McFilter

Dave Collins runs Shareware Promotions and also writes a blog.

Update: Dave has posted his summary of the presentation on his website.

Surprise - Google AdWords is set up to benefit Google.

~50% of the audience are using AdWords already.

Golden Rules:

1. Never forget how it works
2. 1 size doesn't fit all
3. Control is vital
4. Over-complexity is the enemy of success
5. Balance is vital
6. The rewards mentality
7. Quantity is good
8. Experiment and purge
9. AdWords defaults are for Google

Google's 80-20 rule

• Don't track all ads together.
• ~20% of spending generates 100% of sales.

It has an overly complicated interface, but that all helps Google.

Campaigns are better than ad groups, but keep it simple. Don't separate too much. Need balance. In the campaign settings you can pick which ads are placed in which countries.

Don't spend the same amount on content and search - content is much less valuable. And keep content and search in separate campaigns.

The daily budget is a safety net. See what Google recommend - that shows what demand is like, but choose your own budget.

The Google 'Quality score' - very abstract; hard to pin-down; and no-one really knows what it is...

• Why care about it? It shows Google's level of trust. If they trust you you'll get more ads shown.
• What to look/aim for? High CTR and low bounce rate are both good. No impressions, or high impressions with low clicks are bad.

Keywords

• More keyword in general is better.
• Matching options - use all 3. For example, pocket pc email client; "pocket pc email client"; and [pocket pc email client].
• Broad matching is hard to predict though.
• Go for singular and plural.
• Verb forms.
• Spelling mistakes.
• Numbers... versions... models... years...
• "How do I...", "How can I..."

Campaign Ads:

• It's vital to have more than one advert in each campaign. That lets you experiment with what works and what doesn't.
• Look at what keywords are working - impressions and clicks.
• Look at your competition.
• Use benefits not features.
• Rhyme, rhythm and alliteration are good in ad copy.
• Short and snappy.
• Capitalisation.
• Speak your customers language.
• Try -> measure -> adapt. And repeat...
• Give your experiments time. At least seven days, ideally more like fourteen days.
• Track each ad through your web server logs (include a parameter in the ad URL).
• Try to use ad text as a filter. Including "Windows" in the ad stops Mac users wasting your money.
• Landing pages: breaks out of the ad word count limit; and they're increasingly important to Google.

Reports

• Google's reports are useful.
• ...but slow and inflexible.
• AdWords Reporter is much better!
• Set up the email report from Google.

Check for...

• Impressions and clicks.
• CPC and CTR.
• Budget and position.
• CTR and position.

Return On Investment - ROI isn't always your primary goal. The bottom line is sales/profit.

Tips and Tricks

Peel and stick:

• Good.
• However be patient. New ad group takes a while to take off.

Give a new group time. Can even take up to 4--5 weeks.

Separate content and search.

Simple tracking.

Inactive keywords - write 2 or 3 ads using that keyword.

Never let an account run itself. If you can't spend time to manage it, pause your account.

Don't over analyse.

Read the Inside AdWords blog and Dave's company's AdWords blog.

Questions:

Q: How do I find keywords?

Google's keyword tool is ok. wordtracker.com. keyworddiscovery.com.

Q: Should I include the price in my ad?

There aren't any hard and fast rules.

Q: If you're making money with AdWords, can you just keep raising the amount you spend on AdWords and make even more money?

Their biggest account spends ~$60,000 each month on AdWords, and that's a seven person company. Scale things slowly. And track it.

Q: How do you split your time? What percentage of time should I write ads; pick keywords; analyze data?

About equally.