Losing Money on AdWords

[blackberry]

I have been advertising on AdWords for about 3 weeks now.

Right now, I am PISSED because so far I hav spent $280 and all I have to show for it is $50. So I am running at a loss of $230.

Ok the cookies are valid for 60 day (no i DO not mean CS, i actually mean real normal cookies) , but all the same I kind of expected to be at least breaking even at this point.

I am so disappointed

I have ten keywords. My best keywords re between 1% and 4% all the time, and i am in position 2 and 3 for these keywords.

It is very targeted.

I have 16 advertisments. Click through rate on my best ad is running at 3.41% consistantly. The CTR of the rest of the ADs that are performing is between .25% all the way up to 1.87%


So..please can anyone help...any suggestions....anything?

I dont want to give up but at the same time i hate wasting money with no ROI.

 

[yoaussie2]

if you have broad and phrase match keywords, run a search query report to identify unrelated search terms you can add as negative keywords, also if your ads are running on the content network, run a placement report to uncover poor performing adsense sites, do you have conversion tracking?

also, you may want to try dropping your bids a little to save money and still sit in position 4 - 5 - these positions are still very good

is your ad copy over promising and the landing page under delivering? perhaps your landing page is poor, is there a strong call to action

 

[nightmarer]

I don't know why google so greedy and keep increase their ppc cost. They don't care, even for bigger spenders. They just ban any of your account, without warning. Hope facebook can beat them.

 

[DAMINK]

I don't know why google so greedy.

Oh ******** i lolled.
Prob because they want to make money.
The idea in blackhat circles was to work around this? Or so i thought.
Anyways good luck.

 

[bertbaby]

If Adwords are failing you then its time to review your strategy and use SEO to drive traffic to your landing page. You have some idea of how your keywords are performing, now use to redesign your site, do keyword optimization for SERP to drive organic traffic. Re-evaluate your landing page to improve conversions from the 1 to 2%. Depending on what your selling that may not be enough but a 1% to 2% conversation rate is normal for direct marketing.

 

[blackberry]

Hi,

I have actually disabled the content network. I have enabled only search.

Past experience tells me that the content network is a waste of money.


The rest of your suggestions, i havent thought of so i will try them (thank you).


BB

if you have broad and phrase match keywords, run a search query report to identify unrelated search terms you can add as negative keywords, also if your ads are running on the content network, run a placement report to uncover poor performing adsense sites, do you have conversion tracking?

also, you may want to try dropping your bids a little to save money and still sit in position 4 - 5 - these positions are still very good

is your ad copy over promising and the landing page under delivering? perhaps your landing page is poor, is there a strong call to action

 

[blackberry]

Thanks to everyone.....I will try the suggestions posed...do keep the ideas running....

 

[sre94]

Is this a niche you have made money on in the past?

When I had an Adwords account, I would only bid on niches that I had made money on using free methods (article writing, SEO, etc)

Check out a popular thread I wrote on this topic last year:

http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/adwords/133458-how-i-profit-450-day-using-adwords.html

 

[blackhataffiliate]

Could it be the offer is not converting or they could be shaving? Try switching offers and see if you get an improvement.

 

[tacopalypse]

moar keywords, moar offers.

when you're just starting out, it's perfectly normal for 90% of the shit you try to have negative roi.
just keep testing different things; no one said ppc was even remotely easy.

 

[TwistedMarketing]

Try building a list and then send a series of emails until they convert.

 

[SecretMoney]

i have lose money in ppv

 

[rassclat]

Also, from what I understand, you can get cheaper clicks if your lander is more optimized to whatever you're trying to push. So create some more content as well. Use LSI keywords for ideas.

 

[mathdoc]

It might be that this niche/campaign just isn't profitable. You have to know when to abandon a project.

 

[innovalist]

My 2 cts worth...

A lot has to do with the site setup. Get a decent copy writer and a design which points buyers quickly at your order.

Try a heck a lot of long tail KW phrases and stay clear of the 1-2 word KWs.

Test each KW using exact search term [ ] - its painful and long drawn I know but it will pay off after weeks.

Make sure your content / ad title and ad text has the same KW you are putting across - Big G gives you a low relevancy score and charges you more for it because it thinks your ad wastes its precious impressions.

Look for relatively low competition KWs. Good sources are compete(dot)com, alexa(dot)com and ministatus(dot)com as well as google for "external adword tool".

End of the day - as many of us have found out - if your margins are razor thin you are better off investing in organic SEO methods like backlinks, article marketing, forum posting, directory subs etc. The moment you switch off your PPC $ you are dead. However organic gives you free traffic for a long time (of course you've gotta maintain them).

Hope that helps!

 

[seotrader]

Don't give up, you can always make money

 

[D4Dirty]

is google the way to go? I have gotten a lot cheaper clicks of paying to advertise directly on niche related websites.

Now I get plenty of clicks, still the conversion rate is very low.

 

[mikie46]

I don't know why google so greedy and keep increase their ppc cost. They don't care, even for bigger spenders. They just ban any of your account, without warning. Hope facebook can beat them.

If you think Google is greedy try Yahoo. Their click prices are overinflated and their traffic is shit. Same for bing.

 

[eyecheck]

Those rates are set more by other bidders than google

 

[ozzke]

My 2 cts worth...

A lot has to do with the site setup. Get a decent copy writer and a design which points buyers quickly at your order.

Try a heck a lot of long tail KW phrases and stay clear of the 1-2 word KWs.

Test each KW using exact search term [ ] - its painful and long drawn I know but it will pay off after weeks.

Make sure your content / ad title and ad text has the same KW you are putting across - Big G gives you a low relevancy score and charges you more for it because it thinks your ad wastes its precious impressions.

Look for relatively low competition KWs. Good sources are compete(dot)com, alexa(dot)com and ministatus(dot)com as well as google for "external adword tool".

End of the day - as many of us have found out - if your margins are razor thin you are better off investing in organic SEO methods like backlinks, article marketing, forum posting, directory subs etc. The moment you switch off your PPC $ you are dead. However organic gives you free traffic for a long time (of course you've gotta maintain them).

Hope that helps!

This is gold.
What is not mentioned is that you should always keep an eye on your quality score. If you have a quality score of 10 you prolly have 1-5 cent clicks. As soon as your quality score is lower than 7 it's getting really expensive to bid on keywords.
You can see the quality score in the "Keywords" tab, you might have to make the column visible.
I immediately stop advertising for keywords with a qualityscore lower than 7.

However you can increase your quality score by improving your landingpage. For more info about the quality score you can check out the adwords help center