Linkbacks and SEO

Search engine advertising is one of those paid advertising forms that seems to escape all too many internet marketers. No matter what size your business is or who your product appeals to, there’s a place for you in search engine marketing and it’s always something that could help your profits and margins. Whether you’re an online marketer or an mega successful online entrepreneur, familiarity with Google AdWords is something that you can not afford to be without. With that in mind, here are the five most important tips for Google AdWords success:

#1 – Pick keywords that represent your business.

The keywords you use will often be competitive. When you’re picking keywords for your AdWords campaign, make sure that they first accurately reflect your business, and second reflects what people are really searching for. While only searching for competitive keywords is a great way for determining who’s going to see your ad, it’s not always the best way to make sure that your ad converts into sales. If you lose sight of either of those factors, you’ll lose a large chunk of your potential customers.

#2 – Run micro-campaigns before deciding on anything final.

Converting prospective customers into buyers should be the first rule that any advertiser follows. Isn’t that the key purpose of advertising? If your ads aren’t doing that, you’re defeating the purpose. Smart advertisers run a test of five, ten, or even twenty different ads and see which one results in the most page views and conversions. Then concentrate on that ad and refine it until its conversion rate makes it easily worth its cost 10 times over.

#3 – Quick! Drop your losing ads.

No, you can’t spend your way out of trouble. When your ads aren’t working, lose them. Focus, focus, focus and simplify. When you’re running 10 different ads and only three are bringing in any real conversions, lose any ones that aren’t performing. Focus on refining what already works, not on repairing what’s broken. As an online entrepreneur, you may not have the resources to run a massive campaign, so focus on the small ones that achieve the greatest results.

#4 – Research your market by testing an ad campaign.

You can create a strategic ad that will command the attention you want, performs great and is highly optimized for your market. Find out what’s going to work online and what isn’t. Start by analyzing five potential names for your product, or advertising tag lines, Run as a test a Google AdWords campaign that won’t have you gambling with your ads, but is instead researched to make sure that anything you run is guaranteed by some type of results.

#5 – Measure your Google AdWords campaigns with a cost-benefit analysis.

If you’re running advertisements that are converting, but not producing significant profits, then take a step back and ask yourself if they’re really worth the efforts. Again, any ads that are not producing should be removed immediately. Also, consider if the time invested on an ad that is just breaking even, is worth it; if they’re not, remove them. You’ll be shocked to find how much even the simplest of ad campaigns can eat up your time, so be sure to calculate opportunity cost when figuring out how well your ads are really producing.