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Thread: The genius of adwords

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    The genius of adwords

    I have at last discovered why Google is a big as it is, and the genius in adwords. I think this could be a major way to promote MJ.

    You pick trigger words - e.g. salsa lessons
    you pick a bid price - it is an auction for the best spots
    you can pick an area from google maps, any shape & size that you like. (customised)
    you pick a maximum amount to spend.

    Play:
    https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/...timatorSandbox

    ads are placed according to how much you are willing to spend, and how successful they are.

    An ad that lots of people click on will be given preference over an ad with a higher bid price.

    You only pay per click. You are only paying for ads that people think they want to read.

    You get free webspace that can give the sales message relevant to the trigger words.

    e.g. If your small ad reads "friendlier than Salsa" (if that is allowed) those searching for Salsa lessons might be tempted to click on it. They then are directed to a web page in which you can tell them why MJ is friendlier than Salsa, and other relevant sales copy, and then direct them to your normal website.

    You can have one face for those attempting to lose weight, and another for those tempted by free chocolate.

    You gets loads of stats that tell you how you performed.

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    Registered User Feelingpink's Avatar
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    Re: The genius of adwords

    You might not be the first to realise this. For example, I just tried searching for "Ceroc" in Google - and I the only ad listed is for Jive Nation. If you search for "London tango", there is a page full of tango related ads, plus the geographical business listings, showing the businesses on a map, which is free. Yes, you only pay 'per click', but for a start, your competition may decide to click on your ads to use up your budget (it happens) and if there is a lot of competition for a search term, then your 'click' price can easily be more than £1.50, and that easily starts to chew a hole in your marketing budget.

    Google last month also introduced interest-based ads, where it tracks which sites you go on (any with adwords, which is a lot of sites) and puts ads based on your preferences. So you might have just come from a hiking site and gone to a shopbot to search for a toaster, but you may still get ads for hiking boots and jackets, because of your interests. Google will track your preferences, unless you opt out. I'm guessing this is in response to Facebook advertising, where advertisers can already target specifically using age, sex, network (location), interests and so on. Frankly, I find the Google interest based ad spying quite evil and have chosen to opt out (which you can also do using the above link).
    Last edited by Feelingpink; 13th-April-2009 at 10:15 AM.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    You might not be the first to realise this. For example, I just tried searching for "Ceroc" in Google - and I the only ad listed is for Jive Nation.
    I knew I was not first, but a long way back. I knew there were lots of others behind me who could benefit. There are so many benefits associated with MJ that anyone trying to sell them all is likely to be seen as over selling. I did not know how precisely they could target ads geographically.


    If you search for "London tango", there is a page full of tango related ads, plus the geographical business listings, showing the businesses on a map, which is free.
    I did not know that you did not have to specify "London". Google can identify roughly where the enquirer is on a map. I found 6 other Bedfords around the world very quickly, it is a major asset not having to weed out all of the foreign ones.

    Yes, you only pay 'per click', but for a start, your competition may decide to click on your ads to use up your budget (it happens)
    If I am a twin, I am the evil one. I had thought of that.

    This is the geek area. Does anybody know if you can get the IP address of clickers to identify if this happening? Their ISP?

    I intend to find if google has a defence mechanism to stop malicious clickers.

    If you can identify them there may be other remedies.


    and if there is a lot of competition for a search term, then your 'click' price can easily be more than £1.50, and that easily starts to chew a hole in your marketing budget.
    You can limit how much you pay per click, and in total.

    One of the features that got my accolade "genius" is that successful ads can rate higher than higher bids. Identify your market and target them precisely and you will do better than the shotgun approach even though they bid more.

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    Registered User Brighton Belle's Avatar
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    Re: The genius of adwords

    I've found that most people don't know how these ads work but it can be very useful way of advertising. I've been using it for years to sell ski holidays and it's been very sucessful. The advantage is that you are only advertising to people who are specificially interested in what you are selling (which is why they searched on 'your' words) rather than in say a national newspaper where 99% of the people who read it aren't your target market.

    The most poplular categories (and the most expensive) tend to be things like holidays and consumer goods; I shouldn't think dance classes / events are nearly so competetive so will be relatively cheaper. Costs can add up (a bit like spread betting - you've got no idea at the beginning how much you're going to get billed for) but you can put a ceiling on it and allocate so much per day which is automatically monitored. And as said above, you get loads of stats from Google if you know how to use them.

    The other advantage is that the more people who click on your ad and visit your website, the higher you'll be on the generic search (the main results on the left of the Google page) which of course is free.

    I didn't know about the personal preferences links Feelingpink mentioned. They obviously don't go shouting about this one!

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    Registered User Feelingpink's Avatar
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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    ...You can limit how much you pay per click, and in total.
    Yes, but if you appear on page 10 of the search results, it's unlikely that you're going to get many clicks, so there's not much point to your campaign (apart from the collection of data on search terms, which you may want to use on your SEO and which is possibly one of the most useful things you can do with AdWords).

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    Yes, but if you appear on page 10 of the search results, it's unlikely that you're going to get many clicks, so there's not much point to your campaign (apart from the collection of data on search terms, which you may want to use on your SEO and which is possibly one of the most useful things you can do with AdWords).
    One of the things that bumps you up the search results is having a Google adwords account and webpage, and/or diplaying their ads on your site. Lots of mutal back-scratching goes on.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    One of the things that bumps you up the search results is having a Google adwords account and webpage, and/or diplaying their ads on your site. Lots of mutal back-scratching goes on.
    In all the SEO articles I've ever read, I've not seen this. Whereabouts did you find this out?

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    In all the SEO articles I've ever read, I've not seen this. Whereabouts did you find this out?
    The last time I googled on "advertising" top sponsored link was for Google , third in the list was Chris Cardell, who sells himself as an advertising guru. I have been wading through all of the stuff he sends me for free, and also that from Perry Marshall, in the same line of business. As I recall Google rates your ad by bid price * CTR (click through rate)

    This way Google rewards your success, and enhances their own.

    I do not use words like "genius" lightly.

    Because it works this way clicking on your opponents ads to cost them actually will reduce the cost of their ads and get them ranked higher.

    Because increasing the effectiveness of advertising pays off with a big multiplier there is a big business opportunity for professional copy writers which they are exploiting.
    Last edited by bigdjiver; 13th-April-2009 at 05:34 PM.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    I used to sell Hot air balloon rides
    And found ad words very cost effective

    I recently help a friend promote his business using AdWords and it was very very cost effective

    One of its great advantages is, it is very quick and easy to turn it on and off

    E.g. if you are selling spaces for a holiday, or in my case flights, once you are full, you can turn the ad off and you pay nothing further
    Last edited by philsmove; 13th-April-2009 at 06:30 PM.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    but for a start, your competition may decide to click on your ads to use up your budget ).
    this is called an "invalid click" and Google are quite good a spotting them

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    One thing I find quite extraordinary is that Google can sell the use of a trademark they do not own in order to draw business away from the trademark owner.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdjiver View Post
    One thing I find quite extraordinary is that Google can sell the use of a trademark they do not own in order to draw business away from the trademark owner.



    At the moment
    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/n...emark-suit.ars

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    You might not be the first to realise this. For example, I just tried searching for "Ceroc" in Google - and I the only ad listed is for Jive Nation...
    One thing I learned from the marketeers was to use the search term in the display ad. If the search term was Salsa say something about Salsa. The penalty of using a trademark as a search term is that you cannot do that. That is why you hear 20% better that the leading brand. They would love to be able to use the name.

    The marketeers also indicate Jivenation is missing their opportunity. If the search term was Tango you can write a long screed about the glories and joys of Tango, and they are likely to read it. If at the same time you tell them how difficult it is, and that many people learn a simpler, more versatile partner dance first then move up, and, guess what, we teach one! Their home page is not right for that. (just click here does not hack it with these guys. Every time the reader has to make a decision they can decide to quit.)

    The marketeers also say you should build a relationship. Ask about Ceroc and you get someone you have never heard of asking you for 50 quid or so. They say to offer the potential customer something free. They have given me screeds of it. The natural logic is that they give me all this good stuff for nothing, the stuff I have to pay for must be really great.

    They also say to offer guarantees. If you did not think the evening was worth it, just ask for your money back.

    Ceroc would not need to demand you pay for X number of lessons in advance. If you divide turnover by the number of members you get the average value of a new member so far, and it is a significant sum.

    I really think MJ should do more advertising, and I believe this is probably one of the best ways. Trying to get more from members bringing in friends is almost certainly the best way.

    (gets off soapbox)

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    [soapbox] Further ideas: Ceroc could use the postal area information from the membership database to target premium areas.

    Ceroc could gather a series of top ten current tracks roughly by genre and target artist and lyric searches. Some of these would be very unique and rarely searched, so be cheaper. The small ad could be something like 'artist/track makes Ceroc top ten' and the big ad could even feature an embedded clip of MJ dancing to the track/artist. That would help hold their attention whilst they were fed the marketing pitch.
    [/soapbox]

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Seth Godin's blog today listed the web site where you can opt out of some companies that track you across various websites to place more specific advertisements.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by Feelingpink View Post
    Seth Godin's blog today listed the web site where you can opt out of some companies that track you across various websites to place more specific advertisements.
    And my anti-virus software did not like the tracking cookies that site tried to place

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    The whole adwords interface has changed. People thinking of buying books should be aware that they may not be as useful as they were. I am looking into it.

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Google vs "The black hats"

    Google say they want to be the best search engine in the world. If someone types in a query Google will try and work out, using all means possible, what information they are actually seeking and direct them straight to it. It recognises that most of those information providers may have a commercial intent, and that many commercial entities will be trying to get their pitch in front of the user even if the user does not want to see it, using what the trade calls "black hat" techniques. There is a battle of wits going on between the "black hats" and Google.

    Many former "Black hats" have changed tack and are now trying to work with google to get ther products to market. Most commercial companies have products that are genuinely useful and customers that are trying to find them.

    Ignorance may be bliss, but it is expensive

    Adwords seem to have been designed for people who have something to say which people want to hear, but, in internet terms, do not know how to say it. They pay for their ignorance.

    We are search engine heros / heroines

    Ceroc Scotland has a lot of dance related content, thanks to this forum. It does considerably better than Ceroc.com in dance related searches. It also pops up in all sorts of other searches due to our forums love of chat.

    This is the Internet marketers dream. The chance to get your message in front of someone who does not want your product because they do not know what in can do for them. In Ceroc's case it is the opportunity to get the link between Ceroc and dance into the public mind. If at some page the random visitor starts to take an interest in dance they may stop to read an ad or article that says Ceroc

    Even the best ....

    Without knowing him I have the greatest respect for Franck. I know little of franchisees and organisers, but he is the best franchisee that I know of. Sadly, in this case he seems to me to have missed a trick or two.

    Hello and goodbye ...

    This page may attract dance virgins searching for adwords.

    Look through their eyes at the top of the page. On my PC I see nothing about adwords, or whatever else they were searching on. They probably close the window or tab straight away The mantra is that you have 15 seseconds to persuade a chance visitor to stay. Google probably sees that the searcher was disatisfied, and the site probably goes down the rankings.

    Meanwhile the opportunity to make the essential marketing link between Ceroc and dance has also been missed. In fact the first time dance is mentioned it is off screen and in my first post.

    There is another way

    Michael Gerber is the author of "The E-Myth revisited". The chapter on running a business on the MacDonalds franchise model is laced with gold.

    He describes most small businesses as "the walking wounded" and all businesses as "broken", there are always things to be fixed. Like him I am continually asking "What's missing in this picture". His story:



    Withe use of cookies it is possible to detect a first visit to a site and take action. I would suggest an embedded video clip of Ceroc dancing with a voiceover with the sales talk. Not a pop promo clip, simple and honest.

    How Michael Gerber does it

    http://inthedreamingroom.com/


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    Re: The genius of adwords

    In Bristol the search term ceroc; does not trigger any AdWords listings

    However leroc, modern jive, Mo jive, salsa, and jive all trigger a Ceroc Ad Word display

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    Re: The genius of adwords

    Quote Originally Posted by philsmove View Post
    In Bristol the search term ceroc; does not trigger any AdWords listings

    However leroc, modern jive, Mo jive, salsa, and jive all trigger a Ceroc Ad Word display
    As it should be, there is no point in paying to sell to the already converted. There will be new dancers at all of those other organisations that will not know about Ceroc, and may be converted. I

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