Keep It Simple: Seven Rules for Advertising on Google Adwords
Here are a few simple rules that have governed all my successes with Google Adwords.
Rule #1 – Don’t advertise a product that is not profitable. As a rule of thumb, I don’t use Adwords to promote products with less than an $80 margin between cost and retail price. This rules out many small e-commerce operations where an average order is $30 and much of that goes to cover wholesale costs. While advertising on Adwords can boost sales and be very profitable, it is not cheap.
Rule #2 – Keep headlines simple and obvious. I have tried almost every variation for Adwords headlines that I can conceive, and few of them worked any better than simply describing the product clearly and succinctly.
Rule #3 – Use your ad body to describe key selling features. Again, avoid subtlety. Be obvious.
Rule #4 – If at all possible match the ad headline and the landing page headline. Keep the ad and landing page tightly integrated. However, I don’t recommend multiple landing pages for small businesses. Make your home page the Adwords campaign’s landing page. Focus the content on your home page and Adwords ads on your key selling points.
Rule #5 – Capitalize your Display URLs appropriately. Instead of typing “www.aboundmarketing.com,” use “www.AboundMarketing.com.” Yes, this makes a difference.
Rule #6 – Avoid clutter and reduce clicks required to respond to your advertised offer. Keep content on your landing page simple and easy to scan with a very easily spotted call to action (like a button that proclaims “Request your free trial”).
Rule #7 – Use a web form as a response mechanism for your campaign. Require only the absolute minimum amount of data to submit the form. People aren’t trusting, and they do not have time to provide any extra information. Keep it simple.
So there you have it. Keep it simple. Keep it obvious.
This approach works. No other “sophisticated” strategies work.
I followed your thumb-rule : Keep it simple. And simply removed all the clutter that abounded. It has had a transformational success. Thanks.
I am very glad to hear that you are having success.
Twitter: asbarali
says:
i m Working with adwords for last 5 Year and finally i have made a masterpiece which contains all the solution about Adwords Soo Do me Feedback soo i can make it Better for you people to understand
I believe a lead capture page is key with any google adwords campaign. I think alot of companies find that they dont get the results because they dont effectively setup a capture page. The key with a landing page is to focus on something unique and different and put yourself in the place of the customer and ask the question “Why would they go to your website?”.
This is excellent advice, Van. When people click on an ad, the page they land on needs to continue the conversation started by that ad.