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Desperately Need Help With Google Ad Words -- Losing My Shirt!

by lastreporter
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Warriors, I know that you're busy, so I will cut to the chase:

I have several product sites where I sell items I distribute and I have recently started using adwords ads to my great disappointment.

Here's why:

1. No matter how much research I do, and no matter how many good keywords I find, they end up costing me so much per click that I can't even break even. Clicks that start off costing $1 end up escalating to $3 to $7 a click. Soon, the cost to run the ads eats up all of the margins in my products, which are fairly good.

2. My keywords start out being rated good in quality by Google initially (5 to 7) , but soon decline to 3 -- even though I built the landing page based on solid relevant SEO and quality writing and thorough info. What's up with this? Is it just Google screwing me or what? I don't understand how they rate the quality of a page. Is this just a game to raise the click rate?

3. Whenever I put my bids in the $1 a click range, I either fall off of the page altogether or am so low on the page I get few clicks.

4. I am befuddled and discouraged with my results. Let me sum them up for you so far:

I paid Google $600 in three weeks; I made $288 in revenue generated from these ads. I lost $312!

I am open to any suggestions, alternatives or any other form of advertising you might suggest.

I am hoping my bad experience with adwords is simply a result of my lack of experience using them.

As an aside, I am a professional writer and have continue to add quality, original content to my sites -- to no avail.

Unlike earlier times, my SEO articles no longer attract many free hits. The hits they do attract are usually odd keywords that bring me odd users who have no interest in buying my products, but are interested in an unrelated subject.

Please help!
#desperately #google #losing #shirit #words
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    You are experiencing the adwords conundrum.
    You need to test, but it costs money to test.

    Decide what are your best performing ads and keywords.
    Ditch the rest.

    You don't have to bid for the top spot, try bidding for
    #4-10 or so.

    Quality of a "page" has nothing to do with what you
    are doing. I'm not sure why everybody and their
    brother is falling all over writing "great" content
    with "quality" writing.

    For adwords, your page MUST satisfy what the person
    is searching for.

    Then, it must DIRECTLY give them the opportunity
    to obtain it, if it is a product.

    And yes, include all other adwords required information.

    I'm thinking you are mixing SEO and adwords. The ad
    copy and landing pages are not SEO. You want clicks,
    you want sales.

    The definition of good keywords, are keywords that lead
    to sales, not just clicks and traffic.

    Your CTR will affect your QS most definitely. Your ad needs
    to have copy that goes with the search term, AND, leads
    to a page that is for that specific search term. Mix this up,
    and you will go nowhere.

    I would take heart that you have made sales. From what ads?
    From what keywords?

    If you are not using negative keyword tools, do so ASAP.

    Getting back to my first statement, most people will need to
    lose money before figuring it out. But then adwords can be
    the golden goose.

    Perhaps it is a little known fact, and drives adsense users crazy
    as well, but the highest QS ads get a lower CPC to be on top.
    Your ROI goes up. Google does this on purpose. They want ads
    that people have shown they want to click on.

    If you can't afford to lose any more money, you may need to
    quit adwords. Alternatives? Well, there really is none. There are
    older methods IM users use: buying links, email marketing,
    traffic exchanges, PPV, etc. but no real alternative to adwords,
    although if anyone else replies, they will give a programs that
    aint worth beans.

    Paul
    Signature

    If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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    • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
      Hey Paul,

      Thanks for the insight.

      I read what your analysis several times and I am printing it for future reference.

      You opened my eyes on the difference between adwords QS and SEO. I really appreciate that insight.

      I will continue with adwords, but only after studying the elements of creating QS and reworking my landing page to get there.

      Can you suggest and books or other material on this subject.

      Again, much thanks, Paul!
      Signature
      Charm City Gallery
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    • Profile picture of the author marketinguk
      Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

      You are experiencing the adwords conundrum.
      You need to test, but it costs money to test.

      Decide what are your best performing ads and keywords.
      Ditch the rest.

      You don't have to bid for the top spot, try bidding for
      #4-10 or so.

      Quality of a "page" has nothing to do with what you
      are doing. I'm not sure why everybody and their
      brother is falling all over writing "great" content
      with "quality" writing.

      For adwords, your page MUST satisfy what the person
      is searching for.

      Then, it must DIRECTLY give them the opportunity
      to obtain it, if it is a product.

      And yes, include all other adwords required information.

      I'm thinking you are mixing SEO and adwords. The ad
      copy and landing pages are not SEO. You want clicks,
      you want sales.

      The definition of good keywords, are keywords that lead
      to sales, not just clicks and traffic.

      Your CTR will affect your QS most definitely. Your ad needs
      to have copy that goes with the search term, AND, leads
      to a page that is for that specific search term. Mix this up,
      and you will go nowhere.

      I would take heart that you have made sales. From what ads?
      From what keywords?

      If you are not using negative keyword tools, do so ASAP.

      Getting back to my first statement, most people will need to
      lose money before figuring it out. But then adwords can be
      the golden goose.

      Perhaps it is a little known fact, and drives adsense users crazy
      as well, but the highest QS ads get a lower CPC to be on top.
      Your ROI goes up. Google does this on purpose. They want ads
      that people have shown they want to click on.

      If you can't afford to lose any more money, you may need to
      quit adwords. Alternatives? Well, there really is none. There are
      older methods IM users use: buying links, email marketing,
      traffic exchanges, PPV, etc. but no real alternative to adwords,
      although if anyone else replies, they will give a programs that
      aint worth beans.

      Paul
      Paul's posts are one of the few I actually bother following on this forum due to the sheer sense he speaks. I don't respond enough to be honest but I just had to respond to this post.

      IMO this post should be bookmarked by anyone failing or looking to start out in PPC. You're so right it's a totally different beast to SEO and I also lost my shirt making the exact mistakes Paul mentions.

      You live and learn.

      Joel
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  • Profile picture of the author HostWind
    What about an alternative PPC network or media buys? There is still hope!
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    Inexpensive Web Hosting
    Unlimited Web Hosting
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  • Profile picture of the author johndetlefs
    Not sure on others' experiences but i've found Perry Marshall's stuff to be really really useful. I'm getting a coaching session with Brad Geddes (he co-wrote Perry's book) this week ($800) and hopefully that's useful.

    Adwords seems to be well set up in that it effectively weeds out advertisers who a) don't have any money and b) don't understand tracking and split testing.

    If it helps, one thing that I have learned is to start off with one keyword (exact match) that has a decent amount of traffic, and stick to it until you're happy with the ROI. Then move to another keyword.

    I've lost a packet trying to fight the good fight over a large number of keywords. Just not worth it!

    John Detlefs
    Signature

    You only get one shot at life - make it awesome.

    Everyone else also gets just one crack at it - help make theirs awesome too... or, politely step out of their way.

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