Adwords Keywords

[Paul Murray]

So I recently got sent a £50 Google Adwords voucher and since it expires in a couple of weeks I thought I'd better make use of it. I'm not expecting a miracle from it it seems a shame to let it go to waste.

I'm having trouble deciding on keywords for my campaign though. I seem to be on page 1 of Google (twice) for "freelance graphic designer manchester" and a few variations through SEO, but it's quite low down.

Should I focus on keywords that I'm not ranking highly for but would like to, or attempt to boost the ones I am ranked for?

Or maybe try both?

[Boss Hog]

I would see what terms are searched for most here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal ...ensure you tick the 'exact' search not 'broad match' then choose the most searched for term and target that, although doubt £50 will last long or give you amazing results...so maybe go for some of the less searched for terms where competition may not be as high. I'm no expert mind.

One thing I will say is make sure you set your account up where you will manually deposit funds to the account when they are used up, I didn't once and ended up paying £120 on top of my free £50.

[Paul Murray]

Cheers for the heads up.

Yeah, I noticed "freelance graphic designer manchester" is £4.49 per click, where as "graphic designer manchester" is about half that. I don't know if you're average joe would think to use the term "freelance" first so maybe I'll leave it and try and make the most of my voucher.

I honestly never thought I'd be staring at a spreadsheet whilst using a Mac. Robert Webb lied to me!

[Corrosive]

The best results I have had with Adwords is to be really specific with it. For example, don't just make one ad and then hurl all the keywords under then sun at it, make more specific adverts. Such as one for 'logo design' and then a handful of good keywords specific to logos.

Don't forget that the more relevant your pages are, the lower your cost-per-click. In fact we have specific landing pages for our Adwords campaign at BCF. For example our 'Laptop Screen Replacement' Ads point directly to; Laptop Screen Replacement Bristol | Bristol Computer Fix

That means no extra searching for the customer once they have clicked.

Example >> If a customer searches 'Laptop Screen Repair' they get an ad saying 'Laptop Screen Broken?', when they click they hit the page I referenced. We get great conversion rates that way.

Better to target than 'scatter gun' every term you can think of

[Paul Murray]

Just a quick update. I've gotten quite a few enquiries about work since creating a campaign for the terms "freelance graphic designer manchester" and just "graphic designer manchester".

Most are generic emails requesting quotes, though one was from an agency in Manchester asking about taking me on in their studio temporarily (I don't think they realised I'm a student?).

Apparently I've used half the credit already so I'm thinking of stopping it and trying a few other terms to see how they play out.

I might invest in some more advertising in the future if I need work. I'm definitely getting the hits from the campaign, but it's then converting those visitors to customers that I'd have to focus on.

[Corrosive]

I might invest in some more advertising in the future if I need work. I'm definitely getting the hits from the campaign, but it's then converting those visitors to customers that I'd have to focus on.

And that's where I think making sure your approach is correctly targeted really helps. Also check your bounce rate between the ads displayed on Google and ads displayed on Google's ad network (i.e. other people's sites). We found the ad network was a waste of time and money so we canned that pretty early based on near enough 100% bounce rate!

All a good learning process though Paul.

[Paul Murray]

Just had an email from a local designer who's looking to outsource some smaller jobs to me. Overall, I think the voucher's paid off

[Tony Hardy]

Yeah that seems like the vouchers paid off big time. Might invest £50 myself into Adwords. Need to my damned site finished first though.

[sdesign1]

Its interesting whether you target keywords which most people are using or very specific phrases that in all likelihood will get your advert showing in top position every time. We've had some very significant business coming from well targetted keyword phrases that only generate small amounts of traffic BUT and here's the caveat - it's very high quality traffic.

[Minuteman Press]

Long term - reduce reliance on Adwords - think about this now.

Adwords for us represent sub 3% and falling vs organic / direct.

Saves money and potential clients prefer organic.