CPC and AdWords, We All Have To Start Somewhere
Emma | Feb 07, 2008 | Comments 5
This post is a bit of a continuation of my AdWords Basics and Internet Marketing Inspiration. I’m about halfway through with the tutorials on Google AdWords Learning Center. And my AdWords account has graduated from Starter Edition to Standard Edition.
I’ve also discovered that there is something called a GAP exam. Where if one passes and maintains a certain dollar amount in an AdWords account for 90 days, it’s possible to become a Google AdWords Professional. I’ve also read almost every post on ZacJohnson.com.
I’ve also implemented a test on AdCenter and the Google AdWords content network. Where I’ve purchased a domain from GoDaddy, and redirected it to one of the affiliate landing pages offered on neverblueAds. This is a test of that particular program to see if I should invest the time to create a landing page on that product to promote it more. It’s also a learning experience for me
My first AdWords Campaign to promote my Subscriber Contest, did generate clicks to my site. And my Subscribers did increase a bit. I’m not sure if the Ads generated subscribers. But there were a lot of impressions as well. So that was probably worth the learning experience and the exposure. I set up a small budget and just used that campaign as a practice run.
Basic AdWord Definitions:
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CPC – cost-per-click – AdWords charges you for each click received.
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Quality Score – Measuring your quality of keyword and ad to determine your minimum bid price. Determined by Clickthrough rate, relevance of ad text, historical keyword performance, and other factors. The higher your Quality Score the lower your minimum bid.
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Minimum Bid – Amount assigned to keyword based on Quality Score. Least amount you pay-per-click in order for your keyword to show ads.
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Clickthrough Rate (CTR) – Calculated as Number of ad clicks/number of impressions X 100. The more relevant the ads, the more users will click, resulting in higher Clickthrough rates.
I’ve mostly learned that I have a lot more to learn. I’m going to keep studying and trying out new techniques. I’ve been finding some good information in Super Affiliate Mindset lately and it’s quickly becoming on of my favorite blogs. Here are 3 more posts that are worth checking out.
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How was it for you, Emma? I mean, the AdWords test: did you manage to break even, did you find that balance where at a certain level of the bid, your earnings exceed spendings?
I’m also trying PPC now, and this is my biggest challenge. If I bid high, I get good conversions, but I lose money. If I bid low, conversions decrease very much, and although I’m profitable, I cannot scale the campaign to make more than a pair of shoes per month (which is not enough for a living)
Simonne’s last blog post..Project WonderFree – Get Free Banners – Batch 2
I plan on doing a follow up post. And it’s actually kind of funny you commented because I was going to link to your Affiliate Marketing Guide post. Any way I had zero conversions, I spent about 50$ on AdCenter, although I used a coupon code so I wasn’t out any money there.
But I did spend about 30$, on the Google content network. So, no conversion -30$. But I did gain some knowledge. I’m just kind of learning the mechanics right now. The money is in the technique, lists with 1000′s of keywords, bidding, research, testing. Verdict: there’s a lot of risk with PPC, until you understand how it works, and how to test properly. I’m still in the learning stages.
Hey thanks for the definitions of some of the lingo. I have been getting confused by some of it. Keep up the good work.
Jason Pearson’s last blog post..Jason Pearson
This post is really a must bookmarked for me! Thank you so much.
Thank you really. This is the information that I’ve been looking for.