Comments on: How To Use Adwords The Right Way With Your Online Store

By: Scott Clark

Scott Clark — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:30:46 +0000

I manage adwords for a few million $ spend per year with a few clients, and if I had 30 seconds to explain what kills most of these campaigns (before I get my hands on them is that they give Google too much control… I recommend that your readers check out Jennifer Osborne’s post about PPC mistakes – she hits all the major ones that cost my clients money.

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/small-business-ppc-26-mistakes-that-cost-you-money.html

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:50:34 +0000

@Mark
Glad the timing worked out for you!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:49:51 +0000

Hi Everyone,
Like Seamus, Xurxo is also an expert on Adwords and PPC marketing as well and runs a firm located at http://www.makeitbloom.com If you have questions about Adwords, be sure to hit either one of these guys up with your questions

By: Xurxo Vidal

Xurxo Vidal — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:26:32 +0000

Steve,

Thanks for sharing this story – all too often we come across entrepreneurs that tell us adwords doesn’t work only to find out that they made many of the same mistakes that you pointed out.

And like Seamus points out, the problems just get worse when they hire an “expert” search marketing agency/consultant to help them out and only end up getting mediocre results. No wonder so many people quickly lose faith in adwords and PPC in general.

I’d add the Google makes it sound easy to advertise with them and doesn’t let on early enough how to properly setup a campaign and what things to look out for. The fact that they even give you $100 in credits to start you out does you more of a disservice as many will spend the credit more carelessly than their own money as a “test” and then declare adwords is not worth it when they get poor results.

Two of the most common and deadly mistakes that most people new to adwords make is that they don’t opt out of the content network initially and they use only broad match keywords. In their defense, Google defaults to these settings so unless you’re aware of them, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that “this adwords thing just doesn’t work”.

Adwords is a very powerful advertising tool, but you have to take the time to figure out how it works before you can get results with it. Good for you that you were able to do that where so many others are still struggling!

By: Seamus

Seamus — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:18:31 +0000

Thanks Steve for the generous plug. Just a point: we are based in Australia, but there’s no reason why we can’t help out O/S businesses. Just drop us an email via the form on the site. Happy just to answer questions gratis if that’s all you want

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:32:39 +0000

I was also going to say the one good thing I like about AdWords is that you can “pause” your campaigns. That feature is really coming in handy now that I am putting more time on other things in my store during this time of the year. If I know I wont be around for a day to check it, I pause it – at least while I’m getting started and learning the process. My first mistake was not tracking multiple times a day during my first two days using it. I guess I didn’t think I was going to get any hits from it right away! I also made the mistake of having too much active campaigns at once. Thankfully, I didn’t lose too much money.

By: Mark Foo | 77SuccessTraits.com

Mark Foo | 77SuccessTraits.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:47:41 +0000

Hi Steve,

I was just thinking of giving Google Adwords a try so this post could not have come at a better time! Thanks so much for the info!

And I love what you said last, “Millions of people are using Adwords successfully. If you aren’t making a positive return on your investment, chances are it’s you. Don’t blame the service.”

Too many people are just not taking enough responsibility for their own lack of results and are always looking for excuses and something else to blame on. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that, as long as there’s one person in this world who’s done it successfully, it’s enough to show that it can be done.

Cheers~

Mark

By: Carla

Carla — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:20:04 +0000

@Steve – Thanks for letting me know! Since my sales are not in the thousand dollar range (average sale is $20) I’m afraid of spending too much of my money once my credit is up!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:11:19 +0000

@Seamus
Allow me to finish your comment for you:) Sometimes you are better off employing an expert Adwords management firm to take care of it for you such as http://www.squareeyes.com.au. Hey folks, Seamus does this stuff for a living so if you need adwords help, click on his name and checkout his firm.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:09:18 +0000

@Carla
It took us about 6-700 dollars to get our account on track. Would have cost us less if I knew what I was doing in the beginning.

@Andrea
Thanks. I’m glad this article was of some help