5 Great Tips On How to Create Google-Safe AdWords Ads
Posted on April 3, 2009
Filed Under Advertising | Leave a Comment
Using Google AdWords for PPC advertising campaigns is an extremely popular ad serving platform. While most people understand the basics of AdWords, from picking keywords and creating ads, what most people don’t know is that their AdWords campaigns are manually reviewed by editors at Google, and they will assign you a penalty or shut you down altogether if they think that you’re violating one of their policies. Here’s what to avoid if you want to keep your site up and running:
1. Using Inappropriate or Offensive Language
This should seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who try to use inappropriate or offensive language as a kind of shock tactic to get clicks. It may work in the (very) short-term, but then your ads get taken down, and if you managed to be really offensive, your site will get shut down as well.
And don’t assume that you can get away by using double entendres or by thinking that you’re being really clever. While the Google algorithms may not recognize it, you can bet that the editors will.
2. Using Copyrighted or Trademarked Terms
Google has strict guidelines in place in regards to trademarks and copyrights, and you’ll get a warning at the ad creation level if you try to create an ad that contains one. They are really strict with this rule, as they, as well as you, are the ones who will be listed in the lawsuit should someone decide to sue for copyright infringement.
3. Having Misleading Offers, Special Prices, or Discounts
You’re allowed to mention pricing, special offers, or discounts in your Google Adwords ad, but the claim made in the ad must be backed up on the landing page. Any use of misleading offers that the user can’t actually claim will get your ad flagged.
4. Redirecting the User to A Different URL
Google expects to see, when someone clicks on your ad, that the user is taken directly to the site with the same URL as the one you displayed in your ad. In the past, advertisers had taken advantage of this to redirect users to a completely different URL than the one posted in the ad. Google has cracked down on this and will not tolerate it.
5. Using Superlatives or Competitive Claims Without Backup
You can claim that you’re the best in the world, or that you’re better than one of you competitors….but you’d better have the proof to back it up once people get to your landing page. And considering how hard it is to proof that you’re rated #1 or are the best at something, it’s usually best to err on the side of caution and avoid using superlatives of competitive claims in your AdWords ads.
For more great advice on how to run a get AdWords campaign from start to finish, go to PPCKahuna, at www.ppckahuna.com and get all the information, resources and support that you need to start making money online with PPC today!
Tips On Getting a Great Landing Page Quality Score
Posted on March 29, 2009
Filed Under Advertising, PPC Marketing | Leave a Comment
The whole point of the landing page quality score is to penalize advertisers who don’t provide useful landing pages, and give them a lower rank within Google’s quality ranking, which raises the cost of their minimum CPC.
More importantly for those of us who are already striving to produce quality sites and landing pages, a better quality score will lead to better rankings for our ads and a lower CPC.
So, how do you get a better landing page quality score?
According to Google, there are 3 things they look at when calculating a landing page’s quality score: relevant and original content, transparency, and navigability. HereÕs how to get a good quality score from Google and accomplish and get your conversions at the same time:
Relevant and Original Content
To start, make sure your domain name is relevant to your market. For your landing pages, make sure that each keyword you have, you have a separate landing page. Make sure they the keyword is in the URL, such as “summerbikinis.php” if your keyword is “spring gardens”. Also make sure to include your keyword in all of the title tags, meta tags, and description meta tags.
Also make sure that you’ve got original content on each of your landing pages. This is especially important for affiliate marketers, as there could be hundreds of landing pages promoting the same product. By differentiating your content from that of the vendor of the product, youÕll increase your quality score over that of your competitors who just recycle the vendor information.
Transparency
For transparency, make sure to link to a valid sitemap, contact us page, and privacy policy page. What Google wants to see is that you openly share information about your business, and how your business operates.
When requesting information from your site’s visitors, make sure to provide them with the privacy policy so that they understand how they’re information is going to be used. Another good idea is to limit how much information they receive from you; give them an option to opt-out of some correspondence. Google likes to see users given the choice of how their information is used.
An obvious aspect of transparency is by delivering on the products and services that you offer in your ad, and to only charge customers for the products and services that they actually order and successfully receive. While this may seem implicit in your site, it doesnÕt hurt to find a way to say it somewhere on the landing page. It will both raise your quality score with Google as well as put your users at ease.
Navigability
Google wants to see a clear path to follow on your landing pages, making it easy for users to purchase or receive the product or service you’ve advertised Ð which is exactly what you want too. Avoid using pop-ups, pop-unders or other obtrusive elements in your landing pages.
Now that you’ve got great landing pages with great quality scores, you can then turn your attention to your Adwords campaign. By matching the best keywords with your customized landing pages, you can maximize conversions and minimize your CPCs, resulting in a bigger profit margin for you.
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The Top 7 Pay-Per-Click Landing Page Mistakes You Should Avoid
Posted on March 28, 2009
Filed Under PPC Marketing | Leave a Comment
So you managed to get someone to click on your pay-per-click ad. The hard work is done, and reeling in the sale should be easy, right? Wrong! that’s not entirely true if you’ve made these common landing page mistakes; by not having an effective landing page, you could be undoing all the hard work you accomplished with your pay-per-click ad.
1. You’re using your homepage as the landing page
You’ve written a compelling pay-per-click ad selling our product that convinced someone to click on the link and it takes them…to your home page? They are then expected to wade through the different pages to try and find the product they were interested in. Instead, make sure that they are send to a landing page instead, which will take them exactly where you want them to be – where it is easiest to convert them into a sale.
2. You don’t have a converting landing page
You have a landing page, but it is so generic that is might as well be your homepage. For every different product you’re promoting, there should be a different landing page to direct them towards the sale. They clicked on the link because they were interested – make sure the right information is waiting for them when they get to your site.
3. Your landing page is too cluttered
You don’t want a customer arriving to your site after seeing a clear and concise pay-per-click ad only to be greeted by a confusing landing page trying to tell them too much at once. Think about the action you want your customer to take; then edit and refine the information on the landing page to reflect that.
4. Your landing pages are not keyword-optimized
You’ve spent a lot of time and effort optimizing your pay-per-click ads; why wouldn’t you do the same with your landing pages? For each list of keywords you have, you should have a corresponding pay-per-click ad and landing page. Maintain a consistency in communication with your customers at all times.
5. You’re asking for too much information
You want to get as much information as possible from your potential customer, but be wary of scaring them away by requiring personal information right away. Many people are not comfortable giving their last names to a site they are not familiar with. Unless they are making a purchase, keep the information required to a first name and email address.
6. You have too many images and it takes forever to load
You don’t want to lose a customer after they’ve made he decision to click on an ad because they got impatient waiting for the page to load. Cut out the extraneous images and keep the landing page streamlined so it will load quickly so you can capture the sale.
7. You’re selling, not telling
You did the selling with your pay-per-click ad. The focus of the landing page should be on information and promoting the product, not a hard sell. The customer is already interested in the product. Make them feel comfortable with plenty of information about the product and how to obtain it, and encourage them to purchase without making them feel too pressured.
How you manage your landing pages is what determines your success in the world of PPC. Tools like PPC Kahuna help you with this and shows you what things to avoid and more importanly what things you should really be doing. It’s not rocket science but there is a methodology in building successful landing pages and making money online through them
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