How do we make our Google AdWords profitable?

Concentrate on Buyers

We need to ensure that the people who click on our ads are the ones who are going to turn into customers. We don't want people who are just click happy and want something for nothing. We want people who will either buy now, or in the future.

So, after we have set up our campaign using all the correct keywords and also all three keyword variations (broad "phrase" and [exact]) we need to try and get only potential purchasers to click our ad. The use of negative keywords is also important - if we only sell mens shoes then we should include -women, -ladies, -female as negative terms in our keyword lists as we don't want to be shown for these terms.

Pre-Qualify

We can try to limit the people who click on our ads to people who are really interested in a number of ways. The technical term for this is pre-qualifying. If we use broad match options and the keyword is broad (digital camera) then it is more likely that the searcher is just researching if we include buying (buy, cheap etc) terms then this cuts down likely wastage.

So, we need to focus on buying terms and product numbers (buy Canon EOS XLM). Another pre-qualifying trick is to consider putting in prices in your ads. If we rent luxury villas in Spain then we can ensure that only serious potential customers click on the ads by putting prices from xx/ week.

Get emails

Also don't forget that the vast majority of people who visit a website do not buy straight away. So, give them something of high perceived value in exchange for their email address. That way you won't have to keep paying for them through Google AdWords to visit your site - you can email them.

Test ads

Have two ads in each ad group. Look at the responses (have show ads equally in your campaign settings) and replace the ads which don't perform as well.

Track Responses

Set up Conversion Tracking it allows you to track how effective each keyword is at producing a sale. But, it doesn't allow you to work out how profitable each keyword is because it doesn't track sales (only numbers of conversions). But what you can do is set up automatic emails to come to your inbox for costs, numbers of conversions and cost per conversions and the same figures for transactions. If you then open these and data sort by cost per conversion and then cost you can quickly find out the words which aren't providing conversions and delete them from your account.

To track the profitability of your Google AdWords account as a whole and also the individual profitability of each keyword you need Google Analytics. This is a bit more tricky to set up but gives you fantastic information - All for Free. Then you simply reduce the bids or get rid of the keywords in you Google AdWords Account which aren't giving you positive ROI (return on investment).

Summary

Tips on making your Google Adwords profitable

1. Choose targeted keywords but initially use all 3 matching options

2. Use negative keywords in your ad groups and/or campaigns

3. Pre-qualify using buying keywords in keyword list. Also consider putting prices in your ads.

4. Offer something of high perceived value in exchange for visitors email address.

5. Split test each of your ads and when there is a winner replace the worst performing ad with another test. Keep doing this

6. Set up both Conversion tracking in Google AdWords and also Google Analytics

7. Track responses in terms of cost per conversion (Conversion tracking) and also return on investment (Google Analytics).

8. Amend your bids on keywords which are bringing in conversions but not positive ROI and delete the keywords which don't result in conversions

9. Join a Social Networking Group about Profitable Google AdWords (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23513642576)

I hope this article has helped. See a list of keyword tools here.