Google Adwords/Pay Per Click - Has it worked for You?
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Hells Bells
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bananacake
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thougt to drop in and share with you some of my learnings on how my PPC campaign is coming along so far...
So US$35 into my PPC campaign and fine tuning keywords, i have received 104 clicks and 97,000 impressions and 0 enquiries.
The ad reads exactly whats on the tin i.e. Villa+Price+Location+Number of people it sleeps. This way the person clicking on the ad knew exactly what he/she was "clicking for" and i would therefore hopefully save on my marketing budget.
I have seen a little increase on direct traffic to my site today but cant say for sure if this is a result of the 97,000 impressions.
On a different note I have come across ways where you can get more free Google vouchers (that are also valid for exsisting Adword accounts) as well as purchase them on places like ebay for much cheaper than its actual value. Just type "Google Voucher" or "Googe Coupons" in Ebay and you get an idea. Try also doing a serach with "Free Google Coupons" and see what you get.
So US$35 into my PPC campaign and fine tuning keywords, i have received 104 clicks and 97,000 impressions and 0 enquiries.
The ad reads exactly whats on the tin i.e. Villa+Price+Location+Number of people it sleeps. This way the person clicking on the ad knew exactly what he/she was "clicking for" and i would therefore hopefully save on my marketing budget.
I have seen a little increase on direct traffic to my site today but cant say for sure if this is a result of the 97,000 impressions.
On a different note I have come across ways where you can get more free Google vouchers (that are also valid for exsisting Adword accounts) as well as purchase them on places like ebay for much cheaper than its actual value. Just type "Google Voucher" or "Googe Coupons" in Ebay and you get an idea. Try also doing a serach with "Free Google Coupons" and see what you get.
Google PPC
Bananacake
You'll get an increase in your hits because of the 104 clicks not the 97,000 impressions. The fact that your click rate is low indicates that you have either got the ad & keywords right and your target audience is clicking thru to your site or (more likely) that your keywords are too tight and you are only targetting exact phrases (the low number of impressions also points to this). Using an exact match for the phrase will limit your impressions, conversely, too loose a phrase and millions of impressions, loads of clicks (and cost) from browsers and not potential customers.
Exact phrase: "holiday lets tuscany" will only be impressed when a searcher types the identical wording.
Open phrase: "holiday lets tuscany" will include holiday let tuscany, holiday in tuscany, tuscany holiday, holiday in rural tuscany, and any other variation.
Beware Google adword vouchers; Google only allow one voucher per account regardless of what advertisers may say, so you will need several Google adword accounts to use them, they also track IP addresses and will block any repeated attempts to use vouchers from the same IP even with different email accounts.
You'll get an increase in your hits because of the 104 clicks not the 97,000 impressions. The fact that your click rate is low indicates that you have either got the ad & keywords right and your target audience is clicking thru to your site or (more likely) that your keywords are too tight and you are only targetting exact phrases (the low number of impressions also points to this). Using an exact match for the phrase will limit your impressions, conversely, too loose a phrase and millions of impressions, loads of clicks (and cost) from browsers and not potential customers.
Exact phrase: "holiday lets tuscany" will only be impressed when a searcher types the identical wording.
Open phrase: "holiday lets tuscany" will include holiday let tuscany, holiday in tuscany, tuscany holiday, holiday in rural tuscany, and any other variation.
Beware Google adword vouchers; Google only allow one voucher per account regardless of what advertisers may say, so you will need several Google adword accounts to use them, they also track IP addresses and will block any repeated attempts to use vouchers from the same IP even with different email accounts.
"Write something, even if it's just a suicide note"
"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise"
"As for my amnesia, I've had it as long as I can remember"
Real name: Steve
Gender: Male
"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise"
"As for my amnesia, I've had it as long as I can remember"
Real name: Steve
Gender: Male
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bananacake
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Bananacake
What I call open phrases Google refers to as Broad Match:
You can set each search-targeted keyword to have one of four settings (click on the keyword phrase to see the options).
1.Broad match: keyword
Allows your ad to show on similar phrases and relevant variations
(The broad match modifier may also be used to further refine your broad keyword matches: +keyword.)
This is the one I generally use with longer keyword phrases.
2.Phrase match: "keyword"
Allows your ad to be displayed for searches that match the exact phrase - think of it as an advanced search on Google, so if someone enters a search phrase that includes your keyword phrase they impress (eg "villa holiday lets tuscany")
3.Exact match: [keyword]
Allows your ad to be displayed for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively - I think this is the one your using, you wouldn't impress with the search "villa holiday lets tuscany".
4.Negative match: -keyword
Ensures that your ad doesn't show for any search that includes that term.
With some options, you'll enjoy more ad impressions, clicks and conversions; with others, you'll get fewer impressions and more narrow targeting.
Steve
You can set each search-targeted keyword to have one of four settings (click on the keyword phrase to see the options).
1.Broad match: keyword
Allows your ad to show on similar phrases and relevant variations
(The broad match modifier may also be used to further refine your broad keyword matches: +keyword.)
This is the one I generally use with longer keyword phrases.
2.Phrase match: "keyword"
Allows your ad to be displayed for searches that match the exact phrase - think of it as an advanced search on Google, so if someone enters a search phrase that includes your keyword phrase they impress (eg "villa holiday lets tuscany")
3.Exact match: [keyword]
Allows your ad to be displayed for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively - I think this is the one your using, you wouldn't impress with the search "villa holiday lets tuscany".
4.Negative match: -keyword
Ensures that your ad doesn't show for any search that includes that term.
With some options, you'll enjoy more ad impressions, clicks and conversions; with others, you'll get fewer impressions and more narrow targeting.
Steve
"Write something, even if it's just a suicide note"
"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise"
"As for my amnesia, I've had it as long as I can remember"
Real name: Steve
Gender: Male
"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise"
"As for my amnesia, I've had it as long as I can remember"
Real name: Steve
Gender: Male
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charles cawley
- Posts: 1205
- Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:53 pm
- Location: Herefordshire, Shropshire, Borders
Essar mentions negative keywords.
We found using negative key words cut our adwords costs by around 75%. You can use single words, here, where with the positive key words, it is nearly always advisable to use positive key phrases. This reduces cost per click and increases conversion per click by greatly improving demand focus.
If you just use the word 'cottage'. This will mean that your ad will appear across the whole country and will attract half serious clicks from people who may never visit your area. So you suffer thousands of wasted clicks. To add insult to injury, to get up the top of the ads for the search term 'cottage' may cost over five times per click than for focused phrase like 'hereford cottages'. You not only have low conversion but you pay vastly more for each click without focus.
With 'your area cottages' click costs plummett and conversion rises. Then add negative key words to include all the towns and villages not close to your cottage and other things such as 'beach' if your are a long way from the sea and, again, wasted clicks are decimated.
These are the key tricks in making ad-words work for cottages. Obviously, if you are selling light bulbs which are not area specific, the treatment of positive key words / phrases would be very different.
Finding the place to enter negative keywords is a bit tricky. A small link lurks below the positive kewords list.
Adwords may not be the best tool for a single cottage operation, but for agencies such as ours we would not be in business without them. Our reliance on google is quite frightening. We are beginning to develop our own 'name' but, still, over 80% of our advertising spend goes to this one single search engine. The giant Hoseasons... owned by Wyndham Worldwide spends millions with Google and other smaller agencies such as Sykes spend serious sums.
The idea, pedalled by many SEO salesmen, that you can spend a little with them, and then, presto, you have free advertising is, in most cases, fraudulent. IT people have a history of behaving like this as anyone who was conned by the notorious international Y2K fraud will know. (I fell for it, along with millions of others).
Ask an SEO salesman to explain 'The Sandbox'. He will either deny its existence, or that he has never heard of it or he may, just possibly, withdraw gracefully. Basic SEO is sensible, it will help organic (free search) results, but the days when a business could be built up on free search engine results ended years ago.
Ad words is one way of marketing... it's not going to get any easier on the internet.
We found using negative key words cut our adwords costs by around 75%. You can use single words, here, where with the positive key words, it is nearly always advisable to use positive key phrases. This reduces cost per click and increases conversion per click by greatly improving demand focus.
If you just use the word 'cottage'. This will mean that your ad will appear across the whole country and will attract half serious clicks from people who may never visit your area. So you suffer thousands of wasted clicks. To add insult to injury, to get up the top of the ads for the search term 'cottage' may cost over five times per click than for focused phrase like 'hereford cottages'. You not only have low conversion but you pay vastly more for each click without focus.
With 'your area cottages' click costs plummett and conversion rises. Then add negative key words to include all the towns and villages not close to your cottage and other things such as 'beach' if your are a long way from the sea and, again, wasted clicks are decimated.
These are the key tricks in making ad-words work for cottages. Obviously, if you are selling light bulbs which are not area specific, the treatment of positive key words / phrases would be very different.
Finding the place to enter negative keywords is a bit tricky. A small link lurks below the positive kewords list.
Adwords may not be the best tool for a single cottage operation, but for agencies such as ours we would not be in business without them. Our reliance on google is quite frightening. We are beginning to develop our own 'name' but, still, over 80% of our advertising spend goes to this one single search engine. The giant Hoseasons... owned by Wyndham Worldwide spends millions with Google and other smaller agencies such as Sykes spend serious sums.
The idea, pedalled by many SEO salesmen, that you can spend a little with them, and then, presto, you have free advertising is, in most cases, fraudulent. IT people have a history of behaving like this as anyone who was conned by the notorious international Y2K fraud will know. (I fell for it, along with millions of others).
Ask an SEO salesman to explain 'The Sandbox'. He will either deny its existence, or that he has never heard of it or he may, just possibly, withdraw gracefully. Basic SEO is sensible, it will help organic (free search) results, but the days when a business could be built up on free search engine results ended years ago.
Ad words is one way of marketing... it's not going to get any easier on the internet.
No web-site for now.
Advice about holiday letting
Advice about holiday letting
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bananacake
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bentisdall
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- Location: La Bourboule, Auvergne & London
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Re: PPC Turn off the Non-google ads!
I used to run a £1k per day adwords campaign. When we changed agencies the first thing they did was turn off the non-google ads. The ROI improved drastically. Google supplies to sites such as gumtree but also a load of real junk affiliate sites. The return is much better from google itself where people are actually searching for something related to your ad rather than randomly clicking on an ad that happens to pop up. This is also why, anecdotally, Facebook ads are not working for most people.
Essar wrote:I wouldn't turn off the non-google ads. Google supplies to dozens of search engines and directories, such as GumTree. Your referral click throughs from specific directory sites will generate better enquiries, as they are more travel/holiday targetted.
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charles cawley
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- Location: Herefordshire, Shropshire, Borders
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bananacake
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- Location: Adriatic Coast, Pescara, Italy
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well after experimenting with US$225 worth of free Google adwords i can confirm that i have not even received a single enquiry!
My conclusion is leave PPC to the holiday rental websites! Ultimately, shoppers are looking for a variety of choice and if they land on a website offering just one product chances are they are going to bounce!
My conclusion is leave PPC to the holiday rental websites! Ultimately, shoppers are looking for a variety of choice and if they land on a website offering just one product chances are they are going to bounce!
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charles cawley
- Posts: 1205
- Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:53 pm
- Location: Herefordshire, Shropshire, Borders
We do benefit from higher conversion not least because we can offer choice. This is one of the economies of scale that make our type of business possible.
If we were advertising only a few cottages, I doubt adwords would be that useful... although you do see some small operators appear to use them to some effect.
If we were advertising only a few cottages, I doubt adwords would be that useful... although you do see some small operators appear to use them to some effect.
No web-site for now.
Advice about holiday letting
Advice about holiday letting
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loscuatrotulipanes
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- Location: Casco Viejo, Panama
Finding the Magic Keyword
Hi all, I've now spent about 4 years using Google Adwords as a compliment to various listing sites to promote my rentals and I have to say that it is absolutely imperative to our business. First, once you've had a campaign running for a while, you can identify what is working and what's not. This allows you to trim the fat and end up with a lean, productive campaign (keep in mind that the opposite of this is can eat away at your marketing budget in a heartbeat). Second, we've been able to determine what our top converting keywords are (ie. the keywords that lead people to make the most reservations). Using this information, we were able to optimize our personal website around these high-converting keywords and generate more reservations. In all, Adwords has been good not only for traffic, but as a laboratory to determine best practices for our personal website. I would recommend it as a compliment to your organic SEO: not standalone.