Google Adwords makes billions of dollars each year from their advertising revenue. The reason Google Adwords is so popular is because when it is used correctly Google Adwords can be one of the most affordable ways to promote your business online.
In this article we intend to shed some light on how to choose keywords that will give you the best return on your investment. We are going to do this by focusing our attention on just 10 keywords, place our keywords into 2 categories and write a separate landing page for each category. By placing the keywords into categories we will clearly be able to see what information is being searched for and write effective landing pages giving the visitor their information.
Keyword Selection
Before you even begin thinking about what you would like your Ad to say you need to be thinking about what keywords you would like to advertise under. In case you don’t already know, “keywords” are the search terms that people will type into Google in order to find your product or service. We have found the best process when getting started with Google Adwords is to choose just 10 keywords and monitor their performance closely. Once you have optimized these 10 keywords you may choose to expand your list. However, you will find that usually the best return will come from just 10 keywords.
How to find the 10 best keywords
The best way to find the 10 best keywords is by creating a list of all the keywords that are related to your product or service and then narrow the list down. When narrowing the list down you will want to look for 3 main factors: How popular is this keyword, How much advertising competition is there, and How specific is this keyword to my business.
1. Create a large list: Grab a pen and paper and place yourself in your customer’s shoes. Simply sit down and think about what you would type into the search bar if you were looking for your product or service. Make the list as long as you like, we will narrow your list down later.
2. Next, visit your competitors’ Websites. Go to Google and type in a broad keyword that is related to your product or service. Then, look at the page titles of your competitors Websites (The page title will be the blue link text.) The page titles from your competitors likely contain some of the more popular keyword search terms. This will give you some more ideas to add to your list.
3. Use a keyword research tool. A keyword research tool is a program where you are able to submit a keyword search term and it will return to you related keywords along with how often each of the keywords are searched for. This is one of the most useful tools to help you choose good keywords. We will return to this tool later to narrow down our list. There is a large selection of keyword research tools available to you. We have listed 2 of our favorites below.
SEObook Keyword Tool and Google Keyword Tool (Google Account Required.)
Additionally, don't forget about long keywords containing 4 or more words. These long keywords are often overlooked by large advertisers and have reduced competition. This will allow you to have a low bid and still show up on top! For example if I were to advertise my Website Design Company I would use Website Design, but may also use Florida Professional Website Design Company. The latter keyword will have less competition.
Narrow Down the List
Now that you have a large list of keywords you will want to choose only the best 10. There are 3 major factors that will help you choose the 10 keywords that are going to give you the biggest return on your investment.
1. What is the search volume? Use your keyword research tool to get a good estimate of the overall search volume. You will want keywords that have a lot of search volume. By having a large search volume there is more opportunities for someone to see and click on your Ad.
2. How much competition is there? The best way to find out how much competition there is for a keyword is to use the Google Keyword Tool. Using this tool will save you a lot of time during the keyword selection process. With the Google Keyword Tool you can see how popular the search term is and the advertising competition side by side. However, if you do not want to use the tool an alternative method is to simply type your keyword into the Google search page and look at how many Ads are listed on the right hand side of the page. If there is a link at the bottom of the list that say "more sponsored links" then there is likely a large amount of competition. Obviously, if there is a lot of competition for the keyword then you are going to pay more per click to be listed within the top 10. If you are not able to bid high enough to be listed within the top 10, then we suggest you choose another keyword. Additionally, even if you are able to bid high enough to be listed within the top ten still research alternatives. You may find other keywords that are just a popular that have less competition.
3. How relevant is the Keyword to my business? When deciding on this keyword you need to ask yourself, "How likely is the person using this search term going to become a customer?". After all, that is the end result we are looking for, not just to drive traffic to our Website. For example if I was a Website Design Company that focused on Small Business I may choose to advertise under Small Business Website Designers instead of Website Designers. Even though the keyword search term gets less traffic, the persons searching for that keyword are much more likely to be looking for the services I provide.
