The path on the way to running a successful Google Adwords campaign is littered with many companies that went bankrupt trying or gave up before they depleted all of their cash. Perhaps the biggest reason is that they failed to play the game in the right way.
In fact, it may be wrong to use the term “game” at all since Google Adwords campaign management is anything but a game; it is a serious business endeavor that requires training, skill, and a lot of hard work. But let’s use the word “game” anyway, since I like sports – especially major league baseball.
In baseball I notice that these days there are many “specialists” and almost every pitching staff has what is called a left-handed pitching specialist, normally a lefty whose “bread and butter” is striking out left-handed hitters. Then there is the designated hitter. In the American League, the designated hitter is commonly a player who may not be the best fielder in the world, but they flat-out know how to hit the ball. So manager’s carefully consider not only which player to put in that spot, but also which order to put the designated hitter into the lineup, usually depending on the opposing team’s pitcher.
If only folks who play the game of Google Adwords would manage their Adwords campaign as effectively as a baseball manager! If they did, then they would recognize what I like to call “specialty keywords” chosen for their ability to do one thing and one thing well – convert the prospect into a customer.
What do I mean by “specialty keywords”? Specialty keywords are keywords that are specific – keywords that are designed to get clicks and bring targeted traffic to your website. You do not always want generic terms because not only are these keywords super-competitive and consequently, expensive, but the traffic that they bring to your site may not be at all what you are looking for.
If you are an attorney whose specialty is handling DUI cases, do you really want to bid on the keyword “attorney”? What chance do you have that someone typing “attorney” into a search engine will actually require a DUI attorney anyway?
“Well,” you may say, “I’ll just write an ad that mentions my DUI services so that they will only click on my ad if they need counseling for a DUI.” There are many advertisers who practice such tactics and then they wonder why their campaigns are so unprofitable. There is a good reason.
One of the factors that plays into your costs for a keyword is the relevancy of your ad to that keyword. In fact, poor keyword selection and irrelevant ads could be driving up the entire cost of your Google Adwords campaign. Not only that – when you DO get the expensive click, you get it from someone who does not really want your services anyway.
If you are going to play the Adwords Management game, then you had better treat it seriously and get your head into the game…and if you don’t have time to acquire the proper skills to play it the way it should be played, then perhaps you should take a chapter from big league baseball owners…hire a big league manager to manage your Adwords campaign for you.
