How to Use Adwords to Generate Business

.     You can see the effect of choosing narrower keywords here: So, initially, you would do well to narrow your keywords considerably until you can determine which ones work better for you. So, going forward, a successful Adwords campaign has five basic elements:

• A good definition of the audience
  • Adwords gives you an almost infinite number of combinations for your target.
  • You can choose anywhere from a national footprint to a totally local zip-code based one.
  • You can also define dozens of other variables.
  • But, because you are paying per click, you have to make sure that every click that lands on your website can become a customer. So, for example, if your CPA firm can only handle local clients, limit your geographic definition to your DMA.
• Keywords/Creative
  • Adwords ads are like a modern Haiku: You have a 25-character headline, one 35-character URL and two 35-character lines and… that’s it!
  • Adwords can also be really expensive, so you need to choose carefully.
  • Because of the need to test, you can’t have only a handful of Adword Ads, you must test a wide range, meaning, writing a dozen or more ads.
  • Finally, the ad itself must attract the right target to take action and click on it.
  • Best advice: get a copywriter specialized in Adwords

• Website
  • Before you launch your Adwords campaign, you must plan what is going to happen when the person clicks on the ad:
    • What offer is the person reacting to and where does the person land?
    • Will you be testing different websites? Designs? Offers?
  • Ideally, your website should pay off on the ad. However, often, it is not possible to pay off exactly the ad promise. However, your website needs to accelerate the action so:
    • The offer to which the person is responding must be right there on the site. If you are offering a free white paper, the link must be right there.
    • You might want to consider A/B testing sites. There are companies, like “Unbounce” that allow you to make differen versions of a site (thereby A/B testing) and assign a percentage of the time that they appear, that way you can test designs and offers.
    • Try to have 1 and no more than 2 clicks between the offer and the final action.
  • You might want to consider giving the respondent a choice: call me now, send me documentation, do not call or write at this time…
• Response procedure
  • When a person lands on your site the site will hopefully invite him/her to respond to the offer quickly. When the person responds, you must have a response procedure in mind. This can take several forms:
    • Send an immediate confirmation email (with perhaps some further response device)
    • Send an email with a link for the person to download the offer (e.g., a white paper)
    • Call the person (e.g., to make an appointment)
  • You should also have a database into which to put the information you collect. This could be as simple an Excel spreadsheet or anything more complex (e.g., salesforce.com). Forming this database should also guide the information you request from a person.
  • Also, consider that you don’t have to collect all the information from the initial contact, you can follow up with an email asking for further information.
  • Bottom line: you want the whole process to be simple and straightforward: from the moment the person clicks on your ad to the time they do whatever you want them to do, 2 or 3 clicks top.
• Analytics – there is a number of reports you want to look for:
  • Cost/sale – This is your basic basic ratio. Take the total amount spent on the campaign and divide it into the total sales. You can do this by campaign and by Adword
  • Conversion ratio – This is another basic one. Take the total amount of clicks (or visitors to your website) and divide them into how many responded to your offer.
  • Sales Ratio – Finally, take the number of people who responded to your offer and divide it into the number of sales you made.

Next- The Importance of Analytics