Google Adwords Campaign

[cara]

I've just taken the plunge and started a google adwords campaign as a way of potentialy drumming up a bit of new business

has anyone ever tried it before? did you think it worked? did you think it didn't work?

i've set my advertising budget for the first month @ £30 just to see how things go, it's a bit confusing at the moment but i'm trying to get my head into it.

do you think it well help my site with the search engines by boosting it up the rankings a bit?

thanks

[Dragonfly]

ive done it ... you may find you get one or 2 calls from people trying to sell you things ..... and you pay for them to get your number .... great. also enquiries from the far reaches of scotland .. when you live in cornwall.

[cara]

also enquiries from the far reaches of scotland .. when you live in cornwall.

that's what was putting me off at first but then i found out that you can target localy

for instance you can tell google that you only want your ads to appear to customers within a 30 mile radius of where you live

we'll see how it goes anyway, did you notice any change in your search engine ranking?

[Vectis]

I use it and it works reasonably well for me - even though the geographical targeting is a bit hit & miss - I think the smallest radius is 60 miles - and I live on a little island...

Hot tip - in your list of words, put the names of the more desirable wedding etc. venues in your area - then you get placements when folks search for venues as well. Add anything else you think might want to be associated with too!

I've been running it for about 6 months and I know I've had two confirmed bookings that came through from it, as opposed to links to my own website, as I get adwords clicks to hit a different landing page so I can track them. So far I think it's cost me about £5 in clicks. So not a bad return

[cara]

thanks vectis

what would you say i should set my maximum cost per click to? i'm a bit worried if i set it too low my ad won't appear, and if i set it too high it'll cost me a fortune

also i've noticed when i search for myself i don't seem to appear for my targeted keywords

[Marc J]

has anyone ever tried it before? did you think it worked? did you think it didn't work?

I manage multiple adwords campaigns for clients. Most work.

do you think it well help my site with the search engines by boosting it up the rankings a bit?

No. An adwords campaign won't affect your "organic" listing at all. It's only for the sponsored listings across the top and down the right hand side.

what would you say i should set my maximum cost per click to? i'm a bit worried if i set it too low my ad won't appear, and if i set it too high it'll cost me a fortune

Trial and error I'm afraid. Start low and see what happens. As you're targetting a small geographical area, it shouldn't cost too much. It all depends on the competition around you, and if anyone is advertising nationally for your desired keywords. My clients range from 5p per click to over £5. The best thig about it is it's all trackable (look for the "conversion tracking" code in Adwords).

[cara]

thanks for that marc

[Discodaz]

I was about to start a thread covering the same issues, how about an update on this for those who have been in it for a while?

Cara, are you still watching? How did your campaign go?

[PropellerHeadCase]

also i've noticed when i search for myself i don't seem to appear for my targeted keywords

Then you need to alter your copy to target your keywords better

Cara, are you still watching? How did your campaign go?

How did it go? It's been a week, how would Cara know?

[Marc J]

Then you need to alter your copy to target your keywords better

To be honest, the copy on the site has no relevance to the adwords keywords or performance - that's the whole point