SubscribeOk, so evidentally I’m a complete retard because the reason I got this Google guide sent to me was because I recently opened a second Adwords account. Go figure…Never got one of these babies when I opened my original account! But nontheless, it was interesting.
Before I give you my review of Google’s knowledge base about using their own system to make money, let me update everyone who’s interested about my exciting upcoming move to the Mountains of Virginia! Head over to MassResort.com to take a look at the community we’re moving to. Mandy and I actually had our honey moon at Massanutten a few years back, and last month while searching Craigslist, Mandy found a SWEET place (if I can say so myself) right on the darn resort.
30 days later, we’re moving in! YIKES…It’s a good thing though, seriously. We’re going to a new Church there called Horizon Christian Fellowship, and meeting new friends, living in a new place, with a new southern twang to the culture. Everything is new except one thing…My Job! God bless internet marketing! I tell ya, I love being able to move at the drop of a dime without being tied down to a job. It’s the only way to be really. I don’t think I can see myself going back to the 40/hr time punching thing again. I just don’t think I have it in me.
I honestly want to help as many people as I can enjoy that same lifestyle, and that’s part of the reason I made Tactic Tester…honestly, that isn’t just me feeding you a line. And for that reason, I let YOU, the blog reader, decide what gets reviewed! (That way I don’t have to shove MY favorite products down your throat.) In light of that, PLEASE USE THE REVIEW SUBMISSION FORM!!!! The link is right to the left in the side bar. Let me know what products have tickled your fancy as of late, and I’ll go buy it before you make a decision and give you my honest review as usual.
Now, back to Google’s new guide on Adwords.
First, the Positive:
It covers all the topics most PPC guides cover, setting up your account, creating your first ad, making a distinct goal for each campaign, dividing it up into several specific Adgroups, choosing your keywords, writing your ads for a good CTR, how to use the right display & destination URL’s, and tracking your ads performance…
It also comes with several little “worksheets” with questions for you to answer in order to help you along the way to build you first campaign the way they want you to build it. It’s 31 pages in total, short, to the point, and it covers most of the stuff the newbie Adwords user needs to know. And the best part about this guide is, IT WAS FREE! (Hey, that’s more than I can say for Google Shadow….JOKING CHRIS!!!)
Now, the Bad…
The keyword research section inside this Google Newbie Guide, is horrifying. In the book they give 3 adgroup examples with keyword phrases they recommend you bid on if you are a coffee bean supplier. The examples are:
| Adgroup 1: Gourmet Coffee Beanskeywords:
gourmet coffee beens gourmet coffee coffee beans best coffee (Google says its too generic…good advice) french roast coffee gourmet decaf coffee rich whole coffee beans (Not recommended by Google because its too specific! Really!) high qualiy dark coffee beans cheap coffee buy coffee beans |
Adgroup 2: Shade Grown and Organic Coffee Beanskeywords:
organic (YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME GOOGLE!) “coffee beans” shade grown coffee shade grown coffee beans [organic coffee] natural coffee buy coffee beans (Note this, because I actually learned something about this and will elaborate) -free -cheap |
Adgroup 3: Flavored Coffee Beanskeywords:
coffee (noted as too generic, but the keyword “organic” makes the cut in the last adgroup….seriously…) chocolate coffee beans flavored coffee vanilla coffee full flavored imported coffee flavored coffee beans hazelnut coffee beans |
I think that section was probably thrown together, but it did tell me something. In red above I said to take note of the “buy coffee beans” keyword. Listen to this direct quote from Google: “Listing the same keyword more than once in a single campaign works against you (our system interprets this as increased competition for this keyword, resulting in a higher CPC for it).”
So if you have two adgroups, one for which you’re testing the keyword “buy coffee beans” that lands on a seperate landing page from the other adgroup’s bid for that keyword, you’re working against yourself, and Google might charge you MORE per click…Interesting, huh? I doubt it’ll have a huge effect on your CPC, but if you notice a difference, test one landing page at a time per keyword phrase within the same campaign. I learned something new from this guide, so, I’m happy!
All in all, it’s a very beginner style guide, but it’s kind of Google to shell out $1.00 to send it out to their new advertisers who will spend thousands of dollars with them in the future. Thanks, Google…you’re truly a one of a kind!
If you’re looking for a REAL adwords course, read the review for Commission Blueprint here.
Anyhow, that was fun, and now I’m off to finish up the rest of our packing for the move this weekend. Coming up on Monday/Tuesday is my review for Sneaky System by The Rich Jerk, likely followed by the Ultimate Search Engine Loophole…Two very popular Clickbank products that were released recently.
Remember to submit your product review request and I’ll be sure to do my best to get it done. Thanks for reading. You guys rock!
-Brian
Milkdud@
Posted on February 15th, 2009 at 6:01 pmDo you have the link for the guide? I’d like to read it. Thx!
Brian
Posted on February 16th, 2009 at 6:53 pmDon’t have a link, but am looking for one…It was a physical guide they sent me for opening a new Adwords account. I’ll see what I can find for ya though!