So I was talking to a new friend, who happens to be an expert in online advertising (Adwords, affiliate marketing, etc) about an Adwords campaign I'm running for a client. I called on his advice because it's an unusual campaign in that the market we're appealing to is extremely niched (is that a word?). i.e. a very small market, albeit an ardent one.

He had a couple nuggets of Adwords wisdom I thought I'd share. Nothing earth shattering, but all worth considering.

Advice #1: Go broad. The typical Google wisdom is to make your keywords very specific. The more specific they are, the more likely they are to convert. And this is true - the CTR (click through rate) on very precise keywords is very good. North of 2% even. But we ran into a problem. 2.5% of  70 impressions is still only 2 clicks. Which isn't much. So his advice? Buck the Google wisdom and go broad. Reach broader in an attempt to pickup folks who are looking for the more general category your product/service fits into, then entice them into your flavor with your ad copy.

Simplified (so excuse me) example: Let's say you sell a special kind of corn seed for gardening. Let's call it whizbang corn seed. You can buy "whizbang corn seed" all you want, but you may only get 70 impressions per month. Let's shoot high with an insane 5% CTR... you might get 4 clicks. Not exactly pointing toward an IPO any time soon. But what if instead, you buy 'corn seed', 'garden corn', 'grow organic corn', or even 'gardening'... you get the idea. If you select broader keywords then make the right pitch in your ad copy, you'll get higher impressions - and hopefully higher clicks.

Advice #2: Put your offer in your ad title. Typical wisdom is to put your offer in the bottom line of your ad copy. First line does as close a match as possible to the search terms, second line sells them on it, 3rd line is a call to action, or an offer. "Free Shipping" or "Great Selection, Easy Returns" or "Free Gift with Purchase" - well if you're struggling with CTR - consider putting the offer as the opening line. I'm going to try this now with an eye to conversion rate... hopefully the clicks lead to conversion, otherwise it could be expensive to be that effective at raising the CTR.

Advice #3: Start with Overture. Yeah - that's what I said too. Here's why : Google has a convoluted algorithm for Adwords. There are several factors that affect your ranking - CPC is only one of those factors. The other big guerrilla in the room is your CTR. If it's low, Google makes less money, so they are less inclined to keep you at the top of the rankings. Overture plays no such games. It's pure capitalism over there. The highest bidder buys the highest slot, the end. Starting with them helps you better judge the effectiveness of your pitch without as many variables mucking up the works.

Anyway - there's a whole science to this Adwords game and it can really rock if you figure it out. I hope these ideas help you on your journey to mastering it all (and if you've made it this far, I have to assume you at least have a marginal interest in this or you'd have died of boredom 3 paragraphs ago.) Need a hand getting going with Adwords? Drop me a line.