Learn me how to do it.

I really did feel like I was treading water this week. My understanding of the subjects from this week are only surface deep. I did learn how to add negative keywords and I think that will be really helpful. I feel like all of this stuff is getting more and more complicated every year. Or maybe keywords and ads have always been this complicated and I just didn't understand enough to know how complicated it was. There is more information about all of these subjects than any one person could digest over a lifetime so I guess the best idea would be to study several aspects and get good at a few things. It was interesting to watch how the different keywords performed on my campaigns. Some of the ones I thought would do really well are duds for my ads. It takes a bit of intuition and creativity to find keyword ideas and then it takes numbers and analysis to improve or eliminate them. Its kind of an odd mix of skills.

I feel like Google Ads is a great way for someone who doesn't know what they are doing to lose a ton of money. There are a ton of little details and decisions that you have to make before you can even run an ad and some of them are hard to find again once you leave that page. All in all I am glad to be learning these skills and in my case better late than never. I spent quite a bit on Google Ads for a previous company and it really didn't go anywhere. In my defense it was an odd product without much demand. I found ways to sell a of product elsewhere but it had a high return rate because the product itself did not meet consumer expectations. I feel like this process of learning Google Ads is part technical and the other part learning to find out what people really want. Then to put products and services where they are looking for them. If you really know your customer you know what they need and how to get it to them. I thought it was funny that this class was a marketing cl...

Learning about ads and ad groups was very enlightening this week. I ran ads for the last company I worked for but I didn't understand how keywords and ads really worked. I didn't know that ad groups run one at a time and work like an automatic AB test. Google then runs the ad that is performing the best or that has the highest quality score.  Based on what I read, it seems like it would be best to find keywords first, then find a product to match, then write an article or landing page to promote it.  I also didn't know that it is best practice to create a single ad or ad group for each product to efficiently target customers that are ready to buy that product or service.  There was a story or post this week of someone that was helping to promote a product and found a broader keyword that had more traffic and it boosted the sales.

Google Ads is easy, keywords don't matter, and if you make a mistake Google won't charge you for clicks that didn't work. Right? Totally wrong. I ran a couple of campaigns for a small company that I worked for and I had no idea what I was doing. Here are a few tips of things not to do. First, don't use generic ads. People don't search generic search terms when they are looking to buy something. Your generic ads will only waste time and money.  Second, do keyword research. If you think you know what people search for you are wrong. If you know what you would search to find something, you are probably still wrong. Look for specific keywords that relate only to your product or service. You don't want to waste money on people that are looking for something that is not quite what you sell. Third, if you sell multiple items or services make an ad for each one. Use specific keywords and text directed at that customer.  Forth, don't run more than one ad at ...