Here are a few tips that I always find useful for any AdWords campaign I setup.
* Select Google Search only
* Geo-target to US/Canada only (or add more countries if relevant)
* Enter negative keywords for the campaign that we know aren't buyers for the product (free, hack, crack, etc)
* Bid on Exact Terms and Broad Matches separately at different prices
* Track all keywords through analytics to see what the bounce rates and PV/Visit are to see if the traffic is bad or the site is failing to convert the visitors.
Google AdWords still work well for a number of campaigns I'm managing in different vertical industries. It does take time and effort to set them up right through, it's not as easy as just throwing in some keywords and waiting for cash to roll in.
Thanks, these are good tips. Could you point me to a resource on setting up Analytics to track individual keywords? Right now all referrals from AdWords look the same to me ("referring site: googleads.g.doubleclick.net").
You need to link your Google Analytics account to your Adwords account and all the information will flow automatically. After doing this, in your GA account under Traffic Source, the AdWords will populate with all your stats.
As far breaking down the Partner Sites performance, since that's usually the first thing I turn off... if I remember correctly GA will bunch all the sites under (content) word. Perhaps someone else here has a quick answer for you.
* Select Google Search only
* Geo-target to US/Canada only (or add more countries if relevant)
* Enter negative keywords for the campaign that we know aren't buyers for the product (free, hack, crack, etc)
* Bid on Exact Terms and Broad Matches separately at different prices
* Track all keywords through analytics to see what the bounce rates and PV/Visit are to see if the traffic is bad or the site is failing to convert the visitors.
Google AdWords still work well for a number of campaigns I'm managing in different vertical industries. It does take time and effort to set them up right through, it's not as easy as just throwing in some keywords and waiting for cash to roll in.