Cindy’s Other Blog

So now you are all set up. You seem to have your campaign set up for the next 6 months with all the keyword research done and the best keywords in place. However do not relax yet, now it is time to maintain your campaign. This is a critical part of PPC advertising that many people forget about.

Ideally it would be great if you could just set up your campaign and leave it alone. However this will not work. In reality you will need to track and test every ad for performance. There are many ways that you can do this.

AdWords offers tools that’ll help you calculate what percentage of traffic an ad brings in. You can use tools provided by your web host to find out which ads brought in traffic that actually led to sales. Remember - no web spider ever bought a product.

So why go through this extra hassle? This is because, if your ad is not performing well, it is costing you money, and will not bring in profits. In other words you are paying for useless traffic. Even if no sales are made you will still be paying for each click.

Fortunately, there are things you can do about an ad that’s not bringing in productive results. If you’ve put things together correctly, your ads will come up within the first five to ten pages of a search. The next thing to look at is whether or not the problem is the keyword you’ve chosen.

Initially most people think of popular keywords before they consider anything else. They feel that they will drive lots of traffic to their website. This is true but unfortunately this will not result in sales, because it is untargeted. Searchers use these popular keywords when they first start searching but these keywords do not usually take them to where they want to go.

The people who use these broad based keywords are not quite sure what they need. They are browsers rather than serious buyers. The most effective keywords are those that will draw traffic but will also bring in searchers who need and want your product.

Consider searching for your own keywords to see what pops up. You might be surprised by the other sites that have chosen the same keywords you have. Take a look at the top competitors for a word and analyze their sites to see if they’re in line with what you want to be associated with. If you seem out of place in a set of search results, it might be time to change your strategy a little. Remember, a bad keyword is only costing you money!

It is important to look after your campaigns and keep a close watch on them. This will give you an indication of how well your keywords are doing and which ones should be replaced. When you choose effective keywords you will have profitable pay per click campaigns that will help your business prosper.