I ran a small ad through Google's Adwords over New Year's weekend. My budget was small, targeting keywords already delivering traffic to my site. The campaign was not encouraging. Luckily, Google had sent an email offering $100. Everyone I know using Adwords has gotten this email. Google knows what they're doing. By the end of my campaign, I had chipped in another $150 of my own money.
In order to cash in on my free money, I had to call Google. My Adwords account manager did all the work. I gave him access and he set everything up. He built my ads and created a set of keywords. We determined a daily spending limit. All very painless. My ad was set up to run on the search network, which basically means it's a text ad. I recommend setting up Google Analytics too. They integrate, which allows you to differentiate your Adwords campaigns from other traffic. Google Analytics is free. The level of detail is great. The most important stat I look at is time on site. That is, how long did I keep my visitor's attention?
Early, my time on site was very low. The bounce rate was very high. That means visitors are finding my blog instead of what they're searching for. They weren't looking at my other posts and they weren't reading down the page. I changed my ads to more accurately reflect the content of my site. The Adwords account manager had defined my site as a "gadget / technology" blog. I"ll review'em if I got'em, but that's not what I do. Also, my recent posts were at the bottom of the page. I moved them closer to the top. My bounce rate reduced and my time on site increased.
Google has all of the tools to help you pick keywords. Don't trust their feedback completely. I replaced every keyword my account manager set up. My Clickthrough Rate (CTR) was so improved by Monday morning that I had reached my daily spending limit in 7 hours. It took 22 hours the day before. India proved to be a very smart place to run ads. I don't expect to get rich from this blog, it's more of a testing ground. That said, my next "test" will include India.
Side Note: becoming a habit
Keywords Part II is coming. I'm setting up another blog to test lost keyword searches. Blog Gadget, Gadget Blog? I guess it depends on which language you search for it in. mfg123.blogspot.com be a work in progress at all times. Gadgets, Code, Ads, etc. Let's see if I can break blogger.
Back to the ads.
I also ran a Facebook ad along side my Adwords campaign. The like button on my blog is for my Facebook page, I ran my Facebook ad for my blog. My next ad will promote my Facebook page, just to measure the difference. Facebook ads are really easy. I like it. If you use Facebook and own a business, try it. Facebook gets the last word on this one. I'm being honest about that. They estimate the reach of your ad based on the parameters you select. No specifics here, at least not too many. I want people to try this stuff. They open the door for free.
One thing I have intentionally left out, to this point, is bidding. They both do it. The gambler takes risks, the risk taker gambles. If you bid more, you may see increased traffic, due to increased impressions or ad placement. My Facebook ad was my profile picture, with my bio closing as text. That means my face showed up 415,681 times on Facebook over the last 5 days. I don't go on Facebook to find a blog, I don't know anyone that does. By the way, here's a link to my Facebook Page.
Facebook matched Adwords on clickthrough and time on site. My personal choice is Google Adwords. It's the more technical of the two. That's what I do. I've just started searching Facebook posts from everyone. I may add a feed to the blog. That might be what I'm missing about Facebook. I search Twitter, why not Facebook? No answer for that, yet.
The company I work for schedules grocery sampling and demonstrations. We use Facebook for recruiting and Adwords for sales and site promotion. I ran ads on both networks to sample self promotion.
Early, my time on site was very low. The bounce rate was very high. That means visitors are finding my blog instead of what they're searching for. They weren't looking at my other posts and they weren't reading down the page. I changed my ads to more accurately reflect the content of my site. The Adwords account manager had defined my site as a "gadget / technology" blog. I"ll review'em if I got'em, but that's not what I do. Also, my recent posts were at the bottom of the page. I moved them closer to the top. My bounce rate reduced and my time on site increased.
Google has all of the tools to help you pick keywords. Don't trust their feedback completely. I replaced every keyword my account manager set up. My Clickthrough Rate (CTR) was so improved by Monday morning that I had reached my daily spending limit in 7 hours. It took 22 hours the day before. India proved to be a very smart place to run ads. I don't expect to get rich from this blog, it's more of a testing ground. That said, my next "test" will include India.
Side Note: becoming a habit
Keywords Part II is coming. I'm setting up another blog to test lost keyword searches. Blog Gadget, Gadget Blog? I guess it depends on which language you search for it in. mfg123.blogspot.com be a work in progress at all times. Gadgets, Code, Ads, etc. Let's see if I can break blogger.
Back to the ads.
I also ran a Facebook ad along side my Adwords campaign. The like button on my blog is for my Facebook page, I ran my Facebook ad for my blog. My next ad will promote my Facebook page, just to measure the difference. Facebook ads are really easy. I like it. If you use Facebook and own a business, try it. Facebook gets the last word on this one. I'm being honest about that. They estimate the reach of your ad based on the parameters you select. No specifics here, at least not too many. I want people to try this stuff. They open the door for free.
One thing I have intentionally left out, to this point, is bidding. They both do it. The gambler takes risks, the risk taker gambles. If you bid more, you may see increased traffic, due to increased impressions or ad placement. My Facebook ad was my profile picture, with my bio closing as text. That means my face showed up 415,681 times on Facebook over the last 5 days. I don't go on Facebook to find a blog, I don't know anyone that does. By the way, here's a link to my Facebook Page.
Facebook matched Adwords on clickthrough and time on site. My personal choice is Google Adwords. It's the more technical of the two. That's what I do. I've just started searching Facebook posts from everyone. I may add a feed to the blog. That might be what I'm missing about Facebook. I search Twitter, why not Facebook? No answer for that, yet.
The company I work for schedules grocery sampling and demonstrations. We use Facebook for recruiting and Adwords for sales and site promotion. I ran ads on both networks to sample self promotion.
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