Adwords Campaign Management

Ok, so you have your list of long-tails (long tailed keywords) and hopefully a batch of test versions of your Adwords campaigns. You know you need to not only track your campaigns (this is your money after all, right?), but you need a way to manage the campaigns in a way that make sense.

You have a couple of good options out there. You could buy the latest bells-and-whistles pretty looking software that makes your Adwords campaigns into bold charts and graphs that would make Picasso cringe, but is that helping you? Most likely, and if you're like me, you want the plain truth about where your money is going and whether your Adwords campaigns are being as effective as possible in generating revenue.

If you're thrifty (uh, cheap), like me (most of the time), you do have a great Adwords campaign management system that is completely free to use. Amazingly enough, its made by Google and is probably the most Adwords friendly system out there, bar none. Adwords Editor is a fancy scmancy interface that makes Adwords management easy! Looky!!!

Google's own Adwords management system is about the most targeted system available and makes tracking your ad campaigns easy. I'm a huge fan of visuals and Adwords Editor makes the Adwords experience a visual pleasure. Tracking and editing couldn't be easier and of course, the program is tied to your Adwords account, so you don't have to do double work in editing. Get yourself a copy of Adwords Editor here.

If you are looking for something to supplement the information that you can get in Adwords Editor, consider Micro Niche Finder. I know, I talk about this program a lot, but in all honesty, this is the one program that I have consistently used for years, with excellent success. You can not only visually choose those pesky (but profitable) long-tails, you can export all your information to an Excel file for campaign tracking.

Adwords campaign management is simply a matter of making your Adwords campaigns work for you in a way that makes it easy to evaluate effectiveness. Time is money after all, and using management software saves you time, and money.

The Best Google Adwords Tool?

I've been asked several times to divulge the tools I use for optimizing my Google Adwords campaigns. It's not a secret and if you are savvy (hint: READ A LOT), you don't even have to pay a penny to find a great tool that will get you lots of targeted traffic at a minimal cost.

Keep in mind the rule of thumb that unless you have a bazillion dollars to spend, don't even think about going up against the guys who target one or two word keyphrases. Those are sucked up as soon as they're hot and there s plenty of traffic to be had amongst the three or more keyphrases or long-tails as I call them.

The best Google Adwords tool also happens to be completely free. It's Google's own keyword research tool. Laugh if you will, but if you know how to use it, you can find those profitable long-tails that sit there in the pile, largely unnoticed. Google's keyword tool even tells you how much you can expect to pay to get to the top three (above the fold) in results for long-tails. With a few guidelines, you can profit significantly with Google Adwords.

My experience tells me that you need to pretty much ignore any long-tails that give you less than a thousands searches a month. Also, pay attention to the search volume trends graphs. If there are a few minor dips over a year, thats to be expected, and you are looking for consistency over a long period. If the long-tail has been spiraling downward over several months, take the hint and AVOID IT. It's probably at the end of its usefulness to you and a waste of good money.

Lastly (but not leastly), think about your cost per click and how high it is in proportion to the traffic it brings. If you have Micro Niche Finder, this is easy to figure out, since the tool has already provided you with a green light if a long-tail is going to be worth the price. If you use Google's Keyword Tool, you can still visually assess whether the CPC is worth a go. Use common sense. This isn't rocket science or some secret formula. If a long-tail is bringing in a thousand searches a month, assume a 5-7% clickthrough, and multiply the CPC times 5-7% of the number of searches per month. Keep in mind, the deeper you dig, the more you will find those bargain bin priced long-tails with a grand of searches a month.

Make Money With Adwords

I'll cut right to the chase here and try to save you some money. If you don't have a solid understanding of keywords and Google's rationale for charging $9.36 versus $.05 for an Adwords block, go back and learn it.

You've heard it all too many times on forums; someone poured hundreds of dollars on an Adwords campaign that just couldn't fail. And yet, it did. Now, they are all over Google like white on rice, complaining that Adwords is crap and Google is a shady thief in the night that stole their money. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You CAN make money with Adwords. Thousands of people make their sole income from Adwords and consistently get the best ad placement for their budget. How do they succeed? It's not a matter of luck, its the tools you choose and how you use them.

How to find profitable keywords:
Hopefully, you aren't flying blind and you already have chosen a product that you are confident is marketable. If you are an affiliate of the product, your affiliate management site may even have lists of keywords and keyphrses that have been proven winners on Adwords. Keep in mind that those lists are useful, but probably also saturated and you need to think outside the box to find keywords that will draw substantial amounts of TARGETED traffic.

I use several different tools in my Adwords campaign creation. Many are free, some are paid but have made back more than what they cost. Google can be your best free keyword research tool. Think of it this way, you have a product or service, plug it into Google and you receive examples of the top Adwords campaigns that your competitors are running. Check out the sidebar ads when you Google your product. Do they use single keywords or are they using more targeted long tailed keyphrases to draw traffic? Once you have researched the competitors ads, its time to use some paid tools.

In my experience, the single most useful tool has been Micro Niche Finder. Hands down, if you can only afford one tool for Adwords research, this is it. New features are added periodically and its probably the most powerful piece of keyword research software you will ever use. You simply plug in a keyword or keyphrase and MNF will provide CPC, competition, and number of times the phrase has been searched. This alone allows you to evaluate phrases and discard those that simply don't draw traffic or have too many competitors, which will drive up your CPC.

The other tool I use is Keyword Analyzer. This is the crack for the Adwords addict. You simply plug in your competitors' site and KA will tell you the CPC bids your competitors are using. If a phrase isn't being used, KA will still tell you what you can expect to bid and you can track all of this information over a period of time. I suggest that you track for at least a month to monitor your competitor's progress or lack thereof. How will you know if a phrase has been effective for a competitor? Well, one of the foundations of advertising is to pull a campaign that isn't working and is costing money. If your competitor pulls a phrase, its likely it hasn't been effective in generating any traffic (or revenue). Congratulations, you just eliminated a phrase without losing money!