With apologies to Forrest Gump, and in honor of Valentine’s Day, sometimes Google AdWords is like a box of chocolates. “You never know what you’re gonna get.” Here are some examples:
How Much Should You Budget for Clicks?
How big a box of chocolates can you afford? Google provides a Keyword Planner tool inside of AdWords that can help you explore keyword ideas, and get informed on approximate search frequency and cost per click. However, as they say in the automobile business, “Your mileage will vary.” The tool provides search frequencies for Exact Match impressions only. Your Impression Share, Ad Position and Click-Through-Rate will determine how many of those Impressions can turn into Clicks, and your Quality Score and bid will have an enormous bearing on what each click will cost.
Trying to estimate a budget for clicks before turning your campaigns on is bound to be frustrating and somewhat futile. You really have to dive into the pool to see how you like the water.
Precise Targeting is a Cost Saver, Right?
Does your love prefer dark, bittersweet chocolates or something on the sweeter, lighter side? AdWords gives you an enormous array of choices when it comes to targeting your ads to the right audience. The simple, default solution is Broad Matching on keywords and allowing Google to run ads on both Search and Display Network, which is probably not a good idea. Here’s why.
Most people assume that choosing a popular, Broad Match search term consisting of one or two words will cost far more per click than an Exact Match search term that’s longer and offers more precision. You may also think that targeting your ads to the entire country will cost more per click than targeting a limited geography. Both assumptions are generally false. Therefore, you need to calculate the savings of tighter targeting (generally better quality clicks) against the additional cost per click to see which approach is most cost effective in your situation.
Testing Your Way to Success
Want to avoid those nasty, coconut-filled surprises? Apologies to our coconut fans out there, but you’re in the minority! AdWords provides a great platform for testing and trying out new ideas, such as search terms, matching options, ad copy and landing page copy & layout. Maybe your ads do better on mobile devices than desktops. Set a budget you can live with and take a few calculated shots. It shouldn’t take long to see what’s working and what isn’t, although figuring out why something isn’t working and what to do about it does take experience.
Here at Market Vantage, we don’t claim to be able to solve any problems in your romantic life. But we can help you get your online marketing to perform more effectively. Let us know how we can help.
