Tag Archives: AdWords

Of Interest

More of the 500 Best City Names for Your AdWords Campaign

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (11 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

Well, if you didn’t see my article yesterday on the best city names for a Google AdWords campaign, shame on you!  Where were you?  Were you washing to dog?  Were you eating rice cakes?  C’mon.

Okay, not that I’m over that stunning disappointment, read back to the previous post of the 500 Best Cities to use  in an AdWords Campaign if you haven’t already and then see this one which concludes the list…

Kahului     ,
Kalamazoo     ,
Kalispell     ,
Kankakee     ,
Kansas City     ,
Kapaa     ,
Keene     ,
Kendallville     ,
Keokuk     ,
Ketchikan     ,
Key West     ,
Kill Devil Hills     ,
Kingston     ,
Knoxville     ,
Kodiak     ,
Kokomo     ,
La Crosse     ,
Laconia     ,
Lafayette     ,
Lancaster     ,
Lansing     ,
Las Vegas     ,
Lawrence     ,
Lebanon     ,
Lebanon     ,
Lewisburg     ,
Lewiston     ,
Lewistown     ,
Lexington     ,
Fayette     ,
Lima     ,
Lincoln     ,
Lincolnton     ,
Logan     ,
Logansport     ,
Longview     ,
Los Alamos     ,
Louisville     ,
Lynchburg     ,
Madison     ,
Manchester     ,
Manitowoc     ,
Mankato     ,
Mansfield     ,
Marinette     ,
Marion     ,
Marquette     ,
Marshall     ,
Marshalltown     ,
Mason City     ,
McPherson     ,
Meadville     ,
Medford     ,
Melbourne     ,
Menomonie     ,
Merrill     ,
Michigan City     ,
Midland     ,
Minneapolis     ,
Minot     ,
Monroe     ,
Montrose     ,
Morehead City     ,
Mount Vernon     ,
Muncie     ,
Muscatine     ,
Muskegon     ,
Myrtle Beach     ,
Napa     ,
Naples     ,
Nashville     ,
New Castle     ,
New Castle     ,
New Haven     ,
Dover     ,
New Ulm     ,
Newton     ,
North Vernon     ,
Norwalk     ,
Norwich     ,
Oak Harbor     ,
Ocala     ,
Ocean City     ,
Ocean Pines     ,
Ogden     ,
Oil City     ,
Olean     ,
Olympia     ,
Omaha     ,
Oneonta     ,
Orlando     ,
Oshkosh     ,
Oskaloosa     ,
Ottawa     ,
Ottumwa     ,
Owatonna     ,
Owensboro     ,
Owosso     ,
Oxnard     ,
Paducah     ,
Pahrump     ,
Palm Coast     ,
Parkersburg     ,
Pella     ,
Pendleton     ,
Pensacola     ,
Peoria     ,
Peru     ,
Cedar Ridge     ,
Scottsdale     ,
Pierre     ,
Pittsburgh     ,
Pittsfield     ,
Platteville     ,
Plattsburgh     ,
Plymouth     ,
Pocatello     ,
Pontiac     ,
Port Angeles     ,
Portland     ,
Vancouver     ,
Pottsville     ,
Poughkeepsie     ,
Prescott     ,
Prineville     ,
Providence     ,
Provo     ,
Punta Gorda     ,
Quincy     ,
Racine     ,
Raleigh     ,
Rapid City     ,
Reading     ,
Red Wing     ,
Reno     ,
Richland     ,
Richmond     ,
Riverside     ,
Roanoke     ,
Rochelle     ,
Rochester     ,
Rock Springs     ,
Rockford     ,
Rockland     ,
Roseburg     ,
Rutland     ,
Sacramento     ,
Saginaw     ,
Salem     ,
Salina     ,
Salinas     ,
Salisbury     ,
San Luis Obispo     ,
Sandusky     ,
Sanford     ,
Santa Barbara     ,
Santa Cruz     ,
Santa Fe     ,
Santa Rosa     ,
Sarasota     ,
Sault Ste Marie     ,
Sayre     ,
Scottsburg     ,
Scranton     ,
Seaford     ,
Sedalia     ,
Selinsgrove     ,
Seneca     ,
Seneca Falls     ,
Seymour     ,
Sheboygan     ,
Shelton     ,
Sheridan     ,
Sidney     ,
Silverthorne     ,
Sioux City     ,
Sioux Falls     ,
Somerset     ,
South Bend     ,
Southern Pines     ,
Spartanburg     ,
Spencer     ,
Spirit Lake     ,
Spokane     ,
Springfield     ,
St Cloud     ,
St George     ,
St Joseph     ,
St Marys     ,
Statesville     ,
Staunton     ,
Sterling     ,
Stevens Point     ,
Storm Lake     ,
Sturgis     ,
Sunbury     ,
Syracuse     ,
Tampa     ,
Terre Haute     ,
Thomasville     ,
Tiffin     ,
Toledo     ,
Topeka     ,
Torrington     ,
Traverse City     ,
Trenton     ,
Truckee     ,
Tucson     ,
Urbana     ,
Vallejo     ,
Van Wert     ,
Vero Beach     ,
Vineland     ,
Norfolk     ,
Wabash     ,
Wahpeton     ,
Walla Walla     ,
Wapakoneta     ,
Warner Robins     ,
Warren     ,
Warsaw     ,
Alexandria     ,
Waterloo     ,
Watertown     ,
Wausau     ,
Wenatchee     ,
Whitewater     ,
Wichita     ,
Williamsport     ,
Willimantic     ,
Willmar     ,
Wilmington     ,
Winchester     ,
Winfield     ,
Winona     ,
Winston-Salem     ,
Wisconsin Rapids     ,
Wooster     ,
Worcester     ,
Worthington     ,
Yankton     ,
York     ,
Youngstown     ,
Zanesville

Whew, that’s it.  Happy AdWording it.

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Of Interest

AdWords 101: Play with your keywords

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (2 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

Some people, when putting together a Google AdWords campaign put in a bunch of words and then leave the campaign alone for a month or two.  Others micromanage their keywords to death throughout the campaign.  This second group usually burns out quick, especially when they don’t see results.

If you watch your AdWords Campaign Summary long enough, you’ll see that AdWords are actually fluctuating quite frequently in their average cost per click for front page views.  It would seem that these micromanagers who get burned out probably pile a big dollar amount on their words, blow their budget and disappear, leaving a keyword back with a lower cost-per-click (CPC).

A good strategy is patience with a bit of up front micromanaging.  Try out some words, see how they do.  Try a few more…watch for trends.  You’ll notice that just because Google tells you you’re not on the first page, you may be (especially in some quieter markets if you’re targeting nationwide).  Watch your impressions, pay attention to click-throughs and if your just not getting any results after a few days, it may be time to trim that keyword phrase out of your campaign.

A good keyword analysis will be done with highly targeted words and phrases, and also secondary keyword phrases that may not be as popular, but which are more targeted to your specific user or their expertise to the subject or jargon your industry deals with.  What you may find is that you get a higher percentage of click-throughs and a higher percentage of serious viewers when you target these secondary words and phrases.

But don’t take the slash and burn approach.  You can blow a lot of money fast in Google AdWords if you want to.  Make sure your site is selling what you’re advertising…make sure your ad is clear…and keep eyeballing your keywords until you get them right.

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Of Interest

Yahoo Search Marketing vs Google AdWords

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (2 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

This weekend, I decided to bite the bullet and determine the difference between Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google AdWords.  Many of us are much more familiar with Google AdWords, although Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) was the original player in the marketing.

No quick blog is going to give you a full feel for the difference between these two Internet Marketing ad delivery systems, and there is plenty of information out there about these two programs, but I thought it would be nice to give the novice a little taste of some of the basic differences between these two advertising systems.

First off, upfront investment is the main thing you will notice.  Yahoo! always wanting to turn any good deed into cash, charges you $75 up front to fill up your cash reserves.  Google AdWords takes a $5 deposit.  In the end, if you spend more than $75 this doesn’t matter, but some of us like to test the waters with $30 a month or so.  Also, you set up monthly goals in Yahoo! and can set up daily goals in Google (which I much prefer).

Next, Google AdWords connects into Google Analytics (now an industry standard).  Yahoo has an analytics program, but do you really want to keep adding multiple scripts to your site’s load time?  The hard part though is, on my Google Analytics account, all of the clicks from Yahoo! Search Marketing are shown as “Yahoo / organic” results.  This is not quite so handy.  I haven’t found a way around this yet (except maybe to add link tracking into your URL).  You’ll have to do it on your own, because I doubt Yahoo! is going to help out Google Analytics users any time soon.

In the world of results, surprisingly this weekend I have been finding Yahoo! viewers clicking-through more than Google.  Or at least they have during my experimentation.  I think the main reason this is because there is a larger focus by advertisers on Google AdWords because Google is kicking Yahoo!’s tail in the search world right now and so there is less competition to get on the first page (a reason to possibly look into MSN’s ad program as well.  But in the end, click-through’s that turn into converted goals is what will determine which avenue is the best for me and that is yet to be determined.

The rubber will hit the road this week with results (as I’m sure there are not so many people looking for business solutions on the weekend)…I’ll follow up on this later.  For now, I don’t see anything that sways me one way over the other.

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Of Interest

What do you want from your AdWords?

Drew Hannush by Drew Hannush (1 Mar 2009)  |  Leave a comment

Okay, so what is it you want from your Google AdWords campaign?  This is a very important question and the answer has a lot to do with what product or service you are selling.

Sometimes people are selling information.  If this is the case, you may want to focus on getting more click-throughs and creating a clean and clear message on the page you are linking to.  In addition, you will want your ad to actually weed out those who aren’t interested in your information.  In this case, the money is not made from the purchase of a product, but these sites usually gain revenue through paid advertisers to their sites.

Are you just trying to keep your name out in front of the public?  Sometimes AdWords are like billboards when you’re driving down the road…or a Budweiser commercial.  The billboard doesn’t expect you to turn your car round on the freeway and go immediately to the store (although they may not mind it).  They want to leave an impression about their product in your mind.  Budweiser doesn’t sell with frogs and sillyness because they expect you to order a beer immediately.  They want you to remember them…so when the time comes, they are the first ones you think of.  Not many people think of using AdWords that way, but just getting your name out in front of thousands of people could be a goal.  Keyword choice will be extremely important for these folks.

If you are like most people who use Google AdWords and you are trying to get a potential customer to your site, you can get a little more creative on the keywords, getting click-throughs will be important, but most important is that you make your ad stand out enough and then deliver a quality product when they get to your landing page.  If your landing page is confusing or full of offers that don’t relate to your ad, you will lose a potential client.  Try not to make your landing page say too much.  Remember, most people can’t concentrate on more than three concepts at a time.  Make your site clear and you’ll have more chance of retaining that precious click-through and getting your (ROI) return on investment for dollars spent.

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