Week 7 MKTG 349: Chapter 3 More on Keywords

By now I'm sure you are starting to understand the importance of keywords. If you want to have a successful ad you need to make sure that your keywords are relevant to your ad or else no one will ever see your ad. One great thing about Adwords is that you will be able to see how your individual keywords perform. This means you will be able to review all of your keywords and see what works and what does not work. You will be able to remove the ineffective keywords, and keep the ones that are bringing in clicks.

One nice thing that Adwords does, is it lets you know how they think your keyword will do before you have launched it. It will give you messages on the quality score of the keyword which will in turn help you decide if you want to use that keyword.

Adwords will also alert you to the fact that the bid you are making may not appear on the first page. This does not mean that your ad wont be viewed, it just means people will have to click to the second page to see it. If your ad is on the first page this usually means you are willing to pay more per click. Understanding keywords is one of the most important things when it comes to Adwords. Once you properly understand how to effectively use keywords, your ad will reach its full potential.

Week 6 MKTG 349: Chapter 3 Launching a Campaign

Once you understand the basics of Google Adwords its time to start creating an ad. The first step when creating an ad is to figure out what you want to advertise. Pick a website and look through the content on it so you understand what you are placing an ad for.

Once you know what you want to advertise for go onto Adwords and click the create a new campaign button. Name your campaign something that you will remember. Choose the location of your target area and make a bid and a budget. One important thing you need to make sure you do is to go to the Schedule and makes sure you set a start/end date. If you do not google will have no one date so they will keep spending your money. Once this is done you have successfully finished making your campaign and it is time to start making your first ad.

The first step in creating an ad is to choose a name for the ad group. You will then need to input a final URL, a headline 1, headline 2, and a description. This is what it will look like. There will be character limits so you will need to make sure you keep your text short and sweet.


The next stage is to create keywords. Keywords are the words you think someone might type into Google where the product/page/message of your ad will be relevant to them. Make sure you use keywords that you believe will have a relevant connection. 5-10 words is usually the number of keywords you should shoot for. Once you finish this save your ad group and you have successfully created an ad!

Week 5 Marketing 349: National Tiger Sanctuary

National Tiger Sanctuary is a non-profit, rescue organization that provides a permanent home for rescued animals. I will be making an ad campaign to help bring clicks to the "About us" page. The page talks about the history of NTS, the mission statement, and what sets them apart from their competitors. I chose this page because I want people to understand what the organization stands for before they browse the website and do not know what they are looking for.

To start off with I had to link the URL into the ad. Next I had to choose a headline. I chose to use "About National Tiger Sanctuary." I thought that this was a good headline because it will compel people to follow the ad to our website because it addresses a specific topic. The next headline I chose was "Learn about cats in captivity." I think people will find this interesting because there are not many big cats in captivity so people find them interesting to learn about. I then included a description. I wrote, "Learn about the history of NTS, and how they set themselves apart from others." I had to abbreviate National Tiger Sanctuary because of the word limit.

The next step in creating an ad is choosing the keywords. I added a lot of key words so I can see which words work and which do not. My keywords are lion, tiger, adopt, big cats, animal rescue, adopt a tiger, tiger animal, tiger rescue, big cat rescue, tiger reserve, tiger sanctuary, and big cat sanctuary near me.  I wanted to make sure I had keywords that were broad, but also keywords that have a focused attention. I believe that utilizing a variety of words will help reach the largest audience.

Creating an ad does not have to be a big ordeal. You just need to start creating ads and you will eventually learn what works, and what does not work. Once my ad has been up for a couple days I will go back to see which of my keywords have been successful, and which have not. Once I have determined that I will be able to adapt my ad to make it the most efficient as I can get it.

 

Week 4 MKTG 349: Chapter 2 Keywords

Keywords are a key aspect in adwords. You pick keywords that you think apply to your ad. People will type in those keywords and they will have the option to click on your ad. Your keywords will correspond to the little text ad you have placed.

The advertiser will place keywords that they want to trigger their ad. They then tell Google how much  they will be willing to bid to get someone to click on the ad. Once someone clicks on their ad,  they will pay Google for that click. The google user will type in keywords and ads that have those words will pop up. If the ad is compelling they will click on it.

The higher the bid you place, the better the position you receive. The ideal spot is the right column on the first page of search results. Keywords will take sometime to getting used to. Fool around with your words so you can see which words do best.

Week 3 MKTG 349: Chapter 2 Adwords is like eBay

In simple terms Adwords is like eBay. You bid on how much you're willing to pay to get someone to click on your advertisement. If your ad gets clicked on you then have to pay Google for the click. So in other words you do not pay google until someone has actually viewed your advertisement.

Adwords may seem intimidating, but it will pay off in the long run. It makes it so you can track ROI, return on investment, which is a key component in keeping a company going. One thing that is important is you makes sure to set an end date. If you don't you may forget that you are paying for clicks and your total could add up very quickly. All in all Adwords is not as hard as you think. All you have to do is learn the basic concepts and you will be fine.

Week 2 MKTG 349: Chapter 1 Introduction

AdWords is a tool that you use to create ads on google. AdWords is a key factor in Google's stock being worth so much. It's not just AdWords that does this though, it's the whole search engine. AdWords focuses on tracking ROI and it is a  very successful way of getting your ads viewed.

The purpose of an ad is to get people to "click through" your ad when they are searching on Google. On google you pay for your advertisement based on how many people actually click on your ad. This is called "cost per click." Many people will see the ad, but only the ones that actually click on the advertisement will count in the CPC.

The biggest strength of Google ads is you can track exactly what you get out of it. This means you know exactly how well your ads are performing. Online advertising is significantly more track able than every other form of advertising, which is what makes it so successful.

Week 1 MKTG 349: Chapter 1 SEO vs SEM

When you hear someone say "Search Engine Optimization" or "Search Engine Marketing" do you know what the differences are? While the two phrases seem like they can be used interchangeably, there is one distinct difference that sets them apart. One thing to know is that they both talk about online advertising. Online advertising is significantly more traceable so in most cases it is much more effective.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of trying to get your Web site to show up in a better spot on Google without spending any money. This allows you to draw people to your Web site without having to pay anything. Search Engine Marketing is the process of trying to get you Web site to show up in a better spot on Google by spending money. Paid advertising is a solid way to get your Web site viewed.

So why pay for an advertisement when you can do it for free? Some companies swear that you should never give Google any money to display your ads. They believe that doing it free will give them enough views to reach their goal. One thing to remember is that Google is a business so they encourage you to spend money so they make more money. So is it worth the extra money? I think it si beneficial to invest in both SEO and SEM because they both have their benefits. Spending a little bit of money is proven to make you a profit, but going the SEO route will work too.