Budgets and Bidding

One of the most important aspects of running an AdWords campaign is knowing you budget and setting and ad group bid. First, and budget is and amount of money that has been set to spend on each campaign each day. It is basically the average amount that will be spent each day. There is also a maximum cpc (cost-per-click) that signifies the maximum amount of money one is willing to spend per click on the ad. This bid amount can directly influence the amount of clicks. With a higher bid, comes more traffic to the ad.

There are seven important steps to remember when setting a bid and budget for a new campaign. The steps are as follows:

1. Sign into you AdWords account
2. Click "Campaign
3. Click "All campaigns" and then "+ Campaign". Now choose a campaign type
4. Select a strategy from "Bid strategy"
5. Enter the largest amount of money you are willing to pay on average each month in "Budget"
6. Click "Save and Continue"
7. Edit the bid strategy at any time by clicking "Settings"

In conclusion, there are two types of bidding: Manual bidding and Automatic bidding. Manual bidding is the default strategy. Automatic bidding only requires setting a daily budget. This is an options for those who have a lack of time or a new to Google AdWords 

Below is a helpful video that talks for about budgets and bidding.

Ad Formats

My Adwords campaign is coming along. I added a few more keywords so that my clicks per share may go up. This week we focused on Ad formats. Ad formats are visual enhancements such as a phone number, business information, or customer ratings. This allows for the particular ad to stand out from others. The most used ad format is ad extensions. Ad extensions show additional business information such as and address, phones number, rating, and a web page link.

I have yet to use an ad format, but I do feel as though it could be useful for the future. My ad campaign for the the National Tiger Sanctuary is still up and running, but my clicks per share are still low. Since my clicks are still low, I have decided to extend my ad end date for another week. This has been a great experience having hands on interaction with an Adwords account.

As noted in and earlier blog, I am in the midst of creating a promotional marketing plan for a bowling alley in Lisle. I suggested the idea of creating an ad for the bowling alley to my group, and we have decided to go through with that idea. Coincidentally, all four of my project group members have taken or are in the search engine marketing class this year.

For the purpose of giving additional information in regards to this topic, below is a visual example of a form of ad formats: customer ratings. The yellow starts indicate the rating.

Language and Location Targeting

This week was focused on being able to get the message you want to send to the audience that you intend on targeting through the Google ad. Setting the language setting to the intended language on the campaign setting is helpful if someone wanted to reach a Spanish speaking audience. It is useful to note that targeting all languages could open up the most opportunity for clicks. This also lowers the number of people that may miss out on the ad. Also it may be helpful to create separate campaigns if multiple languages are being used. Since Adwords does not translate, it is important to remember to create the ad in that specific language. 

I do not feel as though I will need to stray away from the default language setting (which is English) any time soon. Not only am I extremely new to using Google Adwords, but English is the only language I feel comfortable using. With that being said, if I find myself needing to create ads for business reasons then it may be a good idea to set a few campaigns to other languages. By the end of this search engine marketing course I will be able to change languages and organize the campaigns accordingly. 

In addition to language targeting, location targeting is useful. Location targeting is reaching individuals in specific geographic locations. All in all, knowing how to set language and location specification for ads is helpful when wanting to focus in on who sees the ad the most frequently. It is all part of successfully creating a campaign. 

Below is a useful video on location targeting. 

Campaign and Ad Group Management

This week in my Search Engine Marketing class, we have begun the process of creating an AdWords campaign. My knowledge of these processes is still cloudy, but Google has done a great job of explaining what is necessary to develop and effective Ad campaign. During this process of understanding what it takes to create an effective Adwords campaign, there were some elements to creating and managing my campaign that I had to grasp. First and foremost, it is important to note that AdWords is organized into the three layers. These layers include the account, the ad campaign and ad group. An ad campaign is a set of ad groups that have its own budget and location targeting. Ad groups are sets of keywords, ads, and bids that are managed to show ads to people.

As part of the curriculum in my Search Engine Marketing class, I have been given the opportunity to create my own campaign. Since the beginning of the this course, I have had the chance to take what I am learning each class period and gain a better understanding of Google ad campaign and ad groups by working hands on. At this point, my ad campaign for the National Tiger Sanctuary has not received a lot of click, but I believe it is because I need a few more keywords (words or phrases that viewers can type into the search field to find the ad).

Overall this week has been very educational and hands on. In the next few weeks, I must present new promotional ideas to a local bowling alley as part of a class project. I most likely will take what I have learned in regards to campaigns and managing ad groups and create an ad for the bowling alley. In my opinion, it is a wonderful thing when you can learn something in class and actually apply it to other situations.

Below is a chart on how an account should be organized. When looking at campaigns and ad groups, this example is a helpful visual. Also, click here to view the National Tiger Sanctuary website.