When you first start advertising with Google AdWords, you soon realise the system is rigged in Google’s favour. After a few days, you’ll see clicks mounting up and the dollars that will soon be deducted from your credit card.
Most businesses who venture into AdWords and decide to manage their own accounts, quickly realise it can be a bottomless pit. You need to figure out how to stem the flow of wasted dollars – before you go broke.
A personal confession
I was reminded again today of just how vigilant you need to be when setting up an AdWords campaign. Yesterday, I launched a new campaign on the Google Display Network. Being in a hurry, I forgot to block ads from showing on mobile apps and also failed to block certain site categories, which are notorious for gobbling up money.
This morning I checked and found a huge number of wasted clicks on mobile apps, X-rated websites etc. It’s an awful feeling in the pit of your stomach.
As standard practice when setting up a display network campaign, I always block two campaign placements. You might want to note these:
adsenseformobileapps.com
appspot.com
Also, make sure you exclude sensitive content, in-game, gambling and other irrelevant types of websites. If you block these placements and site categories, you will go a long way to killing wasted spend.
AdWords is still my favourite form of advertising online
Despite the pitfalls, Google AdWords is still my No. 1 form of advertising. AdWords is a great way to get targeted traffic quickly to any website. It then allows you to test how effective your website is at converting that traffic into paying customers.
AdWords is ruthless at exposing weaknesses, not only in your website but your entire business model. If you get targeted visitors to your website and they fail to buy anything, you have to ask some hard questions. Why?
So, I believe every business selling online needs to master AdWords – or employ an expert to manage AdWords for them. If you do it smartly and learn the critical lessons AdWords can teach you about your business, it will take you to a whole new level.