Issue 2

Online Marketing Tips & Strategies Newsletter

Want to make more money with Google AdWords?

Read on for ways to do just that. Here’s what we’ve got for you this month:

1. Why You Should Give a Damn About AdWords

2. Breaking Up With the Yellow Pages

1. Why You Should Give a Damn About AdWords

There are countless reasons why you should give two hoots about Google AdWords. Here are three:

1.1 Budget flexibility
If you run your own business, one of the best things about AdWords is the flexibility of the budget. Some people worry that AdWords spend can quickly spiral out of control. It can if you don’t know what you’re doing! Set a daily budget that you’re comfortable with, and then work on making your campaign more efficient. Remember that your budget can be adjusted or paused in seconds.

1.2 Instant feedback
There aren’t many forms of advertising where you get such immediate feedback. People are either clicking your ads, or they aren’t. They’re either taking action, or they’re not. It’s hard to tell whether someone has watched your TV ad, read your magazine ad, or tossed your brochure/flyer in the bin. The instant feedback of AdWords enables you to tweak your campaigns until they’re producing a steady supply of sales leads. Which leads us to…

1.3 Measurability
In your campaigns, each keyword impression, click, click-through rate and conversion can be measured. A simple change of one word in the headline of your ad can make a BIG difference in performance. And by adding a few negative keywords, you can improve the quality of your traffic and you see even more of a difference.

2. Breaking Up with the Yellow Pages Directory

The Yellow Pages directory served its purpose in the pre-Internet days (often as a prop for PC monitors, but still). For many businesses, it was the only advertising option they had.

But that’s all changed. AdWords has put the power back in the hands of the business owner/advertiser.

Consider these points:

- When you pay for your Yellow Pages ad, you’re paying to cover the printing and distribution costs of millions of books, but you’re likely only interested in reaching a very small portion of those people.

- If your ad copy is bad, you can’t change it … for a year! So you can only improve your ads year to year. With AdWords, you can improve your ads day to day, or even hour to hour.

- With the Yellow Pages, you can’t easily change the geographic targeting. With AdWords you can – in seconds.

- Most clients we’ve worked with say the returns aren’t as good as with AdWords. But ultimately you need to measure your own return.

Is it time for you to reconsider your biz’s relationship with the Yellow Pages?

What’s going on with us?

We visited the US recently for some Advanced Google AdWords training and to attend the country’s largest Search Marketing Conference (PubCon).

Here are some nuggets we came back with:

1. The whole world seems to want to “monetise their social media strategies” ie make money from their Twitter account tomorrow. We see Twitter (and other social channels) as a way of improving communication and believe it should just be a way of doing business – not a new advertising strategy.

2. As much as we much as we know about AdWords, there are always new tips to learn – especially from the person deemed one of the world’s leading experts, the only Google-endorsed advanced AdWords trainer, Brad Geddes.

3. “Conversion optimisation” (ie maximising your website conversions) is a stand-alone specialist area, where many advanced marketers are achieving higher returns than with traffic-generating techniques. Every conversion session was jammed packed with people standing at the back of the room and sitting on the floor. The take-home message: it can be cheaper to increase your website’s ability to convert visitors into customers than pay for more customers.

4. The unofficial session in the bar after a long day at the conference can be as interesting as the conference sessions themselves. Especially when you end up chatting to online marketers who are killing it online in some obscure industries.

5. Las Vegas is so very, well… er… Vegas.

As always we’d love to connect on Twitter at www.twitter.com/philipshaw where Philip covers news and tips on various online marketing topics.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition. If you’ve come across something a friend or colleague might find useful, please share the love and pass it on!

As always, we love your feedback.

Regards,
The CleverClicks Team
www.cleverclicks.com.au