PPC Help

[RichB]

I came up with an idea for my muse and built a website with the three pages Tim talks about to do dry testing. I have Google analytics rolling and an AdWords ad active. All in a couple days!

I'd like to get better at the PPC piece, I know there must be more to it than making up an ad and choosing some keywords, something a bit more scientific maybe? Are there any worthwhile sites to read about it or an ebook maybe?

Or do I need to put together a few ads and see which is the most effective? I would assume at the end of my test I look at what ad and keywords get me the highest conversion and stick with those so I'm not paying for non-converted clicks. If it's that obvious I suppose no ebook needed.

I guess I'd just like a push in the right direction and maybe some help writing the ad, it's tough to sell something in 75 characters!

Here's my current ad for critique.

Triathlon Training
Breakthrough mental training
techniques used by Olympians

[Marcie]

I just did what Tim said, came up with as many keywords as possible. Tried to think of who would be searching for what that may click on my ad (for example can you use marathon training as a keyword too). I like the text of your ad!

[Vagabond]

hey Rich, i like your idea.

my only critiqu would be to put something that benefits the person buying it in your ad.... maybe something like:

Triathlon Training
Destroy your mental barriers
Breakthrough techniques used by Olympians

Obviously you can reword it, but i think its really important to attract people by stating in the ad what theyll get out of it.

[darrin365]

Rich,

You can probably do a Google search and find some tutorials on PPC keyword creation.

Here are some ideas:
<ul>
<li>Brainstorm possible keywords.</li>
<li>Use http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. Put in your keywords and drill down to see what people are searching for. Keep in mind, I think the database pulls individual words and puts them together. Long word strings are sometimes scrambled.</li>
<li>Use http://www.keycompete.com/. You can put in the URLs of competitors or similar websites and find what keywords they are using. The free version only returns about 5 keywords. You can get more with the pay version. It also gives a quality score for the keywords, though I don't know how reliable it is.</li>
</ul>

Also, know that hardcore PPC affiliate marketers will general THOUSANDS of keywords for a single campaign. Lots of them are very specific. Those get fewer impressions, but frequently find more qualified buyers.

As far as testing goes, test, test, test. You can run multiple ads in a single campaign. Then review the results. See what works and what doesn't, then tweak. I recently started a campaign with 5 versions of my ad. Four pulled in clicks pretty well. One didn't get a single click - despite thousands of impressions - in a three day period. I killed that version and wrote a new ad. Got clicks on the new ad the first day.

I hope this helps!

[Webzu]

Congrats! You're out there already!

Your headline should intrigue so it makes them want to click. You're giving too much information in your ad, try to make it so it arouses their curiosity so they click for the details.

Something like...

Triathlon Training
10 Breakthrough Training Secrets
Swim Bike Run Like An Olympian

[darrin365]

The language is rough on this site (and don't even think about posting if you're a newbie without first looking around - they're fry you), but this little tutorial is helpful.
http://www.wickedfire.com/traffic-supreme/13619-google-adwords-newbies-guide.html

[RichB]

Congrats! You're out there already!

Your headline should intrigue so it makes them want to click. You're giving too much information in your ad, try to make it so it arouses their curiosity so they click for the details.

Something like...

Triathlon Training
10 Breakthrough Training Secrets
Swim Bike Run Like An Olympian


I like that and my I thought about provoking curiosity, but don't I want to make sure my clicks turn into conversions? My fear is that I'll be paying for curiosity responses and not those that will want to buy so I try to give them a peek into what the product is so if they have no interest in mental training I'm not paying for thier click. Am I wrong?

I appreciate the feedback.

[RichB]

Also,
I considered making the ad more generic and marketing it to marathoners, etc. But I thought it may be better to gear it to a smaller niche like triathletes. Is it better to make it more generic and increase my pool of customers? Or do I make a different site for each sport so I'm hitting multiple niches (even though the same product will go to them all)?

[Webzu]

You can weed out free info seekers by how you set up your PPC campaign.

If someone is doing a search for "triathlon training" that person is a hot prospect. You want to avoid those who search "triathlon", "free triathlon training", "triathlon training tips", etc. and you can exclude your ad showing for those keyword phrases (add -free to your exclusion list for example) so at that point you already have a good lead now you want to make them click and that is where peaking their interest by arousing their curiosity via your ad comes into play.

It makes sense about what you said about the mental training but you also don't want people not to click because they scoff at the mental part. But if they click at the more generic ad your website copy needs to sell them on the mental training part.

If your budget can hack it I would test both that's the only way to be sure. Run a split test the same landing page with two different ads one with the mental training one with the more generic terminology then you can see which one converts better.

[Webzu]

Also,
I considered making the ad more generic and marketing it to marathoners, etc. But I thought it may be better to gear it to a smaller niche like triathletes. Is it better to make it more generic and increase my pool of customers? Or do I make a different site for each sport so I'm hitting multiple niches (even though the same product will go to them all)?

I would test your add in the various niches...you could target marathon runners, bikers, adventure racers, endurance athletes, etc. See how well they convert before going all out with all those groups.