performing the reigning winner.) If so it's the new champ. If it is, or isn't, repeat Step 3 trying another idea.
CTR Boosting Ideas to Test
Here are five known CTR boosting tactics you can test:
• Put the target keyword in the headline. Google will bold it to draw attention to your ad.
• List the big benefit on the first line of text followed by the features. Does this generate more response than an ad that simply lists various features?
• Capitalize the first letter of each word verses using all lowercase.
• Do action inducing words like… sign up, new, right now, today, buy now, save now, apply here …impact response?
• Qualify by including the price.
Result? Over time you'll improve your CTR driving more traffic to your site. Making you a winner in the Adwords game.
This is why I say you don't have to be a marketing Einstein to develop Adwords ads that work. Just know a little bit about your market’s hot buttons and the market will tell you the rest.
See? a surefire formula that's as easy as one…two…three.
So what you waiting for? Start testing today for more traffic tomorrow.
About the Author
John Gergye shares more ideas like this in his just updated eBook "Traffic From Google in 35 Days". Find out more
here: (http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/j/tfg35cl.shtml) Or test your search engine IQ by taking his seo quiz (http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/search-engine-quiz.shtml) and get the free special report "Coming Out On Top".
