Checklist: 9 Critical Settings

Google Adwords Training

TRANSCRIPTION

In this Google Adwords training video, I’m going to give you my checklist for setting up a new Google ad words campaign. I’m going to reveal the 9 things you should watch out for. But first, in case we haven’t met, my name is Phil Frost. My company, Mainstreet ROI, provides online marketing training for small business.

Let’s dive in. First, you want to make sure you’re using the right keyword match types. I recommend you do not start with broad match. Most of the time, I recommend you start with phrase match. When you set up a new campaign with phrase match, be sure to use negative keywords. Negative keywords are keywords you add that prevent your ad from getting shown on Google. This can save you a lot of money.

The next setting is your initial cost per click, or CPC bid. The best place to start is to use Google’s keyword tool to get the estimated CPC for each keyword. Don’t worry, you won’t pay that much per click. If you write good ads, then Google will reward you by giving you big discounts.

Now you need to set your daily budget. Here’s a quick tip: if you’re setting up a new campaign, run your ads for at least ten days so you get some data for each day of the week. I say 10 rather than 7 because it typically takes a few days to start getting enough impressions. Another consideration is you’ll really want at least 100 clicks per keyword to get a sense for whether that keyword is working or not.

One of the key’s to success with Google ad words is to write great ads that have high click through rates. That means you need to be testing different ads. When you’re starting out, I recommend you run at least 3 different ads and set your ads to rotate evenly until you find your best ad. The next setting is location. This is pretty self explanatory, if you have a local business, then you’ll want to focus on just your immediate area.

Google Adwords Training Tip

Even if you’re doing business worldwide, I recommend you focus on one country at a time and create one campaign for each country. For the network setting, you’ll want to select “search” and uncheck the display network when you’re just starting out. You should definitely test display later, but you’ll need to set up a separate campaign. Setting number 8 is devices. Unless you have a mobile optimized website, I recommend you start by targeting desktop and laptop computers and tablets with full browsers. Last but certainly not least is conversion tracking. If you fail to set up conversion tracking, then there’s no way you’ll be able to measure the effectiveness of each of your keywords in your campaign. You’ll be completely flying blind. Make sure you set up conversion tracking before you turn on your campaign.

To recap, here are the 9 settings you need to watch out for when setting up a new Google ad words campaign:

• -Keyword match type
• -Negative keywords
• -Your initial CPC bid
• -Your budget
• -Ads and ad rotation
• -Locations
• -Networks
• -Devices
• -Conversion tracking