Profit from Google Adwords with this free guide.

You've done all your homework and research. You've studied and selected your keywords. You've written your two rotating ads in an A/B split test. You've activated your ad. Now your ready for the best part - making money!

I've provided 9 tips below to help you profit from Google Adwords. Study each one carefully and use them all. They are the key to turning your Adwords campaign into a successful and profitable venture.

Once you have had the experience of running an Adwords program that actually brings in profits, you may decide you want to create additional campaigns and ad groups - and you will have the knowledge to do so successfully!

In order to profit from Google Adwords, you will need to be patient and let your ad run for a week or so. Google will gather all relevant click statistics for each keyword as well as the total statistics for your ad. If you start changing your ads and keywords based on only a few days of statistics, you may never know what’s really working and what isn’t.

To monitor your ad stats, log in to your account and click down to the Ad Group level. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to click on “View all tabs at once” at the bottom right of the screen so that all of your summary info appears on a single screen. This page will be your headquarters to monitor all your ad statistics. If you want to profit from Google Adwords, making adjustments to your program based on the data in this summary screen is the key.

I've placed a screenshot below of a typical summary page once you have clicked the "View all tabs at once" link. I know it's a bit difficult to see but there are 3 main areas of the summary screen to note; the quick and dirty campaign summary at the top, your keyword performance summary in middle, and the A/B split test data towards the bottom.

Each of these 3 main sections begins with a green bar that runs the length of the screen. Within these green bars are buttons and menu items you will be using to alter the elements of your campaign based on the data accumulated as your ad runs. Changing your campaign parameters based on actual ad statistics is one of the most powerful ways to profit from Google Adwords.

Important Note: When viewing data, be sure you know the start and ending dates for the data. To change these, just click on the date ranges in the summary screen (towards the top left of the page) and you will be allowed to set starting and ending dates for the data viewed.

In order to help you profit from Google Adwords, let's look at a few terms listed on the summary screen.

Campaign Summary Definitions

Clicks: The click value is simply the number of times your ad has been clicked.

Impressions: The number of impressions is the number of times your ad was displayed on the Google search network (and other content networks if you turn them on.)

CTR: CTR stands for Click-Through-Rate and is the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad was shown (impressions.) In order to profit from Google Adwords, you will be working to drive your CTR higher and higher.

Avg. CPC: CPC (cost per click) will vary depending on many factors. The average CPC gives you the average amount you have paid for each keyword up to your maximum CPC bid.

Cost: The total cost you have accrued.

Avg. Position: The average ad position gives you the average placement for your ad. For example, an average position of 2.7 means that your ad has averaged either the 2nd or 3rd position under the “Sponsored Links” area of Google Adwords (more times in position 3 than position 2.)

% Served: This value is shown in the final section labeled “Ad Variations.” It shows the percentage each ad has been shown. If you followed the directions in the previous sections, you will find each of your ads to be served up approximately 50% of the time.

Remember, you need to collect a week or so of statistics before you start changing campaign parameters. In this way, you will be able to easily identify the problem areas and change them for improved performance. Monitoring and testing is the key in learning how to profit from Google Adwords.

Let’s face it, you may think you've got the best set of keywords but, inevitably, Google searchers won’t always agree. You may find that keywords you thought would be attractive are getting no clicks and ones you were ho-hum about are getting a lot of clicks.

In order to profit from Google Adwords, it is important to tune up your keywords. Each week, get into the habit of going to your campaign summary screen and reviewing the stats for your keywords. Here’s what I recommend for keyword tuning.

Keyword Pruning and Tuning

1. Get in the habit of ranking your keywords on a weekly basis. Which ones are your winners? Which ones are barely pulling their weight? Which are the losers? You will want to prune the losers, keep the winners, and try to find new keywords to add. If you want to profit from Google Adwords, tuning and pruning your keyword list is essential.

2. Look at your keyword stats and sort the CTR (click-through rate) from high to low. Generally speaking, this will help you identify your strong performing keywords. A 4-5% CTR is considered very good. But be careful about only looking at the numbers. If one of your keywords has only had 6 impressions and someone clicked on it, you will have a CTR of 16.6%. Six impressions and one click through is not enough to make any sort of decision on the quality of the keyword. After a week or two, you will easily uncover the underperformers and can zap them away. By the way, most people will find their top 3-5 keywords account for two-thirds or more of their total impressions!

3. Hovering your mouse pointer over the hourglass in the keyword summary section will reveal information specific to that keyword. Google will provide advice and further recommendations on each keyword. This information will be helpful as you continue to build and modify your keywords in order to profit from Google Adwords.

4. For keywords that are underperformers, you have the ability to pause or delete them from being included in your campaign. Just check the box next to the keyword and select either “pause” or “delete” buttons from the green bar at the top of the Keyword section.

5. For solid performing keywords, you may decide you eventually want to increase your bid. All you need to do is check the box next to the keyword and then select “Edit Keyword Settings” from the green bar at the top of the Keyword section. You will then be able to set a specific CPC (cost per click).

6. Don’t delete keywords automatically if you feel they are underperforming. How much are you paying for these underperformers? Think of it this way – if you have 25 underperforming keywords that are only bringing in 20 impressions per week collectively but are not costing you much – then don’t delete them! In order to profit from Google Adwords, realize there is power in numbers (even underperforming numbers.) Don’t be too quick to blast “underperforming” keywords.

7. Look at the option of grouping some of your underperforming keywords into a different ad group. Just because they are underperforming for your current ads doesn’t mean you can’t try to write a new ad group more specific to those keywords. If you decide to do this, you will want to again write two different ads so that you can see which one performs the best (A/B split test.)

8. Sometimes, a keyword is just best off being deleted. It can be a combination of too few impressions, poor ad positioning, or poor click-through rate. If it doesn’t make sense to spin-off the keyword into a new ad group, then pause or delete the keyword from your campaign.

9. As your campaign progresses, you may discover new keywords that might go well with your campaign. If so, don’t be shy about adding them. Just go to the Keyword Tool screen and click on “Add your own keywords.”

When you started your campaign, I made the recommendation to keep all your keywords as “phrase match.” I still believe this is the best setting but it is certainly possible that some of your keywords would perform better with a different setting. The only way to know for sure is to change the setting for a particular keyword and then monitor the results.

Note: Be extremely careful about changing keyword types on keywords that are performing well. You might just find that the change causes the CTR to drop!

From the main ad level summary screen, click on “Edit Keywords” (located in the green bar right above your listing of keywords) to bring up the edit screen. The “Edit keywords and CPC” box will come up with a legend to the right showing how to set a keyword to a different matching option.

Leaving the keyword without quotes will give it a broad match while keeping it in quotes gives it a phrase match. Placing the keyword in brackets forces an exact match and placing a minus sign makes the keyword negative.

To help you profit from Google Adwords, Google provides a great tool to track your ads and landing page conversions. It involves placing some HTML code on your landing page so that various goals can be tracked. I won’t go into detail on how to use this tool only because Google provides a nice introduction and tutorials.

Stick to your budget and avoid the temptation of increasing your bid amount unless you can afford to do so. Remember, the whole point of Google Adwords is to put money in your pocket, not take it out!

It’s ok to increase your keyword bid amounts and daily budget but if you find the cost per keyword is slowly creeping up over time, it’s probably because your click-through rate (and/or landing page) is mediocre. You’re better served by reevaluating your ads and landing page before blindly increasing your budget. That's the best way to profit from Google Adwords.

Google also has a short presentation on how their Quality Score works. It can be viewed at the below link.

When you started your campaign, I had you enter a single bid amount for all the keywords in your Ad Group. While I recommend initiating your campaign with the same bid amount for each keyword, I don’t recommend leaving it like this permanently.

Why? Because this essentially applies higher bids to keywords with much lower bids. If you have some 5 cent keywords mixed in with 50 cent keywords, your minimum bid for the ad group will need to be at least 50 cents to ensure your ad appears for the most expensive keywords. So, your 50 cent max bid will also be applied the cheaper keywords as well. So, if you want to profit from Google Adwords, you really need to look at separating out keywords by cost.

As you run your ad and gather more data for each keyword, I recommend you create entirely new ad groups based on keyword cost. Ultimately, you would like each campaign to contain a network of keywords that are roughly in the same price range. Maybe run one ad group that uses keywords in the $0.05 to $0.20 range, another ad group for the $0.21 to $0.35 range, and another for the $0.36 to $0.50 range (and any higher ranges you are bidding.)

It's ok to send these new ad groups to the same landing page (as long as the landing page is relevant.) However, a different landing page for the various ad groups might get you better results! The only way to know for sure to to try it and monitor the results.

Within each of these Ad Groups, you can now set a new max bid per keyword. In this way, you won’t be penalized by having a single Ad Group containing a wide range of keyword costs and your Ad Groups will cost less collectively. This is a great tip to help ensure you're keeping your costs down and help you profit from Google Adwords.

Remember, initiating a new Ad Group is easy. Just go under the “Ad Variations” section (the last section) in the summary screen and click “Text ad” next to “Create New Ad.”

As I mentioned previously, another way to ensure you profit from Google Adwords is to always test one ad against another. These two rotating ads (A/B split test) form a single Ad Group and will help you drive up your click-through rate. After a week or two, use the Ad Variations summary screen to see which of your two ads received the highest click-through rate, delete the loser and write a new ad to try and beat the winner.

To delete an ad, use the Ad Variations summary screen and click the checkbox next to the ad you want to delete. Click on “Delete” and then click on “Text Ad” to write a new one. Don’t be too quick to delete an ad however. Give it at least a week or two to determine a clear winner/loser. A day of data is not enough to make a determination!

Ok, I realize the name of this tip is a little cryptic, but I mean it. You definitely want to use the magnifying glass!

When you drill down to the Ad Group summary screen (being sure to select “View all tabs at once” at the bottom right), you will see little magnifying glass icons next to each keyword in the keyword summary section. If you hover your mouse pointer over this magnifying icon, Google will open a little box showing you specific details on that particular keyword. It will show the status of the keyword, a link for recommendations, and whether the Google Quality Score is ok. This is very important information that will help you profit from Google Adwords.

This is a great way to help you decide which keywords to keep, delete, or spin off into a separate Ad Group. Don’t ever underestimate the power of the Magnifying Glass!

I'm a bit reluctant to admit this - but this entire 7-part article represents an introduction to Google Adwords. Granted, if you follow all the steps I've listed, you will definitely profit and make money but there is always more to learn.

I have read every single book on Google Adwords and am currently only recommending one book; Howie Jacobson's Adwords For Dummies. If you're like me and are reluctant to take a book that has the word "Dummies" on the cover to the cash register, do what I did and just order it online. The best price is found at Amazon and I've provided the link below.

If you want to profit from Google Adwords but are determined not to spend a dime doing so, I have the perfect site for you. Not surprisingly, it is Google’s help center for the Adwords program. I have to say that Google has done a wonderful job putting together these informative slide shows on virtually every Adwords topic known to man (and woman.) You can find the learning center at the below link.

And that’s it folks! I hope you found this 7-part article informative. If so, please drop me a line and let me know. I am truly interested in your success and would like to hear about it. Just go to my Contact Form and let me know what you think. Anyone can profit from Google Adwords - the key is to repeatedly monitor and test! If you do that and don't get sidetracked, I guarantee you can profit from Google Adwords!

Profit From Google Adwords - Part 7

Tip #1: Monitor Your Campaign Statistics

Tip #2: Prune Your Keywords

Tip #3: Change Your Keyword Matching Options

Tip #4: Use Google's Tracking Options

Tip #5: Stick to Your Budget

Tip #6: Evaluate Your Keyword Bids

Tip #7: Try to Beat Your Winning Ad

Tip #8: Use the Magnifying Glass!

Tip #9: Keep Learning!